effected my exchange; and I snatched away the big
goldpiece just as the marble struck, hopped, and rattled into a socket.

"_Vint e uno_," announced the banker, surprised into his own native
tongue; and I caught the unmistakable quiver of a live disappointment as
his glance crossed mine with the flash of a knifeblade.

The gambler waited until a silver rake had swept away his eagles. With a
visible effort, then, he braced himself against the table and rose. He
turned to me, met my smirk of triumph with a frown, and plowed but of
the throng to the natural refuge, the little barroom on the terrace
side, where I followed him quite shamelessly.

* * * * *

The hour was early; we had the place to ourselves as we pledged each
other in the quaint device they call a cocktail at the Pavao.

"You made a good bargain," he said, setting down his glass. "There must
be at least twenty-five dollars' worth of pure gold in that slug if
there's a penny--let alone its curio value."

His manner had a rough edge. Any one who has lost over the green cloth
knows the spleen it can raise against all reason. I was the better
pleased next instant when he broke through with a smile of sound good
nature:

"Here's hoping it brings you better luck than mine."

I liked that smile, and the voice, easy and true as a bell, and the
whole hearty, big-boned cast of him; and I marveled what twist had made
a splendid great fellow like this, with his arching chest and
walking-beam breadth of shoulder, the hanger-on at unhealthy gaming
rooms. He was neither old nor young enough to be merely foolish. Forty
would be about his age, I judged; but his eyes were new, like those of a
child, and the only marks about them were the little sun crinkles of
outdoor living.

"You were willing to sell," I reminded him with a half query.

"Of course!" he nodded. "When the game gets me running I'd stake my
shoes if I could sell 'em. And ten pounds was more than the bank would
have paid. All the same, you've got a rare piece, cheap."

"Just what have I got?"

"A doubloon--don't you know? One of those queer Portuguese cart wheels.
Sink it! I made sure I'd found a lucky at last--anybody would."

I echoed that glorious old word:

"A doubloon?"

"Aye!" He smiled again. "Pieces of eight--what? The pirates used to cut
throats for 'em."

On sudden impulse I risked a small experiment.

"I've no wish to profit by your misfortune," I sai