"As only one of us three will be the object of sacrifice, we shall decide.Miss Porter is not interested, since she will be in no danger.""How shall we know who is to be first?" asked Spider.
"It may be fairly fixed by lot," replied Monsieur Thuran.
"I have a number of franc pieces in my pocket.We can choose a certain date from among them--the one to draw this date first from beneath a piece of cloth will be the first.""I shall have nothing to do with any such diabolical plan,"muttered Clayton; "even yet land may be sighted or a ship appear--in time.""You will do as the majority decide, or you will be `the first' without the formality of drawing lots," said Monsieur Thuran threateningly."Come, let us vote on the plan; Ifor one am in favor of it.How about you, Spider?""And I," replied the sailor.
"It is the will of the majority," announced Monsieur Thuran, "and now let us lose no time in drawing lots.
It is as fair for one as for another.That three may live, one of us must die perhaps a few hours sooner than otherwise."Then he began his preparation for the lottery of death, while Jane Porter sat wide-eyed and horrified at thought of the thing that she was about to witness.Monsieur Thuran spread his coat upon the bottom of the boat, and then from a handful of money he selected six franc pieces.The other two men bent close above him as he inspected them.Finally he handed them all to Clayton.
"Look at them carefully," he said."The oldest date is eighteen-seventy-five, and there is only one of that year."Clayton and the sailor inspected each coin.To them there seemed not the slightest difference that could be detected other than the dates.They were quite satisfied.Had they known that Monsieur Thuran's past experience as a card sharp had trained his sense of touch to so fine a point that he could almost differentiate between cards by the mere feel of them, they would scarcely have felt that the plan was so entirely fair.The 1875 piece was a hair thinner than the other coins, but neither Clayton nor Spider could have detected it without the aid of a micrometer.
"In what order shall we draw?" asked Monsieur Thuran, knowing from past experience that the majority of men always prefer last chance in a lottery where the single prize is some distasteful thing--there is always the chance and the hope that another will draw it first.Monsieur Thuran, for reasons of his own, preferred to draw first if the drawing should happen to require a second adventure beneath the coat.
And so when Spider elected to draw last he graciously offered to take the first chance himself.His hand was under the coat for but a moment, yet those quick, deft fingers had felt of each coin, and found and discarded the fatal piece.
When he brought forth his hand it contained an 1888 franc piece.
Then Clayton drew.Jane Porter leaned forward with a tense and horrified expression on her face as the hand of the man she was to marry groped about beneath the coat.Presently he withdrew it, a franc piece lying in the palm.For an instant he dared not look, but Monsieur Thuran, who had leaned nearer to see the date, exclaimed that he was safe.
Jane Porter sank weak and trembling against the side of the boat.She felt sick and dizzy.And now, if Spider should not draw the 1875 piece she must endure the whole horrid thing again.
The sailor already had his hand beneath the coat.Great beads of sweat were standing upon his brow.He trembled as though with a fit of ague.Aloud he cursed himself for having taken the last draw, for now his chances for escape were but three to one, whereas Monsieur Thuran's had been five to one, and Clayton's four to one.
The Russian was very patient, and did not hurry the man, for he knew that he himself was quite safe whether the 1875piece came out this time or not.When the sailor withdrew his hand and looked at the piece of money within, he dropped fainting to the bottom of the boat.Both Clayton and Monsieur Thuran hastened weakly to examine the coin, which had rolled from the man's hand and lay beside him.
It was not dated 1875.The reaction from the state of fear he had been in had overcome Spider quite as effectually as though he had drawn the fated piece.
But now the whole proceeding must be gone through again.
Once more the Russian drew forth a harmless coin.Jane Porter closed her eyes as Clayton reached beneath the coat.
Spider bent, wide-eyed, toward the hand that was to decide his fate, for whatever luck was Clayton's on this last draw, the opposite would be Spider's.