It was for the foreigner an hour of rare opportunity.

The beer kegs stood open and there were plenty of tin mugs about.

In the dim light of a smoky lantern, the swaying crowd, here singing in maudlin chorus, there fighting savagely to pay off old scores or to avenge new insults, presented a nauseating spectacle.
In the farthest corner of the room, unmoved by all this din, about a table consisting of a plank laid across two beer kegs, one empty, the other for the convenience of the players half full, sat four men deep in a game of cards.

Rosenblatt with a big Dalmatian sailor as partner, against a little Polak and a dark-bearded man.

This man was apparently very drunk, as was evident by his reckless playing and his jibing, jeering manner.