"
The courtyard gate shut, and Dick hurried up the sandy street to the nearest
gambling-hell, where he was well known. "If the luck holds, it's an omen; if I
lose, I must stay here." He placed his money picturesquely about the board,
hardly daring to look at what he did. The luck held.
Three turns of the wheel left him richer by twenty pounds, and he went down to
the shipping to make friends with the captain of a decayed cargo-steamer, who
landed him in London with fewer pounds in his pocket than he cared to think
about.
A thin gray fog hung over the city, and the streets were very cold; for summer
was in England.
"It's a cheerful wilderness, and it hasn't the knack of altering much," Dick
thought, as he tramped from the Docks westward. "Now, what must I do?"
The packed houses gave no answer. Dick looked down the long lightless streets
and at the appalling rush of traffic. "Oh, you rabbit-hutches!" said he,
addressing a row of highly respectable semi-detached residences. "Do you know
what you"ve got to do later on? You have to supply me with men-servants and
maid-servants,"--here he smacked his lips,--"and the peculiar treasure of
kings. Meantime I'll clothes and boots, and presently I will return and trample
on you.
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