"Well, it seems to me that he's struck a poor crowd on this boat if he's
looking for suckers. He should have shipped on an ocean liner. What does
he play?"

"He seems to have taken a great fancy to draw poker. 'Pocaire' is what
he calls it. He pretended at first that he didn't know much of anything
about the game, but, if I am not mistaken, he's an old stager at it. I
watched the party playing in the smoking-room last night."

"Who played?" asked Bruce.

"The Frenchman, a rather sporty young fellow named Bloodgood, a small,
bespectacled man, well fitted with the name of Slush, and an Englishman
by the name of Hazleton."

"That's the crowd that played in the Frenchman's stateroom to-day,"
groaned Rattleton from his berth.

"Played in the stateroom?" exclaimed Frank. "I wonder why they didn't
play in the smoking-room?"

"Don't know," said Harry; "but I fancy there was a rather big game on,
and you know the Frenchman has the biggest stateroom on the boat, so
there was plenty of room for them. They could play there without
interruption."

"There seems to be something mysterious about that Frenchman," said
Frank.