“As for George, we did know that he was playing a great deal, aside from his games with us, for he told us about it and we knew to our sorrow that he was particularly unlucky. He had some means, outside of his very good salary, so we didn’t suspect that he was financially involved. We did know, however, that he played in the heaviest games he could get into, and on more than one occasion he traveled two or three hundred miles in order to sit in at some game that he would hear of, where the stakes were likely to be unusually large. The railroad company kept him on the go a good part of the time, so he was able to manage this without really neglecting his work, and if the officials of the road had learned of his gambling habits they either underestimated the importance of them or they valued George’s services very highly, for he was promoted, not once, but two or three times. We therefore had a professional among us without knowing it, and another man who was playing further beyond his limit than we dreamed of, and still our little game went on, as pleasantly and serenely as if we were not drifting into a tragedy. “One particular summer night we had a full table. Each one of the six was there, and all seemed unusually gay. The game was a good one, too, for the cards ran high and the luck ran from one to the other most delightfully. We started with the usual two-dollar limit, but it was broken two or three times without any remonstrance, so that after a couple of hours we were playing without any limit. Bets of $10 and even $20 were made frequently, and several times there was $100 in a jack-pot before cards were drawn. “Eli had to go home by a train that went through about 1:30 o’clock, so the consolation pots were played a little before one. We had been playing about four hours then, and the luck had been running against George for half an hour. It was affecting him, too, and instead of waiting for a turn he had been trying to force it, so that he was considerably dipped, and I for one was hoping that he would recoup in one or two pots in the last round. He didn’t, though. On the contrary, he came into each of the first five, standing all the raises before the draw, and drawing to one card, on the chance of getting an accidental hand. It was wretchedly poor play, of course, but he was trying desperately to force the luck. “On the last deal I thought he had a chance, for he opened the pot for $20. It had gone around for three or four deals, so it was a good pot to start with, and after it was opened it grew rapidly. We all came in, and Harry raised it ten. George went back at him with twenty more, and we all came in.