The mountain Democrat., 1864-03-12


your original stake and, therefore, as
the 6aag n>Sf torn up some time or 9TH
er, the termination Of any series Of even
numbers must always leave you winner.
The system would be infallible, but for
two fatal defects: The first is, that, be.
sides the eighteen odd numbers on the
table, there is a zero; and whenever the
ball falls into the hole corresponding to
the zeero (Which of course it does, on an
average, once in thirty-six times), the
bank wins all the stakes, whether placed
upon the odd or even numbers. This
difficulty, however, is less serious than
the secord. If you go on doubling, the
amount of your stake increases with ra.
pidity that is perfectly awful. Starting
with q stake of Eve shillings, in ten
rounds the amount you would have to
put down would be 9l2s. If you won it
you would gain five shillings on the bal.
ance. II your courage gave way before
/ the prospect Of stalking f266, you would
lose 3225 los. on the series. To carry
on this system, therefore, with absolute
certainty of success, even laying aside all
consideration of the zero, yo1 ought to
have the purse of Fortunatus. Practi-
cally, however, run of more than eIgh-
teen consecutive odd or even numbers is,
| believe, extraordinary, and run Of
more than eight is unusually rare. To
guard themselves, therefore, against the
success of this system in the hands of
very wealthy players, the bank has for
hidden more than f400 to be stakcd on
single chance 81
1t was by playing this doubling game
that the firm Of Mephistopheles, Faust &
Go. hoped to make their fortunes Every
morning, as soon as the tables opened,
they seated themselves side by side at
the board-Mephistopheles with his note
book before him, and the stump of pen.
Gil in his lips; Faust with his pocket book
of bank notes sticking out Of his breast
pocket. The senior partner never played
himself but whispered his instructions to
his colleague. Their rule was to stake a
/ hundred.irancs, say upon the red and to
60 on doubling until they won. To
guard against the zero turning up, they
placed t1orin upon this particular num-
Der, which they also doubled each time
/ they lost. On the first day. as far as
could gather, they won thousand francs
or so. On the second evening, however,
the fatal defect Of their system made it.
self visible. They were playing on the
odd chance, and there was run of enor-
nous length On the even. Thirteen
times in succession the croupier called out
-" Pair" BY the time the seventh
number of the series was reached, the
stake had reached the maximum. Six
times they played the maximum and lost;
and when at last the ran turned, they had
lost close upon $4,000 in the space Of
thirty minutes. However, there was
plenty of money still left among their as
sets; and the next day fortune favored
them. At the close of the evening they
had won 1900. Mcphistophcles, to do
him justice, was fine player; winning
or losing, he never showed the slightest
emotion, possibly because-the money em-
barked in the speculation was not his
own. Faust, on the other hand, was ca
silly intoxicated with success on this oc
casiun he jumped up at the close Of the
evenings play, shook his bank notes in
the face Of the croupier, and informed
him that he would never leave till he had
iaken every franc out OF the bank. Any
thing more calmly contcmptuouS than
the bow with which this remark was re-
ceiyed it is impossible to imagine.
The following two days the play went
on with little interest, at any rate, so far
as -lookers.on were concerned. Sunday
was destined to be the day of the final
triumph of the bank. In the morning |
entered the room, and found Faust losing
heavily and continuously. lie had grown
weary of the infalliblc martingalc, and
was stalking large sums constantly on the
odd or even, and always with illluck. -
| went away fer a long walk into the
pleasant Nassau country, and came back
quite late IN the evening. The tables
were deserted, with the exception OF the
one at which Faust was running himself,
where a dense crowd was gathered. Ne
phstopheles had quilted him in disgust;
but even the absence of that disreputable
guardian angel had brought him no good
luck lie was playing wildly and madly
stalking no longer on the even chance,
but putting down the largest permitted
sums on single numbers, which of course
never turned up at the time they were
wanted. The fat pocket book had grown
marvelously thin; great drops Of black
sweat were trickling down the unhappy
mans face, and every moment expected
to see him fall in an apoplcctic fit. At
last he stakcd what apparently was his
last note; the zero turned up, and the
stake was remorselessly swept up by the
croupier's rake. There was a sort of
hush, and everybody turned toward the
ruined man. Happily, the scene-instead
OF ending, as feared, in tragedy-had
a termination which was grinly comic -
By the side Of the table tlsere -teea t;fii IF Id
little English curate, with the glossiest of
black coats, the neateSt of white ties,
and that ineRable look Of self satisfaction
which only popular clergy yman can nt.
tam. What he was doing there cannot
tell. hope he had not won the money: :
but there was a smirk upon his face or
sudden Faust staggered up from the ia,
bic; his eye cIoght that OF the parson. -
cannot wonder that the smirk grated ir
reSlstibly upon his feelings Atany rate,
ne sErang forward, grasped the curate by
tie collar, spun him round as he would a
child, and asked him what he meant by
laughing at his misfortunes. "Come in,
to the garden, sir !" he shouted, "and
fight me with swords or pistols and
will kill you like dog" OF course, the
poor little clergyman, being very dimin-
utive, had very tall wife. This valiant
British matron, seeing her husbands life
in peril, rushed up, threw her arms round
Faust'S neck from behind, aud screamed
out to him to let her lord and master go.
Meanwhile the walters had been Summon
cd hastily; the curats was rescued, and
=. Faust was led sTay, not unkindly, and
/ piyen water to drink and N favu no,,nda