He was now on the road to wealth. He had scores of trappers and hunters
working for him in the great wilderness, and his agents were kept busy
buying and shipping the skins to New York. As soon as he was able to do
so he purchased a ship, in which he sent his furs to London,
occasionally making a voyage thither himself. He manifested the greatest
interest in the markets of the Old World, especially in those of Asia,
and informed himself so accurately concerning them that he was always
enabled to furnish his captains with instructions covering the most
minute detail of their transactions in those markets; and it is said
that he was never unsuccessful in his ventures there, except when his
instructions were disobeyed.
In this again, as in the fur trade, we see him patiently acquiring
knowledge of the eastern trade before venturing to engage in it. His
first step was always to fully comprehend his task, to examine it from
every possible point of view, so that he should be prepared to encounter
any sudden reverse, or ready to take advantage of good fortune. Here lay
the secret of his success--that he never embarked in an enterprise until
he had learned how to use it to advantage.
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