D'Artagnan, the King Maker — page 36: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

The Petrel Changes Hands. 27 “Oh, a seaman is an Ishmael, like him in Scriptures; every hand is against poor Jack!” “This is a harmless doctrine when you preach it on your deck; but on land, since the land belongs to one majesty or another—sometimes two or more claim it!— it sounds like treason!” Pedro flipped a flake of fish off his sleeve as if he cared but slightly for kings. “Well, since this union is no secret to those whom it concerns, the naval officers do not often call the mus- ter of a fisher of good size, our fund swells. And as Jack cannot keep a fat purse long, we decided on putting the pile in safe hands.” “You have been a sailor, eh? Well, in all your voy- ages, you may have come upon the phcenix, the roc, the vampires, and what not, but verily you have chanced upon the rara avis desiderata—the man who can safe- ly be intrusted with money! Pray tell me, since I would like to impart the information to certain friends, what is he—a magician who scorns gold, an alchemist who can make it, a cenobite who does without it, a 5 “To interrupt your lordship, it is a Jew!” “Tt is true, they ‘have all the ready money in Europe “Faith, what with killing them off, what they hold, —-and they hold it with a limpet’s tenacity, by the token —this same money is in fewer and fewer hands. So these few are protected, for who has so many friends as he who can benefit his friends ?”’ “Pedro, the Innkeeper, you are Pedro, the Philoso- pher! You could give cards to Alfonso, the Wise, and come out winner!” “My lord, you cannot have traveled far in these re- gions without seeing that we have inherited from Moor, Arab and Egyptian, and they have wisdom. Men of pith, to repeat their sayings, is to become a sage! The accumulated cash being in our way, we made a stum- bling block of it to the Jew.” : “T never tripped over mine in a heap!” Pedro laughed, and the negress, tenderly slippering the guest, grinned from one gold hoop, in which a par- roquet might swing, to the other, in her ears. “So we sea dogs, like dogs in office, have our banker, !?? CORNICE OOOKS (C(O) im