"Double as much as you blamed please, so long's you put your money down," answered the "banker" defiantly. "Well, then, here goes a dollar on that five-spot," said Shorty, "skinning" a bill from a considerable roll. "Don't allow more'n 25 cents bet on single cards, first bet," said the "banker," dismayed by the size of the roll. "Thought you had some sand," remarked Shorty contemptuously. "Well, then, here's 25 cents on the five-spot, and 25 cents on the deuce," and he placed shin-plasters on the numbers. "Now, throw them dice straight, and no fingerin'. I'm watchin' you." "Watch and be durned," said the "banker" surlily. "Watch your own business, and I'll watch mine. I'm as honest as you are any day."{48} The "banker" lifted the box, and showed two sixes and a tray up. He raked in the bets on the ace, deuce, four and five-spots, and paid the others. "Fifty cents on the deuce; 50 cents on the five," said Shorty, laying down the fractional currency. Again they lost. "A dollar on the deuce; a dollar on the five," said Shorty. The same ill luck. "Two dollars on the deuce; two dollars on the five," said Shorty, though Si in vain plucked his sleeve to get him away. The spots remained obstinately down. "Four dollars on the deuce; four dollars on the five," said Shorty. No better luck. "Eight dollars on the deuce; eight dollars on the five," said Shorty. "Whew, there goes more'n a month's pay," said the other players, stopping to watch the dice as they rolled out, with the deuce and five-spot down somewhere else than on top. "And his roll's beginning to look as if an elephant had stepped on it. Now we'll see his sand." "Come, Shorty, you've lost enough. You've lost too much already. Luck's agin you," urged Si. "Come away." "I ain't goin'," said Shorty, obstinately. "Now's my chance to bust him. Every time them spots don't come up increases the chances that they'll come up next time. They've got to. They're not loaded; I kin tell that by the way they roll. He ain't fingerin' 'em; I stopped that when I made him{49} give 'em a rollin' throw, instead o' keep in' 'em kivvered with the box." "Sixteen dollars on the deuce; sixteen dollars on the five-spot. And I ain't takin' no chances o' your jumpin' the game on me, Mr. Banker. I want you to plank down $32 alongside o' mine." Shorty laid down his money and put his fists on it. "Now put yours right there." "O, I've got money enough to pay you. Don't be skeered," sneered the "banker," "and you'll git it if you win it." "You bet I will," answered Shorty. "And I'm goin' to make sure by havin' it right on the board alongside o' mine. Come down, now." The proposition met the favor of the other players, and the "banker" was constrained to comply. "Now," said Shorty, as the money was counted down, "I've jest $20 more that says that I'll win. Put her up alongside." The "banker" was game. He pulled out a roll and said as he thumbed it over: