He will know that his adversary has—
- The king of diamonds,
- The ten of spades,
- The knave of diamonds,
- The ace of spades,
- The seven of hearts.
The turn-up card will be the eight of spades; and knowing all the other cards which follow after this, he can demand or refuse them, as he judges best.
It is, at the games of Vingt-et-un, Baccarat, and Lansquenet, that this cheating is the most dangerous, as well as the most easily accomplished. The packs are changed beforehand, and even though they may be really properly shuffled, it will be some time before the order of the cards is completely altered. Some few cards may be displaced, but the Greek manages to play on, and to know the card which is coming, by having seen the one which precedes it.
[CHAPTER X.]
THE RING FOR MARKING.
The Greek sometimes carries his trickery even into the domains of science; of which the instrument I am about to describe is a proof.
If this jewel had not been invented for the sole purpose of cheating, one would have been tempted to admire it.
The ring, shown in [figure 24], is known by the name of a trépan. It is hollow, and forms a kind of reservoir, which is filled with very liquid ink. This liquid would escape by a small opening, at the point A, but that the capillary attraction retains the ink at its mouth. In short, it is a kind of pen with a reservoir.