Page:Allan Dunn--Dead Man's Gold.djvu/65

Rh veins and saw a flush come to Lefty's cheeks and a gleam to the sleepy eyes of Healy.

"B'li'my!" cried Lefty. "Some booze!"

Castro laughed and got up, puffing at his cigar.

"Adios, frens of my fren'," he said. "Luck be weeth you."

He went out toward the dancing floor, following the girl Lola. Healy started for a faro table and Lefty, glancing around, selected a crap-game.

"Action for me," he said. "I can talk to the bones in any langwidge. Dago to Dutch." Stone watched him join the triple rank of players and turned to where the marble was spinning in the groove while fifty players hung over the varying fortunes of red and black and zero, at roulette.

He divided his sixty dollars up into five-dollar bets, meaning to double when he won, and then double again, playing the winnings on the dozen combinations. Four times the red lost in succession before he shifted to the black and then the ball selected unerringly the scarlet numbers seven times running. Luck seemed determined to mock at him. He flung his last stake, a yellow chip, carelessly, and saw it settle between four numbers. He touched it with his fingers for exact placement. The wheel went in one direction, the whirring marble in another, slowing gradually against the friction until it skipped, hesitated, flirted at the openings and flopped at last to zero.

Less than fifteen minutes and he was out of the running.