They stood on the sidewalk outside their nearly empty club, watching the prancing, beckoning lights farther uptown. “It’s the location,” said Berk gloomily. “I told you we should get a spot closer to the center of things. A new game in an out-of-the-way location is an almost impossible combination. The gamblers are a mob. You don’t attract the individual, you attract the group.”
“Let’s hold out for a few more days,” said Mart. “If business doesn’t pick up by then, we’ll make some kind of a change. Maybe we should have hired some better looking dames.” He glanced inside at the girls taking bets from the scattering of customer. "I don’t see how we could have done much better, though. Carolyn is kicking about them now. She claims the proper type of character for the job is a sourdough in a cracked, green eyeshade.”
“Let’s move out of the doorway. Looks like this might be a customer.”
They watched with mild satisfaction as the approaching stranger stopped, glanced a moment at the sign hanging above, then moved inside the club. Their satisfaction vanished as he emerged a moment later. He looked about and seemed to spot them with some difficulty.
“Mr. Nagle —?” he said as he moved toward them.
“Yes,” said Mart. It was apparent now that the man had been drinking somewhat and was just barely over the edge of feeling high.
“I want to know how this thing works. I won’t use it until you tell me how it works.”
“Of course, be glad to,” said Mart. He sighed and took the man’s arm.
Inside, they moved around to the side of the Volcano where they would not obscure the vision of any customer seated in the amphitheater around the gambling device. The lights of the room were dim, most of the illumination coming through the plastic Volcano cone. It was as massive as three or four juke boxes and easily topped them in the garishness of its lighting. Waves of light rippled down the sides of the cone, and inside, a dozen brightly colored balls danced madly on a diaphragm across the bottom of the hole that pierced the axis of the cone.
“The world’s first and only completely honest gambling device,” said Mart. Abruptly one of the balls appeared on the outside of the cone and rolled to the bottom where it clanked against the metal rim. The number of the ball and its color flashed on a panel behind them. One of the customers looked pleased and waved a betting sheet at the nearest girl attendant.