“‘Well,’ resumed Roberts, ‘we, poor innocent lambs, were cursing our ill-luck—luck indeed! ha, ha! there was no _luck_ in the matter; we were fairly pigeoned—damnably cheated, sir!’ “‘How do you know, Roberts? By Heaven, if I thought so, I would make an example of them.’ “‘Oh! sir, you could not prove it!’ “‘How do _you_ know the fact, I repeat?’ “‘Because I have seen them playing together since, when I was not interested in the game, and could watch them coolly and closely, and I did so; and I am perfectly satisfied in my own mind that there was collusion between them. Now, for the drift of my question; I say, it would be perfectly justifiable in us to pay these knaves in their own coin—to turn the tables upon them, and so get back the cash they fobbed from us, and that, I take it, would be a pretty little capital to begin the world with again.’ “‘There is certainly nothing to object to on the score of justice,’ said I, ‘but I question if such a scheme would be deemed honorable among gentlemen.’ “‘I cannot answer for their abstract opinions,’ said Roberts, ‘nor do I greatly care for them; but this I know, that among the whole circle of my acquaintance, which is tolerably extensive, there is not one who would hesitate about the matter.’ “‘But what means shall we employ? If they be the rascals you have described, will they not be keen enough to detect us?’ “‘I defy them,’ said Roberts. ‘Leave every thing to me. To-morrow you shall be instructed; it is necessary now that I should sleep. Do you so, likewise, and be assured that your situation will soon be changed for the better. In the meantime you will need money; there are fifty dollars, half of all I have—take them; you will soon be able to repay me. Good night! and hark ye, no more despondency, but look the world boldly in the face, and smile with contempt upon fate, as I do.’ “Perhaps, Mr. S., you are surprised that I should so easily have assented to this vile proposal. There had been a time, sir, when I should have treated it as a personal insult; but I was not then a broken-down gambler. My principles had not been sapped by continual contact with the unworthy; the degrading and unhallowed desire of gain had not fastened on my soul, and corroded my sense of honor. One must have been crushed and miserable as I was, before he can be sure of his power to resist the tempter.