times out of seven when the pot was big, Allen won it. Win or lose, he
continued cool and calm, at times smoking a pipe, other times puffing
nonchalantly at a cigarette.

The acrid smoke cut Hugh's eyes; they smarted and pained, but he
continued to light cigarette after cigarette, drawing the smoke deep
into his lungs, hardly aware of the fact that they hurt.

He won and lost, won and lost, but gradually he won back the twenty-five
dollars and a little more. The college clock struck eleven. He knew that
he ought to go, but he wondered if he could quit with honor when he was
ahead.

"I ought to go," he said hesitatingly. "I told George when I said that
I'd sit in that I'd have to leave at eleven. I've got an eccy quiz
to-morrow that I've got to study for."

"Oh, don't leave now," one of the men said excitedly. "Why, hell, man,
the game's just getting warm."

"I know," Hugh agreed, "and I hate like hell to quit, but I've really
got to beat it. Besides, the stakes are too big for me. I can't afford a
game like this."

"You can afford it as well as I can," Mandel said irritably. "I'm over
two hundred berries in the hole right now, and you can goddamn well bet
that I'm not going to leave until I get them back."

"Well, I'm a hundred and fifty to the bad," Winsor announced miserably,
"but I've got to go. If I don't hit that eccy, I'm going to be out of
luck." He shoved back his chair. "I hate like hell to leave; but I
promised Hugh that I'd leave with him at eleven, and I've got to do it."

Allen had been quite indifferent when Hugh said that he was leaving.
Hugh was obviously small money, and Allen had no time to waste on
chicken-feed, but Winsor was a different matter.

"You don't want to go, George, when you're in the hole. Better stick
around. Maybe you'll win it back. Your luck can't be bad all night."

"You're right," said Winsor, stretching mightily. "It can't be bad all
night, but I can't hang around all night to watch it change. You're
welcome to the hundred and fifty, Ted, but some night soon I'm coming
over and take it away from you."

Allen laughed. "Any time you say, George."

Hugh and Winsor settled their accounts, then stood up, aching and weary,
their muscles cramped from three hours of sitting and nervous tension.
They said brief good nights, unlocked the door--they heard Allen lock it
behind them--and left their disgruntled friends, glad to be out of the
noisome odor of the room.

"God, what