第53章

Then Chook,who was watching the spinner,noticed that he fumbled the pennies slightly as he placed them on the kip.Success had shaken his nerve,and instantly Chook changed his cry to "A dollar tails--a dollar tails!"The coins spun into the air with a nervous jerk,and fell with the two black tails up.The spinner threw down the kip,and took his winnings from the boxer--five pounds for himself and ten shillings for the boxer.

As another man took the kip,the boxer glared at the winning players.

"How is it?"he cried with the voice of a footpad demanding charity,and obeying the laws of the game,the winners threw a dollar or more from their heap to the boss.

For an hour Chook won steadily,and then at every throw the heap of coins in front of him lessened.A trot or succession of seven tails followed,and the kip changed hands rapidly,for the spinner drops the kip when he throws tails.Chook stopped betting during the trot,obeying an instinct.

Without counting,his practised eye told him that there were about five pounds in the heap of coins in front of him.The seventh man threw down the kip,and Chook,as if obeying a signal,rose from his seat and walked into the centre of the ring.He handed five shillings to the boxer,and placed the pennies tail up on the kip.His stake was covered with another dollar,the betting being even money.

"Fair go!"cried the boxer.

Chook jerked the coins upward with the skill of an old gaffer;they flew into the dome,and then dropped spinning.As they touched the canvas floor,a hundred voices cried "Two heads!""Two heads!"cried the boxer,and a shower of coins flew across the ring to the winners.

"A dollar or ten bob heads!"cried the boxer,staking Chook's win.Chook spun the coins again,and as they dropped heads,the boxer raked in one pound.

"Wot d'ye set?"he cried to Chook.

"The lot,"cried Chook,and spun the coins.Heads again,and Chook had two pounds in the boxer's hands,who put ten shillings aside in case Chook "threw out",and staked thirty.Chook headed them again,and was three pounds to the good.The gaffers realized that a trot of heads was coming,and the boxer had to offer twelve to ten to cover Chook's stake.

For the seventh time Chook threw heads,and was twelve pounds to the good.

This was his dream come true,and with the faith of the gambler in omens,he knew that was the end of his luck.He set two pounds of his winnings,and tossed the coins.

"Two ones!"cried the gamblers,with a roar.

Chook threw again.One penny fell flat on its face;the other rolled on its edge across the ring.In a sudden,deadly silence,a hundred necks craned to follow its movements.Twenty or thirty pounds in dollars and half-dollars depended on the wavering coin.Suddenly it stopped,balanced as if in doubt,and fell on its face.

"Two tails!"cried the gaffers,and the trot of heads was finished.

Chook's stake was swept away,and the boxer handed him ten pounds.

Chook tossed a pound to him for commission.He acknowledged it with a grunt,and looking round the ring at the winning players cried out "How is it?--how is it?"With his other winnings Chook had over fifteen pounds in his pocket,and he decided to go,although the night was young.

As he went to the stairs,the boxer cried out,"No one to leave for five minutes!"following the custom when a big winner left the room,to prevent a swarm of cadgers,lug-biters,and spielers begging a tram fare,a bed,a cup of coffee from the winner.When Chook reached the top of the staircase,the G.P.O.clock began to strike,and Chook stopped to listen,for he had forgotten the lapse of time.He counted the last stroke,eleven,and then,as if it had been a signal,came the sound of voices and a noise of hammering from the front door.The next moment the doorkeeper ran up the narrow staircase crying "The Johns are here!"For a moment the crowd of gamblers stared,aghast;then the look of trapped animals came into their faces,and with the noise of splintering wood below,they made a rush at the money on the floor.The boxer ran swearing into the ring to hide the kip and the pennies,butting with his bull shoulders against a mob of frenzied gaffers mad with fear and greed,grabbing at any coins they could reach in despair of finding their own.

The news spread like fire.The school was surrounded by a hundred policemen in plain clothes and uniform;every outlet from the alley was watched and guarded.A cold scorn of the police filled Chook's mind.

For months the school ran unmolested,and then a raid was planned in the spirit of sportsmen arranging a drive of rabbits for a day's outing.This raid meant capture by the police,an ignominious procession two by two to the lock-up,a night in the cells unless bail was found,and a fine and a lecture from the magistrate in the morning.To some it meant more.To the bank clerk it meant the sack;to the cashier who was twenty pounds short in his cash,an examination of his books and discovery;to the spieler who was wanted by the police,scrutiny by a hundred pair of official eyes.

The gaffers ran here and there bewildered,cursing and swearing in an impotence of rage.Like trapped rats the men ran to the windows and doors,but the room,fortified with iron bars and barbed wire,held them like a trap.The boxer cried out that bail would be found for the captured,but his bull roar was lost in the din.

There was a rush of heavy police boots on the stairs,the lights were suddenly turned out,and in the dark a wild scramble for liberty.Someone smashed a window that was not barred,and a swarm of men fought round the opening,dropping one by one on to the roof of some stables.The first man through shouted something and tried to push back,but a frenzied stream of men pushed him and the others into the arms of the police,who had marked this exit beforehand.Chook found himself on the roof,bleeding from a cut lip,and hatless.Below him men were crouching on the roofs like cats,to be picked off at the leisure of the police.