ther. Instantly the Dummy wrote ten dollars, in
figures, on his pad, and showed it to him. Vandover looked at what the
Dummy had written, and said:

"Fifteen."

"Twenty," scribbled the Dummy, as he watched Vandover's lips form the
word.

"Twenty-five," returned Vandover. The Dummy hesitated a moment and then
wrote "thirty." Ellis shook his head saying, "I'll keep the bank myself
at that."

"Forty dollars!" cried Vandover. The Dummy shook his head, leaning back
in his chair. Ellis shoved the pack across the table to Vandover, and
Vandover gave him a twenty-dollar bill and two red chips.

On Vandover's very first deal around, the Dummy "stood" on the second
card, for twelve chips; Ellis bet twenty-five on his first card, and, as
he got the second, turned both of them face up. He had two jacks.
"Twenty-five on each of these," he said. "I'll draw to each one."
Vandover looked at his own card; it was a ten-spot. All at once he grew
reckless, and seized with a sudden folly, resolved to attempt a great
_coup_. "Double up!" he ordered. The Dummy set out twelve more chips,
and Ellis another fifty, making his bet an even hundred. Vandover began
to deal to Ellis. On the first jack Ellis drew eighteen and stood at
that; the first card that fell to the second jack was an ace. "Van
John," he remarked quietly. The Dummy drew three cards and stood on
nineteen. Vandover turned up his own card and began to deal for himself.
He already had a ten; now he drew a seven-spot and king in succession.

"The bank pays," he exclaimed. He paid the Dummy twenty-four chips. He
gave Ellis fifty for the eighteen he had drawn on his first jack, and
one hundred for the Van John upon the second, since the latter
combination called for double the amount wagered; besides this, the bank
was lost to him. Including the forty that he had paid for the bank, he
had lost in all two hundred and fourteen dollars.

Never in his life had Vandover played so high a game, never before had
he won or lost more than fifty dollars at a sitting. But he was content
to have it thus. Here at last was the new pleasure for which he had
longed, the fresh violent excitement that alone could rouse his jaded
nerves, the one thing that could amuse him. However, the failure of his
_coup_ had left him without chips; he was out of the game. He decided
that he would stop; more than half of his five hundred dollars was gone
already. He drank off a glass of soda, the dregs of one of