Delay in Transit Read Online Free PDF Page A

got?" asked Cassal, wiping up the mess and trying to keep
track of the cards.
     
     
"How he fixes the deck," explained Dimanche in a lower and less painful
tone. "Clever."
     
     
Muttering, Cassal shoved a bet in front of him.
     
     
"Look at that hat," said Dimanche.
     
     
"Ridiculous, isn't it? But I see no reason to gloat became I have
better taste."
     
     
"That's not what I meant. It's pulled down low over his knobby ears and
touches his jacket. His jacket rubs against his trousers, which in turn
come in contact with the stool on which he sits."
     
     
"True," agreed Cassal, increasing his wager. "But except for his physique,
I don't see anything unusual."
     
     
"It's a circuit, a visual projector broken down into components. The
hat is a command circuit which makes contact, via his clothing, with
the broadcasting unit built into the chair. The existence of a visual
proiector is completely concealed."
     
     
Cassal bit his lip and squinted at his cards. "Interesting. What does
it have to do with anything?"
     
     
"The deck," exclaimed Dimanche excitedly. "The backs are regular,
printed with an intricate design. The front is a special plastic,
susceptible to the influence of the visual projector. He doesn't need
manual dexterity. He can make any value appear on any card he wants. It
will stay there until he changes it."
     
     
Cassal picked up the cards. "I've got a Loreenaroo equation. Can he
change that to anything else?"
     
     
"He can, but he doesn't work that way. He decides before he deals who's
going to get what. He concentrates on each card as he deals it. He can
change a hand after a player gets it, but it wouldn't look good."
     
     
"It wouldn't." Cassal wistfully watched the dealer rake in his wager. His
winnings were gone, plus. The newcomer to the game won.
     
     
He started to get up. "Sit down," whispered Dimanche. "We're just
beginning. Now that we know what he does and how he does it, we're going
to take him."
     
     
     
     
The next hand started in the familiar pattern, two cards of fairly good
possibilities, a bet, and then another card. Cassal watched the dealer
closely. His clumsiness was only superficial. At no time were the faces
of the cards visible. The real skill was unobservable, of course --
the swift bookkeeping that went on in his mind. A duplication in the
hands of the players, for instance, would be ruinous.
     
     
Cassal received the last card. "Bet high," said Dimanche. With
trepidation, Cassal shoved the money into the betting area.
     
     
The dealer glanced at his hand and started to sit down. Abruptly he stood
up again. He scratched his cheek and stared puzzledly at the players
around him. Gently he lowered himself onto the stool. The contact was
even briefer. He stood up in indecision. An impatient murmur arose. He
dealt himself a card, looked at it, and paid off all the way around.
The players buzzed with curiosity.
     
     
"What happened?" asked Cassal as the next hand started.
     
     
"I induced a short in the circuit," said Dimanche. "He couldn't sit
down to change the last card he got. He took a chance, as he had to,
and dealt himself a card, anyway."
     
     
"But he paid off without asking to see what we had."
     
     
"It was the only thing he could do," explained Dimanche. "He had
duplicate cards."
     
     
The dealer was scowling. He didn't seem quite so much at ease. The cards
were dealt and the betting proceeded almost as usual. True, the dealer
was nervous. He couldn't sit down and stay down. He was sweating. Again
he paid off. Cassal won heavily and he was not the only one.
     
     
The crowd around them grew almost in a rush. There is an indefinable
sense that tells one gambler when another is winning.
     
     
This time the dealer stood up. His leg contacted the stool
occasionally. He jerked it away each time he dealt to himself. At the
last card he hesitated. It was amazing how much he could sweat. He
lifted a corner of the cards. Without indicating what