"You boys don't know what card-playin' is," he'd gloat. "Think you're pretty smarty with all that science stuff but you can't win a plain old card game. You know why you can't beat me, boys?" "Because you're too smart, I guess," said Danny. "Well, yeah, and somethin' else. I dipped my hands in spunk water, up on the mountain where you can never find it, and besides that I spit on ever' card in this deck and wiped it off. Couldn't lose now to save my life." "Maybe you're right," said Danny, and went on dealing. In a few days the rumor of moving was confirmed; I was being sent to Oak Ridge, Danny to Argonne. Mattup kept winning, and "suggested" that we raise the stakes. By the day that we were to leave we owed him every cent we had. I paid up soberly; I wouldn't give Mattup any satisfaction by complaining. It looked as though Danny wasn't going to "get" Mattup after all. But Danny surprised me. "Look, buster," he wheedled. "If I pay you seventy-five bucks I won't have a cent left. How about me paying half now and the rest later?" "No good," said Mattup. "You got it--pay me. If you can't pay cash gimme your watch. I know you got one." "Look, buster--" "Quit callin' me buster." "What am I going to live on until I get paid again?" "What do I care?" It went on like that until the busses for the airport were nearly ready to leave and both men seemed angry enough to kill each other. "Let's go," I begged Danny. "Pay him and leave." "All right then!" Danny snapped, and pulled out his wallet. He counted out all his bills into Mattup's hand. "You're a buck short," said Mattup. "Why not forget the buck?" said Danny. "You can spare it." "You're a buck short," repeated Mattup, scowling. Danny dashed his wallet to the ground. "You're even taking my change!" He got his jacket from the back of a chair--it was a hot day--and emptied change from the side pocket. There were two quarters and a half dollar, and he paid them over. "I have eleven cents left," he said. "Hell, take that too. I don't give a damn." Mattup grinned. "Sure I'll take it--if you weren't lying when you said I could have it." "It'll break me," said Danny. "I know it," said Mattup. "Gonna break your promise?" The bus driver was honking. "The hell with you," Danny said to Mattup, and gave him a dime and a penny. He looked Mattup in the eye with a strange expression. "Now, I gave you that and you didn't win it. You took it of your own free will. I offered it to you and you took it. Right?" "Right," said Mattup. "Sucker." We scrambled on the bus and as it pulled away Danny yelled "Hey, Buster, look!" Mattup looked, and Danny stuck his right arm out the window, pointing at Mattup with his right forefinger and his little finger stuck out straight and parallel, the thumb tucked under. A strange, disturbed look came over Orley. He turned his back as the bus roared out of the drive.