Consinor bit his lip, but made no reply, watching silently while the prince tore open the new deck and shuffled the cards.
The viscount lost the next hand, and the score was evened. He lost again, and still a third time.
“The luck has changed with the new cards,” said he. “Let us postpone the game until another evening, unless you prefer to continue.”
“Very well,” Kāra readily returned, and throwing down the cards, he leaned back in his chair, selected a fresh cigar from his case and carefully lighted it.
Consinor had pushed back his own chair, but he did not rise. After watching Kāra’s nonchalant movements for a time, the viscount drew from his pocket three curious dice, and after an instant’s hesitation tossed them upon the table.
“Here is a curiosity,” he remarked. “I am told these cubes were found in an Egyptian tomb at Thebes. They are said to be three thousand years old.”
The men present, including Kāra, examined the dice curiously. The spots were arranged much as they are at the present day, an evidence that this mode of gambling has been subjected to little improvement since the early Egyptians first invented it.
“They are excellently preserved,” said van Roden. “Where did you get them, viscount?”
“I picked them up the other day from a strolling Arab. They seemed to me very quaint.”
“There are several sets in the museum,” remarked Pintsch, a German in charge of the excavations at Dashur. “It is very wonderful how much those ancients knew.”