"You're joking," said Howard reproachfully. "No gambling device can be your friend! I'll prove it to you! I'll show you what you'd get for those quarters! If it turns out you'd lose, you'll sell me the Joe the Greek business. It's a bargain!"
BEFORE George could deny it, Howard dropped a quarter in each of two machines and pulled down the handles. George stiffened angrily. He began to count to ten. The machines clicked and clattered. They made much more noise than the nickel machines. Howard rubbed his hands together.
"Now you'll see!" he said brightly. "You'd have lost your money and have nothing for it! Which you've agreed means you'll sell me the Joe the Greek account."
George hadn't agreed. But Howard had a gift for persistent argument and in time would probably wear him down.
The first machine stopped. Murmurings came from its chrome-plated abdomen. It rumbled. Then it belched.
Quarters cascaded into the win-cup. There was a second prolonged hiccough. More quarters descended loudly from the second machine. George gazed, stunned. Then he began to smoulder. He'd have played these machines this winning time but for Howard Sattlethwait! Howard had the jackpots he'd have acquired! His interference, as usual, was profitable to him but disastrous for George, who bitterly realized that he couldn't even punch Howard in the nose because he couldn't pay a fine and would have to wait out a week in jail.
Howard swallowed. Almost numbly, he began to gather up the coins from the machines.
"If they'd been my quarters," said George icily, "I'd own those jackpots. I wish you'd taken my advice to go to hell!"
He turned away, Howard said hastily;
"Wait a minute, George! Wait a minute! That was just an accident ! It was wholly an accident! The odds were all against it! L-look! Give me those quarters of yours!" With one hand he scooped up the slot-machine loot, putting it in his pockets. He held out the other hand urgently. "Give me your quarters!"
"You've got plenty of quarters," said George coldly.
Howard felt carefully inside the win-cup for a possible stray coin. But he said agitatedly;
"We'll try the thing fairly, now! Two quarters of yours and two of mine. If you lose, the deal on the Joe the Greek business goes through. I want to help you, George!" He stuffed his pockets and said pleadingly, "I'm trying to prove to you that serious business is more sensible than gambling. Give me your quarters!"
He reached out and took George's last two coins from his hand. He popped the quarters into four fresh machines, saying quickly;
"This - is - my - quarter - and this - is - yours. This - is - my -quarter - and - this - one - is -yours—."
He pulled down the levers. The machines rumbled and clicked. One stopped. The others ran on. Another stopped. Two ran on. The first ground out a loud noise and poured quarters down into the win-cup.
The second poured down quarters.
The third and fourth disgorged their jackpots.
GEORGE laughed with real pleasure. A part of it, of course, was getting a double pocketful of quarters. But it was even more pleasing to see the shocked and haunted expression on Howard's face. George said almost genially;
"Howard, you have genius! You should plod at your art. You will go far!"
But he fenced off two win-cups and took their contents for his own. Howard said painfully;
"It was—an accident."
"But a happy one," said George amiably. "There are such things as streaks of luck, Howard. How about a continued joint investment in it? This brief commercial association has been pleasant."
Howard did not even consider it. He said anxiously, "I don't gamble. It's mathematically impossible to win. But if you'll sell me the Joe the Greek account I'll give you thirty per cent of your commission. In cash. Now."
"Through your talent," said George kindly, "I am no longer in straightened circumstances. I might even turn entrepreneur! How about shooting a few quarters for me, then? I'll put up the capital and give you thirty per cent of the wins."
Howard automatically shook his head. But then he realized that it was a mistake. He'd risk nothing, and George might be seized with the gambling fever and go broke again, when the Joe the Greek matter could be brought up once more on a twenty per cent basis.
"I don't believe in that sort of thing," Howard protested. "But as an accommodation to you. . . . You said thirty per cent?"
George handed him a quarter and pointed to the machine just beyond the ones that had lately paid off. Howard put in the coin. He pulled the lever. In moments his ears were stunned by the crash of coins.
"My thirty per cent," he said hurriedly.
"To be sure," said George, nodding. "Carry on!"
Howard played four more of George's quarters in four fresh machines, farther back in the arcade. Four jackpots. George's expression grew interested. He handed over more quarters still. Howard mopped sweat off his forehead. He moved unwillingly to more machines. They paid off. Howard computed his thirty percent. But he suffered. He was no gambler.
Presently only the half-dollar machines had not yielded their visible jackpots. George said gently; "Wait here, Howard." He visited the change-booth and came back with suitable coins. On the first half-dollar machine, Howard did not win the jackpot. He collected only fifteen silver half-dollars for one.
"Howard!" said George reproachfully. "You're getting careless!"
But the next machine paid in full. And the next and next and next. George politely borrowed a basket from the change-booth. He needed it. By the time the half-dollar machines were finished, he leaned heavily to starboard from the weight of the coins the reluctant Howard had won. The basket was nearly full.
The dollar machines filled it.
Looking back, it was evident that some great principle of nature was at work, but people are unobservant. Few make a conscious distinction between things that are philosophically necessary and those that are merely likely to happen. When George led Howard Sattlethwait gently by the arm out of the Rodeo Arcade, a trail of awed persons followed. There hadn't been many people in that first emporium of chance, but they all wanted to see what happened next.
GOERGE led Howard to a second arcade. Howard put money into slot-machines. He hit jackpots. Each time his expression grew more unhappy. He was actually pale. He was experiencing the complete negation of every rule of cause and effect, of common sense and conservative business practice, on which his life had heretofore been based. He couldn't believe it. But there was a perfectly simple explanation, if he'd only realized it.
The balance of nature had gotten slightly off-center, so it was necessary for things to get back to normal. It was not only reasonable for events and forces to return to a state of proper, dynamic equilibrium; it was necessary. There was a philosophical necessity for improbabilities of one kind to be cancelled by improbabilities of another. And there is nothing much less likely than that slot-machines will pay off through a run of bets. But it had to happen for the cosmos to become normal again.
They went into a third slot-machine arcade. And a fourth and fifth. An eighth and ninth. An eleventh. These were all the arcades within easy walking distance of the Rodeo, where this special series of events had begun. George whistled cheerily as he helped Howard out of the last of them.
"Look at all these people!" protested Howard. He shuddered. "I think I'm going crazy! I want my thirty per cent! You promised thirty per cent! I've won a lot for you! I want my thirty per cent!"
"And you shall have it, Howard," George told him soothingly. "More than that, I'm going to buy you a nourishing lunch. Don't strain your mind with arithmetic just now. Don't disturb its delicate imbalance. I called up Janet, by the way, and she'll be joining us at lunch."