330  SELLING  LATIN  AMERICA

tracting  fever,  and  secure  his  samples.  You
may  imagine  his  surprise  on  reaching  his  cases
to  find  every  one  empty—the  cakes  and  biscuits
and  dainties  had  been  eaten  by  the  customs  employes. ­
  Of  course  it  was  impossible  to  place
the  blame  on  any  one,  and  his  loud  demands
for  redress  resulted  in  the  police  escorting  him
to  the  railway  station  and  threatening  to  arrest ­
  him  if  he  persisted  in  continuing  his  demonstrations. ­
  His  cable  to  the  house,
“Samples  eaten  by  the  customs  authorities.
Send  duplicates,”
confirmed  the  belief  of  his  employers  that  he
had  gone  suddenly  insane  and  brought  this
brief  reply:—
“Return  immediately.”
As  far  as  I  know,  this  big  company  have  made
no  further  efforts  to  enter  these  really  profitable ­
  fields,  which  are  still  dominated  by  English ­
  cracker  and  biscuit  concerns.  I  trust  that
the  moral  will  be  patent  to  my  readers  that  it
pays  to  keep  close  to  your  sample  cases  and
never  trust  them  with  unreliable  or  unknown
natives.