Connecticut western news., 1921-03-17
had been toying with poker; now they began to play it.

they began to play it.
 mat gentleman continued for the nonce the even tenor of his stride ex- cept for a Lenten concession to his insides. He ordered placed on a stand at his elbow; a large jug of ice water and a platter containing four dozen sandwiches. No added touch could have done more toward persuading his friendly antagonists that he, Randolph, was out for thick blood. If any one of the five had joyed In the knowl- edge that two slices, thin, of buttered bread embracing a silver of meat had been named eternally after the earl of Sandwich on just such an epochal occasion as this, he would probably have seen the high sign and beat 1t for home and bed.
 Night was fast joining the discard when the weary Herbert dared to in terrupt.
 "Please, MT. RanGoIpn, r-zc officer on the beat says the grass is lifting your cab, sir, and he thought he ought to report anything like that"
 "Tell him to undo the check and let 1t feed itself down again." growled MT. Randolph.
 The day passed; night fell. Now one and then another of the six de- voices Sf science which even in the youth of this nation had forestalled all the wonders of the submarine, the flight oe man, and wireless teIegraphy withdrew just long enough to connect with EA@ Daily Night bank round the corner oR Sssne ether convenient base of supplies and returned to set new money te catch old. But Mir Ran dolph had no occasion to do this His heap of chips and cash of the realm rested on too solid base of its own.
 There may be recorded an amusing diversion from the serious business in hand. It was ushered in by the crest fallen Herbert, who confessed that ac- tual physical exhaustion had driven him to forty winks. during which time a professional purloiner of motor-car accessories had stopped spellbound 5y the gigantic sum registered on MT. RandOlph's taximeter, had promptly stolen the prepOsterous clock, and was now on the club steps offering to set tie with whoever was the interested gent on a f1fty-f1fty basis.
 Great was the consternation of the enterprising speculator in theft when he was confronted by two persons in one; namely, MT. R. H. Randolph, lessee of Car No. 1898, and MT. R. H. Ran dolph. alias Slim Hervey, the irate driver of said cab. His glib tongue, loaded to the gills with arguments as to how much the fare would save through the sudden exit of the clock from the ken of man, tripped hopeless ly on this vision of wrath In the shape of driver in whose interests the tick CT had been faithfully slaving.
 It took MT. Randolph just thirty-two precious minutes to force the crest fallen one to replace and readjust the busy bee of meter readings. When he returned to the fray upstairs, he mo- ticed a strange phenomenon of poker age, unmistakable age, had settled on the faces of the fi!.A youths. He put his fingers to his own countenance; he could feel the added years.
 The game ended, as do all titanic battles. in absolute silence. MT. Ran- dolph sorted, stacked, tabulated his winnings, and stuffed them into all the pockets on his person. He then noted the hour-eleven o'clock of a bright Thursday morning-and. proceeding to the nearest telephone booth, called up Mir. William Verries of Verries X Cat, stock brokers.
 '"That you, William? This is Bob Randolph. William, I've got sixteen thousand dollars in my jeans at the moment of speaking. Whats the low est margin you'll give me to sell Anal I. s. & c. short for delivery at tomor- rows closingT
 "Sell Anal. I. S. & c. short p gasped MT. Verries. "Why, you're crazy! Buy, and I'll talk to you"
 T don't want to buy" said Mir. Ran @OseA E<t1ently. You're right, in q way, about nay being crazy. You see, since you saw me the other day, I've come into some easy long stuff, and it's just ruining my experiment in the philosophy of a moneyless life. want