Don't look angry, Quatermain, you know you are.

Only if we lose you will have to take a cheque, for I have precious little cash." "I think that will be good enough," replied the doctor quietly--"if you lose." So the stakes were increased to an amount that made my hair stand up stiffer even than usual, and the game went on.

Behold! a marvel came to pass.

How it happened I do not know, unless Marnham had brought the wrong cards by mistake or had grown too fuddled to understand his partner's telegraphic signals, which I, being accustomed to observe, saw him make, not once but often, still we won! What is more, with a few set-backs, we went on winning, till presently the sums written down to our credit, for no actual cash passed, were considerable.

And all the while, at the end of each bout Marnham helped himself to more brandy, while the doctor grew more mad in a suppressed-thunder kind of a way.
For my part I became alarmed, especially as I perceived that Anscombe was on the verge of breaking into open merriment, and his legs being up I could not kick him under the table.
"My partner ought to go to bed.