uffled, are first put into the box; and the
dealer, resting the left hand upon it, and holding the right in
readiness, with the thumb extended, pauses a moment until some bets are
made. The "dealer" is in reality your antagonist in the game; he is the
"banker" who pays all your gains, and pockets all your losses. As many
may bet as can sit or stand around the table; but all are betting
against the dealer himself. Of course, in this case, the faro dealer
must be something of a proprietor to play the game at all; and the "faro
bank" has usually a capital of several thousands of dollars--often
hundreds of thousands to back it! Not unfrequently, after an unlucky
run, the bank gets "broke;" and the proprietor of it may be years before
he can establish another. An assistant or "croupier" usually sits
beside the dealer. His business is to exchange the "cheques" for money,
to pay the bets lost, and gather in those which the bank has won.

The cheques used in the game are pieces of ivory of circular form, of
the diameter of dollars: they are white, red, or blue, with the value
engraved upon them, and they are used as being more convenient than the
money itself. When any one wishes to leave off playing, he can demand
from the bank to the amount specified on the cheques he may then hold.

The simplest method of betting "against faro" is by placing the money on
the face of any particular one of the cards that lie on the table. You
may choose which you will of the thirteen. Say you have selected the
ace, and placed your money upon the face of that card. The dealer then
commences, and "draws" the cards out of the box one by one. After
drawing each two he makes a pause. Until two aces follow each other,
with no other card between, there is no decision. When two aces come
together the bet is declared. If both appear in the drawing of the two
cards, then the dealer takes your money; if only one is pulled out, and
the other follows in the next drawing, you have won. You may then renew
your bet upon the ace--double it if you will, or remove it to any other
card--and these changes you may make at any period of the deal--provided
it is not done after the first of the two cards has been drawn.

Of course the game goes on, whether you play or not. The table is
surrounded by betters; some on one card, some on another; some by
"paralee," on two or more cards at a time; so that there is a constant
"falling due" of bets, a consta