n. He presently
thrust one hand into his coat-pocket and began shaking it about.

"What are you rattling in there?" said Wildeve.

"Only the dice, sir," said Christian, quickly withdrawing his hand.
"What magical machines these little things be, Mr. Wildeve! 'Tis a
game I should never get tired of. Would you mind my taking 'em out
and looking at 'em for a minute, to see how they are made? I didn't
like to look close before the other men, for fear they should think it
bad manners in me." Christian took them out and examined them in the
hollow of his hand by the lantern light. "That these little things
should carry such luck, and such charm, and such a spell, and such
power in 'em, passes all I ever heard or zeed," he went on, with a
fascinated gaze at the dice, which, as is frequently the case in
country places, were made of wood, the points being burnt upon each
face with the end of a wire.

"They are a great deal in a small compass, You think?"

"Yes. Do ye suppose they really be the devil's playthings, Mr.
Wildeve? If so, 'tis no good sign that I be such a lucky man."

"You ought to win some money, now that you've got them. Any woman
would marry you then. Now is your time, Christian, and I would
recommend you not to let it slip. Some men are born to luck, some are
not. I belong to the latter class."

"Did you ever know anybody who was born to it besides myself?"

"O yes. I once heard of an Italian, who sat down at a gaming table
with only a louis (that's a foreign sovereign) in his pocket. He
played on for twenty-four hours, and won ten thousand pounds,
stripping the bank he had played against. Then there was another man
who had lost a thousand pounds, and went to the broker's next day to
sell stock, that he might pay the debt. The man to whom he owed the
money went with him in a hackney-coach; and to pass the time they
tossed who should pay the fare. The ruined man won, and the other was
tempted to continue the game, and they played all the way. When the
coachman stopped he was told to drive home again: the whole thousand
pounds had been won back by the man who was going to sell."

"Ha--ha--splendid!" exclaimed Christian. "Go on--go on!"

"Then there was a man of London, who was only a waiter at White's
clubhouse. He began playing first half-crown stakes, and then higher
and higher, till he became very rich, got an appointment in India,
and rose to be Governor of Madras. His daughter married a member of
Pa