gly laid a blunt forefinger on one of the bits of pasteboard.

Without a word, Newmark turned it over. It was the ten of spades.

"Let me try," interposed Tim Nolan, pressing his big shoulders forward.
"I bet I know which it was that time; and I bet I can pick her next
time."

"Oh, yes, you BET!" shrugged Newmark. "And that's where the card-sharps
get you fellows every time. Well, pick it," said he, again deftly
flipping the cards.

Nolan, who had watched keenly, indicated one without hesitation. Again
it proved to be the ten of spades.

"Anybody else ambitious?" inquired Newmark. Everybody was ambitious;
and the young man, with inexhaustible patience, threw out the cards, the
corners of his mouth twitching sardonically at each wrong guess.

At length he called a halt.

"By this time I'd have had all your money," he pointed out. "Now, I'll
pick the jack."

For the last time he made his swift passes and distributed the cards.
Then quite calmly, without disturbing the three on the cracker-box, he
held before their eyes the jack of hearts.

An exclamation broke from the interested group. Tim Nolan, who was the
nearest, leaned forward and turned over the three on the board. They
were the eight of diamonds and two tens of spades.

"That's how the thing is worked nine times out of ten," announced
Newmark. "Once in a while you'll run against a straight game, but not
often."

"But you showed us the jack every time before you throwed them!" puzzled
Johnny Simms.

"Sleight of hand," explained Newmark. "The simplest kind of palming."

"Well, Charlie," said big Tim, "looks to me as if you had just about as
much chance as a snowball in hell."

"Where'd you get onto doing all that, Newmark?" inquired North. "You
ain't a tin horn yourself?"

Newmark laughed briefly. "Not I," said he. "I learned a lot of those
tricks from a travelling magician in college."

During this demonstration Orde had sat well in the background, his chin
propped on his hand, watching intently all that was going on. After
the comment and exclamations following the exposure of the method had
subsided, he spoke.

"Boys," said he, "how game are you to get Charlie's money back--and then
some?"

"Try us," returned big Tim.

"This game's at McNeill's, and McNeill's is a tough hole," warned Orde.
"Maybe everything will go peaceful, and maybe not. And you boys that go
with me have got to keep sober. There isn't going to be any row unless
I say s