JOHN’S ISLAND 95 
‘“‘Vou’re a real smart financeer,’ said the chap. 
‘You’ve made a hundred per cent on your money,’ and 
he handed out two dollars; I felt pretty smart too just 
then.”’ 
“T’ll bet you did,’ I said. ‘‘What happened next?” 
‘‘Well, a lot of the crowd standing round, looking on, 
knew me and when they saw me pocket those two dollars 
a bunch of them began to try their luck betting. In 
less than five minutes that card chap won twenty-seven 
dollars. Not one of them could turn over that ace of 
hearts again. Do you know how he did it?’’ asked 
Jimmy. 
‘“‘T might make a good guess,’”’ I answered. 
‘“‘T’ve often wondered,”’ said Jimmy, ‘‘how that chap 
could throw down an ace of hearts, marked on the back 
with a big cross, and when you picked it up you found 
the ten of clubs in your hand. Can you explain that?”’ 
‘“Why, yes,’’ I said, ‘‘he had an ace of hearts and a 
dozen other cards, all marked alike with a big cross on 
their backs.”’ 
‘“How did he change them there, right before my 
eyes?’ asked Jimmy. 
“He had practiced that, that’s where his little game 
came in. You were going up against another man’s 
sure thing.”’ 
“‘T kind of guessed it was something like that,’’ said 
Jimmy. ‘“‘Anyway I didn’t bet any more, just hung 
onto my money and looked on. Pretty soon when 
they found they couldn’t win anything the crowd moved 
off. When they had gone, I said to the card chap, ‘Are 
you an assistant treasurer of the Y. M. C. A. too?’ 
““He gave me a queer look and then said, ‘No, I’m the 
treasurer for the company that’s putting bibles in every 
room of all the hotels in the land.’ 
