From cheap jewellery I advanced to more costly articles.  I purchased a job lot of silver wrist watches from a Jew who had gone “broke,” and these I cleared out within a very short time.  I always paid spot cash and that was an overwhelming factor in my favour.  Indeed, my trading operations became so striking that my name and business proceeded far beyond the confines of the camp.  Within a few weeks of opening my shop I was receiving calls from men in the camp who were acting as representatives for some of the foremost Jewish wholesale houses in Germany, and they were almost fighting among themselves to secure my patronage.  My biggest individual purchasing deal was a single lot of jewellery for which I paid nearly 1,000 marks—­L50!  From this, bearing in mind the difficulties which I had to overcome in securing delivery, it is possible to gain some idea of the brisk trade I was doing.

Everything and anything capable of being converted into a souvenir by the dexterous use of the engraving tool was handled by me indiscriminately.  I bought a large consignment of briar pipes.  Upon the bowls of these I cut a suitable inscription and filled the incisions with enamel.  These caught the fancy of the smokers and I soon found my stock exhausted.  As things developed I became more ambitious, although not reckless, until at last I had articles ranging up to L30 in price upon my shelves, in the disposal of which I experienced very little difficulty.

My shop became my one absorbing hobby although it boasted no pretensions.  I contrived attractive show cases, some from egg-boxes, emblazoning the exterior with striking show cards and signs which I executed in the confines of my horse-box in the barracks after my comrades had gone to sleep.  Not satisfied with this development I lighted the building brilliantly by means of electric lamps and a large flame acetylene lamp.

I did not confine myself to any one line of goods, but handled any thing capable of being turned into money quickly.  In some instances I had to resort to extreme subterfuge to outwit the authorities.  On one occasion I purchased a consignment of silk Union Jacks for wearing in the lapel of the coat.  I knew full well that if I placed these on sale in my shop the stern hand of authority would swoop down swiftly and confiscate the hated emblem without the slightest compunction.  So I evolved a special means of clearing them out and that within a very few minutes.

I went round to each barrack and button-holed a capable man to undertake to sell a certain number of the flags among the prisoners domiciled in his building.  On the offer of a good commission the man was ready to incur great risks, although there was no risk in my plan.  Each man thus received a territorial right as it were, and was protected against competition.  The price was fixed and the arrangements for effecting the sale carefully drawn up.  After the morning parade, the custom was to dismiss us to our barracks