had been forced from the game. It was the two of us against each other.

I was sure Odaan was not cheating and, since I couldn't get the sort of bets I wanted from him on the hands I dealt, I bet recklessly on those he dealt. For a while the luck swung back and forth between us evenly. Then he hit a winning streak.

Neither of us was drinking. We were cold sober, and we were betting thousands on the turn of a card. Hours passed, and I could no longer cover my bets with liquid assets. But my luck had to change. I began betting my property—my business property, my stocks and investments, at last my home in Syrtis Major.

It was nearly dawn when I realized I had nothing more to bet. Everything I had built up on Earth and brought to Mars with me, everything I had added to it on Mars, belonged to Odaan now. I was a pauper.

I pushed the cards aside and started to get up from the table, soaked with perspiration, when I saw Dori standing in the door. She was looking at me across the heads of the intent spectators, on her face one of the most wistful expressions I have ever seen.

There was my ticket back to wealth.

It could be a long, slow pull; I could wind up leaving Mars as I had left Earth. Or I could use that ticket to win it all back now. It was a desperate chance, a chance that depended on the vagaries of Dori's emotions. It was my only chance.

"Odaan," I said calmly, "you have no wife, and I see you like mine. I'll make a last bet with you. My wife against all you own—what you've won from me and your own possessions as well."

Odaan stared at me a long moment, then he turned slowly and saw Dori standing there. In that instant, I was convinced he had not been cheating.

"All right," he said, and he sounded as though he were strangling. "Deal the cards."

He drew his heat-gun and laid it on the table before him, as if warning me. Maybe he didn't know, but he suspected. I could not take a chance on cheating now; and, the way the cards had been running, I couldn't take a chance on them without cheating.

"Not cards," I said. "I'll roll the dice with you, Odaan."

He hesitated, then said:

"All right. I'll go and get the dice."

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