"'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.
I thanked my skipper friend, while telling him that I had myself had no intention of dealing with the merchant.
Scarcely had I left Mr. Flett two minutes before I heard someone walking hurriedly behind me. I was quickly overtaken by old Isaac and Tom Kinlay.
"Ericson," said Tom with a friendly tone in his voice, as though we had never quarrelled. "Let the old man hae a sight o' that thing ye've got round yer neck, will ye?"
I put my hands in my trousers pockets, and made no reply.
"I gif you tree shilling for it," said the Jew.
"Keep your dirty money, sir," I said, turning on my heel.