The Argosy, April 1912 — page 23: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

AS THE DICE FELL. 9 Oh, I had been wise when I had con- sented to stake all upon that form of venge- ance against mine enemy! On the other hand, my own case, in the event of my losing, would be little better. I was but thirty- -five: of splendid strength and health; a veteran soldier who could always find fat employment whenever hard knocks were given and taken. Many a soldier of fortune, not so well equipped, had risen to the very steps of thrones, or had, with their keen swords, carved fortunes and high rank upon des- tiny’s tablets. And now, I stood in peril of throwing away all these golden chances and of bury- ing myself in that Virginian wilderness for life. A luring death, forsooth, and one for which I had scant desire. I had ever a scorn for men who were content to turn their backs on home and kindred and to start colonies in heathen lands. Such a man, for instance, was that same Sir Walter Raleigh. He left career and court and spent the best days of his life trying to make savage Virginia an English colony. He had explored it, taken possession of it in England’s name, and had called it “Virginia” in honor of England’s virgin queen, Elizabeth. Yet his colonies had failed. And one of them — that at Roanoke—had even vanished from mortal knowledge as completely as though the earth had swallowed it. And now Smith, it seemed, was not only a leader in one of these same crazy colony-schemes, but was angling to hook me into it. Small wonder I dreaded the outcome of our strange duel! I seized the horn dice-box, rattled it sharply, and made my first cast. The two yellowed ivory dice struck the table’s hard surface with a double click like the cocking of a musket. They bounded and rolled along like a.couple of live things. Then, they suddenly settled. And I read the numbers scored on the up- turned planes of the cubes. Two. The lowest cast possible; a cast that gamesters make barely once in a hundred throws. Such was the luck that dogged me that night. My foe could not throw a lower number. The odds were more than one hundred to one that he would throw a higher. Already I seemed to feel myself aboard ~ against me. the west-bound ship. Through my dis- gruntlement there was but one gleam of consolation. I remembered, all at once, what Will Shakespeare had told me of Whitson’s in- fluence with King James, and his prophecy that, after my assault on the courtier, Eng- land would be too hot to hold me. Nevertheless I could have wished to go back to the Continent, where men were more or less civilized, even the worst of them; and where at least they did not wear feathers on their heads and have painted copper skins. Smith picked up the dice, dropped them in the box, shook it and let the cubes fall lightly on the table. Five! Well, I was beaten in the first throw, but there remained two throws more. And, as ever, when the odds are against me, my fighting spirit rose to meet the crisis. Smith courteously gathered up the dice again, put them in the box, and passed the box across the table to me. I took it, with a nod of acknowledgment. The chances of victory were now two to one against me. Yet I was cooler and less excited than at any time that day. | I rattled the dice and cast them. Twelve! Two sixes. The “Venus Cast,” as an Italian scrivener once told me the ancients used to call it. The highest cast possible. I permitted myself a smiling glance at Captain John Smith. He was as imper- turbable as ever, and even seemed to be weary of the whole proceedings. I envied him his splendid self-control. Not to be outdone in calmness, I passed in the act of watching him prepare to throw, and stifled an imaginary yawn behind my hand. Smith threw the dice as gently as before. I glanced carelessly at them, as though not one whit interested. Nine! I had won the second throw. We were even, mine enemy and I. We could start abreast on the final cast. “Captain,” I urged, arresting his hand as he made to offer me the dice-box, “we stand equal now on this. Therefore, I may speak as I could not when chances were I have no wish to go to the Americas and there toil like a black slave in building a colony. Nor, I take it, do you desire a blow across the face. Let us have done with this silly gaming and Comicloool. CO