Hop was on his knees gathering them up in a twinkling.
Then it was that he slipped a card in the bootleg of Roche again.
But he was not caught doing it, however.
He got the cards that had dropped and did the trick over again, this time not losing any of them when they ran back to his hand.
Then he suddenly showed the jack of hearts again.
"Do you want to try the other trick again?" the man front Silver Bend asked.
"You no givee poor Chinee um showee to play um tlick, so be," answered Hop.
"What kind of a show do you want? There you are with the jack of hearts in your hand. Now I'll bet you that you can't get it into my bootleg again!"
He moved back from the table, so he would be entirely clear from the Chinaman, as he said this.
Hop let all hands have a look at the jack of hearts, and then he allowed it to flip up his sleeve.