A positive mania seemed to have seized certain brains.

Such a ticket must certainly be predestined to win the prize of one hundred thousand marks--there could be no doubt of it, so said every one.

A person would have supposed there was but one ticket in the lottery, and that the number of it was 9672.

The Manchester man and the Bostonian were still at the head of the list.

The Englishman had outbid his rival by a few pounds, but he, in turn, was soon distanced by an advance of several hundred dollars.