it traders clutched him,
pulled his necktie loose, knocked off his hat, vociferating all the
while at top voice, "He's sick! He's sick!"

Other brokers and traders came up, and Grossmann, mistaking the
commotion for a flurry, ran into the Pit, his eyes wide, waving his arm
and wailing:

"'Sell twenty-five May at ninety-five and a quarter."

But the victim, good-natured, readjusted his battered hat, and again
repeated his bid.

"Ah, go to bed," protested Hirsch.

"He's the man who struck Billy Paterson."

"Say, a horse bit him. Look out for him, he's going to have a duck-fit."

The incident appeared to be the inspiration for a new "josh" that had a
great success, and a group of traders organized themselves into an
"anti-cravat committee," and made the rounds of the Pit, twitching the
carefully tied scarfs of the unwary out of place. Grossman, indignant
at "t'ose monkey-doodle pizeness," withdrew from the centre of the Pit.
But while he stood in front of Leaycraft, his back turned, muttering
his disgust, the latter, while carrying on a grave conversation with
his neighbour, carefully stuck a file of paper javelins all around the
Jew's hat band, and then--still without mirth and still continuing to
talk--set them on fire.

Landry imagined by now that ninety-four and an eighth was as high a
figure as he could reasonably expect that morning, and so began to
"work off" his selling orders. Little by little he sold the wheat
"short," till all but one large lot was gone.

Then all at once, and for no discoverable immediate reason, wheat, amid
an explosion of shouts and vociferations, jumped to ninety-four and a
quarter, and before the Pit could take breath, had advanced another
eighth, broken to one-quarter, then jumped to the five-eighths mark.

It was the Report on the Visible Supply beyond question, and though it
had not yet been posted, this sudden flurry was a sign that it was not
only near at hand, but would be bullish.

A few moments later it was bulletined in the gallery beneath the dial,
and proved a tremendous surprise to nearly every man upon the floor. No
one had imagined the supply was so ample, so all-sufficient to meet the
demand. Promptly the Pit responded. Wheat began to pour in heavily.
Hirsch, Kelly, Grossmann, Leaycraft, the stolid Winston, and the
excitable Rusbridge were hard at it. The price began to give. Suddenly
it broke sharply. The hand on the great dial dropped to ninety-three
and seven