It was consistent. As Elliott looked at him, he was struck by the fact that these men never did anything but gamble, staking their fortunes or their lives with equal alacrity, generally with the odds against them, and generally with the dice loaded against them also. He had done the same thing himself, and he had promised Margaret to do it no more. But—
“We’d been thinking of something of the sort before you came,” Hawke was saying, “so as to finish things one way or the other, and this decides it. We’ll need a lot of money—oh, a devil of a lot. We’ll have to fit out a regular expedition, hire a small ship of some sort, get diving apparatus, and all sorts of things. Five thousand dollars is the very minimum. Let’s see how much we can raise.”
He emptied his pockets on the table; there was a little more than fifteen dollars. Henninger, after much rummaging, produced eleven.
“I’ve got ninety-five cents,” said Elliott. “Let it go into the pot, too.”
“Good,” said Hawke. “Total, twenty-seven dollars. Now, that’s a sum that’s of no use to any man, much less to three men. Just on general principles we might as well get rid of it, and get the agony over. But see what we can do with it; we’ll just go over to Nolan’s place, at the Crackerjack, and put up our little twenty-seven on the wheel, till we make or break. Why, I knew a man in Louisville who started with a dollar and broke the game. I didn’t see it myself.”
“None of us ever saw those things done,” remarked Henninger, who was listening with a dry smile. “But you’re right, I believe. It’s the only chance I see, for Sullivan can’t possibly do anything for us in time. Who’s to do the playing? Who’s got the luck?”
“I haven’t,” said Elliott, with conviction. “I tried it in St. Joe.”
Henninger opened a small grip and took out an elaborate morocco case. There were rows of ivory poker chips in it, and a dainty, gilt-edged pack of playing-cards.
“A few poker hands will show who’s in the vein,” he remarked, and began to deal the cards.
From the first Hawke was by far the most fortunate, and when, upon the last deal, he held a spade flush without drawing it was apparent to all three that he was unconsciously in the enjoyment of a special vein of luck. With a pleasing degree of confidence in this act of divination, they handed over to him the entire capital of the syndicate. Hawke looked a little overwhelmed at the responsibility.