card; he led, and then that
fool of a Padre Irene didn't play his card! Padre Irene was giving
the game away! It was a devil of a way to play! His mother's son had
not come here to rack his brains for nothing and lose his money!

Then he added, turning very red, "If the booby thinks my money grows
on every bush!... On top of the fact that my Indians are beginning to
haggle over payments!" Fuming, and disregarding the excuses of Padre
Irene, who tried to explain while he rubbed the tip of his beak in
order to conceal his sly smile, he went into the billiardroom.

"Padre Fernandez, would you like to take a hand?" asked Fray Sibyla.

"I'm a very poor player," replied the friar with a grimace.

"Then get Simoun," said the General. "Eh, Simoun! Eh, Mister, won't
you try a hand?"

"What is your disposition concerning the arms for sporting
purposes?" asked the secretary, taking advantage of the pause.

Simoun thrust his head through the doorway.

"Don't you want to take Padre Camorra's place, Senor Sindbad?" inquired
Padre Irene. "You can bet diamonds instead of chips."

"I don't care if I do," replied Simoun, advancing while he brushed
the chalk from his hands. "What will you bet?"

"What should we bet?" returned Padre Sibyla. "The General can bet
what he likes, but we priests, clerics--"

"Bah!" interrupted Simoun ironically. "You and Padre Irene can pay
with deeds of charity, prayers, and virtues, eh?"

"You know that the virtues a person may possess," gravely argued
Padre Sibyla, "are not like the diamonds that may pass from hand to
hand, to be sold and resold. They are inherent in the being, they
are essential attributes of the subject--"

"I'll be satisfied then if you pay me with promises," replied Simoun
jestingly. "You, Padre Sibyla, instead of paying me five something
or other in money, will say, for example: for five days I renounce
poverty, humility, and obedience. You, Padre Irene: I renounce
chastity, liberality, and so on. Those are small matters, and I'm
putting up my diamonds."

"What a peculiar man this Simoun is, what notions he has!" exclaimed
Padre Irene with a smile.

"And _he_," continued Simoun, slapping his Excellency familiarly on
the shoulder, "he will pay me with an order for five days in prison,
or five months, or an order of deportation made out in blank, or let
us say a summary execution by the Civil Guard while my man is being
conducted from one town to another."

This was a s