Page:The plastic age, (IA plasticage00mark).pdf/258

236 “I think you ’re bluffing, goddamn it,” he sai his voice shrill and nervous. “I ’ll call you. She your stinkin’ hand.”

“Oh, not so stinkin’,” Allen replied lightl “I’ve got four of a kind, all of ’em kings. Let see your three deuces.”

He tossed down his hand, and Hugh slumped his chair at the sight of the four kings. He shov< the pile of chips toward Allen. “Take the pc damn you. Of all the bastard luck. Look!” t slapped down his cards angrily. “A full hous queens up. Christ!” He burst into a flood of o scenity, the other boys listening sympathetically, j except Allen who was carefully stacking the chips

In a few minutes Hugh’s anger died. He i membered that he was only about twenty-five dolla behind and that he had an hour in which to recov them. His face became set and hard; his han lost their jerky eagerness. He played careful never daring to enter a big pot, never betting f more than his hands were worth.

As the bets grew larger, the room grew quiet Every one was smoking constantly; the air was hea with smoke, and the stench grew more and me foul. Outside of a soft, “I raise you twenty,” even, “Fifty bucks if you want to see my hand,’ muttered oath or a request to buy chips, there v hardly a word said. The excitement was so inter that it hurt; the expletives smelled of the docks.