board on their knees. The
Easterner and the Swede were again partners. As the play went on, it
was noticeable that the cowboy was not board-whacking as usual.
Meanwhile, Scully, near the lamp, had put on his spectacles and, with
an appearance curiously like an old priest, was reading a newspaper.
In time he went out to meet the 6.58 train, and, despite his
precautions, a gust of polar wind whirled into the room as he opened
the door. Besides scattering the cards, it dulled the players to the
marrow. The Swede cursed frightfully. When Scully returned, his
entrance disturbed a cosey and friendly scene. The Swede again cursed.
But presently they were once more intent, their heads bent forward and
their hands moving swiftly. The Swede had adopted the fashion of
board-whacking.

Scully took up his paper and for a long time remained immersed in
matters which were extraordinarily remote from him. The lamp burned
badly, and once he stopped to adjust the wick. The newspaper, as he
turned from page to page, rustled with a slow and comfortable sound.
Then suddenly he heard three terrible words: "You are cheatin'!"

Such scenes often prove that there can be little of dramatic import in
environment. Any room can present a tragic front; any room can be
comic. This little den was now hideous as a torture-chamber. The new
faces of the men themselves had changed it upon the instant. The Swede
held a huge fist in front of Johnnie's face, while the latter looked
steadily over it into the blazing orbs of his accuser. The Easterner
had grown pallid; the cowboy's jaw had dropped in that expression of
bovine amazement which was one of his important mannerisms. After the
three words, the first sound in the room was made by Scully's paper as
it floated forgotten to his feet. His spectacles had also fallen from
his nose, but by a clutch he had saved them in air. His hand, grasping
the spectacles, now remained poised awkwardly and near his shoulder.
He stared at the card-players.

Probably the silence was while a second elapsed. Then, if the floor
had been suddenly twitched out from under the men they could not have
moved quicker. The five had projected themselves headlong towards a
common point. It happened that Johnnie, in rising to hurl himself upon
the Swede, had stumbled slightly because of his curiously instinctive
care for the cards and the board. The loss of the moment allowed time
for the arrival of Scully, and also allowed the cowboy