“A month, a month, my dear fellow!” said van Beneden, correcting him.
“Well, a month, so be it,” resumed van Rheijn; “that comes to only nine hundred and sixty thousand guilders a year. Here in Santjoemeh—!”
“For those days it was an exorbitant price,” continued van Beneden, “I know all about it, and I can assure you it was an extravagantly high price.”
“Well, and what happened then?” asked van Nerekool.
“The representative of Hok Bie had called out eighty thousand, thinking by that bid to disconcert and crush his opponent, for he had made a tremendous leap from sixty to eighty.”
“The deuce!” cried van Rheijn, “and then?”
“Tio Siong Mo lost not an instant; but with the utmost coolness he said: ‘Another thousand.’
“He spoke these words in a tone of voice which seemed to convey that he simply intended to add a thousand to whatever bid the other party might make.
“Hok Bie’s representative looked blue; that last bold jump of his had brought him to the end of his tether—he was not empowered to go further. The resident who presided encouraged the competitors to go on. But no one spoke.
“At length was heard the ‘third time,’ accompanied by the fall of the hammer, and Tio Siong Mo had secured the monopoly. It was a large sum to pay merely for the contract; but the young Chinaman laughed in his sleeve. He knew well enough that in the dessa Bengawan he could screw double that amount out of it. But, as you will see, he reckoned without his host. The company Hok Bie was furious at having thus been worsted, and resolved to have its revenge. At the very first meeting of the directors four hundred thousand guilders were voted, not only to ensure Tio Siong Mo’s fall, but even to secure him a comfortable little nook in the State prison. Two of the oldest members of the board undertook the job.”