the
first to try my remedy against the big bosses' game, and where he led,
others followed, if for no other reason than this: he read the lessons
at the tin tabernacle upon the sandy knoll of a Sunday.
Soon
after that I scored again. In Pearltown, as in other spots where
Anglo-Saxons foregather, horse-racing was a favorite amusement. But
being so remote a place, two days and once a year was all that Broome
ever saw of that sport. Weeks before the racing, therefore, the only
topics of conversation were form and weight and odds. You would have
sworn that nothing in the world mattered more than a horse's fetlock
or a jockey's crop.
It
is usually wise to play when the rest of the world plays, but
nevertheless there are times when it is wiser to set the general rule
aside. I decided to work. And I told everybody who came my way that I
should not be going racing, but that I might be found at my usual place
in case of need. I repeated this interesting information so often that
I had hopes of making it stick. On the morning of the first racing day
I went to the bank and took out nearly all I had to my credit—$10,000.
Ferguson
the teller thought I had lost my head. "Are you going to take all this
cash to the races?" he said disapprovingly. 'Anyway, it is your own to
do with as you choose," and shoved the wad across the counter.
I
sat in my room at the "Diver's Rest" reading a book. The shouting from
the race-course reached my ears. I guessed that the first race was
over. Presently a chap came panting up the road straight to the house.
Without uttering a word he placed a bunch of pearls on the table.
He
was one of those who had had no use for me till now. So I offered him
about half I should have given him the day before. He took it and fled.
Others came in quick succession. The boss dealers were out of luck that
day.
But
next day, the greater the pity, I was not in the market, for all my
ready cash was gone. So I sauntered down to the long jetty. The Koombana was in and moored at the far end of the pier.
