45 The lines are set
Shakuni placed his first dice on the starting square of the dice row, with its white point uppermost. He knocked his next dice against the table and placed another single bet in the next betting square. But his next dice was a 3, so the attack went over to Yudhi.
Yudhi tapped and bet a single counter; he turned up a 1, bringing the total to 5. He tapped twice, and placed a two-bet.
‘What’s that?’ asked Dhrita, hearing the ripple of surprise around the hall.
‘Yudhi is going for a kill already, on 5,’ said Sanjaya.
‘Is there anything wrong with that?’
‘I think it’s just that it’s so soon, sire.’
Meanwhile Saha was trying to restrain his brother, but Yudhi insisted on going for the kill: ‘I can win four bets. That is four hundred head of cattle, Saha!’
‘But the gl
