Page:The Wizard of Wall Street and his Wealth.djvu/40

 before making an effort to get his dinner. His wretchedness and its relief are interestingly told in a letter that Mr. Gould wrote to a friend some years later.

"I was out of money—that is to say, every cent I had at my command was a ten-cent piece, with which I had determined not to part. Fall was approaching, and, unless our surveys were completed before winter set in, the final completion of our enterprise would be necessarily delayed until another season, subjecting us to additional expense, which I feared would prove hazardous to the enterprise. I was among entire strangers and consequently without credit. I could not spare time to go to Delaware county after funds, and I had not money to reach there. If tears had been coin my empty coffers would soon have been amply replenished. In this emergency a welcome expedient accidentally presented itself. I was prosecuting my surveys at this time in the town of Shawangunk, and, while the tears were even trickling down my cheek, a farmer came running after me and asked me if I would not return with him to dinner and make a 'noon mark,' which is a north and south line, to indicate, by the shadow caused by the rays falling against an upright object and striking the line, the hour of midday. I accepted the invitation with pleasure, as a couple of crackers was all I had eaten since the preceding night, and I had been working since daylight and was consequently hungry and faint. After dinner I made the noon