=_ The eldest hand sells. If he pitches without waiting for a bid he must make four points, or he will be set back that number. Each player in turn, beginning on the left of the eldest hand, bids for the privilege of pitching the trump, naming the number of points he thinks he can make. If he will not bid, he must say distinctly: “_=I pass=_.” After a bid has been made, any following player must bid higher or pass. There are no second bids. The highest number any player can bid is four, which will require him to make High, Low, Jack, and the Game against the combined efforts of all the other players. The eldest hand must either accept the number bid, or pitch the trump himself, and make as many points as the highest bidder offered him. If the eldest hand accepts, he pushes into the pool as many counters as he is bid, and the successful bidder pitches the trump. If no bid is made, the eldest hand must pitch the trump himself.
The pone now plays another 4, which forms the sequence afresh if we go back to the third card played. He announces: “Twenty-one, with a run of five,” and pegs five holes more. The dealer plays a 3, also claiming a run of five, which he pegs, and as that is the last card to be played in that hand he also pegs one hole for _=last card=_. The total score of the dealer is now 10 points, and that of the pone is 15. The cards they held, and the order in which they were played is as follows:-- [Illustration: Pone:-- 🂤 🃃 🃕 🃔 Dealer:-- 🃂 🂱 🂲 🃓 ] _=SHOWING.=_ In order to illustrate the manner of counting the hands, which is called showing, let us suppose the starter to be a Queen, and that the pone discarded an Ace and a Ten for the crib, the dealer laying out two Jacks. The non-dealer always has the first show, as an offset to the advantage of the dealer’s crib. The pone therefore shows his hand, which, combined with the starter, is as follows:-- [Illustration: 🂭 🃃 🂤 🃔 🃕 ] This is worth 10 holes; the run of three with one duplicate is always worth 8, and the fifteen formed by the starter and the Five counts 2 more. This puts the pone’s total score to 25 points. The dealer then counts, showing his hand first.