"Talk fast then," he retorted. "The game"s waiting."
"In private, if you don"t mind," urged Kendric.
Now Barlow looked at him sullenly.
"After what happened last night, Kendric," he said heavily, "you and me have got no private business together. Am I the man to take a bullet from another and then go chin with him?"
"You blame me for that?" Kendric was incredulous. Barlow snorted.
"Well," continued Kendric stiffly, "at least we"ve unfinished business between us. You haven"t forgotten what brought us down here, have you?"
"Treasure, you mean?" Barlow spat out the words defiantly. "Put the name to it, man! Well, what of it?"
"The understanding was that we stand together. That we split what we find fifty-fifty. Does that still go?"
Barlow pulled nervously at his forelock, his eyes wandering. For an instant they were fixed on the smiling face of Zoraida. Then grown dogged they came back to Kendric.
"h.e.l.l take the understanding!" he blurted out savagely. "We stand even tonight, one as close to the loot as the other. It"s every man for himself, whole hog or none, and the devil take the hindmost. That"s what it is!"
"Good," snapped Kendric. "That suits me." He slammed his little pad of bank notes down on the table and took his chair. "What"s the game, gentlemen?"
They named it poker and played hard. Reckless men with money were they all, men accustomed to big fast games. The most reckless of them, Jim Kendric, was in a mood for anything provided it raced. Betty"s att.i.tude, Betty"s look, had stirred him after a strange new fashion which he did not a.n.a.lyze. Barlow"s unreasonable unfriendliness hurt and angered; the jeer in Rios"s hard black eyes ruffled his blood. And even young Bruce looked at him with a defiance which Kendric had no stomach for. From the first card played, Jim Kendric, like a pace maker in a race, stamped his spirit upon the struggle.
Betty, seeing that she was not to be allowed to go sat down and for a s.p.a.ce made a pretense of ignoring what went forward before her. But presently as the atmosphere grew strained and intense, she forgot her pretense and leaned forward and watched eagerly. Zoraida had a couch drawn up for her, richly colored silken cushions placed to her taste, and stretched out luxuriously, her chin in her two hands.
There are isolated games wherein chance enters which make one wonder what is this thing named chance, and from which one rises at last touched by the superst.i.tion which holds so firm a place in the hearts of all gamblers. From the beginning it was Jim Kendric"s game. When a jack-pot was opened he went into it with an ace high, though it cost him a hundred dollars to call for cards, which was not playing poker but defying mathematics and challenging his luck. And the four cards given him by Bruce, whose blue eyes named him fool, were two more aces and two queens. And the pot that was close to ten hundred dollars before the sweetening was done, was his. Barlow, who had lost most, glared at him and muttered under his breath; young Bruce merely stared incredulously and looked again at the cards to make sure; Rios, who had kept clear, smiled and murmured:
"Lucky at cards, unlucky in love, senor."
"I prefer the cards, thanks," said Kendric, stacking his winnings. And there was enough of the boy left in him for him to look briefly for the first time at Betty. Zoraida saw and bit her lip.
But though it was borne in upon those who played and those who watched that it was Jim Kendric"s game there were the inevitable tense moments when each man in turn had his own eager hope. Bruce, no cool hand at gambling, showed his excitement in his shining blue eyes; Barlow muttered to himself; Rios sat forward in his chair and left off pointing the tips of his mustaches. At the end of the first half hour, though Kendric"s heap of winnings was by far the greatest, no man of them was down to bed rock.
And by now Kendric lost patience.
"Make it a jack pot for table stakes," he invited. "One hand for the whole thing!"
"What"s the hurry?" demanded Bruce. "You"re doing well enough as it is, aren"t you?"
"A quick killing is better than slow torture," returned Jim lightly.
"And you"ll note that I am offering odds. Better than two to one against the flushest of you."
"_Bueno, senor_," said Rios. "It suits me."
"It"s a fool thing to do," growled Barlow. A fool thing for Kendric, but not for him, since his were the biggest losses. He had always loved money, had Twisty Barlow, and could never understand Headlong Kendric"s contempt for it and now looked at him as though at one gone mad. Then he shrugged. "Suits me," he said.
"Wait!" Zoraida suddenly leaped to her feet, tossed out her arms in a wide gesture, her eyes unfathomable and shining with the mystery of a hidden thought. "I am glad to have in my house men like you four! You are _men_! Were it life or death, love or war or wealth, you would play the game the same. Men like you make the blood run hot in the heart of Zoraida who also grips life by the naked throat. Wait. And look."
She whirled and in another moment, as lithe as a cat, had sprung to the top of a serving table half across the room. And there she displayed herself in all her barbaric splendor, posing like a model in an artist"s studio, turning slowly, standing at last confronting them, a-thrill with her own daring.
"Would you play for such a stake as never men played for before? For such a stake as kings would risk their crowns for? As such Zoraida offers herself, pledging her word to make the rich gift of herself to the man who wins!"
For a moment all four and Betty with them and the serving men at the doors stared at her and the room was dead still. Through the deep silence cut Zoraida"s laugh, clear and sweet as a silver bell. Under their bewildered gaze she preened herself like a peac.o.c.k, proud of her beauty so boldly displayed before their eyes. Zoraida smiled slowly.
"Is the stake high enough for your play?" she asked gently, in mock humility.
Bruce surged up from his chair only to drop back into it without having said a word. Rios"s eyes caught fire and for the first time Kendric guessed that he, too, was in heart bond-servant to his amazing cousin.
Barlow tugged at his forelock and muttered.
"Heap all the gold together," cried Zoraida. "Play for it and each man of you pray his favorite G.o.d for success. For with it goes Zoraida!"
Betty, looking at her out of round eyes, seemed once more the little girl Kendric had first taken her to be.
"Will you play?" said Zoraida softly.
"Yes! By G.o.d, yes!" cried Barlow.
Rios merely nodded and shoved his money to the middle of the table.
Bruce started like a man from a dream and with hands that shook visibly thrust forward his own gold. Then all looked to Kendric.
Impulse decided for him and his answer came with no measurable time of hesitation. If he played and lost, as he looked at it, there was nothing to regret. If he played and won, perhaps it would have been Zoraida"s own all-hazarding hands which had shown the way to break the chains that bound his two friends to her. It would need something like this to bring both Bruce and Barlow to their senses. It was mostly of Bruce that he thought just then.
"One hand of cards?" said Barlow.
"Rather one card, my friend," said Kendric drily. "We are keeping a lady waiting."
"Oh!" gasped Betty.
A shining pyramid was made of the gold pieces. Then the cards were shuffled and one of the serving men was called forward. He dealt one card to each of the four men, face down, and stepped back. Then the cards were turned over.
All were high cards, not one lower than a ten, yet with no two alike.
The one ace--the ace of hearts--lay in front of Jim Kendric.
CHAPTER XIV
CONCERNING A DIFFICULT SITUATION, RECKLESSLY INVITED
For a moment in the heavy silence Jim Kendric sat appalled by what he had done. In the grip of the game he had been swayed by emotion, not tarrying for cold logic during an episode when time raced. He had hoped to win. Thus, since he had discovered that Rios, too, was enamored of his beautiful cousin, he would tease an old enemy, sober Bruce, jolt Barlow--and vex Betty. He had not thought of himself nor of Zoraida.
No one spoke. The first sound was a long shuddering breath from young Bruce; his face was a sick white save for a spot of red in each cheek; his eyes looked like those of a man with a high fever. Kendric sat staring in perplexity at the gold he had won, automatically gathering it toward him. Zoraida stood motionless, displaying herself, awaiting his eyes. And abruptly, when he lifted his head, his eyes went not to her but to Betty.
The girl appeared fascinated and horrified. Jim"s eyes pleaded with her. Betty began to twist her hands in an agony of bewildered emotions. Zoraida, waiting for Jim"s face to be lifted to her and not one accustomed to waiting on a man, frowned. But swiftly and before anyone but the always watchful Rios saw, she broke the silence with her little cooing laughter. She put out her two white arms toward the men at the table, saying softly:
"Will you help me down, Senor Jim?"
Before Kendric could answer Bruce was on his feet. The blood charged to his face so that the red spots were merged in the crimson flood.
The boy looked ready for murder.