oating over the possession of a
long suit of hearts and three aces. Hare looked anxious, and Spencer
suddenly awoke to the situation.

"Satisfied," he said.

Holt led the three of hearts, and Spencer spread his cards on the
table with the gravity of a Sioux chief. In addition to the three high
spades he held six others.

"Really!" gasped the parson, "a most remarkable declaration!"

Yet there was an agitated triumph in his voice that was not pleasant
hearing for Dunston, who took the trick with the ace of hearts and
led the lowest of a sequence to the queen.

"Got him!" panted Hare, producing the king.

The rest was easy. The vicar played a small spade and scored
ninety-six points without any further risk.

"It is magnificent; but it is not bridge," said the man from
Pittsburg. Dunston simply glowered.

"Partner," demanded Hare timidly, "may I ask why you called 'no
trumps' on a hand like that?"

"Thought I would give you a chance of distinguishing yourself,"
replied Spencer. "Besides, that sort of thing rattles your opponents
at the beginning of a game. Keep your nerve now, _padre_, and you have
'em in a cleft stick."

As it happened, Holt made a "no trump" declaration on a very strong
hand; but Spencer held seven clubs headed by the ace and king.

He doubled. Holt redoubled. Spencer doubled again.

Hare flushed somewhat. "Allow me to say that I am very fond of bridge;
but I cannot take part in a game that savors of gambling, even for low
stakes," he broke in.

"Shall we let her go at forty-eight points a trick?" Spencer asked.

"Yep!" snapped Holt. "Got all the clubs?"

"Not all--sufficient, perhaps."

He played the ace. Dunston laid the queen and knave on the table.
Spencer scored the winning trick before his adversary obtained an
opening.

"You have a backbone of cast steel," commented Dunston, who was an
iron-master. "Do you play baccarat?" he went on, with curious
eagerness.

"I regret to state that my education was completed in a Western mining
camp."

"Will you excuse the liberty, and perhaps Mr. Hare won't listen for a
moment?--but I will finance you in three banks of a thousand each,
either banking or punting, if you promise to take on Bower. I can
arrange it easily. I say this because you personally may not care to
play for high sums."

The suggestion was astounding, coming as it did from a stranger; but
Spencer merely said:

"You don't like Bower, then?"

"That is so. I have b