{"product_id":"2940013775787","title":"The Greek Poropulos","description":"At Carolina, in the Transvaal, was a store kept by a man named Lioski,\u003cbr\u003ewho was a Polish Jew. There was an officers' clubhouse, the steward of\u003cbr\u003ewhich was a Greek sportsman named Poropulos, and this story is about\u003cbr\u003ethese two men, and about an officer of Hampton's Scouts who took too\u003cbr\u003emuch wine and saw a pair of boots.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI have an intense admiration for George Poropulos, and I revere his\u003cbr\u003ememory. I admire him for his nerve; though, for the matter of that, his\u003cbr\u003enerve was no greater than mine.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eLong before the war came, when the negotiations between Great Britain\u003cbr\u003eand the Transvaal Government were in the diplomatic stage, I drifted to\u003cbr\u003eCarolina from the Rand, leaving behind me in the golden city much of\u003cbr\u003eambition, hope, and all the money I had brought with me from England. I\u003cbr\u003ecame to South Africa with a young wife and £370--within a few\u003cbr\u003eshillings--because the doctors told me the only chance I had was in such\u003cbr\u003ea hot, dry climate as the highlands of Africa afforded. For my own part,\u003cbr\u003ethere was a greater attraction in the possibility of turning those few\u003cbr\u003ehundreds of mine into thousands, for Johannesburg was in the delirium of\u003cbr\u003ea boom.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eI left Johannesburg nearly penniless. I could not, at the moment,\u003cbr\u003eexplain the reason of my failure, for the boom continued, and I had the\u003cbr\u003eadvantage of the expert advice of Arthur Lioski, who was staying at the\u003cbr\u003esame boarding house as myself.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eThere were malicious people who warned me against Lioski. His own\u003cbr\u003ecompatriots, sharp men of business, told me to 'ware Lioski, but I\u003cbr\u003eignored the advice because I was very confident in my own judgment, and\u003cbr\u003eLioski was a plausible, handsome man, a little flashy in appearance, but\u003cbr\u003edecidedly a beautiful animal.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe was in Johannesburg on a holiday, he said. He had stores in various\u003cbr\u003eparts of the country where he sold everything from broomsticks to farm\u003cbr\u003ewagons, and he bore the evidence of his prosperity.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe took us to the theater, or rather he took Lillian, for I was too\u003cbr\u003eseedy to go out much. I did not grudge Lillian the pleasure. Life was\u003cbr\u003every dull for a young girl whose middle-aged husband had a spot on his\u003cbr\u003elung, and Lioski was so kind and gentlemanly, so far as Lil was\u003cbr\u003econcerned, that the only feeling I had in the matter was one of\u003cbr\u003egratitude.\u003cbr\u003e\u003cbr\u003eHe was tall and dark, broad-shouldered, with a set to his figure and a\u003cbr\u003eswing of carriage that excited my admiration. He was possessed of\u003cbr\u003eenormous physical strength, and I have seen him take two quarreling\u003cbr\u003eKaffirs--men of no ordinary muscularity--and knock their heads together.","brand":"WDS Publishing","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":47181844578544,"sku":"2940013775787","price":0.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0737\/7593\/9824\/files\/2940013775787_p0.jpg?v=1763590090","url":"https:\/\/shop-qa.barnesandnoble.com\/products\/2940013775787","provider":"Barnes \u0026 Noble (DEV)","version":"1.0","type":"link"}