[pshrynk]

Bois Aussi and Slite snuck into the Casino through the service entrance. They had neither an invitation nor anyone to stand in for them in the tournament. They planned on finding a likely candidate in the crowd and buying his way in at some point. The tournament was scheduled to take three days to complete, so they felt that their plan had some merit.

As they lurked about in the lobby, they ducked quickly into a closet when they saw Biggles walking in wearing a sombrero and a linen business suit.

"He's actually going to try to enter the tournament?" asked Slite.

"Oui. He has what we call a flat learning curve. I suppose we could club him and take his money to aid in our venture, though..."

"Even though I suspect that the Americans sent him here to have him get eliminated by a foreign agent, they probably would have some objections of we did it ourselves, since we're supposed to be friends."

"Of course. Quelle domage. Ah, look! A possibility!"

They looked out at the crowd and saw two men walking in. One seemed to be counting the tiles in the floor and the other was ruggedly handsome, wearing a drooping flight cap. A small grey dog loped along behind him.

"I have seen that man in the barrios. He frequently skins the tourists and any sailors dim enough to enter into a game he is involved with. But he is able to keep from attracting the attentions of the Italian gentlemen who feel that they own the rights to all gambling here on this island."

"He might be our man, then. Isn't that the dog we saw talking to the woman? I want to talk with him and find out if Montsnmags is involved with all this..." The large dog loped off in pursuit of information.

Bois Aussi sidled toward the man in the cap and considered his options. Just as he arrived at Harv's side, they both looked up and were struck dumb by the arrival of a vision of beauty as Vera walked through the door.