For my plans encompassed no continuation of the piddling little magic show she had put on with her father. I was a gambler, and with Dori at my side a great field of opportunity lay before me.
I don't know if you are familiar with the game of dice, Mr. Peache? No? It's a very ancient and honorable game.
The player with the dice rolls them. If a seven or an eleven comes up, it's a natural and he wins the bet and keeps the dice for another roll. If a two, three or twelve turns up, it's craps and he loses his bet but keeps the dice for another roll. If any other number comes up, that's his point, and he keeps rolling the dice until either that number repeats or a seven comes up. If he wins his point, he wins the bet and keeps the dice, but a seven loses him both his bet and the dice.
Dori's method of controlling the dice was to control one of them. When they are rolled, dice rarely stop at the same instant. She would let the first one stop, then keep giving the other the necessary mental push until it reached the number that gave the combination she wanted. Since the numbers on each die run from one to six, seven was the only number she could be sure of forcing; but if a point were set, she could prevent the dice from hitting seven until the opportunity occurred to make the point.
She was reluctant at first to use her ability in a way she felt was dishonest, but, as I said, she had given herself up to adoration of me, and it took only a little affectionate persuasion to soothe her conscience into abeyance. She did what I asked, and in a remarkably short time we entered on a life of ease and luxury that was strange to both of us.
No more for me the small-time gambler who folded on a bluff when only a few dollars were at stake. I knew where the big fish swam, and I went after them.
Naturally, dice was my game. Since childhood I had been an expert at cards, but cards do not lend themselves readily to psychokinetic manipulation, without the additional talent of clairvoyance, and Dori had none of that. But how she could make those dice tumble!
By the time the people who had both money and the gambling instinct realized I was one of those infallible phenomena to be avoided, we were rich beyond even my dreams. Suicides and paupers were left in our wake.
It seems that for every advantage a man gains in life, he is faced with a corresponding disadvantage. He must pay the piper. Here I have wealth, and West o' Mars, without Dori.... Well, I anticipate myself.
You may not know it, Mr. Peache, but even now I might find it dangerous to be back on Earth again. It certainly was advisable for me to leave Earth at that time. Some of the men I had broken had not been left without the means to avenge themselves on me.