"That remark nettled Lescolette just enough to hold him in indefinitely. There was no more talk on his part.
"'Ten thousand more than you,' he said, short and sharp.
"Then the friends of the two men began to mutter.
"'This is all very fine as an exhibition of gameness,' they said, collectively, 'but there is a stopping point, or should be.'
"When there was nearly $275,000 in the pot both Cuthbert and Lescolette pulled out their notebooks and began to run over their bank accounts. Both found that they had about tapped their supply of ready banked cash. They wrote checks, payable to each other's order, for their respective shares of the amount in the pot, and then Cuthbert said:
"'Joe, I can't let down in this. I could never quite forgive myself if I did. Appraise my St. James land.'
"Lescolette protested. He had often visited Cuthbert at his beautiful St. James place. He protested hard. Yet he wouldn't call.
"'Appraise the St. James land, Joe,' said Cuthbert again. Lescolette declined to do it, and Cuthbert appealed to one of his friends to do it.
"'I should say your St. James plantations are worth close to $250,000,' said this gentleman, unwillingly.
"'Very well,' said Cuthbert. 'Shall I say, Joe, that those three squares of yours on Canal street are worth the same amount?'