"Ten to one--two hundred and twenty dollars!" he muttered to me.
The other three players were laying their bets for the next turn of the wheel. Johnny swept the gold pieces into his pocket, and laid back the original stake against _even_. He lost. Thereupon he promptly arose and left the building.
I followed him to the hotel somewhat gloomily; for I was now the only member of our party who had not made good the agreed amount of the partnership. It is significant that never for a moment did either Johnny or myself doubt that Talbot would have the required sum. Johnny, his spirits quite recovered, whistled like a lark.
We arrived just in time for the first supper call, and found Talbot and Yank awaiting us. Yank was as cool and taciturn, and nodded to us as indifferently, as ever. Talbot, however, was full of excitement. His biscuit-brown complexion had darkened and flushed until he was almost Spanish-black, and the little devils in his eyes led a merry dance between the surface and unguessed depths. He was also exceedingly voluble; and, as usual when in that mood, aggravatingly indirect. He joked and teased and carried on like a small boy; and insisted on ordering an elaborate dinner and a bottle of champagne, in the face of even Johnny's scandalized expostulations. When Johnny protested against expenditure, it was time to look out!
"This is on me! This is my party! Dry up, Johnny!" cried Talbot. "Fill your glasses. Drink to the new enterprise; the Undertakers' Mining Company, Unlimited."
"Well, you all look it. Call it the Gophers, then. Capital stock just eight hundred and eighty dollars, fully subscribed. I suppose it is fully subscribed, gentlemen?" He scrutinized us closely. "Ah, Frank! I see we'll have to take your promissory note. But the artistic certificates are not yet home from the engravers. Take your time. Maybe a relative will die."
"Talbot," said I disgustedly, "if I hadn't happened to smell your breath before supper I'd think you drunk."
"I _am_ drunk, old deacon," rejoined Talbot, "but with the Wine of Enchantment--do you know your Persian? No? Well, then, this:
"Drink to me only with thine eyes, And I'll not ask for wine!"
"The best, the most capricious, the most beautiful woman in the world," cried Talbot, "whose smile intoxicates, whose frown drives to despair."