“Ah! who are you?” asked the one who had just come up, in a manly voice.
“And who are you?” replied the other tranquilly.
There was a moment’s pause. Each tried to recognize the other by the tone of his voice and to distinguish the other’s features.
“What are you waiting here for?” asked the one with the heavy voice.
“Till the clock strikes eight, so as to have a game of cards with the dead. I want to win some money to-night,” replied the other, in an ordinary tone. “And you: what do you come here for?”
“A—a—for the same thing.”
“Well! I am glad. So I will not be without a companion. I have brought some cards. At the first stroke of the bell, I put down the albur (the first two cards put on the board in monte). At the second stroke, I put down the gallo (the second pair). The cards which move after I have put them down, are those which the dead choose for themselves. Did you also bring some cards?”
“Then?”
“It is simple. Just as you act as ‘banker’ for them, so I hope that they will ‘bank’ for me.” (In monte the banker deals the cards and bets that one of the cards in either the albur or gallo is turned up by dealing off the pack, before the card chosen by the other person is turned up. A banker can play against two others.)