gambling. Ever heard of that, George?" He drew the air in through his
teeth. "You put down a hundred say, and buy ten thousand pounds worth.
See? That's a cover of one per cent. Things go up one, you sell, realise
cent per cent; down, whiff, it's gone! Try again! Cent per cent, George,
every day. Men are made or done for in an hour. And the shoutin'!
Zzzz.... Well, that's one way, George. Then another way--there's
Corners!"

"They're rather big things, aren't they?" I ventured.

"Oh, if you go in for wheat or steel--yes. But suppose you tackled a
little thing, George. Just some little thing that only needed a few
thousands. Drugs for example. Shoved all you had into it--staked your
liver on it, so to speak. Take a drug--take ipecac, for example. Take
a lot of ipecac. Take all there is! See? There you are! There aren't
unlimited supplies of ipecacuanha--can't be!--and it's a thing people
must have. Then quinine again! You watch your chance, wait for a
tropical war breaking out, let's say, and collar all the quinine. Where
ARE they? Must have quinine, you know. Eh? Zzzz.

"Lord! there's no end of things--no end of little things.
Dill-water--all the suffering babes yowling for it. Eucalyptus
again--cascara--witch hazel--menthol--all the toothache things. Then
there's antiseptics, and curare, cocaine...."

"Rather a nuisance to the doctors," I reflected.

"They got to look out for themselves. By Jove, yes. They'll do you if
they can, and you do them. Like brigands. That makes it romantic. That's
the Romance of Commerce, George. You're in the mountains there! Think