CHAPTER XII
The tram that passes the hotel gates took me into the town and dropped
me at the Place du Gouvernement. With its strange fusion of East and
West, its great white-domed mosque flanked by the tall minaret
contrasting with its formal French colonnaded facades, its groupings
of majestic white-robed forms and commonplace figures in caps and hard
felt hats; the mystery of its palm trees, and the crudity of its
flaring electric lights, it gave an impression of unreality, of a
modern contractor's idea of Fairyland, where anything grotesque might
assume an air of normality. The moon shone full in the heavens, and as
I crossed the Place I saw the equestrian statue of the Duke of Orleans
silhouetted against the mosque. The port, to the east, was quiet at
this hour, and the shipping lay dreamily in the moonlight. Far away
one could see the dim outlines of the Kabyle Mountains, and the vague
melting of sea and sky into a near horizon. The undefinable smell of
the East was in the air.
The Cafe de Bordeaux, which forms an angle of the Place, blazed in
front of me. A few hardy souls, a Zouave or two, an Arab, a bored
Englishman and his wife, and some French inhabitants were sitting
outside in the chilliness. I entered. The cafe was filled with a
nondescript crowd, and the rattle of dominoes rose above the hum of
talk. In a corner near the door I discovered the top of a silk hat
projecting above a widely opened newspaper grasped by two pudgy hands,
and I recognised the Professor.
"Monsieur," said he, when I had taken a seat at his table, "if the
unknown terrors which you are going to confront dismay you, I beg that
you will not consider yourself bound to me."
"My dear Professor," I replied, "a brave man tastes of death but
once."
He was much delighted at the sentiment, which he took to be original.
"I shall quote it," said he, "whenever my honour or my courage is
called into question. It is not often that a man has the temerity to
do so. Can I have the honour of offering you a whisky and soda?"
"Have we time?" I asked.
"We have time," he said, solemnly consulting his watch. "Things will
ripen."
"Then," said I, "I shall have much pleasure in drinking to their
maturity."
While we were drinking our whisky and soda he talked volubly of many
things--his travels, his cats, his own incredible importance in the
cosmos. And as he sat there vapouring about the pathetically
insignificant he looked more like Napoleon III than ever. His eyes had
the same mournful depths, his features the same stamp of fatality.
Each man has his gigantic combinations--perhaps equally important in
the eyes of the High Gods. I was filled with an immense pity for
Napoleon III.
Of the object of the adventure he said nothing. As secrecy seemed to
be a vital element in his fifteen-cent scheme, I showed no
embarrassing curiosity. Indeed, I felt but little, though I was
certain that the adventure was connected with the world-cracking
revelations of Monsieur Saupiquet, and was undertaken in the interest
of his beloved lady, Lola Brandt. But it was like playing at pirates
with a child, and my pity for Napoleon gave place to my pity for my
valiant but childish little friend.
At last he looked again at his watch.
"The hour his struck. Let us proceed."
Instinctively I summoned the waiter, and drew a coin from my pocket;
and when the grown-up person and the small boy hobnob together the
former pays. But Anastasius, with a swift look of protest, anticipated
my intention. I was his guest for the evening. I yielded
apologetically, the score was paid, and we went forth into the
moonlight.
He led me across the Place du Gouvernement and struck straight up the
hill past the Cathedral, and, turning, plunged into a network of
narrow streets, where the poor of all races lived together in amity
and evil odours. Shops chiefly occupied the ground floors; some were
the ordinary humble shops of Europeans; others were caves lit by a
smoky lamp, where Arabs lounged and smoked around the tailors or
cobblers squatting at their work; others were Jewish, with Hebrew
inscriptions. There were dark Arab cafes, noisy Italian wine-shops,
butchers' stalls; children of all ages played and screamed about the
precipitous cobble-paved streets; and the shrill cries of Jewish
women, sitting at their doors, rose in rebuke of husband or offspring.
Not many lights appeared through the shuttered windows of the dark,
high houses. Overhead, between two facades, one saw a strip of
paleness which one knew was the moonlit sky. Conversation with my
companion being difficult--the top of his silk hat just reached my
elbow--I strode along in silence, Anastasius trotting by my side. Many
jeers and jests were flung at us as we passed, whereat he scowled
terribly; but no one molested us. I am inclined to think that
Anastasius attributed this to fear of his fierce demeanour. If so, he
was happy, as were the simple souls who flouted; and this reflection
kept my mind serene.
Presently we turned into a wide and less poverty-stricken street,
which I felt sure we could have reached by a less tortuous and
malodorous path. A few yards down we came to a dark /porte cochere/.
The dwarf halted, crossed, so as to read the number by the gas lamp,
and joining me, said:
"It is here. Have you your visiting-cards ready?"
I nodded. We proceeded down the dark entry till we came to a slovenly,
ill-kept glass box lit by a small gas jet, whence emerged a slovenly,
ill-kept man. This was the concierge. Anastasius addressed a remark to
him which I did not catch.
"/Au fond de la cour, troisieme a gauche/," said the concierge.
As yet there seemed to be nothing peculiarly perilous about the
adventure. We crossed the cobble-paved courtyard and mounted an evil-
smelling stone staircase, blackened here and there by the occasional
gas jets. On the third landing we halted. Anastasius put up his hand
and gripped mine.
"Two strong men together," said he, "need fear nothing."
I confess my only fear was lest the confounded revolver which swung
insecurely in my hip-pocket might go off of its own accord. I did not
mention this to my companion. He raised his hat, wiped his brow, and
rang the bell.
The door opened about six inches, and a man's dark-moustachioed face
appeared.
"/Vous desirez, Messieurs/?"
As I had not the remotest idea what we desired, I let Anastasius be
spokesman.
"Here is an English milord," said Anastasius boldly, "who would like
to be admitted for the evening to the privileges of the Club."
"Enter, gentlemen," said the man, who appeared to be the porter.
We found ourselves in a small vestibule. In front of us was a large
door, on the right a small one, both closed. At a table by the large
door sat a dirty, out-of-elbows raven of a man reading a newspaper.
The latter looked up and addressed me.
"You wish to enter the Club, Monsieur?"
I had no particular longing to do so, but I politely answered that
such was my desire.
"If you will give your visiting-card, I will submit it to the
Secretariat."
I produced my card; Anastasius thrust a pencil into my hand.
"Write my name on it, too."
I obeyed. The raven sent the porter with the card into the room on the
right, and resumed the perusal of his soiled newspaper. I looked at
Anastasius. The little man was quivering with excitement. The porter
returned after a few minutes with a couple of pink oval cards which he
handed to each of us. I glanced at mine. On it was inscribed: /Cercle
Africain d'Alger. Carte de Member Honoraire. Une soiree/. And then
there was a line for the honorary member's signature. The raven man
dipped a pen in the ink-pot in front of him and handed it to me.
"Will you sign, Messieurs?"
We executed this formality; he retained the cards, and opening the
great door, said:
"/Entrez, Messieurs/!"
The door closed behind us. It was simply a /tripot/, or gambling-den.
And all this solemn farce of Secretariats and /cartes d'entree/ to
obtain admission! It is curious how the bureaucratic instinct is
ingrained in the French character.
It was a large, ill-ventilated room, blue with cigarette and cigar
smoke. Some thirty men were sitting or standing around a baccarat
table in the centre, and two or three groups hung around /ecarte/
tables in the corners. A personage who looked like a slightly more
prosperous brother of the raven outside and wore a dinner-jacket,
promenaded the room with the air of one in authority. He scrutinised
us carefully from a distance; then advanced and greeted us politely.
"You have chosen an excellent evening," said he. "There are a great
many people, and the banks are large."
He bowed and passed on. A dingy waiter took our hats and coats and
hung them up. Anastasius plucked me by the sleeve.
"If you don't mind staking a little for the sake of appearances, I
shall be grateful."
I whispered: "Can you tell me now, my dear Professor, for what reason
you have brought me to this gaming-hell?"
He looked up at me out of his mournful eyes and murmured, "/Patienza,
lieber Herr/." Then spying a vacant place behind the chairs at the
baccarat table, he darted thither, and I followed in his wake. There
must have been about a couple of hundred louis in the bank, which was
held by a dissipated, middle-aged man who, having once been handsome
in a fleshy way, had run to fat. His black hair, cropped short, stood
up like a shoebrush, and when he leaned back in his chair a roll of
flesh rose above his collar. I disliked the fellow for his
unhealthiness, and for the hard mockery in his puffy eyes. The company
seemed fairly homogeneous in its raffishness, though here and there
appeared a thin, aristocratic face, with grey moustache and pointed
beard, and the homely anxious visage of a small tradesman. But in bulk
it looked an ugly, seedy crowd, with unwashed bodies and unclean
souls. I noticed an Italian or two, and a villainous Englishman with a
face like that of a dilapidated horse. A glance at the table plastered
with silver and gold showed me that they were playing with a five-
franc minimum.
Anastasius drew a handful of louis from his pocket and staked one. I
staked a five-franc piece. The cards were dealt, the banker exposed a
nine, the highest number, and the croupier's flat spoon swept the
table. A murmur arose. The banker was having the luck of Satan.
"He always protects me, the good fellow," laughed the banker, who had
overheard the remark.
Again we staked, again the hands were dealt. Our tableau or end of the
table won, the other lost. The croupier threw the coins in payment. I
let my double stake lie, and so did Anastasius. At the next coup we
lost again. The banker stuffed his winnings into his pocket and
declared a /suite/. The bank was put up at auction, and was eventually
knocked down to the same personage for fifty louis. The horse-headed
Englishman cried "/banco/," which means that he would play the banker
for the whole amount. The hands were dealt, the Englishman lost, and
the game started afresh with a hundred louis in the bank. The
proceedings began to bore me. Even if my experience of life had not
suggested that scrupulous fairness and honour were not the guiding
principles of such an assemblage, I should have taken little interest
in the game. I am a great believer in the wholesomeness of compounding
for sins you are inclined to by damning those you have no mind to. It
aids the nice balance of life. And gambling is one of the sins I
delight to damn. The rapid getting of money has never appealed to me,
who have always had sufficient for my moderately epicurean needs, and
least of all did it appeal to me now when I was on the brink of my
journey to the land where French gold and bank notes were not in
currency. I repeat, therefore, that I was bored.
"If the perils of the adventure don't begin soon, my dear Professor,"
I whispered, "I shall go to sleep standing."
Again he asked for patience and staked a hundred-franc note. At that
moment the man sitting at the table in front of him rose, and the
dwarf slipped swiftly into his seat. He won his hundred francs and
made the same stake again. It was obvious that the little man did not
damn gambling. It was a sin to which he appeared peculiarly inclined.
The true inwardness of the perilous adventure began to dawn on me. He
had come here to make the money wherewith he could further his
gigantic combinations. All this mystery was part of his childish
cunning. I hardly knew whether to box the little creature's ears, to
box my own, or to laugh. I compromised with a smile on the last
alternative, and baccarat being a dreary game to watch, I strolled off
to the nearest /ecarte/ table, and, to justify my presence in the
room, backed one of the players.
Presently my attention was called to the baccarat table by a noise as
of some dispute, and turning, I saw the gentleman in the dinner-jacket
hurrying to what appeared to be the storm centre, the place where
Anastasius was sitting. Suspecting some minor peril, I left the
/ecarte/ players, and joined the gentleman in the dinner-jacket. It
seemed that the hand, which is played in rotation by those seated at
each tableau or half-table, had come round for the first time to
Anastasius, and objection had been taken to his playing it, on the
score of his physical appearance. The dwarf was protesting vehemently.
He had played baccarat in all the clubs of Europe, and had never
received such treatment. It was infamous, it was insulting. The
malcontents of the punt paid little heed to his remonstrances. They
resented the entrusting of their fortunes to one whose chin barely
rose above the level of the table. The banker lit a cigarette and sat
back in his chair with a smile of mockery. His attitude brought up the
superfluous flesh about his chin and the roll of fat at the back of
his neck. With his moustache /en croc/, and his shoebrush hair, I have
rarely beheld a more sensual-looking desperado.
"But gentlemen," said he, "I see no objection whatever to Monsieur
playing the hand."
"Naturally," retorted a voice, "since it would be to your advantage."
The raven in the dinner-jacket commanded silence.
"Gentlemen, I decide that, according to the rules of the game,
Monsieur is entitled to play the hand."
"Bravo!" exclaimed one or two of my friend's supporters.
"/C'est idiot/!" growled the malcontents.
"/Messieurs, faites vos jeux/!" cried the croupier.
The stakes were laid, the banker looked around, estimating the
comparative values of the two tableaux. Anastasius had backed his hand
with a pile of louis. To encourage him, and to conciliate the hostile
punt, I threw down a hundred-franc note.
"/Les jeux sont faits? Rien ne va plus/."
The banker dealt, two cards to each tableau, two to himself.
Anastasius, trembling with nervous excitement, stretched out a palsied
little fist towards the cards. He drew them towards him, face
downwards, peeped at them in the most approved manner, and in a husky
voice called for an extra card.
The card dealt face upwards was a five. The banker turned up his own
cards, a two and a four, making a point of six. Naturally he stood,
Anastasius did nothing.
"Show your cards--show your cards!" cried several voices.
He turned over the two cards originally dealt to him. They were a king
and a nine, making the natural nine, the highest point, and he had
actually asked for another card. It was the unforgivable sin. The five
that had been dealt to him brought his point to four. There was a roar
of indignation. Men with violent faces rose and cursed him, and shook
their fists at him. Others clamoured that the coup was ineffective.
They were not going to be at the mercy of an idiot who knew nothing of
the game. The hand must be dealt over again.
"/Jamais de la vie/!" shouted the banker.
"/Le coup est bon/!" cried the raven in authority, and the croupier's
spoon hovered over the tableau. But the horse-headed Englishman
clutched the two louis he had staked. He was damned, and a great many
other things, if he would lose his money that way. The raven in the
dinner-jacket darted round, and bending over him, caught him by the
wrist. Two or three others grabbed their stakes, and swore they would
not pay. The banker rose and went to the rescue of his gains. There
was screaming and shouting and struggling and riot indescribable.
Those round about us went on cursing Anastasius, who sat quite still,
with quivering lips, as helpless as a rabbit. The raven tore his way
through the throng around the Englishman and came up to me excited and
dishevelled.
"It is all your fault, Monsieur," he shrieked, "for introducing into
the club a half-witted creature like that."
"Yes, it's your fault," cried a low-browed, ugly fellow looking like a
butcher in uneasy circumstances who stood next to me. Suddenly the
avalanche of indignation fell upon my head. Angry, ugly men crowded
round me and began to curse me instead of the dwarf. Cries arose. The
adventure began, indeed, to grow idiotically perilous. I had never
been thrown out of doors in my life. I objected strongly to the idea.
It might possibly hurt my body, and would certainly offend my dignity.
I felt that I could not make my exit through the portals of life with
the urbanity on which I had counted, if, as a preparatory step, I had
been thrown out of a gambling-hell. There were only two things to be
done. Either I must whip out my ridiculous revolver and do some free
shooting, or I must make an appeal to the lower feelings of the
assembly. I chose the latter alternative. With a sudden movement I
slipped through the angry and gesticulating crowd, and leaped on a
chair by one of the deserted /ecarte/ tables. Then I raised a
commanding arm, and, in my best election-meeting voice, I cried:
"/Messieurs/!"
The unexpectedness of the manoeuvre caused instant silence.
"As my friend and myself," I said, "are the cause of this unpleasant
confusion, I shall be most happy to pay the banker the losses of the
tableau."
And I drew out and brandished my pocket-book, in which, by a special
grace of Providence, there happened to be a considerable sum of money.
Murmurs of approbation arose. Then the Englishman sang out:
"But what about the money we would have won, if that little fool had
played the game properly?"
The remark was received with cheers.
"That amount, too," said I, "I shall be happy to disburse."
There was nothing more to be said, as everybody, banker and punt, were
satisfied. The raven in the dinner-jacket came up and informed me that
my proposal solved the difficulty. I besought him to make out the bill
for my little entertainment as quickly as possible. Then I dismounted
from my chair and beckoned to the dwarf, still sitting white and
piteous, to join me. He obeyed like a frightened child who had been
naughty. All his swagger and braggadocio were gone. His bosom heaved
with suppressed sobs. He sat down on the chair I had vacated and
buried his face on the /ecarte/ table. We remained thus aloof from the
crowd who were intent on the calculation at the baccarat table. At
last the raven in the dinner-jacket arrived with a note of the amount.
It was two thousand three hundred francs. I gave him the notes, and,
taking Anastasius by the arm, led him to the door, where the waiter
stood with our hats and coats. Before we could reach it, however, the
banker, who had risen from his seat, crossed the room and addressed
me.
"Monsieur," said he, with an air of high-bred courtesy, "I infinitely
regret this unpleasant affair and I thank you for your perfect
magnanimity."
I did not suggest that with equal magnanimity he might refund the
forty-six pounds that had found its way from my pocket to his, but I
bowed with stiff politeness, and made my exit with as much dignity as
the attachment to my heels of the crestfallen Anastasius would permit.
Outside I constituted myself the guide, and took the first turning
downhill, knowing that it would lead to the civilised centre of the
town. The dwarf's roundabout route was characteristic of his tortuous
mind. We walked along for some time without saying anything. I could
not find it in my heart to reproach the little man for the
expensiveness (nearly a hundred pounds) of his perilous adventure, and
he seemed too dazed with shame and humiliation to speak. At last, when
we reached, as I anticipated, the Square de la Republique, I patted
him on the shoulder.
"Cheer up, my dear Professor," said I. "We both are acquainted with
nobler things than the ins and outs of gaming-hells."
He reeled to a bench under the palm trees, and bursting into tears,
gave vent to his misery in the most incoherent language ever uttered
by man. I sat beside him and vainly attempted consolation.
"Ah, how mad I am! Ah, how contemptible! I dare not face my beautiful
cats again. I dare not see the light of the sun. I have betrayed my
trust. Accursed be the cards. I, who had my gigantic combination. It
is all gone. Beautiful lady, forgive me. Generous-hearted friend,
forgive me. I am the most miserable of God's creatures."
"It is an accident that might happen to any one," I said gently. "You
were nervous. You looked at the cards, you mistook the nine for a ten,
in which case you were right to call for another card."
"It is not that," he wailed. "It is the spoiling of my combination, on
which I have wasted sleepless nights. A curse on my mad folly. Do you
know who the banker was?"
"No," said I.
"He was Captain Vauvenarde, the husband of Madame Brandt."
