Through Three Campaigns: A Story of Chitral, Tirah and Ashanti

The next year and a half passed quietly. Lisle was soon as much liked, in his new regiment, as he had been by the Pioneers. The men would have done anything for him, for he was always ready to chat with them, to enter into their little grievances, and to do many a kind action.

Chapter 6: Unfair Play

Five or six of the officers were married men, and had their wives with them. These, when they learned that the young subaltern had disguised himself, and enlisted in the Pioneers in order to go up with them to the front, took a lively interest in him, and made quite a pet of him. Two other regiments were at the station at the time and, consequently, there was a good deal of gaiety in the way of lawn tennis and croquet parties, small dinners and dances and, after mess, billiards and whist. Lisle soon became an expert in the former games, but he never touched either a billiard cue or a card, though he was an interested spectator when others were playing.

Baccarat was very popular with the faster set. At this game play sometimes ran high, and there was a captain in one of the other regiments who scarcely ever sat down without winning. At the beginning of the evening, when play was low, he generally lost; but was certain to get back his losings, and sometimes a considerable sum over, as the stakes rose higher. One of the lieutenants who was a chum of Lisle's was particularly unlucky. He was of an excitable disposition, and played high as the evening went on. Lisle noticed that he often paid in chits, instead of money. This was not an unusual custom, as officers are often short of cash, and settle up when they receive their month's pay. Lisle frequently remonstrated with his friend on the folly of his proceedings, and the young fellow declared that he would retire from the table, if luck went against him. But the mania was too strong for him.

"It is extraordinary what bad luck I have," he said, one day. "I almost always win at the beginning of the evening; and then, when I get thoroughly set, my winnings are swept away."

"Why don't you get up when you are a winner?"

"That would be very bad form, Bullen; a fellow who did that would be considered a cad."

"I should strongly advise you to give it up, altogether."

Lisle observed with regret that his friend's spirits fell, and that he became moody and irritable. One day, when he went into his quarters, he found him sitting with a look of misery upon his face.

"What is it, Gordon?" he asked. "I hope I am not in the way?"

"Well, it has come to this," the young officer said. "I am at the end of my tether. I shall have to leave the regiment."

"Nonsense!" Lisle replied.

"It is true. I owe a lot of money to that fellow Sanders. He has bought up all my chits, and this is a note from him, saying that he has waited two or three months, but must now request me to pay up without further delay. Besides my pay, I have only eighteen hundred pounds, that was left me by an old aunt; but that will barely cover what I owe. Of course I can hold on on my pay; but the loss of so much money will make a lot of difference, and I fear I shall have to transfer. It is hard lines, because I am now pretty high on the list of lieutenants; and shall, of course, have to go to the bottom of the list.

"The only alternative would be to enlist in some white regiment that has lately come out. There are plenty of gentlemen in the ranks. I certainly see no other way."

"I had no idea it was so bad as that, Gordon. Surely there must be some other way out of the difficulty. I could lend you a couple of hundred pounds."

"Thank you, old fellow! But I am so deeply in debt that that would make no difference."

"I am not sure that there is not something else to be done," said Lisle. "While I sit watching the play, I can see more than the players can; and since I have noticed that Sanders persistently wins, directly the stakes get high, I have watched him very closely, and am convinced that he does not play fair. It has struck me that he withdraws the money on his cards when he sees that the dealer has a strong hand, and adds to his stake when he considers that the dealer is weak.

"Now my testimony as a youngster would go a very little way, if unsupported against his; but if you will give me a solemn promise that you will never play baccarat again, I will get two or three fellows to watch him. Then, if we can prove that he plays unfairly, of course you will be able to repudiate payment of the money he has won of you."

"Good heaven! It would be the saving of me, and I will willingly give you the promise you want. But you must surely be mistaken! Sanders certainly has had wonderful luck, but I have never heard a suggestion that he does not play fair. I only know that there is a good deal of shyness about playing with him. You see, it is a frightful thing to accuse a man of cheating."

"I admit that it is not pleasant; but if a man cheats, and is found out, it is the duty of every honest man to denounce him, if they detect him.

"Well, if you don't mind, I will take Lindsay, Holmes, and Tritton into my confidence. They all play occasionally, and you must let me mention that you are altogether in his power; and that, unless he is detected, you will have to leave the regiment. Mind, don't you watch him yourself. Play even more recklessly than usual; that will make him a bit careless."

"Well, there is a possibility that you are right, Bullen, and if you can but detect him, you will save me from frightful disgrace."

"I will try, anyhow."

Bullen sent a note to the officers he had mentioned, asking them to come to his quarters, as he particularly wished to speak to them. In a quarter of an hour they joined him.

"Well, what is up, Bullen?" Tritton said. "What do you want with us?"

"It is a serious business, Tritton. That fellow Sanders owns chits of Gordon's to the amount of fifteen hundred pounds."

An exclamation of dismay broke from his hearers.

"Good heavens!" Tritton exclaimed, "how could he possibly have lost so much as that? I know that the play has been high; but still, even with the worst luck, a man could hardly lose so much as that."

"I fancy that, after the party in the mess room has broken up, several of them used to adjourn to Sanders' quarters; and it was there that the great bulk of the money was lost."

"What a fool Gordon has been!" Lindsay said. "What a madman! Such a good fellow, too!

"Well, of course, nothing can be done. If it were only a hundred or two, the money would be subscribed at once; but fifteen hundred is utterly beyond us. What is he thinking of doing?"

"Well, he has eighteen hundred pounds, and he talked of drawing out the amount and paying up, and then exchanging into some other regiment. The question, however, is, whether he ought to pay."

The others looked up at him in surprise.

"Why, of course he must pay," Tritton said; "at least he must pay, or quit the service, a disgraced man."

"I think there is an alternative," Lisle said, "and that is why I have sent for you."

"What alternative can there be?"

"Well, you know I don't play; but I like sitting watching the game, and I am quite convinced that Sanders doesn't play fair."

"You don't say so!" Tritton said. "That is a very serious accusation to make, you know, Bullen!"

"I am perfectly aware of that, and I feel that it would be mad for me to make an unsupported accusation against Sanders. But I want you three fellows to join me in watching Sanders play. My word, unsupported, would be of no avail; but if four of us swore that we saw him cheating, there could be no doubt about the result.

"For one thing, Sanders would have to leave the army. That would be no loss to the service, for he is an overbearing brute; to say nothing of the fact that several young officers have had to leave the service, owing to their losses at play with him."

"I know of two cases," Lindsay said. "There was a very strong feeling against him, but no one suspected him of unfair play. It was he who introduced baccarat here, when his regiment first came up. It had never been played here before, and you may notice that very few of his fellow officers ever take a hand.

"Well, there will be no harm in our watching. It is a thing that one doesn't like doing but, when it comes to a fellow officer being swindled, it is clearly our duty to expose the man who is doing it."

"Very well, then, this evening two of us will take our stand behind Gordon, and the other two behind Sanders."

"But how did he cheat? It seems a fair game enough."

"He does it in this way. He puts five sovereigns under his hand. That is the limit, you know. Then he looks at his card, and pushes it out. With his hand still touching it, he watches the dealer and, if he can see by his face that his card is a good one–and you can generally tell that–he withdraws his hand with four of the sovereigns, leaving only one on the card. If, on the other hand, he thinks it is a bad one, he leaves the whole five there. He does the trick cleverly enough; but I am certain that I have, four or five times, seen him do it.

"Keep your eyes on his hand. You will see that he takes up five sovereigns from the heap before him, and that he has them in his hand when he pushes the card out. You will notice how he fixes his eye upon the dealer, and that he leaves either one or five, as I have said. He does it, at times, all through the evening, especially when Gordon is dealing; for I can tell, myself, by Gordon's face whether he has a good or a bad card. Of course, he can see it, too.

"I want you all to nod to me, when you see it done. We shall let him do it two or three times, so that we can all swear to it."

All agreed to do so, and Lisle then went to Gordon's quarter's.

"Tritton, Lindsay, and Holmes are going to watch with me tonight. I think the best thing will be for you to answer Sanders' note, and tell him that you will require time to draw your money from England to pay him; but that you will play again tonight, to see if luck turns."

That evening the four young officers took their places, as arranged. Now that their attention had been directed to it, they saw that several times Sanders, although he took up five pounds, only left one on the card; and that he kept his hand upon it, up to the last moment. Each in turn nodded to Lisle.