“Four bullets,” announced Shultz triumphantly, as he lay his cards down, exposing four aces.
Hooker took a deep breath. “Well, that beats. I thought I had a pretty good hand. It’s your pot, Shultz.”
“Hold on! Hold on!” spluttered Piper, his eyes bulging. “Just wait a minute. There’s something queer here.”
Every one turned to him, Shultz savagely asking what was the matter.
“There’s something queer about this,” reiterated Sleuth. “Why, I—I’m sure I held an ace in my hand when I laid it down.”
“Go on! you’re dotty!” snarled Shultz. “There are only four aces in the pack.”
But Sleuth had grabbed the discards, and, turning part of them face upwards, he exposed to view the fifth ace!
[CHAPTER IX—THE BLOW AND AFTERWARDS.]
There was a moment of stunned and breathless silence as the young gamesters stared at the fifth ace thus exposed to view—the ace of spades. This silence was broken by Hooker, who, glaring at Shultz, suddenly snarled:
“You sneaking, cheating robber!”