"Very well, then, this evening two of us will take our stand behind Gordon, and the other two behind Sanders."
"But how did he cheat? It seems a fair game enough."
"He does it in this way. He puts five sovereigns under his hand. That is the limit, you know. Then he looks at his card, and pushes it out. With his hand still touching it, he watches the dealer and, if he can see by his face that his card is a good one--and you can generally tell that--he withdraws his hand with four of the sovereigns, leaving only one on the card. If, on the other hand, he thinks it is a bad one, he leaves the whole five there. He does the trick cleverly enough; but I am certain that I have, four or five times, seen him do it.
"Keep your eyes on his hand. You will see that he takes up five sovereigns from the heap before him, and that he has them in his hand when he pushes the card out. You will notice how he fixes his eye upon the dealer, and that he leaves either one or five, as I have said. He does it, at times, all through the evening, especially when Gordon is dealing; for I can tell, myself, by Gordon's face whether he has a good or a bad card. Of course, he can see it, too.
"I want you all to nod to me, when you see it done. We shall let him do it two or three times, so that we can all swear to it."
All agreed to do so, and Lisle then went to Gordon's quarter's.
"Tritton, Lindsay, and Holmes are going to watch with me tonight. I think the best thing will be for you to answer Sanders' note, and tell him that you will require time to draw your money from England to pay him; but that you will play again tonight, to see if luck turns."
That evening the four young officers took their places, as arranged. Now that their attention had been directed to it, they saw that several times Sanders, although he took up five pounds, only left one on the card; and that he kept his hand upon it, up to the last moment. Each in turn nodded to Lisle.
All noticed how intently Sanders watched the dealer. Generally he left two sovereigns on the card, apparently when the dealer had a moderate card; but when he had a very low or a very high one, the trick was played. After fully satisfying himself that he had good proofs, just as Sanders was again withdrawing his hand with four sovereigns in it, Lisle threw himself forward, jerked the hand upwards, and showed the four sovereigns lying under it.
"I accuse Captain Sanders of cheating. I have seen him do this trick half a dozen times."