Evening star., 1922-04-07

THE STEEL DOOR
BY ARTHUR B. REEVE
One Of The Stars Weekend Fiction Series Each story
complete in three installments.
BY ARTHUR B. REEVE


/ once in one million forty-eight thou
sand. five hundred and seventy-six
coups. 1t would take ten years to
make m that many eoups. % and and the h, run run
number Of times In 1t. 1t Is only when
one deals with infinitely large num-
bers yof coups that one can count on
| infinitely small variations In the
mathematical results. This game
fore anything. everything. may hap
pen. Systems are based on the in
| finite; we play in the finite"
! You talk like professor had at
the university" ejaculated peLong R
| bility of theoretically infailibie sys-
| TENS. Again DeLong carefully avoid
! ed the IT." as well as the black.
The The Wheel spun again: the ~, bal,
! the table watched with bated breath.
Seventeen won!
AS Kennedy piled up his winnings
superciliously, without even the, ap,,
me whispered. "A foreign nobleman
with system-watch him."
Non. monsieur said Kennedy
| quickly, having overhead the remark.
system of which I know"
"What?' asked DeLong eagerly.
| Kennedy staked a large sum on
. the red to win. The black came up,
and he lost. He doubled the stake
| With amazing calmness Craig kept
| right on doubling.
The martingaIe." ! heard the man
whisper behind me. In other words.
| Kennedy was now in for some hun
dreds. a sum that was sufficiently
large for him, but he doubled again.
| still cheerfully playing the red. and
| the red won. AS he gathered up his
THAT'S the only system" he said
| simply.
But. go on: go on" came the chorus
from about the table.
| NO" said kenndy quietly. that is
part of the system. too-to quit when
you have won back your stakes and a
little more"
"Huh!. exclaimed DeLons in dis
yoS TnFs quit IN t0f If sG%s yos
had real sporting blood you wouldn't
| Kennedy calmly passed over the in
suit, letting it be understood that he
There is no way you can beat the
game in the long run if you keep at
it,. he answered simply. ut is
mathematically impossible. Con-
players to stake money for US on
, every possible number at every coup.
How do we come out? If there are
no o. or 90 we come out after each
coup precisely where we started-we
forth among ourselves: we have
| neither more nor less. But with the
| o. and 90 the bank sweeps the
board ever so often. 1t is only a
OF ts hacs wnsn nd farth ter paying
! ourselves. it has all filtered through
! the 20 and 90 into the bank. 1t is
/ not a game Of chance for the bank
| ah. it is exact. mathematical-c'es est
une question d. arithmetiaue; seule-
1 ment. n'est-ce pas. messieurs?"
! Perhaps" admitted DeLong. but
it doesn't explain why I am losing
ming"
Craig. after I have had bite to
| eat I will demonstrate how to lose
by keeping on playing He led the
! way to the cafe.
peLong was too intent on the game
and then I saw him beckon to an at
tendant. who brought him a stiff
| drink Of whisky. For q moment his
play seemed a little better, then he
would drop back into his hopeless
| system" failed absolutely.
J You see, he Is hopeless" unused
Kennedy over our light repast. And
yet of all gambling games roulette
offers the player the best odds, far
/ better than horse racing, for instance
Our method has usually been to out
law roulette and permit horse rae
ing; in other words. suppress the
more favorable and permit the less
ter now; we're suppressins both. OF
| course. what I say applies only to
roulette when it is honestly played
DeLong would lose anyhow. fear
started +, bs,ts Ws.t tone DC Soa Soa
mean? Do you think the wheel is
crooked?"
piled in an undertone. That run OF
IT might happen:-yes. But it is
I was a new player-new players al
ways win at first. It is proverbial.
but the man who is running this
game has made it look like plati.
tude. To satisfy myself on that
have lost my winnings. and am just
square with the game. When 1 reach
the point that I am convinced that
some crooked work Is going on I am
going to try little experiment, Wal
me so that no one can see what am
doing. Do just as I will indicate to
you"
Tho gambling room was now fast
filling up with the first Of the theater
crowd. Belongs table was the CEN
ter Of attraction, owing to the high
play. A group Of young men Of his
set were commiserating with him on
his luck and discussing it with the
finished air Of roues of double their
ages. He was doggedly following
his system.
Kennedy and I approached.
stranger again peLons eselaimed.
catching sight Of Kennedy. perhaps
he can enlighten us on how to win
at roulette by playing his own sys-
tenn"
''Au eontraire. monsieur. let me
Craig with 4 smile that showed = row
Of faultless teeth beneath his black
mustach. decidedly foreign.
Kennedy played and lost. ana lost
again; then he won, but In the main
he lost. After one particularly large
loss l felt his arm on mine. drawing
= sort Of grim pleasure In the fact
that Kennedy, too, was losing. I
found that Craig had paused in his
play at q moment when DeLone had
staked a large sum that q number
below "1s" would turn up-for five
rs'' and "ss." Curious to see what
] Craig was doing. looked cautiously
down between US. All eyes were
fixed on the wheel. Kennedy was
holding an ordinary compass in the
crooked-up palm Of his hand. The
needle pointed at me. as happened
to be standing north Of it,
The wheel spun. Suddenly the nee
die swung around to . point between
the north and south poles, auivsred
4 moment and came to rest in that
position. Then 1t swung back to the