Avon Fantasy Reader No. 8 — page 109: what you’re looking at

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

THE GOBLINS WILL GET YOU | 105 “Tr will be painful?” “Tr will be painful, but it will be in the rules.” _T left them for a while, went upstairs and fingered my gun. Presently I put it away and shook my head. Then I returned and continued the odd merry-making and finally went to bed and dreamed peacefully. I had six days to work in, and in three I considered almost a thousand sep- arate plans for circumventing theirs. All were fantastic and impossible. ! was clinging to the final silly notion I conjured up, when all of a sudden a practical idea hit me and knocked me utterly sane. Of course! I got them interested in poker. They were a funny lot as you may have guessed and, suspecting nothing, enjoyed the game. We used real money as stakes, which was somewhat silly because as soon as one of them was cleaned out (which was almost always due to my own cleverness) he would merely materialize a newly printed, freshly wrapped stack of bills and continue play- ing. : Simultaneously I fed them on Arthurian legend and tales of chivalry until suggestion had strengthened their already strong sense of honor. The fifth night I began the fatal game. ae. The game started out very early in the evening and I lost heavily accord- ing to plan. The progress of the game left me poorer and poorer. I watched their faces carefully as it went on. Slowly they were becoming enthusiastic, acquiring the instinct of the true poker player which is to continue through dawn and beyond. Their faces became radiant, eagerly each one waited for _ the next hand to begin. I played them carefully, noting the rise of excitement. When I judged them ready, I reached for the cards. , The fourth goblin to my left opened. He tossed a thousand dollars into the pot. Everyone followed suit except the biggest-headed one and the smallest- headed one who were playing together and dropped. | When they finished drawing I gave myself the other two kings I had care- fully placed in position in the deck and settled back in my chair, The opener carefully considered his hand and bet. The other joined and I tossed the required money to the center of the table. Presently everyone dropped out of the game except the opener and myself. He bet a sum equivalent to what I had left. I let this pass and then suddenly raised. “The earth and its people,” I said. “What's that?” They all looked at me with startled glances, noses wag- ging. Py : “T said I raise you the @8th and its people. I can do this. I think you will find it in the rules.” ? The goblins consulted together while I kept my hand carefully. Finally they turned to me as one. | “We have decided that you are right. It is in the rules,” said the tiniest-