Related article: Manors to appoint more than one gamekeeper to each manor. It Buy Mellaril Online also forbade the driving and taking of wildfowl from July 1st to September 1st. £. vol. lxxi. — no. 471. 25 ~1 352 May The Chances of the Game. SOME TALES OF PLAY. By Major Arthur Griffiths. Author of "My Grandfather's Journals," &c, &c I.— DE SOTO'S SYSTEM. Some thirty years ago the last stronghold of public play was installed upon the hill of Spelugues as it was then called, a spur of the great Mont Agel above, forming a narrow plateau with sides that dropped steeply into the blue Mediterranean. At that time the gaming tables that had long flourished in the watering places of Ems, Homburg, Baden Baden, had been closed by the newly formed authority of the North German Confederation, and all other European Governments were too virtuous to give harbourage to hazard. Only in the small principality of Monaco the tempta- tion of great profit was too Buy Mellaril strong for a needy monarch whose king- dom was no more than a good sized tablecloth could cover, and whose revenue did not amount to many hundreds a year. Charles III. of Monaco gave a concession to certain enterprising speculators who opened a small hell under his palace walls in the ancient town, then moved down into Condamine, then returned to the Villa Gabarini in Monaco, and finally began to build a lordly pleasure house for the seductive games of roulette and t rente et quarante upon the above-mentioned hill. Charles III., however, stood godfather, and the place was re-christened by its present widely know name, Monte Carlo. Hazard did not greatly prosper, however, in those early days. * Buy Cheap Mellaril All rights reserved in Great Britain and the United States. The Casino buildings did do: advance very rapidly; punters were few, for the means of access to this new temple of fortune were limited. One way of reaching Monaco was by steamer from Nice ; pleasant enough in smiling weather, but the boats were cockleshells, and horribly uncom- fortable in the sharp squalls that are too common on this storm- tossed inland sea. Yet some extended the voyage to Mentone — a better port — where they landed and returned to Monte Carlo by road. Others again drove from Nice by Great Corniche highway, and halting at La Turbie dropped down to the Casino by the bridle paths, on foot or mule - back. They made shift perforce with such accommodation as they Purchase Mellaril Online found in the new suburb Generic Mellaril of Condamine, on which a contractor in advance of his time had erected a small town of villas, and had ruined himself in the speculation. At the tables the play was meagre and limited; any person might put down a minimum stake of two francs, and yet the croupiers often sat idle, twirling their rakes in their hands, Order Mellaril trying the run of the cards, or spinning the ball in the roulette board, without a single mise on the table. Two of them, old veterans attracted here from Homburg. where their occupation now was gone, were exchanging melan- choly confidences in the intervals of a dreary uninteresting day's play. 1899] THE CHANCES OF THE GAME. 353 " Ach So! We shall soon be in the street, my fine friSnd. 'Twas a bad day that brought us to this desolate spot. Better to have turned couriers or kellners, or gone into the tobacco trade over yonder at home." " Saperlotte ! This barren rock after the Kursaal, with all its movement, its gardens, music, the gay crowds: the exchange is for the worse indeed." " I had hoped better things when the old patron arrived, and bought out the last proprietor. A famous sum he paid, so they tell me. A million and a half of francs, and for this ! " The croupier pointed disdainfully to the handful of vulgar punters seated round the table. " He will be surely ruined unless matters mend." 11 Le pere Blanc has money in the sack. He can afford to wait, and he can get more if he needs it. There are friends in Paris would back him, for they believe in his long head." " Provided players come." " Wait till the railway is brought to our door, Gustaf. The place will then be full enough. Trust the patron. He is tnalin, quoi ; and Knows how to bait the trap. TienSy there is a face I remember. See." "Ja t J a. 'Tis Order Mellaril Online the Spaniard, De Soto, who won that masse at Homburg the very night the Kursaal was closed. He had the devil's luck. Purchase Mellaril The same number came up seven times, and he backed it always." "Truly miraculous it was, as you say ; I never saw it happen before. Five is the most I had seen, or you. Eh ! Gustaf ? " "So. I had thought till now the money was lost for ever. But we shall have it back and more. For our tables never forgive or forget. Twas the patron himself who said it, and he has proved it often enough you may depend." The man they called De Soto was that rare type of Spaniard, a rubioy tan complexion, with vivid startlingly >red hair. He was young, short in stature, but broad-shouldered ; had an im- passive face, but his air was rather defiant as he squared