She hated him because he was--she thought--proud, and strange, and rich, better and more beautiful than people like her. He cut off the sight of her mind and, as he buried his face in the pillow, he caught an image of the Lady May. She _is_ a cat, he thought. That s all she is--a _cat_! But that was not how his mind saw her--quick beyond all dreams of speed, sharp, clever, unbelievably graceful, beautiful, wordless and undemanding. Where would he ever find a woman who could compare with her? --CORDWAINER SMITH [Illustration] * * * * * End of Project Gutenberg s The Game of Rat and Dragon, by Cordwainer Smith *** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE GAME OF RAT AND DRAGON *** Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will be renamed. Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to copying and distributing Project Gutenberg™ electronic works to protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG™ concept and trademark. Project Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you charge for an eBook, except by following the terms of the trademark license, including paying royalties for use of the Project Gutenberg trademark.
At the end of the dialogue the Fox tries to get hold of one of the chickens. If he succeeds in catching them, they all with the Fox try to dodge the Hen, who makes an effort to regain them. It is known at Winterton under the name of Pins and Needles. The players stand in a row, one behind another, with one of the party as their Leader. Another player, called Outsider, pretends to scratch the ground. The Leader asks, the questions, and the Outsider replies-- What are you scratching for? Pins and needles. What do you want your pins and needles for? To mend my poke. What do you want your poke for? To put some sand in. What do you want your sand for? To sharpen knives with. What do you want your knives for? To cut all the little chickens heads off with.
=_ This is exactly the reverse of the follow shot, the ball being struck below the centre, and the cue passing at least three inches beyond where the ball stood, as shown in the diagram. This gives the cue ball a retrograde motion, similar to that imparted to a child’s hoop by spinning it backward while throwing it forward, so as to make it return. If the object ball is reached before this retrograde motion is exhausted, the effect will be to stop the forward motion of the cue ball, and to give what is left of the retrograde motion full play, making the cue ball return. The two great mistakes made by beginners in playing draw shots are that they pull the cue back, instead of driving it clear through the ball aimed at, and that they strike so hard that the forward motion of the cue ball is too strong for the retrograde motion to overcome it, or the object ball to stop it. It is never necessary to strike harder than sufficient to reach the object ball and get back to the carrom ball, unless one is playing for position. When the balls are so close together that to run the cue through the ball would make a foul shot, the draw may still be made by pointing the cue off to the side, and pushing it past the cue ball, instead of through it. This will secure the retrograde motion, but accompanied by a great deal of twist, which must be calculated for if the cue ball is to strike a cushion. A short draw may also be made by using the pinch. [Illustration] _=The Massé.=_ Most players imagine this to be a very difficult shot, but it is extremely simple if the principle of the direction of the cue and the effect of the pinch are kept in view.
Honours count to the side winning them, and not to the original holders, so that a player holding the four top honours in any suit could safely bid eight; four tricks and four honors being a certainty, but if that was all he made he would lose on the deal, as the other side would score nine points out of the seventeen. In other places, it is the rule that the bidder must make the odd trick or he cannot count honours or anything else. There are then only eleven points to be played for in each deal; seven odd tricks and four honours. Any player bidding four would have to win the odd and three honors, or two odd and two honours, or something to make up his bid. _=SCORING.=_ No matter how many more than his bid he makes, he can score it all. If he fails, he is set back the amount of his bid. If his adversaries win the odd trick or more, they count one point for each trick over the book in addition to the amount by which they set the bidder back. When there are seventeen points in play each deal, it is usual to take the lower score from the higher and score the difference only, but when the bidder fails, he is not set back, but simply gets nothing at all, while his opponents score all they make, without any deductions. NORWEGIAN WHIST.
, hot from the Great War in South Africa, came in most helpfully--to quicken it. Manifestly the guns had to be reduced to manageable terms. We cut down the number of shots per move to four, and we required that four men should be within six inches of a gun for it to be in action at all. Without four men it could neither fire nor move--it was out of action; and if it moved, the four men had to go with it. Moreover, to put an end to that little resistant body of men behind a house, we required that after a gun had been fired it should remain, without alteration of the elevation, pointing in the direction of its last shot, and have two men placed one on either side of the end of its trail. This secured a certain exposure on the part of concealed and sheltered gunners. It was no longer possible to go on shooting out of a perfect security for ever. All this favoured the attack and led to a livelier game. Our next step was to abolish the tedium due to the elaborate aiming of the guns, by fixing a time limit for every move. We made this an outside limit at first, ten minutes, but afterwards we discovered that it made the game much more warlike to cut the time down to a length that would barely permit a slow-moving player to fire all his guns and move all his men.
_=SECOND HAND PLAY.=_ The player who is second to play on any trick is called the Second Hand. It is his duty to protect himself and his partner, as far as possible, in the adversaries’ strong suits. The chief point for the beginner to observe in Second Hand play, is the difference between the circumstances requiring him to play high cards, and those in which he should play low ones. _=High Cards Led.=_ When a card higher than a Ten is led on the first round of a suit, the Second Hand has usually nothing to do but to play his lowest card, and make what inference he can as to the probable distribution of the suit. But if he holds the Ace, or cards in sequence with it, such A K, he should cover any card higher than a Ten. If he holds K Q he should cover a J, 10, or 9 led; but it is useless for him to cover an honour with a single honour, unless it is the Ace. _=Low Cards Led.=_ High cards are played by the Second Hand when he has any combination from which he would have led a high one if he had opened the suit.
The exact number of each suit should be a certainty, if not the exact rank of the cards. Until you can depend on yourself for this, you are not a good player. The last thirteen tricks are usually a problem in double-dummy; but the advantage will always be found to be with the player who has carefully prepared himself for the final struggle by preserving certain safe suits, and getting rid of those in which it became evident that his adversary had the small and safe cards. Some very pretty positions arise in the end game, it being often possible to foresee that four or five tricks must be played in a certain manner in order to ensure the lead being properly placed at the end, so that the odd hearts may be avoided. _=AUCTION HEARTS.=_ The cards having been cut and dealt, the player to the left of the dealer, whom we shall call A, examines his hand, and determines which suit he would prefer to play to get clear of. Let us suppose his hand to consist of the ♡ A K 8; ♣ J 6 5 4 3 2; ♢ K 4; and the ♠ 7 3. If the suit remains hearts, he is almost certain to take in a number; but if it is changed to clubs, he is almost as certain of getting clear. The hand is not absolutely safe, as hearts might be led two or three times before the clubs in the other hands were exhausted by the original leader, whose game would be to lead small clubs. As the pool will contain thirteen counters to a certainty, he can afford to bid in proportion to his chances of winning it for the privilege of making clubs the suit to be avoided, instead of hearts.
I heard a sound. Gravel crunched dimly under another foot. Somebody had stepped invisibly onto the roof. It scared the daylights out of me, more so because I was flat on my back. Cautiously I turned my head toward the door I had come through. I could see the fuzzy redness of a cigarette in the dark. It brightened as the smoker took a drag. Then I heard the sniffle, and knew who it was. She stood there, apparently leaning against the wall behind her, silently, invisible but for the glow of her cigarette, and not moving her feet. Hello, I said at last.
=_ When the last card has been played, each side turns over all the tricks won, and counts the points they contain; High, Low, Jack, Game, Right and Left Pedro. Everything, including Low, counts to the side winning it. The number of points won or lost is determined by deducting the lower score from the higher, the difference being the number of points won on that deal. If it is a tie, neither side scores. If either side has incurred a penalty which prevents them from scoring any points they may have won, the adversaries have nothing to deduct, and score all they make. If the side that named the trump fails to make as many points as it bid, it scores nothing, and the number of points bid are scored by the adversaries, in addition to any points that the adversaries may have made in play. For instance: A-B are partners against Y-Z. B has bid to make 8, and named hearts for trumps. A-B make 10, which is 2 more than they bid, Y-Z getting the other 4; which leaves A-B 6. These are scored by placing one red and one white counter in the pool.
I d gotten used to hallucinations--but who can get used to the doubt that one of those dreadful visions is real? I d had my lesson. * * * * * It served me right, of course. It had begun when Peno Rose had first visored me from Lake Tahoe. I had told him No. Too busy, _much_ too busy, with TK surgery at Memorial Hospital. It didn t mean a thing to me that some cross-roader with plenty of TK was stealing the Sky Hi Club s casino blind. But Peno had known me from my days on the Crap Patrol, and wasn t much impressed that I d reached the thirty-third degree. He d gotten the Senior United States senator from Nevada to put heat on the Lodge. When Maragon first visored me on it, I simply refused to discuss it and switched off. That was the big mistake.
184. I ll venter on their heads my brindled cow, With any boy at dust-point they shall play. --Peacham s _Thalia s Banquet_, 1620. Nares (_Glossary_) suggests that this game and blow-point resembled the game of Push-pin. See also Halliwell s _Dictionary_. Eller Tree A number of young men and women stand in a line, a tall girl at one end of the line representing the tree. They then begin to wrap round her, saying, The old eller tree grows thicker and thicker. When they have all got round her (the tree), they jump all together, calling out, A bunch of rags, a bunch of rags, and try to tread on each other s toes.--Sheffield, Yorks (S. O.
The house, or home. King. A benefactor. _=R.=_ He will not be able to do you much good, although he means well. Queen. Everything that is lovely in woman. _=R.=_ You will have to wait awhile for the realization of your hopes. Jack.