THE GAME They made a group not uninteresting as they gathered about the table in the deck saloon.

The youngest of the four received the deference generally accorded the uniform he wore, and returned the regard due age and station in the civilian world.

For the moment rid of one annoying question, he was quite his better self, and added his quota in the preliminary badinage of the game.

Across the table from him sat Judge Henry Clayton of New Madrid, a tall and slender gentleman with silky white mustaches and imperial, gentle of speech, kindly of countenance, and with soft, white hands, whose long fingers now idly raised and let fall some of the parti-colored tokens of the game.
[Illustration: They made a group not uninteresting.] At Clayton's side, Dunwody, younger, larger and more powerful, made something of a contrast.

Both these gentlemen had removed their coats and hung them across the backs of chairs, evidently intending a serious session.