‘Some of them, to be right there when the phenomenon came along, would stand half the night up to their middles in water, ready to drive in a peg directly they felt the lift.
‘We had all sorts of rules given us to tell when to expect an earthquake. They were pretty plentiful when the moon was near to us, so they said.
‘Then there were lots of rules connecting the frequency of shakes and the position of planets, the height of the barometer, the phase of the tide, or the temperature of the air. Some of us would work on one rule, and some on another; but so far as we could make out there was no rule; anyhow, there was no decided rule which would help us to make money. Applied science didn’t work right.
‘I often read about professors prophesying when there will be an earthquake. Some of them fix a day for the event. Sometimes it comes off, and then they are all cock-a-whoop; but when it doesn’t come off, they just lie close.
‘It stands to reason that they must be right sometimes, because in some countries there are earthquakes every day.’
‘Well, and was there never any more jump-ups after the one when Sammy made his money?’ I inquired.
‘Oh yes, there was one a bit down the bay some years ago.’
‘And was there a scramble for it?’ I said.
‘My word there was!’ he answered; ‘if you had seen the cartloads of pegs, and people and buggies all crowding along, each trying to get ahead of his neighbour, you would have thought Wellington was mad. When they got there, what do you think they found? Well, they found it had all been pegged out by Sammy.’
‘What, Sammy again?’ I said.