"But, go on, go on," came the chorus from about the table.
"No," said Kennedy quietly, "that is part of the system, too--to quit
when you have won back your stakes and a little more."
"Huh!" exclaimed DeLong in disgust. "Suppose you were in for some
thousands--you wouldn't quit. If you had real sporting blood you
wouldn't quit, anyhow!"
Kennedy calmly passed over the open insult, letting it be understood
that he ignored this beardless youth.
"There is no way you can beat the game in the long run if you keep at
it," he answered simply. "It is mathematically impossible. Consider.
We are Croesuses--we hire players to stake money for us on every
possible number at every coup. How do we come out? If there are no '0'
or '00,' we come out after each coup precisely where we started--we
are paying our own money back and forth among ourselves; we have
neither more nor less. But with the '0' and '00' the bank sweeps the
board every so often. It is only a question of time when, after paying
our money back and forth among ourselves, it has all filtered through
the 'O' and 'OO' into the bank. It is not a game of chance for
the bank--ah, it is exact, mathematical--_c'est une question
d'arithmetique seulement, n'est-ce pas, messieurs?_"
"Perhaps," admitted DeLong, "but it doesn't explain why I am losing
to-night while everyone else is winning."
"We are not winning," persisted Craig. "After I have had a bite to eat
I will demonstrate how to lose--by keeping on playing.
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