The Dark Arena - Mario Puzo [45]
Wolf, who did not gamble, sat in one of the easy chairs, and Eddie Cassin and Mosca squeezed into places around the table. When Eddie's turn to shoot came, Mosca bet with him. Eddie, a cautious gambler, slipped the one-dollar bills from his metal dip almost regretfully. He had a good roll and made five passes before he sevened out Mosca had made even more money than Eddie.
Since they were standing beside each other, it was Mosca's turn to shoot, the dice going around the circle clockwise. Already ahead and feeling confident, he put twenty dollars worth of scrip on the green felt. Four different officers took five dollars each. Mosca threw the great square cubes backhanded. They came up seven. “Shoot it,” he said. He was sure now, and exhilarated. The forty dollars was faded by the same four officers. Eddie Cassin said, “And ten goes with him.”
The colonel said, “Fll take that” They laid the money on the table.
Mosca threw the dice as hard as he could against the side of the table. The cubes bounced off the wooden board, tumbled over the green felt and spun like two red tops; then the edges caught in the felt and they stopped dead. It was another seven. “Shoot the eighty bucks,” Mosca said
“And the twenty goes with him,” Eddie Cassin left the money on the table. The colonel covered it
This time Mosca released the dice gently, as if turning loose a pet animal, so that they bounced off the wall and rolled a few niches coming up square red and enormous in the middle of the green felt
It was another seven and one of the officers said, “Rattle those dice.” He said it without malice, a superstitious player against Mosca's luck.
Mosca grinned at the officer and said, “He hundred and sixty goes.”
The adjutant still stood with a drink in his hand, watching Mosca and the dice. Eddie Cassin said cautiously, “Ten goes with him.” And picked up the other tibdrty dollars he had won.
The colonel said, “I'll bet you twenty.” Eddie reluctantly laid down another ten-dollar bill, and catching Mosca's look, shrugged his shoulders.
Mosca picked up the dice, blew on them, and slammed them backhanded against the opposite wooden board. The red dice with their white dots came up a four.
One of the officers said, “HI lay ten to five he doesn't.” Mosca took the bet and several others. He let the dice lie on the table and, unconsciously arrogant, sure of his luck, held his sheaf of bills ready to cover any bets. He was happy, he enjoyed the excitement of the game, and it was rare that he gambled with luck. “Ill take a hundred to fifty,” he said, and when no one anstoered he picked up the dice.
Just before he threw, the colonel said, “Til bet twenty you don't make it.” Mosca threw down a ten-dollar bill and said, ‘Til take that”
“You only put down ten dollars,” the colonel said.
Mosca stopped rattling the dice and leaned against the table. He couldn't believe that the colonel, an old Army man, didn't know the proper odds in dice. “You have to lay two to one against a four point, Colonel,” he said and tried to keep the anger out of his voice.
The colonel turned to one of the officers beside him and asked, “Is that right, Lieutenant?”
“That's right, sir,” the officer said, embarrassed.
The colonel threw down twenty dollars. “All rights shoot.”
Hie red cubes slammed against all four sides of the table, raced swiftly across the green felt, and stopped with a surprising suddenness, each red square framing two little white dots. Mosca looked at them for a moment before picking up the money and spoke his mind aloud, “I never saw a prettier sight”
There was no sense pushing his luck too far, he thought He threw a couple of bills on the table and after a few rolls he sevened out He continued to play with mediocre luck. When the colonel picked up the dice to shoot, Mosca faded him. The colonel threw a point and then sevened out on the second roll. Mosca picked up the money. The colonel said without rancor, “You're