A BRIDGE 'ADVENTURE

Evening Star, Issue 17926, 23 March 1922, Page 2

A BRIDGE 'ADVENTURE

[From Otm Own Correspondent.] LONDON, February 2. Occasional!'.' some queer adventures occur to card players, Usually these are. in tho case of men who play_ in promiscuous ccmnany, merely sordid _ talcs of card sharping' and pipenn-plucking. But a club friend of mine, a famous journalist, who is cornfori ably well tff do without being at all wealthy, told me this week of a very remarkable episode in which ho figured., which had none of those unpleasant characteristics. Ho was up in the wilds of Scotland on a professional errand, and put up at a good hotel _in a. comparatively small town. After dinner one evening ho, observed throe elderly gentlemen in the almost deserted hold lounge earnestly conversing and unmistakably looking in his direction. Presently one! of them. a real old Scottish laird in apuc-araucc and speech, approached my friend and asked whether ho would mind making a fourth at auction bridge. Nowj a London journalist, who specialises in sport, is not exactly tho sort of man to be caught napping by card sharpers, however cleverly camouflaged. But this gentleman, 'besides being one of tho best auction hands in Fleet street, has a strong sense of adventure. Ho replied quite politely that, as a rule, though ho played auction regularly at his club.”ho avoided chance games; but what wore tho stakes proposed? The Scottish elder replied: " Ouch, wo usually play for shillings.’' As my friend was in (bo habit of playing for anything from half a. crown to live .'hillings a hundred, and was well in, funds on his journey, ho ao-rced to a robber, thinking thoro could bo no great harm at n shilling a hundred. As luck would havo it, apart from tho fact that the three Scottish seniors played rather feeble auction bridge, though they were evidently keen ns imwlard on tho game, the visitor had tho most amazing cards. Tho evening. found bis side well up on the scoring, ami then, to his bewilderment, ho found tho stakes wore, not a shilling a hundred, but a shilling a point, or live pounds a hundred. His winnings amounted to nearly twenty pounds,' and, eo far from being at all upset, tho Boots were delighted with their night’s fun. They insisted cm his making up’tho fourth on tile two remaining nights of hie stay, and, of course, he could not refuse-. Altogether he won. thirty-fiyo pounds, and left his Scottish friends in fair transports over Id’s agreeable company and expert play. They said—especially his partner—ho was “just grand."