ld count up sixty-four lire fifty.
What with Italian tobacco and Italian garlic and Italian humanity, the
air had got something too awful for words. The arteries inside my skull
were playing some devil's tune of _Thumpetty Bump_ that caused me
to see mistily, and to wish for an earthquake which would rearrange
terrestrial economy. In short, I couldn't stand it any longer, and so
went out for a few minutes' spell in the open.

But I didn't luxuriate over-long. The thought occurred to me that Weems
was already at Cerbere, and in another hour and forty minutes would be
having his baggage examined by an individual in green cotton gloves at
Port Bou, previous to pursuing his career of conquest down into Spain.
And by this time my grudge against that schoolmaster person had grown
to be a very big one indeed. So I gave up parading the muddy
paving-stones, and turned back into the _biscazza_.

A new arrival had turned up during my absence, a long, lean Englishman
named Haigh, whom I had met casually once before. His nerves seemed in
a delicate condition, for when the water-logged gas jumped, he jumped
too, and, moreover, tried to do it as unobtrusively as possible, as if
conscious and not over-proud of the failing. But he was gambling keenly
and coolly enough, picking his notes one by one from a leather
pocket-book, blinking over them to make sure of their value, and
watching them unfailingly gathered up by the grimy paw of the croupier
without an outward sign of regret.

I looked on a minute, thinking what a queer fish he was, and then
elbowing in to the table started afresh on my own trading.

Fortune seemed to have improved by the rest. Three rattles of the pea
brought my total up to a hundred and fifteen francs in Greek, French,
and Italian money.

A hundred and twenty was certainly the original goal, but I had a
precious great mind then to let the other five slide. In fact, I drew
away from the table intending to stop. But instead of quitting the
place there and then, I was fool enough to argue the position out
solemnly to myself, with the result that I eventually decided the whole
affair from beginning to end to be entirely of the nature of a gamble,
and naturally felt bound to test whether the luck was going to hold any
longer.

Indecision's my strong point, and many's the time I've had to pay for
it. If I'd cleared out on the first impulse, I should have been
comparatively affluent. As it was, ten more minutes be