The Major, who at last saw that all his good endeavours were misplaced, shrugged his shoulders. Lieutenant Temple, however, thought he had a good idea, and with an apparently unintentional, though violent, movement pushed against the light camp-table, and sent ashtrays, bottles, glasses, and cards flying on the ground. But he did not gain anything by this, for the two players held their cards firmly in their hands, and did not allow this contretemps to disturb their sangfroid for a single moment. “Fifty-one,” said McGregor. “Sixty.” “Sixty-one.” “Seventy.” “Seventy-one.” “Eighty.” “Eighty-one.” “A lakh!” cried Irwin, who was now pale from excitement. “Really?” asked McGregor calmly, “that is a fine bid. A lakh--that is, reckoned at the present rate of exchange, 6,500 pounds sterling. You will be a wealthy man, Irwin, if you win. Now, then, I see you.” With trembling fingers, but with a triumphant look, the Captain laid down his cards. “Straight flush,” he said hoarsely. “Yes, a strong hand,” replied the other, smiling. “But which is your highest card?” “The king, as you see for yourself.” “That’s a pity, for I have also, as it happens, a straight flush, but mine is up to the ace.” Slowly, one after the other, he laid down his cards--ace of hearts, king of hearts, queen of hearts, knave of hearts, ten of hearts. One single exclamation of surprise came from the lips of the bystanders. None of them had ever seen the coincidence of such an extraordinary sequence. Captain Irwin sat motionless for a moment, fixing his unsteady eyes straight upon his adversary’s cards. Then he suddenly sprang up with a wild laugh, and left the tent with jingling steps. “This loss spells ruin for Irwin,” said the Major gravely. “He is not in a position to pay such a sum.” “With his wife’s assistance he could,” chimed in another; “but it would eat up pretty well the rest of her fortune.” “I call you, gentlemen, to witness that it is not my fault,” said McGregor, who thought he perceived a certain degree of reproach in the faces of the bystanders; but all agreed with him. Lieutenant Temple, who alone of all those present kept up a certain superficial friendship with Irwin, remarked, “Somebody must go after him to see that he does not do something foolish in his first excitement.” He turned as if to leave the room, but a call from McGregor stopped him. “It will be no use, Temple, unless you are able to calm him in some way or other. In my opinion there is only one thing to do. He must be persuaded that the whole affair is only a joke, and that the cards had been shuffled beforehand.” The Lieutenant went back to the table. “The suggestion of this way of putting it does you honour, Captain; only I have my doubts if any of us would have the courage to go to him with this manifest lie.” The silence of the others appeared to confirm this doubt, when the decisive voice of the German guest interrupted with--