They could not produce one.
"No, but you had one once," said the fortune-teller, "and if you had followed its precepts you would not be where you now are. However, I have one," and to their dismay he produced it.
A pistol would hardly have been a more unwelcome object. But the fortune-teller began:
"Gentlemen, you see these two pips at the top of the card? I wish them to represent your two eyes; this one in the middle, your mouth; and these other two, your knees. Now, in Revelation 1:7 I read, 'Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him.' The speaker is the Nazarene, once red with blood for sinners like you and me. Your eyes will see him, and you will have to stand before him to be judged. That is the future of your eyes," he continued; "now concerning your mouth and knees, let me read Philippians 2:9-11: 'Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name; that at the name of Jesus every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth; and that every tongue should confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.' From this I foretell that: your knees will bow to Jesus, and your tongue that used to say, 'Gentle Jesus' and 'Our Father,' will have to confess that he is Lord of all. Your eyes will see him, and when you see him, your knees will grow weak, and you will fall before his majesty."
They got more than they bargained for; but he gave them some more.
"Gentlemen, that is only the first reading of this card; now for the second, if you please. These five spades represent five actual spades that are already made, and may, ere long, dig the graves of you five sinners, and then your souls will be in the lost world crying in thirst for a drop of water and you will wish you had never been born."
The five card-sharpers were getting more and more fidgety; but it was useless, for they could not get out, as the train would not stop for some time yet.
"Gentlemen," continued the fortune-teller, "you may escape this terrible future, and my fortune not come true, if you will do what I did, and perhaps I was the worst of the six. My eyes saw Jesus upon a cross for me in my stead, bearing my doom, My tongue confessed him as Lord, and my knees bowed to him in lowly submission. If you do this, I can foretell the very reverse of all I have said. I have told your fortunes, as I promised, and if I am right, you ought to cross my palm with a dollar apiece; but I do not wish your five dollars. I will be content if one of you will promise to try the Saviour whose blood cleanseth from all sin."
They would neither pay nor promise; but as the train pulled up at the station they tumbled out as if the carriage had contained a smallpox patient, leaving my friend in possession of the "five of spades."
"Stop," he cried, "here is your card," which he tossed after them.