had not the courage to say, "Boys, I feel that I have been doing wrong,
and I mean to stop at once;" but he thought it more manly to play once
more, if only to show that he was not afraid of losing. "And perhaps," he
thought, remembering his former luck, "I shall win."

XVI.

HOW FRANK LOST HIS WATCH.

Play again he did accordingly; and, sure enough, he won. He brought
Tucket to his last dime. The poetical and philosophic spirit in which
that good-humored young man contemplated his losses, was worthy of a
better cause.

"'Fare thee well, and, if forever, still forever fare thee well,'" he
remarked, staking the said dime. And when it was lost,--for Frank "raked
the pile,"--he added, pathetically, going from Byron to Burns, "'Fare
thee weel, thou brightest, fairest; fare thee weel, thou last and
dearest! Had we never loved sae kindly, had we never loved sae blindly,
never met, or never parted, I had ne'er been broken-hearted.' Boys, I'm
dead broke, and must quit off, without some of you that are flush will
lend me a quarter."

"Ask Frank," said Ellis; "he's the flushest."

So Frank lent Seth a quarter, and with that quarter Seth won back all his
money, and, in the course of two more sittings, cleaned Frank out, as the
phrase is.

Then, one would say, Frank had a valid excuse to retire, if not before.
He had risked his money, and lost it. Certainly nothing more could be
expected of him. Seth grinned, and Jack Winch rubbed his hands with
delight.

But now _Frank_ was not content. His heart was gnawed by chagrin. He
had not really wished to stop playing at all; for the sense of vacancy
and craving which always, in such natures, succeeds the cessation of
unhealthy excitement, is misery enough in itself. But to have left off
with as much money in his pocket as he began with, would have been
felicity, compared with the bitter consciousness of folly, the stinging
vexation and regret, which came with his misfortunes.

"I'll lend ye, if ye like," said the good-natured Seth--perhaps in return
for the similar favor he had received; or rather because he pitied the
boy, and meant to let him win back his money; for, with all his mischief
and drollery, this Tucket was one of the most generous and kind-hearted
of Frank's friends.

The offer was gladly accepted; and Frank, praying Fortune to favor him,
made a promise in his heart, that, if she would aid him to reco