Imbalance

Those peculiar happenings of last August are pretty well explained now. Among other places, they happened in that val­ley in the Himalayas, and up in the Amazon Basin, and in Syd­ney, Australia, and Perth Am-boy, New Jersey, and most no­ticeably in Tres Aguas, Nevada. These were not all the spots where oddities turned up, but they make a representative se­lection. We know now that the balance of nature had gotten temporarily upset, and that the cosmos reacted dynamically to the situation, in order to restore things to normal. It's a great re­lief to know that it happens, that things do return to normal. It used to be believed that if the balance of nature were dis­turbed, that deplorable things would happen until the world went to hell in a hand-basket. But now we know it isn't so.

We're lucky.

The picture is fairly complete. Some phenomena were typical. In a remote valley of the Himalayas, for example, two rocks rolled downhill and came to rest near two other rocks. And then there were five. There'd been this slight disturbance of the balance of na­ture, and the natural law that two and two make four had slipped a cog at that particular place. Up in the Amazon Basin a Jivaro Indian shot an arrow at a bird in a tree. He missed. The arrow kept on going. Up. It went clean out of sight with no signs of slowing up. Nature being slightly off the beam, the law that says what goes up must come down wasn't working just there just then. In Sydney, Australia, a tea-shop proprietor noticed that two tea-cakes which were equal to a third teacake weren't equal to each other. And in a machine shop in Perth Amboy, New Jer­sey, for the duration of a cof­fee-break, the natural law that says every action must have a re­action of equal moment and op­posite sign took a coffee-break too. There were such other events. Some people noticed them, and some didn't. But they happened.

The balance of nature was dis­turbed. The cosmos reacted to restore a proper relationship of forces and events. The laws of chance describe such relation­ships. So the cosmos tended to arrive at a new balance, in which past improbabilities of one kind were effectively balanced off by present improbabilities of equal moment and opposite sign. Of course the cosmos also tended to operate on the principle of least action. Therefore . . .

MR. George Bedford Gaines, Insurance in All Branches, walked down the street in Tres Aguas, Nevada. The sun shone brightly on paved streets and shade-trees, on distant moun­tains, on the signs of divorce law­yers and gas stations and slot-machine arcades. It also shone on the Formosa and on Oswald's Club, and the court-house where divorces came off a disassembly line, and on other places where people sought happiness.

George was at once drunk with happiness and sunk in gloom. The trouble, of course, was money. True, he'd recently landed the in­surance package on Tres Aguas' newest and lushest hotel, but his commission wouldn't come for weeks. The hotel was owned by a syndicate headed by one Joe the Greek, who rode around town in a large shiny car with four body­guards. Joe the Greek could change his mind. In George's present state of mind, it seemed likely that he would.

George's bliss and concomi­tant gloom was due to Janet Dab-ney. George adored her. He'd had a rival, whom he'd been trying to flush down the drain by keeping Janet too busy to notice him.

He'd done pretty well. But keep­ing her busy cost money. Cash money. She'd no idea that he was being extravagant, for him, but last night he'd bared his heart and his financial status, and she'd accepted the one and dis­missed the other. But George was now suffering from the knowl­edge that a man ought to have some money to get married on. And he didn't. He'd just come from the bank and learned that the only thing to his credit was an overdraft notice. Things looked dim. In his enthusiasm for taking Janet places he'd neglect­ed a--few trivial things like ad­ding up his check-stubs, and con­tacting prospective insurers, and selling comprehensive coverage on law-suits, fires, storm-damage and other ills to which business­es are heir.

Now his neglect had caught up with him. He wasn't really a good businessman. He was in love; inebriated with emotion. And that goes badly with being broke. Sooner or later he would return to solvency, but right now he'd just discovered that the small silver in his pockets was all his available wealth.

He was engaged, which was bliss, and he was broke, which was not. He gazed morbidly about him. He was then in front of the Rodeo Arcade, whose sign promised thirty-five slot-ma­chines, no waiting. Tres Aguas went in heavily for slot-ma­chines, divorces, expensive night­club acts, craps, and roulette. All were legal and George usu­ally eschewed them all. People who live in Tres Aguas do. They know better than to indulge. But with under a dollar in silver for capital, George could hardly practice prudence. Until more cash came in he couldn't even take Janet out to a drive-in show, with a hamburger to follow.

HE flipped a quarter. It came heads. He turned into the Rodeo Arcade, where thirty-five metal contraptions posed allur­ingly. The point was that what he had was not enough to hoard. He could only try to run it up to —say—a frugal lunch. He would­n't, but he could try. He regarded the slot-machines cynically, but he put a nicbel in a five-cent slot, and pulled down the handle. The machine gulped the coin, rum­bled in its inwards, and then was ungratefully silent.

There came a familiar, dis­liked voiced in his ear.

"George! What are you doing here? Let me congratulate you on getting the Joe the Greek busi­ness !"

George did not turn his head. The voice could only be that of Howard Sattlethwait, who was a competitor, a would-be rival, and the only man whose obituary he believed he'd read with genuine pleasure. He ignored the greet­ing and put in a second nickel. The machine again made diges­tive noises. But no pay-off.

"I called Janet for a date last night," said Howard with the in-sensitivity of his kind. "I had a pass to the open-air concert. But her mother said she was out with you celebrating the Joe the Greek policy. That's how I heard the news. Splendid! You took Janet to the Formosa, didn't you ?"

George did not nod, but it was true. The Formosa was the most expensive dining-place in Tres Aguas, with the highest-priced floor show. But he was a man in love, and even now he regretted nothing. It had been a wonder­ful evening!

He put a nickel in another ma­chine, which might be more gen­erous than the first. It gobbled the coin and rumbled within. There was no other result. How­ard feigned to be struck by a dreadful suspicion.

"Look here, George," he said hypocritically over George's shoulder, "You playing a nickel slot-machine? You're not broke, are you? The Formosa." When George did not answer he said hopefully; "If you are, I can let you have some money."

George looked at him with qui­et loathing. He fumbled in his pocket for his remaining capital.

"Howard," he said mildly, "if I wanted to borrow money I could make better terms with slot-machines. They have more human feelings. More compas­sion. Go to hell, will you?"

Howard was not a sensitive type. He said reproachfully;

"I'm trying to be a friend to you, George! If you need money, I'll let you have it! Your note's good with me! Or if you don't want to borrow,—why—I'll buy the Joe the Greek business from you! Considering that he might change his mind, I can't offer more than twenty per cent of the commission you've got coming to you from it, but that's fair, isn't it? Nothing could be fairer, eh?"

"I can think of things," said George coldly. "My friends the slot-machines, for example. They're much more 'generous. Much less mercenary."

He moved away. He had no more nickels. He brought out the two quarters he had left. Howard moved quickly and put his hand over the coin-slot by which the next machine would be fed.

"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."

"Thirty—per cent!" whim­pered Howard. "It's mine! I want it!"

He was practically a broken man. His collar was wilted and his eyeglasses misted. He stum­bled as he walked. It was simply impossible for him to gamble. He was of that sturdy, conservative group of people who play only sure things, and purchase only gilt-edged securities, and find happiness in the clipping of cou­pons and the foreclosing of mort­gages.

SOME twelve hundred interest­ed citizens followed George and Howard to where the For­mosa awed tourists in Tres Aguas by charging more for a sandwich than the average lux­ury hotel did for a five-course dinner. The police cleared a way for them so they could enter. There was a vestibule inside the Formosa's door. This being Tres Aguas, there was naturally a slot-machine in it. Howard looked at it, hypnotized. George gave him a large coin and said tenderly, "All right, Howard. If you must."

Howard played it, fumbling. It was a dollar machine. It had a jackpot. Dollar machines always make a loud noise when they pay off a jackpot. This one made a louder noise than most.

George practically had to sup­port Howard to a table. Howard moved like a sleepwalker. His hands were clammy and cold. His eyes were wild behind their spec­tacles. He sat down, seeing noth­ing, but saying insistently;

"My thirty per cent—"

There was a movement oppo­site him. Janet sat there, beam­ing. She'd been waiting for them.

"Howard!" she said enthusi­astically. "George called me and told me what you're doing! It's wonderful! How do you do it?"

Howard looked at her through partly glazed eyes.

"It's—impossible," he said numbly. "Impossible! I don't be­lieve it! But I'm getting thirty per cent."

"Here's the morning's take, Janet," said George cheerfully. "All due to Howard's brilliant ef­forts. Cut it up, will you? Then maybe Howard won't need to count it all for himself."

Janet zestfully counted the folding money. Howard watched anxiously. At the end she gave him his thirty per cent.

"But there was the slot-ma­chine in the vestibule," he wailed.

"To be sure!" said George, abashed. "Sorry, Howard."

He stacked up the silver dol­lars. He gave George thirty per cent. The waiter came. George ordered exuberantly. This lunch was in a way a celebration of his sudden and unexpected return to solvency. But Howard suffered. He'd seen the menu. He'd have liked to suggest a ham sandwich for himself and the rest in cash. But Janet regarded him with ex­cited, even fond eyes.

"It's wonderful, Howard! You're going to go on, aren't you? Keep on after lunch? May I come along and watch?"

Howard shivered a little. But he struggled back toward sanity. He'd seen the thick mass of fold­ing money Janet had put in her handbag. The sight of so much money going away from him was sobering. Stabilizing. Shocking. He realized that he had made un­necessary concessions to George.

"I do not gamble," he said with dignity. I have not gam­bled. I will not gamble. As a fa­vor to George I was willing to act as his agent in a certain matter—on commission. But I will not violate my business prin­ciples by gambling. And I have other affairs to attend to. If I am to postpone them, from now on I will want the Joe the Greek account and forty percent."

George did not look surprised, but he raised his eyebrows. Janet tapped his arm, "Darling, let me haggle!"

She smiled warmly and per­suasively upon Howard.

NATURE, of course, continued to move to restore itself to normal. The dynamic equilibri­um of events and forces cannot be permanently destroyed, as was formerly believed. The events in the Himalayas and the Ama­zon basin and Sydney, Australia, and Perth Amboy—and other places—which were indications of disturbance had all taken place within hours on the same morning. There were undoubted­ly other events of the same gen­eral character which did not hap­pen to be observed. But the events in Tres Aguas, Nevada, relieved much of the strain. When a person like George Gaines made more money than Howard out of a joint enterprise, little things like two and two vis­ibly making five and things go­ing up and not coming down were practically commonplace. Anyhow a great deal of the stress caused by a disturbance of the balance of nature was already re­lieved.

There were other, lesser events at divers locations to help in the adjustment. In Smolensk a mar­ried man told his wife that she cooked better than his mother had ever done. In Tucson a wom­an found a blonde hair on her husband's coat—she being a bru­nette—and immediately remem­bered that he'd met his sister at the airport and his sister was a blonde. In Philadelphia a six­teen-year-old boy listened to his father's explanation of why he shouldn't drive the family car, and realized that his father was right. In Punta Arenas and on Maioa in the Caroline Islands and other spots here and there on this earth, other impossible things took place. The stress was definitely being relieved.

But in the Formosa, over a dessert that Howard knew stood George four dollars and fifty cents per portion, Janet wrote in a note-book the stipulations of a new agreement with George. George signed it. Howard signed it. Howard considered that he'd driven a hard bargain. He didn't realize that he'd bargained with a woman. Janet closed the note­book.

"I've always wanted to play roulette." She said brightly.

"Let's let Howard do it," said George. "And to give him an un­hindered opportunity, let's go to Oswald's."

Oswald's Club is, of course, the most famous of the conservative business establishments in Tres Aguas. The drinks are generous and the bets range from a quar­ter up and there are some girl dealers and some very well-dressed shills. It is, naturally, completely respectable. Oswald contributes to public charities and has never been caught by the Internal Revenue Service. He is a great man. Oswald's Club is more than a business. It is an in­stitution.

WHEN they reached Oswald's club, it was soon after mid­day and attendance was low. Most of those who'd been gamb­ling during the forenoon were down at the telegraph office wait­ing for the money they'd tele­graphed home for. There were roulette tables and crap-tables and black-jack setups. But busi­ness was dull. George led How­ard to a roulette table where a single shill talked boredly to the croupier. Howard sat down un­easily. He looked pleadingly up at George. He had something close to stagefright. He wasn't used to gambling.

"Use your own judgment, Howard," said George kindly. "Such as it is."

He handed Howard a dollar. Howard put it down, numbly. The shill bet a dollar on the first dozen. The croupier spun the wheel.

He paid Howard, indifferently, thirty-five dollars for a bet on number eighteen. Janet took the money and made a memo. George passed down a ten-dollar bill. Howard numbly placed it on a number. The croupier spun the wheel.

He paid Howard thirty-five to one. Janet took the money and made a memorandum. She was inclined to cheer.

When George placed another bill in his fingers, Howard put it down—it was a twenty—with the fumbling motions of some­one partly anaesthetized. He did not make a conscious choice. He merely happened to put it down on zero.

The croupier paid him thirty-five to one.

Oswald's Club, as noted, was nearly empty. It was a large place, so even when sparsely oc­cupied it could and did contain people from East Orange and Denver and Amarillo and Puget Sound. There was a honeymoon couple from Chicago and a fugi­tive bank-clerk from Fort Lau-derdale, and a lovely old couple celebrating fifty years of married life. The atmosphere had been humdrum. Most of those present were hoping to see somebody gamble.

They realized their wish. When Howard won a limit bet on a single number, he had admirers. By some strange telepathy it seemed that the crowd hanging around outside the Formosa scented the activity in Oswald's, They began to stream in. When Howard made his fifth straight win at the limit, he began to have imitators. The odds against a win on a single number at roulette with double zeros are thirty-six to one. The bank paid thirty-five. The odds against two successive wins are 1296 to one. Against three successive wins they are 46,656 to one. Beyond this point they get interesting.

When Howard, quite glassy-eyed, planked down a limit bet on number 27, things had gone a long way. A plumber from Ama­rillo and a druggist from East Orange and a bride from Chicago and en old lady from Natchez fought with each other to put down their money on the same number, and the third dozen, and on odd, and on the color match­ing George's choice.

The croupier paid.

The tumult and the shouting rose. As if by magic, Oswald's Club had filled to the gunwales and excess customers were form­ing double lines outside the door. The fugitive bank-clerk from Fort Lauderdale discovered that he could be an honest man again and burst into tears. Howard moved like a zombie, because each win cut him to the heart. If he'd had the nerve to gamble for him­self, he'd be getting all this mon­ey. But he didn't. Dry-throated, he didn't notice when the golden-wedding bridegroom began a fist-fight with a prominent club­woman of Teaneck over who had bet what on which square of the roulette layout.

Then the croupier said with an appalled air, "I'm sorry, but I'll have to get more cash."

'"TRADITIONALLY but not technically this was the break­ing of the bank. It was a feat of which gamblers day-dream. But it was nothing close to Howard's heart. He trembled. He was on the thin edge of hysteria from the complex anguish of being un­able to stop betting—because he was getting money out of it-while even more money was going from his wins to George. Yet he couldn't gamble otherwise. He was congenitally unable to take a chance. While they waited for more money to be brought—

"Come, Howard," said George sympathetically. "You're over­wrought. I'll buy you a drink while they get some more money for us!"

"Howard!" said Janet beatifically.

Howard blubbered. An enthu­siastic populace regarded him as George supported him to a bar and threw a double Scotch into him. But Howard looked very strange. George was concerned.

"Do you want to stop now, Howard ?" he asked. "It must be quite a strain!"

They were the center of many eyes. Howard said thickly, "How much money have I got now!"

Janet computed and told him. Howard licked his lips. His frus­tration boiled over. George had gained much, much more. From his achievements!

"I want a bigger commission!" he protested bitterly. "I've got to have a better percentage! I won't work without a better deal!"

There was an intrusion. A short, plump man wearing a two-hundred-dollar suit said in a suave voice;

"What's this? Who's talking percentages?"

George looked down into the craggy features of the gentleman known as Joe the Greek. His four bodyguards, wearing profession­ally impassive expressions, crowded old ladies and honey­moon couples out of the way to stand protectively about their employer. George knew Joe the Greek. He'd negotiated a com­prehensive coverage insurance policy on his syndicate's hotel, undertaking to reimburse the syndicate for just about anything that could happen to a hostelry, including athlete's foot in the swimming-pool.

"Ah!" said George. "How do you do?" Then he said pleasant­ly to Howard. "Howard, this is my friend Joe the Greek. He wants to congratulate you on your run of luck."

Howard tensed, like a war-horse scenting battle from afar. He was a businessman in a sense George would never accomplish. In the presence of a present or past prospective customer for in­surance, he was a new man. He gave Joe the Greek a sincere smile and a warm handclasp, somewhat marred by wildly dis­heveled hair and a wilted collar and spectacles that were on crooked. He beamed. Then he ex­plained volubly that he'd hoped to write the fire, theft, public li­ability, storm, lightning, and dis­aster insurance on Joe the Greek's syndicate's new hotel, but that he'd never been able to arrange an interview. He hoped some day—

"Yeah?" said Joe the Greek. "But what's this about percent­ages? You've been having quite a run of luck, they tell me."

George babbled. He wiped his glasses. A customer always had charms to sooth his savage breast though sometimes it was the customer's breast which was sav­age when all was over. Howard somehow stridently explained his deal with George. He wished to enlist Joe the Greek's sym­pathy, because Joe the Greek was a rich man and could throw in­surance business his way, Joe the Greek blinked rapidly.

"You mean," he demanded," you can't gamble for yourself and you got to have a backer?"

"I don't gamble," said How­ard desperately. "I—I can't! It's against my principles! But I ought to get a better percent­age!"

Joe the Greek let out a quick breath. Then he said suavely, "You got a written contract with anybody?" At Howard's expres­sion he looked at George and said without moving his lips; "Give, guy! That contract!" Janet looked at George's face. He looked only mildly concerned. She plucked a memo from her handbag. She gave it to George. He handed it to Joe the Greek. Joe the Greek tore it up without reading it. George said regret­fully;

"I've been urging Howard to stop. He's getting upset."

"I'll take care of that," said Joe the Greek. "Boys—" This was to his bodyguards," look aft­er my friend here. Help him back to the table. I'll look after his percentage!"

Howard said urgently, "—And · I'd like to show you how you can save money on that comprehen­sive coverage if you cancel and deal through me . . ."

JOE the Greek made a gesture. Howard moved toward the roulette table, only apparently on his own legs.

"Tsk, tsk, tsk!" said George. Then he said, "We've got some money belonging to him, but I think we'd better settle up pri­vately and later on."

Janet said firmly, "He insisted on a written agreement, remem­ber? I've still got it. Joe the Greek tore up a list of people to be invited to a wedding. And Howard agreed, in writing, to work only for you or forfeit all claims on you. And I've got the money! You try to take it away from me!"

George pushed through the mob and got Janet out of Oswald's. When they were in a taxi he said, "How am I going to get my hands on that money? Guess I'll have to marry you for it."

"You will, darling," said Janet happily. "You will!"

And George immediately be­came unable to think clearly or observe with precision or to see the cosmos as it actually was. In strict accuracy, there was noth­ing in the least abnormal about the cosmos now. Within the past few minutes it had settled down with the balance of nature neatly and it is to be hoped permanent­ly restored. But George didn't notice. He was inebriated with emotion. He even forgot Howard.

Which was as well. Howard won one limit bet to be divided between himself and Joe the Greek as Joe the Greek should decide. Then he proceeded to run up the longest sequence of un­broken losses in the history of Oswald's Club, the Rodeo Arcade, or any other temple of chance in Tres Agua. He beat all the rec­ords. All of them. Joe the Greek staked him for a long time, be­cause he didn't believe that any­body's luck could change so sud­denly and so much. Howard couldn't believe it either. When Joe the Greek and his bodyguard wrathfully withdrew, Howard went on. Even with his own mon­ey—at least the money which was thirty per cent of what he'd won before lunch at the Formosa. He suffered intensely. But he proved even to himself that it was foolish to gamble. At the end, he burst into tears.

But Howard was only part of the proof that all was adjusted again. In a remote valley of the Andes, two rocks rolled downhill and came to rest near two other rocks. And then there were four. The old rule that two and two make four was working again. A small boy in Muscogee, Oklaho­ma, drew a careful bead on a spar­row with his sling-shot. He let go. He missed. The pebble sped on by, rose in a graceful para­bolic curve, and moved onward and downward together. It smashed a window in a public-school building. The natural law that what goes up must come down was again in force. In the complex mechanism which is this world, everything was working normally.

We're lucky.

THE END