rward, had little to say. On the other hand Zoraida and Bruce and
Barlow made the dinner hour lively with their talk. Skilled in her
management of men, Zoraida had never shown greater genius for holding
two red blooded, ardent men in leash. She threw favors to each side of
her; a tumbled rose from her hair was loot for the sailorman who at the
moment was of a mood to forget other greater and more golden loot for
the scented, wilting petals; a bracelet coming undone was for Bruce's
eager fingers to fasten. And always when she looked at one man with a
kiss in her oblique eyes her head was turned so that the other man
might not see. Kendric she ignored.

"The same old story of good men gone wrong," philosophized Kendric.
"Let a man get a woman in his head and he's no earthly good." And, in
his turn, he ignored Betty. Or at least assured himself that he did
so. But Betty, being Betty, though for the most part her eyes seemed
downcast, knew that the man at her side thought of little but her own
exasperating self. She did a good bit of speculating upon Jim Kendric;
she was perplexed and uncertain; when he was not observing she shot
many a curious sidelong look at him.

"Miss Zoraida is about due to overreach herself," thought Kendric.
"She can't drive Barlow and Bruce tandem."

But Zoraida appeared to feel no uneasiness. As the meal went on and
meats and fruits were served and other vintages poured and coffee set
bubbling over a tiny alcohol flame on the table, her spirits rose and
she dared anything. She was sure of herself and of her destiny and of
her dominance over the pleasureable situation. Bruce's eyes and
Barlow's clashed like knives, but when they met hers softened and
worshiped.

At the end of the meal, when they rose, Zoraida cried: "Wait!" At her
signal her servants swiftly lifted the table and carried it out through
the double doors. Another smaller table was brought in; a man came to
Zoraida with a small steel box. She took it laughing, and laughing
spilled its contents out upon the table so that gold pieces rolled
jingling across the polished top and some fell to the floor. With her
own hands she carelessly divided the gold into four nearly equal piles.

"For my guests!" she told them lightly. She took from the servant's
hands a deck of cards and tossed it down among the minted gold. "I
would watch such men as you four play for the whole stake. And," she
added more slowly, her burning lo