During that two years is the bull speculator’s opportunity. If he does not make money then, he never will. Now we come more to the minutiæ: “Any jackass can take a profit, but it requires a devilish clever fellow to cut a loss,” is a well-worn expression in the city of London, but there never was a truer one. During the two years of recovery in prices to which we have referred, there will be a great number of small periods of time when the bull speculator should be out of the markets altogether. To decide when those periods are to be is his _pons asinorum_. After he has once realized the importance of having his accounts open ready for the periodical waves to carry him in and land his profit, the difficulty is to get him to realize the importance of keeping out while the water sweeps back, carrying with it the greedy speculators, who were not content to take their profits. After every great rise comes a fall, and the secret of such success as is possible lies in the buyer getting out at or near the top and in again at the bottom. It is obvious that a speculator must watch for the ever-changing circumstances to reveal themselves and act accordingly. We will suppose nothing extraordinary happens, such as a war, famine, or pestilence, but that the influences during the two years are of the ordinary type. There are the settlements. As a fortnightly settlement approaches, prices as a rule move more or less in an opposite direction to that which they have taken for some days previous, the extent being in proportion to the foregoing movement. For instance, if for the first week of an account prices have fallen heavily for some reason, such as a sharp bullion drain and a sudden rise in the value of money, there will almost to a certainty be a recovery, because a heavy fall is generally occasioned largely by bear speculators, who will begin to buy back as the account approaches, causing a recovery in values. If a speculator, therefore, is out of the markets when a fall is taking place, he is almost sure to make money by buying at the reduced figures as an account approaches.[24] Then among minor influences, which are regularly recurring, are the “drawings” attached to most foreign stocks, and to all that have been issued for many years past. When a drawing approaches, other things not being unfavourable, there will probably be some buying for the chance of getting a bond or two drawn, and the price will improve.[25] CHAPTER III. THE RIGHT TEMPERAMENT FOR A PROFESSIONAL SPECULATOR.