Near the centre of the table
was seated a banker or dealer, with a large quantity of checks at his
right hand, of the denomination of five, ten, twenty dollars, and
upward. Thirteen cards, representing a complete pack, were affixed to
the table, at convenient distances from each other, to mark distinctly
the bets placed on each. Those who wished to play placed the amount
they intended to stake on any particular card on the table. The dealer
then producing and shuffling a pack of cards, placed them in a box,
from which he caused them to slide one by one. He lost when the card
equal in points to that on which the stake was set turned up on his
right hand; but he won when it was on the left. He faithfully and
gravely fulfilled his part, as though he were a public notary or any
other officer of the law. Every one seemed satisfied with his dealings
and decisions; for, during our stay in this 'hell,' (a name commonly
given in America to all gambling houses,) no exclamation of any sort
was made by the gamblers.
"I took him, at first, for the proprietor of the establishment. 'You
are mistaken,' said Asmodeus; 'the host is that stout man whose necktie
is pinned with a large diamond, and who is playing a game of _ecarte_
near yonder window, with a constant frequenter of his house. A few
years ago, he was one of the most renowned pugilists in the United
States. With the profits derived from his victims in the manly art, he
purchased a fine house, in which congregated the patrons and amateurs
of that art, which is more in vogue to-day in America than in England.
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