Or
suppose anybody did buy over our head--I tell you,
Loudon, he would think this town gone crazy; he could
no more get business through on the city front than I
can dance; schooners, divers, men--all he wanted--the
prices would fly right up and strike him."
"But how did you get in?" I asked. "You were once an
outsider like your neighbours, I suppose?"
"I took hold of that thing, Loudon, and just studied it
up," he replied. "It took my fancy; it was so
romantic, and then I saw there was boodle in the thing;
and I figured on the business till no man alive could
give me points. Nobody knew I had an eye on wrecks
till one fine morning I dropped in upon Douglas B.
Longhurst in his den, gave him all the facts and
figures, and put it to him straight: "Do you want me in
this ring, or shall I start another?" He took half an
hour, and when I came back, "Pink," says he, "I've put
your name on." The first time I came to the top it was
that MOODY racket; now it's the FLYING SCUD
Whereupon Pinkerton, looking at his watch, uttered an
exclamation, made a hasty appointment with myself for
the doors of the Merchants' Exchange, and fled to
examine manifests and interview the skipper.
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