Big Slick is off on his first adventure to find the aces in the
Gambler Series. Here are the clues, the entire directions are on my
website
http://www.catbeadmischief.com/theaceofdiamondsclues.html
as well as the LbNA website, but didn't show up after I added it -
don't know what went wrong there.

Enjoy,
catbead
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BIG SLICK AND THE ACE OF DIAMONDS:

Big Slick walked along the path that led into the woods, silently
cursing Dalliance for getting him into this whole mess. Could she
have rented a boat, nah, she always had to walk, always had to hike.
If it wasn't for that danged female and her dumb wartime mystery
fantasies he wouldn't be stumbling along in the hot, humid August
night. So here he was miserable, tired, thirsty and "WOULD SOMEONE
PLEASE JUST TELL ME WHERE THE ACE OF DIAMONDS IS . . . PLEASE!"
Sheese, no one around but the deep green waters, the trees and a lot
of dirt. What are these things anyway Big Slick thought as he stared
down at what he stood on. Thing looks like a bunker in fact this was
the second one he came upon. Now what was it that Dalliance was
saying about this bunker thing, something about giant double snakes,
22 steps, "snakes, snake eyes, that woman's nuts" he muttered out
loud, how'd she say it "Snake eyes by the look of things - those trees
by the lay of things" or something stupid like that. Yeah, all right,
got it. Nice skeeters he thought swatting and hopping around trying
to find a place in the night air that held no blood sucking bugs. Big
Slick, wishing he remembered his flashlight, snorted at the thought of
Dalliance stinking up a room with her "Eau du Cutter" as she called
it, but secretly wishing he brought his. What'd that daffy dame say
about the "Count" what does he have to do with it? The Count Black
Jack . . . no . . . it's count black jack. Count black jack? Big
Slick pondered this for a while, then he smiled and a nosee-um stuck
to his gums.

Off to his right in the dark he could vaguely see a what could loosley
be termed a natural walkway leading through the trees. Dalliance
said it looked like the trees parted just for her and opened a path to
11. Leave it to her to bring a little romance into it, probably
pretending to be Ingrid Bergman hiding from the Nazis. Maybe she sat
on that stump waiting for Bogey. Squinting he thought he could see a
better route up, if he retraced just a few steps. So Big Slick left
the path, and walked straight up between the trees. Knowing Dalliance
and the way her mind worked 7 & 11 kept bouncing around in his mind.
So he stopped when he thought he had taken 7 steps in what might be
Dalliance's stride. It didn't look quite right, even in the growing
darkness, so he took four more and could see he had completly passed
between two clumps of trees that she said he needed to pass.

She had said 7 & 11 were her lucky numbers and was sorry this didn't
turn out this way too. "Ooohkaaaay" he thought to himself, that makes
a lot of sense. Trying to remember something else she said or did
when she babbled the instructions to him as she tore through the
kitchen in her haste to meet Johnny South Paw. Yeah, he recalled, it
was really stupid.

"Eight don't be late."

Guess it wasn't 7 after all he laughed. Something bit him through his
shirt, he slapped it hard, sure the itch would drive him insane
later.

Not much to see in the dark, turning around he could see the moon
reflecting off the lake. As he turned back something caught his eye to
his left. There was just enough moonlight beyond the trees to see the
silouette of a pine and note that something was funny about the shape
of it's trunk. Then he heard something moving. It didn't sound big
and he couldn't smell it, which was good at least it ruled out bears
and skunks, he hoped. Just the same this whole thing was making him
jumpy and he wanted to get the Ace and be done with it. So he counted
off the 8 steps keeping horizontal to the lake, and found his left
shoulder against a tree.

On the forest floor hidden in the shadows was the remains of a tree on
the ground, worn smooth with age. Slick's boot caught , he fell,
getting a mouth full of dried twigs, dirt and something soft, bitter
and moving. Vigorously he spit this out as he stood and surveyed his
surroundings. Well, that certainly took care of all the forest sounds
he thought let everyone know where I'm at too.
Hurriejdly he brushed himself off eleven more steps and I've got you
he thought as he looked at that funny bent pine. So he went for it.

"Where the forest gently begins, under a rock, by a mossy thin old
log, resting on the ground by a split trunk. Three of a kind will
always beat an ace" Dalliance says.