The Jew looked surprised; but without heeding him I turned
away with Captain Flett, who walked with me some distance from the
dispersing crowd.
When we were alone beside one of the sheds he said:
"It's all right now, Ericson, my lad. I wanted but to save ye frae
makin' a fule o' yersel, like Carver Kinlay's lad."
"Why," I said, "Kinlay has made a very good bargain, has he not?"
"Simpleton!" said the skipper. "Ye didna hear what yon Dutch sailor
said to the auld Jew, eh?"
"I heard, captain, but of course I didna understand," I said.
"Weel, my lad, I understood," said he. "The Dutchman asked him what
kind o' gem it was he had gotten frae the boy.
"'It's a ruby,' said the Jew.
"'Oho!'said the Dutchman. 'It's a rare big one, though. How muckle
might ye be expectin' to get for it across the water--a couple o'
hundred?'
"Then the auld Jew gave the Dutchman a wink, and said, 'Maybe a
thousand dollars, mynheer.'
"So ye see, Ericson, if the auld swindler could count upon gettin',
let us say, two hundred pounds English for the stone over in
Amsterdam, ye can hardly say that young Kinlay got a big price
for't, can ye?"
I was astounded at this information. Such unfairness appeared to my
boyish mind as criminal in the extreme. But a wider knowledge of
the world has since taught me that in commercial transactions
things are not always bought and sold at their proper value.
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