‘Oh, one flash; short and sweet!’ quoth the French man. Both of them rattled the dice and flung them forth.
‘Trays,’ called out Le Picard.
‘Sixes,’ exclaimed Bell; ‘the money is mine,’ and he grasped the gold greedily.
‘I will hold you doubles or quits,’ cried Le Picard, in true gambling spirit.
‘Well, if you want your revenge, I suppose I must not say no,’ answered the other, in a quiet unobtrusive tone.
The dice were again thrown, and this time the Frenchman had quatres, and Bell, as before, sixes. Muttering a great oath, poor Picard fished up the stakes from the bottom of his pocket, and was handing them to the winner, when Captain Jem cried in a loud voice, ‘Stop.’
Both players looked up in surprise.
‘Bell,’ said the captain, sternly, ‘hand me over that dice.’
‘Why, captain,’ quoth the other, in a cringing tone, getting suddenly very pale, and looking quickly all about him; ‘why, captain, there has been no foul play, I hope? We are gentlemen adventurers on board this ship.’
And, with that, his hand stole slily towards his pocket, as if to deposit there his winnings. Observing this motion, however, I grasped his wrist and defeated his intention, the dice falling from his fingers. At the same time, Captain Jem caught him by the collar of his doublet, crying out—