Where four players take part, two play in partnership against the other
two, partners facing each other, as at Whist. Five cards having been dealt
to {71} each, and the twenty-first turned up by way of trump, the elder
hand (_i.e._ the player to the left of the dealer) declares whether he will
"order up" the trump card or "pass." In the latter event, the option passes
to the dealer's partner; but he expresses it in a somewhat different
manner, inasmuch as he is dealing with a friend instead of an enemy. If he
thinks his hand good for two or more tricks he says, "I assist." This is
considered a call to his partner (the dealer) to take up the trump, which
he does accordingly, he himself having no choice in the matter. If the
second player passes, the option rests with the third player, who "orders
it up" or passes, as his hand may warrant. In the latter case the dealer
decides for himself whether to take it up or turn it down. If the trump has
either been ordered up or taken up voluntarily by the dealer, the play
proceeds as in the two-handed game. If, on the other hand, the dealer
"turns it down," the players, beginning with the elder hand, are invited in
succession to "make it" what they please; the challenging party in either
case being bound, in conjunction with his partner, to make three tricks,
under penalty of being euchred.
A player with an unusually strong hand may elect to "go alone." In such
case his partner turns his cards face downward on the table, and leaves the
"lone hand," as he is termed, to play the game singly against the two
opponents.
If a player "going alone" is lucky enough to win all five tricks, he scores
_four_ (instead of three) for the "march"; but if he make three or four
tricks only, he scores one for the point in the ordinary manner. {72}