thousand rupees."

"One thousand and fifty!"

"Two thousand!"

All the gentlemen present in the tent had risen and stood round the two
players, who, their cards concealed in their hands, watched each other
with sharp glances. Hermann Heideck, who had stepped behind Irwin,
noticed on the right hand of the Captain a magnificent diamond ring. But
he also perceived, by the way the bright sparkle of the stone quivered,
how the gambler's fingers trembled.

Captain McGregor turned to his companions. "I take the gentlemen to
witness that I have advised my comrade Irwin not to see me at six
hundred."

"To the devil with your advice!" Irwin interrupted almost furiously. "Am
I a boy? Will you see me at two thousand, McGregor, or will you not?"

"Very well, since you insist upon it--three thousand."

"Five thousand."

"Five thousand five hundred."

"Ten thousand."

One of the higher officers, Major Robertson, laid his hand lightly upon
the shoulder of the rash gambler.