Argosy All-Story Weekly, January 21, 1922 — page 13: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

FORTUNE UNAWARES. 3 Now 1 noticed they were cold, malicious, and the whites congested. Kid that I was, I sensed a certain tension in the game. Pop was out for what Tommy called blood. The two gentlemen showed a certain metamorphosis in the faces—they had become pinched somehow, their nostril- wings seemed flattened, and they were sit- ting up straight in their chairs with new alertness. Only En Sue was unchanged, fitting fresh cigarets to his long holder of gray jade. “Tm through,” said Tomlinson. busted.” There. hadn’t been much conversation at the table. Just the words necessary to the game. As En Sue raked in a disputed pot one of the “‘ gentlemen ” showed petulance. “Tf this wasn’t a piker’s game,” he said to En Sue, “ you’d have won a million with that fool luck of yours.” “ Want to raise the limit?” asked En Sue in his perfect English. My illumination had dimmed to normal with the good supper I had tucked away, and I distinctly saw a swift look pass be- tween Pop and his gentlemen friends. Pop said nothing, but shuffled the cards. “To what?” challenged the one who had complained. We were playing with white chips at a quarter, reds at fifty cents, the blues a dollar, yellows five, and browns twenty. A few green markers rated at fifty had been introduced. En Sue swiftly ranged a series of the disks in front of him, and he touched them as he named the new stakes. “ One dollar, two and a half, five, twenty, fifty, and the markers two hundred and fifty,” he suggested. ‘‘ No limit on raising; table stakes allowed a show-down share.” There was another look. Pop wore 2 stiff-bosomed white shirt with his tuxedo, and I saw it lift over a deep breath. . “That’s pretty stiff,’ he said, “but I like to accommodate my guests. I don’t want anybody losing money they haven’t got to spare.” En Sue felt in his right-hand hip pocket, then switched to his left. He brought out a case of wonderful shagreen, folding in the middle. From it he took a stack of crisp, new treasury notes. 66 Tm ‘“] thought there might be a killing to- night,” he said pleasantly, and displayed the bills. Have you ever noticed the eyes of an animal in the dark that suddenly reflect a light, changing to crimson? The eyes of Pop and the: gentlemen ” flashed that way as they saw the denominations. ‘““T am presuming,” said En Sue in an even tone that somehow suggested silk, ‘that the rest of you are equally provided. It is a cash game, of course, unless Mr. Crandall issues guarantees.” For the first time I realized that En Sue recognized the relationship between Pop and the other two. “ Let’s cut it out and go home, En Sue,” I said. ‘ Tommy’s broke, and I couldn’t last five minutes at those stakes. It’s get- ting late.” ‘““A gambler’s clock has no hands, Ned,” he answered. “ This is my night, I think. Go along if you’re tired, though I should like to have you stay and help press the tuck.” He took out from his vest a little grin- ning joss of reddish stone, and sat the im- age on the top of a throne of chips. I thought he put some emphasis in his sug- gestion to me to stay. “Tl stick,” I said. Pop gave me a look that was not friendly. A corner of his mouth lifted so that I caught the gleam of 2 gold-filled tooth. I wasn’t going home after that. But Tommy was palpably all in, aside from his tosses. ‘““Pve got a frightful headache,” he con- fessed. “If you chaps don’t mind, I? duck.’’ And he disappeared. I cashed in my hundred or so of winnings and went over to the sideboard. The waiter had been gone some time, after icing fresh cham- pagne that no one had touched. I dished out some lobster salad. In those days I could eat regularly every two hours. ‘‘T will guarantee these gentlemen’s ac- counts,” said Pop. It looked to me as if things were being stacked a bit. There was perhaps four thousand dollars in sight, chips and money paid in. En Sue had returned his bill-fold, but they knew he had all that real money, and they were playing on Pop’s say-so. comiclboooks C©