on the uproarious beach: such an one might realise a greater material

spoil; he should have no more profit of romance than Pinkerton when he

cast up his weekly balance-sheet in a bald office. Every dollar gained

was like something brought ashore from a mysterious deep; every venture

made was like a diver's plunge; and as he thrust his bold hand into the

plexus of the money-market, he was delightedly aware of how he shook the

pillars of existence, turned out men (as at a battle-cry) to labour

in far countries, and set the gold twitching in the drawers of

millionnaires.

I could never fathom the full extent of his speculations; but there were

five separate businesses which he avowed and carried like a banner. The

Thirteen Star Golden State Brandy, Warranted Entire (a very flagrant

distillation) filled a great part of his thoughts, and was kept before

the public in an eloquent but misleading treatise: _Why Drink French

Brandy? A Word to the Wise._ He kept an office for advertisers,

counselling, designing, acting as middleman with printers and

bill-stickers, for the inexperienced or the uninspired: the dull

haberdasher came to him for ideas, the smart theatrical agent for his

local knowledge; and one and all departed with a copy of his pamphlet:

_How, When, and Where; or, the Advertiser's Vade-Mecum._ He had a tug

chartered every Saturday afternoon and night, carried people outside the

Heads, and provided them with lines and bait for six hours' fishing,

at the rate of five dollars a person. I am told that some of

them (doubtless adroit anglers) made a profit on the transaction.

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