thout my help. He acted
mighty glad for a win--maybe it was a while since he'd hit it. I decided
to give him a run of luck.

Now in charge of my chips, Sniffles called the turn on every roll. She
was hot. It wasn't just that she followed where the gambler next to me
put his dough--she was ahead of him on pushing out the chips on half the
rolls.

He quickly saw that my chips had stayed on the same side of the line
each roll as his. He cursed me for a good luck mascot. "Stick with me,
Lefty," he said. "We'll break the table!" I rammed a hard lift under his
heart, and then, ashamed of myself, quit it. He turned pale before I
took it off him.

"What's the matter?" I asked him, supporting his sagging elbow, still
mad at myself for acting so childish.

"Nothing, nothing," he gasped, starting to recover. He'd only been
dying, that's all. But it came in second-best compared to holding the
dice.

No point calling too much attention to him. I decided four passes were
enough while he held the dice. What do you know, as he came out for the
fifth time, Sniffles pulled my stack of chips to the "Don't Pass" side
of the line, while scraping at the chapped end of her skinny nose with
the back of her free hand.

Like every compulsive gambler I've ever seen, the roller next to me was
sure he was on a rampage. Four passes and he thought he had the dice
licked. "Ride with me!" he yelled at Sniffles, who plainly had the
management of my chips.

"No moah," she said. "You'll lose."

Of course he did. I TK'd the one-two up. "Little Joe from Kokomo," one
of the stick-men called. They raked losing bets and paid winners with
the speed of prestidigitators. "Roller keeps the dice," the stick-man
told my neighbor.

The gambler cursed and threw the dice to the roller on his left. He spat
blame at Sniffles for not riding with him. He was one big clot of
crushed misery. After all, hadn't he _wanted_ to lose? They all do. I
couldn't get very upset over his curses. So far he had lost one buck,
net. And he'd had some action. So much for gamblers.

I kept control of the dice while each new gambler handled them. I was
having a good night. Of course, by that time I had handled the dice,
which always improves my TK grip. Every point I had TK'd came up. For
all the perception I kept on the ivories, I could sense no other TK
force at work, which after all was the whole reason for my gambling.

The interesting note was the way Sniffles handled my c