The men sat down at a table and Dudie Dunne put on all the airs of a "Smart Alec" to perfection. The game commenced. Our hero was dealer and a winner, and the way he "hee, hee, hee-d," as he raked in his pot was amusing to watch.
The game proceeded for fully half an hour when a most startling interruption occurred.
CHAPTER II.
THE EXQUISITE'S GAME PROVES A WINNING HAND, BUT NOT AT THE CARDS—HE PERFORMS ONE OF THE GREATEST STREAKS OF DETECTIVE WORK TO DATE AND CAPTURES A MAN WHOM FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS REWARD HAD FAILED TO FETCH.
As intimated, the game had proceeded and our hero was winning and losing, when suddenly the door of the room opened and a man of remarkable appearance entered the room. His entrance was followed by an exhibition as though a ghost had suddenly appeared at the conventional midnight hour and demanded a hand, as he reached forth his rattling joints of bone. The men stared, even our hero for just one instant lost his equipoise, but he recovered when like a wink he asked, as though no one had entered the room:
"What do you do?"
The men, however, just sat and stared while the intruder said, a pallor on his emaciated face and a glitter in his eyes:
"I heard the game going on, boys, and I could not resist—oh, I love a little game at times."
"You are not well enough to sit up yet, Mr. Alling."