Hydrofoil Mystery by Eric Walters

replied in a quiet voice.
    Suddenly I was aware that eyes at both tables were watching me intently.
    â€œI think we can find a place for him in this game,” a man announced.
    â€œNo, no, we have an extra spot right here!” somebody from the second table argued, standing and pushing out a chair for me. “You do have money, don’t you?”
    I pulled my bills from my pocket. The man looked at the money and then practically pulled me down into the seat.
    â€œDoes your mama know you’re in here tonight, sonny?” “Nope. She’s hundreds of miles away. My friend Herbie brought me.”
    â€œHerbie, huh? Well, we’ve all taken enough of his money so I guess there’s no crime in taking a little of his friend’s as well. Let’s have a new deck for the new player.”
    T HE SECRET OF POKER is to size the other players up without them being able to size you up. They wereplaying sloppy poker, and most of the players seemed more interested in keeping track of their drinks than they did in watching the cards. It was soon clear that I was the only person at the table who wasn’t at least half in the bag. I let the first few hands pass me by, folding my cards and losing my ante without raising the bet. On the fourth hand I was dealt a pair of aces. I deliberately laughed out loud and then tried to hide my smile as everybody at the table stared at me. I raised the stakes extravagantly and everybody else at the table folded, leaving me with a small pot and, more important, a reputation as a player who couldn’t hide a good hand.
    â€œYou got good luck, kid. Now if you could just work on that poker face!” one of the men chuckled and the rest laughed along.
    â€œWhat do you mean?” I asked, feigning ignorance. “Never you mind. You don’t go changing … just keep playing. It’s your deal.”
    â€œI ’VE GOT TO GET GOING ,” I said softly.
    â€œIt isn’t good manners for the winner to be the first to walk away from the table,” one of the men scowled.
    He and two of his friends had become increasingly unfriendly with every hand I’d won throughout the night. They weren’t that much older than me, maybe nineteen or twenty. I hadn’t counted my money—it’s never a good idea to count your winnings at the table—but I knew I was up almost thirty dollars and the three of them were all down about ten each. They were bad players, and I’d only had to deal off the bottom of the deck a few times and palmed cards no more than half a dozen times duringthe whole game. The challenge wasn’t in beating them but in not beating them too badly or too fast.
    â€œI’ve got to go. I have to be at work in the morning,” I lied.
    â€œYou can’t just go walking off with our money,” a second argued loudly.
    â€œAs far as I can tell it isn’t your money any more,” Harry interrupted from behind me. “You done okay, kid?”
    â€œI guess so.”
    â€œHe done better than okay. He seemed to win almost all the hands he dealt,” the first one, whose name was Angus, argued.
    â€œYou down any money?” Harry asked of the older gentleman at our table.
    â€œMaybe two or three dollars.”
    â€œAnd the kid, did he play fair and square?”
    â€œI didn’t see anything going on except for plain dumb luck going for him. I’ll take luck over skill any day. It was his night, that’s all there is to it. I’m going to cash in.”
    â€œMaybe everybody should call it a night,” Harry suggested.
    â€œMaybe nothing, I’m not leaving without having a chance to get my money back,” Angus, the biggest of the men, practically yelled, jumping to his feet.
    Suddenly Harry was flanked by three other men, almost all as large as him and considerably larger than Angus.
    â€œI think you better call it a night, friend. If you leave now, all you’ll have