Digital heart book

Tearing a leaf from my sketch-
book, and inspired (I suppose) by vanity in my own
powers of inference and observation, I took the one mad
decision of my life. "If you care to go ahead," I
wrote, "I'm in for all I'm worth."
Jim read and looked round at me like one bewildered;
then his eyes lightened, and turning again to the
auctioneer he bid, "Five thousand one hundred dollars."
"And fifty," said monotonous Bellairs.
Presently Pinkerton scribbled, "What can it be?" and I
answered, still on paper: "I can't imagine, but there's
something. Watch Bellairs; he'll go up to the ten
thousand, see if he don't."
And he did, and we followed. Long before this word had
gone abroad that there was battle royal. We were
surrounded by a crowd that looked on wondering, and
when Pinkerton had offered ten thousand dollars (the
outside value of the cargo, even were it safe in San
Francisco Bay) and Bellairs, smirking from ear to ear
to be the centre of so much attention, had jerked out
his answering "And fifty," wonder deepened to
excitement.


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