On any decisive occasion, when a train is known to be well laid, he should appear to be drunk before any one of the party; in which case he should take care beforehand to instruct his decoy to pluck the pigeon, while he, as a supposed observer, is betting with some one in the company, (of course an accomplice) and is also a loser.
"Greeks, who know each other, are enabled to convey information by means of private signals, without uttering a word, and consequently without detection.

At whist, or other games on the cards, fingers are admirable conveyancers of intelligence, and by dexterous performers ~194~~are so managed, as to defy the closest scrutiny, so as to have the natural appearance of pliancy, while, among the _knowing ones_, their movements are actually deciding the fate of a rubber." "Egad!" said Mortimer, "you seem to understand the business so well, I wonder you don't open shop." "My knowledge," continued Sparkle, "is but theoretical.

I cannot boast of much practical information, for it is long since I shook the lucky castor." "O, then, you are discontented because you have no luck." "Not so," said Sparkle, "for I never play very deep, so that, win or lose, I can never suffer much; but I am willing to give information to others, and with that view I have detailed the nature of the houses and the general character of their frequenters, according to my own conception of them.

The _Levanter_ is a _Black-leg_, who lives by the _broads_{l} and the _turf_,{2} and is accustomed to work as it were by _telegraph_{3} with his pal; and if you take the broads in hand in their company, you are sure to be work'd, either by glazing, that is, putting you in the front of a looking-glass, by which means your hand is discovered by your antagonist, or by private signals from the pal.

On the turf he will pick up some nobleman or gentleman, who he knows is not _up to the rig_--bet him fifty or a hundred on a horse--pull out his pocket-book--set down the name, and promise to be at the stand when the race is over; but takes care to be seen no more, unless he is the winner, which he easily ascertains by the direction his pal takes immediately on the arrival of the horses.