in the morning, and one in the afternoon—was
bad enough; but when it came to day after day,
week after week, and month after month of it,
no man—at least no Smithson—could stand it.
He first complained to his colonel that he
could not get through the school. The
colonel asked the riding-master, who declared
that Smithson could not ride, and therefore
ought still be kept bumping round without
stirrups; Smithson himself got disgusted,
and after a time sold out.  There was nothing
against him, except, either he could not ride, or
that the crabbed riding-master did not like to lose
a victim. Smithson retired from the service
under the shade of his club, and from that day
to this has been "Captain Smithson."

To Smithson I went, to ask how men made
money by going into the City every day with
umbrellas under their arms for a few hours?
Though Smithson had not taken honours as a
dragoon, he was far from being a fool. Twenty
years of London life had taught him a few
things worth knowing, and therefore I thought
that I could not do better than apply to
Smithson.

His reply showed that my confidence was not
misplaced.  "You want to make money?" he
said; "then be a director.  I'll find you a
company in which you can obtain a seat at the
board, and you will then merely have to go into
the City every day for a few hours (with an
umbrella), in order to become a wealthy man."

"But," I objected, "I never was educated to
business; I know nothing about it; I should
most likely make a mess of the very first thing I
put my hand to."

"Don't be an ass," was Smithson's reply.
"Do you imagine that half the men whose
names you see figuring in the lists of directors
know anything about business?  Look at Sims
—  you remember Sims, who was in the 110th?
Where did Sims learn anything about business,
or business matters?   And yet he is director on
the boards of seven companies, eacli of which
give him three guineas a week—  three times
seven's twenty-one, and fifty-two times twenty-
one make a thousand and ninety-two guineas—
not pounds—  a year.   I don't say that you can
do as well as Sims at first; of course you can't.
But you will do quite as well a year or two
hence; perhaps better. Sims is a fool; you are
not. Sims has no money; you have some—
though not much. Be guided by me, and you
will thank me for having put you at your ease,
as the French say, before six months are over."

Acting upon Smithson's advice, I at once
borrowed, on the security of the mortgage in
which what little money I had was invested, the
sum of five hundred pounds. This amount I
deposited as a drawing or current account in a
highly respectable bank, to which l had obtained
an introduction. Having this reference behind
me, I was, through Smithson's means,
introduced to a gentleman who was trying to get up
a direction for the "RIO GRANDE TALHOOK
SILVER AND UNITED LEAD MINING COMPANY
(LIMITED)." This gentleman was by profession a
solicitor without practice; by occupation what
is called "a promoter." He was none of your
flash, well-to-do, Greenwich-dining, Cremorne-
frequenting, establishment-in-St.-John's-Wood-
keeping, promoters; but a poor, inoffensive,
seedy creature, very civil, very much out at
elbows, and apparently thankful for the smallest
favours. When I was first introduced to him,
he made a feeble attempt to persuade me,
that in order to become a director of the "RIO
GRANDE TALHOOK SILVER AND UNITED LEAD
MINING COMPANY (LIMITED)." I would be
obliged to pay money down, before I could be
qualified. Seeing, I presume, that such an idea
was preposterous, or at least that I could not
entertain it for a moment, he soon came round,
and, after offering to qualify me for nothing,
ended by acknowledging that if I wanted to be
a director of the company, I could be paid for
accepting a seat at the board. This I agreed
to, and forthwith received an undertaking by
which it was stipulated that in the event of my
becoming a director, and provided that the
company proceeded to an allotment, I was to be
given one hundred shares, on each of which five
pounds had been paid: thus receiving a bonus of
five hundred pounds for joining a direction
which was to give me three guineas a week for
sitting at the board.

In due time, the Rio Grande Company was
floated, and, considering it was a mining concern,
it took very well indeed with the public. The
directors were few in number, but they were
fairly respectable, and among them I thought
that my own name, "CAPTAIN RICKLEY, ARMY
AND NAVY CLUB," read very well indeed.

As Smithson said, my name being on one
direction was the first step that was
wanting in order to make me a regular City man and
man of business. A week after my name was
published as a director of the Rio Grande, I had
a couple of dozen applications to allow myself
to be put on the board of other companies.
Some of these were pretty respectable in
their character, others the merest swindles,
but one and all appeared most anxious to
get directors. From those which appeared to
be the best I selected three, and, receiving
from each of these some five hundred pounds
in paid-up shares, as well as three guineas a
week for sitting at the board once every seven
days, I soon began to find that my income had
materially increased, and that I had done wisely
in taking Smithson's advice.  I now took up my
umbrella every morning and walked to the City,
coming back in about four hours with the
pleasing knowledge that I was earning, in director's
fees alone—  to say nothing of the shares which
had been given me—  at least ten or twelve guineas
a week, and that my income was likely to increase.
It is true that the companies which I had joined
were by no means first-rate concerns, but much
the contrary. Besides the "RIO GRANDE
MINING," I was on the direction of the INDIA-
RUBBER SHOEING AND CARRIAGE-WHEEL
COVERING COMPANY (LIMITED);"  "THE NORTH-EAST
OF AMERICA OVERLAND TRAFFIC, PASSENGER,