"
"Of course it's straight stuff--and you're perfectly all right,
Captain Nemo." With a good-natured smile Dick clapped him on the
shoulder. "But I'm all right, too, and nothing and nobody is going to
hurt me. Got to have a little fun, haven't I? As for the booze, I'm
merely making hay while the sun shines. Soon there'll be no sun--I
mean no booze."
Larry dropped the subject. In his old unprincipled, days his practice
had been much what he had suggested to Dick; as little drink as
possible, and as few late nights as possible. He had needed all his
wits all the time. In this matter of hilarious late hours, as in the
matter of speculation, Larry recognized words alone, however good,
would have little effect upon the pleasure-loving, friendly, likable
Dick. An event, some big experience, would be required to check him
short and bring him to his senses.
While Larry was keeping at this grind something was happening to Larry
of which he was not then conscious: something which was part of the
big development in him that was in time to lead him far. A confidence
man is essentially a "sure-thing" gambler. It had been Larry's
practice, before the law had tripped him up, to study every detail of
an enterprise he was planning to undertake, to know the psychology of
the individuals with whom he was dealing, to eliminate every
perceivable uncertainty: that was what had made almost all of his
deals "sure things.
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