Little Brother

Napoleon Panama, a short Corsican, had many portraits of himself on horseback to make up for his lack of height. That was truly a large horse for someone of his stature, yet he still controlled it. The galloping warhorse reared up, then finally came to a stop, obediently following his command.

Speculators were like adventurers, and practically Social Darwinists. They did not care about the bigger picture. When profiting from national disaster, they showed no restraint. After all, whether there would be another such opportunity in the future was none of their concern.

Ordinary people hated such people to the bone. Yet they were precisely the sort who would go to hell itself so long as they saw profit in it.

Gold prospecting was also a form of speculation. Some failed, while others, like Molly Brown, became rich overnight. Nearly all of California's early pioneers were speculators.

America was a paradise for speculators and adventurers. They believed that before bullets, there were no nobles. Its economy was vibrant, but it also rose and fell dramatically. Anyone seeking a "stable" life could not endure that kind of excitement.

The French Revolution became so violently turbulent perhaps because of the famine. Ordinary commoners could not even afford bread, while idle nobles were still indulging in romance and pleasure. Worse still, some wasted food. That was simply courting death.

The smell of boiling meat was intensely noticeable to starving people, just as sharks could smell a drop of blood from far out at sea.

Hungry people were angry people. At such a time, words were useless; only violent suppression remained. After the people of Paris stormed the Bastille, Louis XVI sent troops to suppress them. Would people stop when they saw their companions killed? No. They would think that, with enough numbers, they