His partner, Simonetti, was something else, but somehow I wasn t looking forward to meeting him any more than I was to seeing Rose again. I guess it s the filth within these croupier types that makes them surround themselves with the aseptic immaculacy of iridium and glass. Their office was in a penthouse perched on the slanting roof shakes of the casino. It was big as a squash court, and as high and as square. Every wall was glass. It couldn t have been in greater contrast to the contrived hominess of the casino if they d thought about it for a year. Then, for the last twist, the furnishings were straight out of the old Southwest--Navajo rugs, heavy, Spanish oak desks, and a pair of matching couches or divans of whole steer leather stretched over oak frames. * * * * * Peno Rose came quickly toward me the moment Fowler Smythe showed me into the office, spurs jingling. Hey! There he is! The boy they had to rule off the track! How s a boy, Lefty? Long time no see. He had his hand stuck way out ahead of him.
Everything counts to the player winning it, instead of to the one to whom it is dealt. The game point is scored by the player who wins the trick containing the Ten of trumps. If that card is not in play there is no Game. In _=Pedro Sancho=_, the Five and Nine of trumps count their pip value in scoring, so that 18 points can be bid and made on one deal; one each for High, Low, Jack, and Game, and fourteen more for the Nine and Five of trumps. These two trumps have no special rank. The Ten will win the Nine, and the Six will take the Five. In some places all the cards in the pack are dealt out, which makes a much better game in any form of Pedro. The eldest hand sells, as at Auction Pitch. If a player’s first bid is raised he may raise again in his proper turn. Fifty points is game, and the players are usually provided with two varieties of counters for scoring; one worth five points, and the other worth one.
After receiving fresh cards, the eldest hand again plays first, and so on for every round. Under certain conditions, each player in his proper turn may take up certain cards from the table, together with the one played from his hand, turning them face downward in front of him. He is entitled to count all the points contained in the cards taken in or won in this manner. These conditions are: that he can match or _=pair=_ a card or cards on the table; that he can _=combine=_ two or more cards on the table so as to make their total pip value equal to that of the card he plays; or that he can _=build=_ a card in his hand upon one on the table, so as to make their total pip value agree with that of a second card, still in his hand. _=Pairing.=_ If the person whose turn it is to play, holds in his hand any card of a similar denomination to any of those on the table, he may play the card from his hand, face upward, and then gather it in again, together with all similar cards, turning them face downward in front of him. For instance: He holds an Eight, and there are one or two Eights on the table. He plays the Eight from his hand, and then gathers in all of them. _=Combining.=_ If a player holds any card, not a K Q or J, the pip value of which is equal to that of two or more cards on the table, he may play the card from his hand, and then gather it in again, together with the two or three cards that collectively equal it in pip value.
The following is the account of this game given by Mr. Douce in the _Illustrations of Shakespeare and of Ancient Manners_, 1807, i. 184:-- This game was sometimes called the _nine mens merrils_ from _merelles_, or _mereaux_, an ancient French word for the jettons, or counters, with which it was played. The other term, _morris_, is probably a corruption suggested by the sort of dance which, in the progress of the game, the counters performed. In the French _merelles_ each party had three counters only, which were to be placed in a line in order to win the game. It appears to have been the _tremerel_ mentioned in an old fabliau. See _Le Grand_, _Fabliaux et Contes_, ii. 208. Dr. Hyde thinks the morris, or merrils, was known during the time that the Normans continued in possession of England, and that the name was afterwards corrupted into _three men s morals_, or _nine men s morals_.
He knew that she was not thinking words, that his mind took the clear amiable babble of her cat intellect and translated it into images which his own thinking could record and understand. Neither one of them was absorbed in the game of mutual greetings. He reached out far beyond her range of perception to see if there was anything near the ship. It was funny how it was possible to do two things at once. He could scan space with his pin-set mind and yet at the same time catch a vagrant thought of hers, a lovely, affectionate thought about a son who had had a golden face and a chest covered with soft, incredibly downy white fur. While he was still searching, he caught the warning from her. _We jump again!_ And so they had. The ship had moved to a second planoform. The stars were different. The Sun was immeasurably far behind.
_=CUTTING.=_ The players cut for the deal; the player cutting the lowest card deals for his dummy first, and has the choice of sitting to the right or left of his opponent. It is usual to select the seat on the right of the living player, because it is possible that one may forget whether or not certain cards have been played, and under such circumstances it is better to lead up to an exposed hand than to one whose contents you are not sure of. The methods of spreading, cutting, deciding ties, etc., are the same as those employed at whist. _=POSITION OF THE PLAYERS.=_ It is not usually considered necessary to distinguish the players further than to indicate which hand had the original lead. For this purpose the whist notation is used, A being the leader, and Z the dealer. [Illustration: Y +---+ ORIGINAL LEADER, A| |B +---+ Z ] _=DEALING.=_ When two packs are used, the still pack should be shuffled by the non-dealer, and placed on the left of the player or dummy whose turn it will be to deal next.
10. _=Pair.=_ That the number will be even. 11. _=Manque.=_ That the number will be from 1 to 18. 12. _=Passe.=_ That the number will be from 19 to 36. 13.