"Depends," said Bell.

"On what?"

"On whether he's been trained to fly."

Kenny Bloom laughed.

Kincaid's eyes never left Bell's face. "Have you been trained to fly?"

"Not yet."

"So what do you do?"

"I hammer back," said Bell.

"I believe you do," said Kincaid. "I fold."

Still expressionless, Bell laid his cards facedown on the table and raked in nine hundred fifty thousand four hundred dollars in gold, markers, and checks, including his own. Kincaid reached for Bell's cards. Bell placed his hand firmly on top of them.

"Curious what you had under there," said Kincaid.

"So am I," said Congdon. "Surely you weren't bluffing against two pat hands."

"It crossed my mind that the pat hands were bluffing, Judge."

"Both? I don't think so."

"I sure as hell wasn't bluffing," said Kincaid. "I had a very pretty heart flush."

He turned his cards over and spread them faceup so all could see.

"God Almighty, Senator!" said Payne, "Eight, nine, ten, jack, king. Just one short of a straight flush. You'd sure as hell have raised back with that."

"Short being the key word," observed Bloom. "And a reminder that straight flushes are scarcer than hens' teeth."

"I would very much like to see your cards, Mr. Bell," said Kincaid.

"You didn't pay to see them," said Bell.

Congdon said, "I'll pay."

"I beg your pardon, sir?"

"It's worth one hundred thousand dollars to me to prove that you had a high three of a kind and then drew a pair to make a full house. Which would beat the Senator's flush and my miserable straight."

"No bet," said Bell. "An old friend of mine used to say a bluff should keep them guessing."

"Just as I thought," said Congdon. "You won't take the bet because I'm right. You got lucky and caught another pair."

"If that is what you would like to believe, Judge, we'll both go home happy."

"Dammit!" said the steel magnate. "I'll make it two hundred thousand. Just show me your hand."

Bell turned them over. "That fellow also said to show them now and then to make them wonder. You were right about the high three of a kind."

The steel magnate stared. "I'll be damned. Three lonely ladies. You were bluffing. You only had trips. I'd have beat you with my straight. Though your flush would have beaten me, Charlie. If Mr. Bell hadn't forced us both out."

Charles Kincaid exploded, "You bet half a million dollars on three lousy queens?"

"I'm partial to the ladies," said Isaac Bell. "Always have been."

KINCAID REACHED ACROSS AND touched the queens as if not quite believing his eyes. "I will have to arrange to transfer funds when I get to Washington," he said stiffly.

"No rush," Bell said graciously. "I'd have had to ask the same."

"Where should I mail my check?"

"I'll be at the Yale Club of New York City."

"Son," said Congdon, writing a check for which he did nothave to transfer funds to cover, "you sure paid for your train ticket."