l authority, and finding Jake languid and
silent, decided to say nothing about his escapade. When the meal was
finished, they left the hot room, as usual, for the verandah, and Jake
dropped listlessly into a canvas chair.

"I allow you're more tactful than I thought," he remarked with a feeble
smile. "Guess I was pretty drunk last night."

"It looked rather like it from your clothes and the upset in the house,"
Dick agreed.

Jake looked thoughtful. "Well," he said ingenuously, "I _have_ been on a
jag before, but I really don't often indulge in that kind of thing, and
don't remember drinking enough to knock me out. You see, Kenwardine's a
fastidious fellow and sticks to wine. The sort he keeps is light."

"Then you got drunk at his house? I'd sooner have heard you were at the
casino, where the Spaniards would have turned you out."

"You don't know the worst yet," Jake replied hesitatingly. "As I'm in a
very tight place, I'd better 'fess up. Francois doesn't seem to have
told you that I tried to draw my pay for some months ahead."

"Ah!" said Dick, remembering with uneasiness what he had learned from
Bethune. "That sounds ominous. Did you----"

"Let me get it over," Jake interrupted. "Richter was there, besides a
Spanish fellow, and a man called Black. We'd been playing cards, and I'd
won a small pile when my luck began to turn. It wasn't long before I was
cleaned out and heavily in debt. Kenwardine said I'd had enough and had
better quit. I sometimes think you don't quite do the fellow justice."

"Never mind that," said Dick. "I suppose you didn't stop?"

"No; I took a drink that braced me up and soon afterwards thought I saw
my chance. The cards looked pretty good, and I put up a big bluff and
piled on all I had."

"But you had nothing; you'd lost what you began with."

Jake colored. "Bethune had given me a check to bearer."

"I was afraid of that," Dick said gravely. "But go on."

"I thought I'd bluff them, but Black and the Spaniard told me to play,
though Kenwardine held back at first. Said they didn't want to take
advantage of my rashness and I couldn't make good. Well, I saw how I
could put it over, and it looked as if they couldn't stop me, until Black
brought out a trump I didn't think he ought to have. After that I don't
remember much, but imagine I turned on the fellow and made some trouble."

"Can you remember how the cards went?"

"No," said Dick awkwardly, "not now, and I may have been mistak