No, I took them out of one pocket and
felt of them as I slipped them into the other. Ye see, gents, to do any
good on my lay, a man must train his senses as well as his mind: he must
have a hare's ear, and a hawk's eye, a bloodhound's nose, and a lady's
hand with steel fingers and a silk skin. Now look at that bunch of
fives," continued the master; and laid a hand white and soft as a
duchess's on the table: "it can put the bracelets on a giant, or find a
sharper's nail-mark on the back of the knave of clubs. The beans were
marked. Which it is a small thing, but it don't fit the rest. Here's an
unsuspicious gent took by surprise, in moonlight meditation fancy free,
and all his little private family matters found in his innocent bosom,
quite promiscuous; but his beans marked. That don't dovetail nohow.
Gents, did ever you hear of the man that went to the bottom of the
bottomless pit to ease his mind? Well, he was the head of my family. I
must go to the bottom whether there's one or not. And just now I see but
one way."
"And what is that?" inquired both his companions in some alarm.
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