"Oh! as for that," returned Chichester, "I will engage to get a twenty pound note from my father to-morrow; and with that supply we can safely start off on our expedition." "Well--if you can rely upon doing this," observed the baronet, "we will put your plan into execution. So let us lose no time; but please to give me my first lesson." "That's what I call business," cried Chichester, rising from his seat and drawing the curtains, while the baronet lighted the two tallow candles that adorned the wooden mantel-piece. Chichester locked the door of the room, and then produced from his writing-desk the necessary implements of a gambler--packs of cards, dice-boxes, and dice. Having reseated himself, he took up a pair of dice and a box, and said, "Now, my dear fellow, be a good boy, and learn your lesson well. You will soon meet with your reward." "I am all attention," observed the baronet. "In the first place I shall show you how to _secure_," continued Chichester; "and as you know the game of _Hazard_ well enough, I need say but little more on that head. There are two ways of _securing_. The first is to hold one of the dice between the fore and middle fingers, or the middle and third fingers, against the side of the box, so that one finger must cover the top of the die--in this way, you see." [Illustration] "I understand," said the baronet, attentively watching the proceedings of his companion, who by certain clever and adroit manipulations with the dice-box, illustrated his oral descriptions. "This system is not so easy as the second, which I shall presently show you," continued Chichester; "because the die must be kept cleverly inside the box, so as not to be seen. The second way of _securing_ is by taking hold of one of the dice by the little finger, and keeping it firm against the palm of the hand while you shake the box, so as to be able to drop it skilfully upon the table at the proper moment, when it will seem as if it came from the box along with the other. This is the way." [Illustration] "I shall soon understand," said the baronet. "Of course by being able to _secure_ one die, you may make it turn up any number you choose." "When you mean to practise this dodge," continued Chichester, "call five for _a main_; because you can _secure_ the four, and there is only the six on the loose die that can come up against you. If you have a good stake to get, _secure_ a five every time; because when the _main_ is six to five, or seven to five, or eight to five, or nine to five, or ten to five, you _must_ win every time, because you can't possibly throw out while the five is _secured_." "But will not the ear tell the _pigeon_ that there is only one die rattling in the box?" demanded the baronet. "Look at this box," exclaimed Chichester. "It has two rims cut inside, near the bottom: the one die shaking against them produces the sound of two dice."