"Rush about," he said. "Do things! Somethin' glorious. There's cover
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.
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