lls, and that lowly wholesomeness of soul? Physically
he was perfect. He had never been sick in his life. He did not know
what a headache was. When I was so afflicted he used to look at me in
wonder, and make me laugh with his clumsy attempts at sympathy. He did
not understand such a thing as a headache. He could not understand.
Sanguine? No wonder. How could he be otherwise with that tremendous
vitality and incredible health?

"Just to show you what faith he had in his glorious star, and, also, what
sanction he had for that faith. He was a youngster at the time--I had
just met him--when he went into a poker game at Wailuku. There was a big
German in it, Schultz his name was, and he played a brutal, domineering
game. He had had a run of luck as well, and he was quite insufferable,
when Lyte Gregory dropped in and took a hand. The very first hand it was
Schultz's blind. Lyte came in, as well as the others, and Schultz raised
them out--all except Lyte. He did not like the German's tone, and he
raised him back. Schultz raised in turn, and in turn Lyte raised
Schultz. So they went, back and forth. The stakes were big. And do you
know what Lyte held? A pair of kings and three little clubs. It wasn't
poker. Lyte wasn't playing poker. He was playing his optimism. He
didn't know what Schultz held, but he raised and raised until he made
Schultz squeal, and Schultz held three aces all the time. Think of it! A
man with a pair of kings compelling three aces to see before the draw!

"Well, Schultz called for two cards. Another German was dealing,
Schultz's friend at that. Lyte knew then that he was up against three of
a kind. Now what did he do? What would you have done? Drawn three
cards and held up the kings, of course. Not Lyte. He was playing
optimism. He threw the kings away, held up the three little clubs, and
drew two cards. He never looked at them. He looked across at Schultz to
bet, and Schultz did bet, big. Since he himself held three aces he knew
he had Lyte, because he played Lyte for threes, and, necessarily, they
would have to be smaller threes. Poor Schultz! He was perfectly correct
under the premises. His mistake was that he thought Lyte was playing
poker. They bet back and forth for five minutes, until Schultz's
certainty began to ooze out. And all the time Lyte had never looked at
his two cards, and Schultz knew it. I could see Schultz think, and
revive, and splurge with hi