A LITTLE DEAL IN "SNIDE "
D
A SILVA was an
honest Cingalee from Gall. He was the pearl-doctor employed by a big
local firm of pearl-buyers. His pay was forty dollars per month. In two
years he had saved sufficient money to buy three good-sized tea
plantations back home.
One
day in the billiard room of the "Star" Da Silva manÂaged to catch my
eye, and on his way out he brushed past me and whispered: "Master,
to-night when the moon goes up there will be good fishing from the long
jetty. Bring your line and bait, master, and you'll find good fish."
"Hello!" I thought, "what is that fellow's game? I must find out."
The
long wooden pier jutted a good half mile out to sea at high water. At
the ebb you could walk around the pilings at the far end or race the
crabs to their holes in the slushy mud. On this evening the moon was
rising over the bay, when I passed several pigtailed fellows casting
their baited lines over the pier railings. I walked on, and found Da
Silva already fishing. I made certain that he had seen me and then took
up'my station some little distance from him. I saw that the Chinese
fishers were watching me.
Casting
my line I soon became absorbed in the sport, for the bay was alive with
red snappers and stingarees. I had entirely forgotten Da Silva until
presently I became aware that he stood over me.
"Master,"
he whispered without any preliminary, "you buy fifty-grain round pearl,
oh such a beautiful thing—you got thousand pounds in your pockit? If
not I trust you. Master, you can sell it for two thousand, sure. I've
got her here, you like to see?"
20
