y
gradually rose to five. Mandel threw down his cards.

"Fight it out," he said morosely. "I've thrown away twenty-five bucks,
and I'll be damned if I'm going to throw away any more to see your
four-flushes."

Allen lifted a pile of chips and let them fall lightly, clicking a rapid
staccato. "It'll cost you ten dollars to see my hand, Hugh," he said
quietly.

"It'll cost you twenty if you want to see mine," Hugh responded, tossing
the equivalent to thirty dollars into the pot. He watched Allen eagerly,
but Allen's face remained quite impassive as he raised Hugh another ten.

The four boys who weren't playing leaned forward, pipes or cigarettes in
their mouths, their stomachs pressed against the table, their eyes
narrowed and excited. The air was a stench of stale smoke; the silence
between bets was electric.

The betting continued, Hugh sure that Allen was bluffing, but Allen
never failed to raise him ten dollars on every bet. Finally Hugh had a
hundred dollars in the pot and dared not risk more on his hand.

"I think you're bluffing, goddamn it," he said, his voice shrill and
nervous. "I'll call you. Show your stinkin' hand."

"Oh, not so stinkin'," Allen replied lightly. "I've got four of a kind,
all of 'em kings. Let's see your three deuces."

He tossed down his hand, and Hugh slumped in his chair at the sight of
the four kings. He shoved the pile of chips toward Allen. "Take the pot,
damn you. Of all the bastard luck. Look!" He slapped down his cards
angrily. "A full house, queens up. Christ!" He burst into a flood of
obscenity, the other boys listening sympathetically, all except Allen
who was carefully stacking the chips.

In a few minutes Hugh's anger died. He remembered that he was only about
twenty-five dollars behind and that he had an hour in which to recover
them. His face became set and hard; his hands lost their jerky
eagerness. He played carefully, never daring to enter a big pot, never
betting for more than his hands were worth.

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

At times there was more than five hundred dollars in a pot, and five