“Jason! it is not true?”
“It is. There have come in several cargoes of Australian wool, finer than ours; and behind, they say, is simply any amount--mountains of wool. This comes of your not reading the papers. Coaker knew it, and that made him so eager to sell. I hear we shall have a further drop. You are done, old boy, in that speculation. Why did you not consult me? Have you paid Coaker?”
“I gave him fifty pounds, and a bill at two months.”
“Try what you can do with the Sloggitts. They may want to buy, but don’t reckon on making more than tenpence. Lucky if you get that. I dare swear they will offer no more than ninepence.”
Pepperill’s face became white, but he quickly rallied, and said to Bramber, “That is Quarm all over; he loves a joke, and he thought to frighten me. I’ll go at once to Sloggitt; I know where to find him. He has a mill at Buckfastleigh.”
He caught the schoolmaster’s arm, and drew him along with him. He had not gone many steps before a stranger addressed him--
“Mr. Pepperill, I believe?”
“Certainly.”
“You were pointed out to me. You have done some business with us--the wood at Brimpts. I am the agent of the bank. I think we oughtn’t to have come to so hasty a conclusion. The fact is, we hadn’t any idea there was so much forest timber there. But as it is, of course, it can’t be helped; only bank rules, you understand, must be observed.”
“And what are they?”