that dared raise barriers
across its courses.

Small wonder that Cressler laughed at the thought of cornering wheat,
and even now as Jadwin crossed Jackson Street, on his way to his
broker's office on the lower floor of the Board of Trade Building, he
noted the ebb and flow that issued from its doors, and remembered the
huge river of wheat that rolled through this place from the farms of
Iowa and ranches of Dakota to the mills and bakeshops of Europe.

"There's something, perhaps, in what Charlie says," he said to himself.
"Corner this stuff--my God!"

Gretry, Converse & Co. was the name of the brokerage firm that always
handled Jadwin's rare speculative ventures. Converse was dead long
since, but the firm still retained its original name. The house was as
old and as well established as any on the Board of Trade. It had a
reputation for conservatism, and was known more as a Bear than a Bull
concern. It was immensely wealthy and immensely important. It
discouraged the growth of a clientele of country customers, of small
adventurers, knowing well that these were the first to go in a crash,
unable to meet margin calls, and leaving to their brokers the
responsibility of their disastrous trades. The large, powerful Bears
were its friends, the Bears strong of grip, tenacious of jaw, capable
of pulling down the strongest Bull. Thus the firm had no consideration
for the "outsiders," the "public"--the Lambs. The Lambs! Such a herd,
timid, innocent, feeble, as much out of place in La Salle Street as a
puppy in a cage of panthers; the Lambs, whom Bull and Bear did not so
much as condescend to notice, but who, in their mutual struggle of horn
and claw, they crushed to death by the mere rolling of their bodies.

Jadwin did not go directly into Gretry's main office, but instead made
his way in at the entrance of the Board of Trade Building, and going on
past the stairways that on either hand led up to the "Floor" on the
second story, entered the corridor beyond, and thence gained the
customers' room of Gretry, Converse & Co. All the more important
brokerage firms had offices on the ground floor of the building,
offices that had two entrances, one giving upon the street, and one
upon the corridor of the Board. Generally the corridor entrance
admitted directly to the firm's customers' room. This was the case with
the Gretry-Converse house.

Once in the customers' room, Jadwin paused, looking about him.

He could not tell why Gr