Here Mahmoud the great merchant, paused, shut his eyes for a few moments, and continued in a murmur. “A very reasonable profit. Ten percent, a very reasonable profit.” Then, suddenly opening his eyes fiercely, he fixed them upon his alarmed nephews and cried.
“Was it not strange for a man of my temperament to remain thus pottering with a few boats and leaving sacks full of coin unused? You have only heard the beginning of the scheme upon which I was engaged!
“I had already purchased a very nice little property with a convenient house upon it, standing some yards back from the bank of the river and perhaps one hundred yards above the ferry.
“I next purchased a field upon the further bank, exactly opposite this house and its garden. I amused myself sometimes by rowing across the river from the steps at the foot of my ground to the field which I had purchased upon the other side. I sowed that field with beans of a particular kind with which (so I assured my neighbours), I was experimenting after an agricultural fashion. They were much interested, for agriculture is highly developed in that part, with the result that the highest arts, especially those of finance, are shamefully neglected.
“I allowed a few months to pass, during which the use of the ferry under my improved methods had more than trebled. It attracted to itself, now that the passage was so much easier, forms of traffic which it had hitherto not known. I even added to the fleet one huge pontoon for the special service of an elephant which we had warning was to pass, and when this was known, those great animals, which had previously used a ford several days upstream, were attracted to the shorter mountain road by the ferry.
“When all this was so prosperously established, I informed a few of the friends I had made in the neighbourhood that I must indulge in the fancy of a rich man and amuse myself by throwing a bridge between my house and the field I had bought upon the other shore. ‘It will save me,’ said I, ‘the perpetual trouble of rowing across in my little skiff and also occupy my leisure; for I am something of an engineer.’
“In truth very little engineering was required. All I had to do was to drive strong piles at intervals into the stream, lay trestles upon them, stay them with large baulks upon either side, and so make a good working bridge. It was no more than fit for foot traffic, but for this it was very convenient.
“Having now this communication I bought more land upon the further bank and developed there a very nice little model farm. I will not deny that foot passengers would occasionally ask my leave to cross by the bridge in order to save them the tedious passage by water. These I always refused lest it should prejudice the interests of my friend the ferryman; I made an exception only for one or two neighbours whom I desired to favour, and occasionally for really important people with whom the ferryman would not desire to quarrel. But I have a good heart, and at last I began to wink at the use of the bridge by more than these. Children especially (for I am very fond of young people) I could not bear to condemn to the troublesome passage by ferry, and I gave orders to my people to allow their trespass.
“At last a regular path got established through my farm, and whether from slackness or generosity I know not, but I allowed the crossing of the river by my bridge to increase in volume and to become a daily practice. When it had reached a certain volume my detestation of disorder compelled me to make certain regulations. I put up a gate at either end and charged a purely nominal sum which went, as I pointed out, to the upkeep of the bridge; though, of course, it did not nearly meet that expenditure.
“To avoid the length and inconvenience of the passage by water this toll was cheerfully paid, and as the season advanced my bridge was more and more used.
“My partner, the old ferryman, saw all this with a confused eye. He had the sense to see that I would not hurt my own investment by competition, yet he could not but perceive that there was here an increasing rivalry to his own long-established route.
“At last he approached me and asked me if we could not come to some pact; I said that I saw no occasion for that. There was plenty of room for both. I was a wealthy man, and an act of generosity was a kind of luxury for me; I could hardly ask people who had now grown used to so easy a passage to go back to the monopoly of the boats with their primitive, slow and clumsy business of embarking and disembarking, and their necessary delays and crowding. I pointed out to my revered partner that the boats were still necessary for all heavy merchandise and for animals, and I also pointed out very strongly to the ferryman what he could not deny, that I would hardly do anything to prejudice him since that would be also to prejudice myself, as I was his partner. I even ridiculed him for not perceiving the force of such an argument
