CURING A LOSER 



been taking drugs. All these theories, however, were 

 wrong. Presently he was joined by a man he 

 evidently knew very well, and a sort of informal intro- 

 duction took place which was quite amusing, consider- 

 ing that I had spoken to No. 1 sportsman for about 

 two minutes only. I suggested a drink, which was 

 readily accepted by No. 2, but the brooding gambler 

 waved us away saying : " No, I'll stay up here," and 

 walked away. " Make him come down," said his 

 friend, but I was diffident about being too pressing, 

 and so the two of us went down to the saloon. " What's 

 the matter with him ? " I asked. " Oh, he's in a terrible 

 fix," replied his friend. " I only came across him 

 yesterday ; I have known him for years, we do business 

 together. But do you know what has happened ? 

 He's lost hundreds of pounds. He had given up 

 gambling for a long time, sticking to his business like 

 a good 'un. I don't believe he'll ever get over it, and 

 I hardly like leaving him now. He'll go dotty, I think, 

 brooding over his losses. He's only recently got 

 married, and now all the care of two or three years 

 has gone wrong. We had better go up," added the 

 friend. " You don't know what he'll do ; he might 

 jump overboard." 



" Oh, he won't do that till this evening, even if he 

 meditates it : it is too fine a day. Now, if the wind 

 was howling, and the sea lumpy, he might go over the 

 rail," I said. We went on deck again, and I told the 

 friend to leave me with him for a few minutes. I 

 soon had the story out of him. It did not seem to do 

 him much good, and I think I was wrong for once, for 

 he seemed to get worse and worse during the recital. 

 I must add that I had been up against trouble many 

 a time, and knew what it meant to wake up in the 

 morning and remember an ill-spent night when left 



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