y had no Ward Valley to sell, thank you. This
purely fictitious state of the market was bound shortly to pass, and
Ward Valley was not to be induced to change the even tenor of its way
by any insane stock exchange flurry. "It is purely gambling from
beginning to end," were Nathaniel Letton's words; "and we refuse to
have anything to do with it or to take notice of it in any way."

During this time Daylight had several secret meetings with his
partners--one with Leon Guggenhammer, one with John Dowsett, and two
with Mr. Howison. Beyond congratulations, they really amounted to
nothing; for, as he was informed, everything was going satisfactorily.

But on Tuesday morning a rumor that was disconcerting came to
Daylight's ears. It was also published in the Wall Street Journal, and
it was to the effect, on apparently straight inside information, that
on Thursday, when the directors of Ward Valley met, instead of the
customary dividend being declared, an assessment would be levied. It
was the first check Daylight had received. It came to him with a shock
that if the thing were so he was a broken man. And it also came to him
that all this colossal operating of his was being done on his own
money. Dowsett, Guggenhammer, and Letton were risking nothing. It was
a panic, short-lived, it was true, but sharp enough while it lasted to
make him remember Holdsworthy and the brick-yard, and to impel him to
cancel all buying orders while he rushed to a telephone.

"Nothing in it--only a rumor," came Leon Guggenhammer's throaty voice
in the receiver. "As you know," said Nathaniel Letton, "I am one of
the directors, and I should certainly be aware of it were such action
contemplated." And John Dowsett: "I warned you against just such
rumors. There is not an iota of truth in it--certainly not. I tell
you on my honor as a gentleman."

Heartily ashamed of himself for his temporary loss of nerve, Daylight
returned to his task. The cessation of buying had turned the Stock
Exchange into a bedlam, and down all the line of stocks the bears were
smashing. Ward Valley, as the ape, received the brunt of the shock,
and was already beginning to tumble. Daylight calmly doubled his
buying orders. And all through Tuesday and Wednesday, and Thursday
morning, he went on buying, while Ward Valley rose triumphantly higher.
Still they sold, and still he bought, exceeding his power to buy many
times over, when delivery was taken into account.