Meanwhile D‘Arcy, who conducted his department in the capacity of Chancellor of the Exchequer, was regular in his attendance at the gaming-table. He marked with much circumspection the gains and losses of the numbers on his cards, for and against the banker; but his caution was of no avail. In the first night’s play one hundred dollars had been scooped from him by the Portuguese banker, leaving a surplus of about seventy-five more at his disposal. As this was our last stake, and as the fleet was to sail the following day (I wish it had sailed ten days sooner), we all went to San Carlos to witness the luck of D‘Arcy. Before him lay seventy-five dollars, and before him sat the banker, ready and willing to relieve him of their weight. For the first half-hour he played with some success, but afterwards the tide of luck was against him. Not one of the party interfered _pro_ or _con_. Again he made a rally, and, like, a ship at sea who has weathered the storm and begins to right herself, he went on, as it were, sailing before the wind. But, in a moment of exultation, and having, as he thought, calculated to a nicety the certainty of success, he staked the entire of our stock-in-trade on the turn of the card. He was right—the card turned up in his favour, and he was a winner of three hundred dollars and upwards. I looked on quietly, and expected to see him take the money or double the card (which means “double or quit”), thereby insuring his stake at the worst, or doubling it in the event of success. What, then, was our astonishment and dismay when we saw him “cock” the card, and heard him, in a loud tone, addressing the dealer of the pack in the single monosyllable, “Cock.” Now, the meaning of the word “cock,” and “cocking” the card, that is to say, turning up one of the corners of it, implies that you will have, if you gain, three times the stake on the table, but, if you lose, you lose all. So it was with D‘Arcy; the wrong card turned up, and we, one and all, turned out, went home to our beds, sailed for Portsmouth next day, and I never wagered a shilling at a gaming-table since. Perhaps it was the best “turn up” I ever had.