the tariff, war
between France and Turkey, famine in Russia or Ireland, and so on. The
first Atlantic cable had not been laid as yet, and news of any kind from
abroad was slow and meager. Still there were great financial figures in
the held, men who, like Cyrus Field, or William H. Vanderbilt, or F. X.
Drexel, were doing marvelous things, and their activities and the rumors
concerning them counted for much.

Frank soon picked up all of the technicalities of the situation. A
"bull," he learned, was one who bought in anticipation of a higher price
to come; and if he was "loaded up" with a "line" of stocks he was said
to be "long." He sold to "realize" his profit, or if his margins were
exhausted he was "wiped out." A "bear" was one who sold stocks which
most frequently he did not have, in anticipation of a lower price, at
which he could buy and satisfy his previous sales. He was "short" when
he had sold what he did not own, and he "covered" when he bought to
satisfy his sales and to realize his profits or to protect himself
against further loss in case prices advanced instead of declining. He
was in a "corner" when he found that he could not buy in order to make
good the stock he had borrowed for delivery and the return of which
had been demanded. He was then obliged to settle practically at a price
fixed by those to whom he and other "shorts" had sold.

He smiled at first at the air of great secrecy and wisdom on the part
of the younger men. They were so heartily and foolishly suspicious. The
older men, as a rule, were inscrutable. They pretended indifference,
uncertainty. They were like certain fish after a certain kind of bait,
however. Snap! and the opportunity was gone. Somebody else had picked up
what you wanted. All had their little note-books. All had their peculiar
squint of eye or position or motion which meant "Done! I take you!"
Sometimes they seemed scarcely to confirm their sales or purchases--they
knew each other so well--but they did. If the market was for any reason
active, the brokers and their agents were apt to be more numerous than
if it were dull and the trading indifferent. A gong sounded the call to
trading at ten o'clock, and if there was a noticeable rise or decline in
a stock or a group of stocks, you were apt to witness quite a spirited
scene. Fifty to a hundred men would shout, gesticulate, shove here and
there in an apparently aimless manner; endeavoring to take advantage of
the stock offere