The Rare Purple Elephant pt. 20 - Continued...

A new continent. The greatest treasure that anybody could think of.

Although, Bob knew that all people thought about was money and power, and were concentrating on those things right now, giving him more crawl space.

Now, if you don't understand how a new, undiscovered continent, or even large island, this was Bob's logic.

Now, continents hold ores. People pay for ores.
Continents contain natural resources, such as lumber. People pay for natural resources.
Undiscovered continents contain animals that may differ slightly then normal ones. People pay for those.
And most of all, the land itself would be good for housing.

That was what he originally thought. Then, he thought, he could not have anything to do with the government, or they might be able to hold claim to his discoveries. That cut out being able to do anything that would make money fast enough... He checked all of his sources, and most of them pointed to a time coming up in a couple years. a chance that came once in a time that nobody could live through. He assumed nobody could live for ten thousand years, at least to the best of his knowledge.

So, for the next ten years, he played his cards exactly right.

He started out risky; buying six acres of land, the cost of buying it and maintaining it keeping him barely above debt. He could not go there.

He made money that did not require government at all: Teaching to write novels, using his own resources to teach. A sum was paid to him by his students in cash, and that in turn was never put into a bank.

After getting a hefty amount of money from this, he tried the next step in his plan

Bob filled out the papers to make his land and farm all seperated from the government, although he could not do it. He was on American soil, and hence could not do that. So, he sold it, and bought a small island offshore, one that was not yet claimed by America. The island was only about three acres big, completely covered in trees. The paperwork making that island his and his alone was completed, and step three began.

He started to cut down the trees with a task force that were self-funded and provided for, not following any government.

He sold this wood for cash at lumber yards.

With this cash, he bought items from the black market. This was the risky part, and nothing bad happened. He was nearly in the clear.

He hired private boatmakers to assemble a few boats for him, and while they were doing that, the task force made him a farm, this depleted his money to near nothing.

Then, he built a dock.

He had liked the task force, and did not bother to show them the 'hidden fee' that was listed in fine print at the bottom of the contract.

The boatmakers, however, were rather nasty and asked too many private questions. The hidden fee was placed on them, and they grumpily paid. Ten thousand dollars would be enough.

Then all he had to do was wait, and bide his time until the day came.


A few years later, a curious man named Rebbo and a good, but not too big on brains, captain by the name of "Scelvin" offered to take him, but he needed a boat and a crew, as he had lost his to sources that he wouldn't say.

And Bob, who had subtly turned his innocent task force into a bunch of goons trained to sail, was more then happy to oblige.

His moment had come.