"Look out, clumsy!" exclaimed de Morin. "If I lose, I will have it out of you to the tune of a few thousand francs."
The black burst out laughing, as if he quite saw the joke.
The deal was now with Delange, who turned up the ace of hearts. De Morin looked at his hand, and, without asking for cards, played the king of spades.
An almost imperceptible smile played round the doctor's lips. He took the king with a small trump, played the queen of hearts, which, of course, was the best card, and timidly put down the knave of diamonds. As his adversary had a lower card of the same suit, this gave Delange three tricks out of the five.
He looked at de Morin, and said—
"I score two, if you have no objection, seeing that you chose not to ask for cards. Three and two make five, all over the world, Africa included, and, consequently, the rubber is mine."
"By the skin of your teeth," said de Morin, as he got up.
"Do not grudge me my triumph," replied Delange. "We are now quits, and I feel as if I had escaped a great danger."
"I can quite imagine it—you have escaped ninety thousand francs."
"If we could only escape back again to France," I chimed in. "It is high time we did so, I fear."