ion that Dick
and Boldero had secured the exact position that he wished them to take.
For the first few games the play was even, and Dick began to think that
Mark had been mistaken, for Flash appeared to take little interest in
the game, and made no sign how Emerson should proceed.

As soon as the stake rose to a hundred again he distinctly saw Flash
close his eyes and play with his mustache; he called Boldero's attention
to the fact, and found the latter, who had also been watching, had
noticed it. By the time a few games had been played he verified Mark's
assertion that these signs were signals that Cotter's hand was a bad
one, and in each case Emerson played without giving his opponent the
opportunity of discarding and taking in fresh cards. He and Dick nodded
quietly to Mark, who had satisfied himself that so far Emerson had not
cheated in any other way. As on the previous evening, Cotter, after
losing five or six hundred pounds, proposed a final game of five
hundred. Mark bent down his head, so that the intentness of his gaze
should not be noticed, but from under his eyebrows he watched Emerson's
every movement; suddenly he placed a foot on the edge of the chair of
the man sitting in front of him, and with a sudden spring leaped upon
the table, seized Emerson's hand, and held it up to the full length of
his arm.

"Gentlemen," he shouted, "this fellow is cheating; there is a card in
his hand which he has just brought from under the table."

In a moment there was a dead silence of surprise; then Mark forced the
hand open and took Emerson's card, which he held up.

"There, you see, gentleman; it is a king."

Then a Babel of sounds arose, a dozen hands were laid upon Emerson, who
was pulled back from his chair and thrown down on a sofa, while hands
were run over his coat, waistcoat, and breeches.

"Here they are!" a man shouted, and held a dozen cards over his head.

The place of concealment had been cleverly chosen; the breeches
apparently buttoned closely at the knee, but in reality they were loose
enough to enable a finger and thumb to be passed between them and the
stocking, and in the lining of the breeches was a pocket in which the
cards had been placed, being held there by two pieces of whalebone, that
closed the pocket. The searchers, among whom were Dick and Boldero, did
not have it all their own way; four or five men rushed upon them, and
endeavored to pull them off Emerson. The din of voices was prodi