tation, excused himself. Cedarquist
took Presley by the arm.

"Pres, let's get out of this," he said. "Come into the wine room and I
will shake you for a glass of sherry."

They had some difficulty in extricating themselves. The main room where
the drawing was to take place suddenly became densely thronged. All the
guests pressed eagerly about the table near the picture, upon which one
of the hall boys had just placed a ballot box containing the numbers.
The ladies, holding their tickets in their hands, pushed forward. A
staccato chatter of excited murmurs arose. "What became of Harran and
Lyman and the Governor?" inquired Presley.

Lyman had disappeared, alleging a business engagement, but Magnus and
his younger son had retired to the library of the club on the floor
above. It was almost deserted. They were deep in earnest conversation.

"Harran," said the Governor, with decision, "there is a deal, there, in
what Cedarquist says. Our wheat to China, hey, boy?"

"It is certainly worth thinking of, sir."

"It appeals to me, boy; it appeals to me. It's big and there's a fortune
in it. Big chances mean big returns; and I know--your old father isn't a
back number yet, Harran--I may not have so wide an outlook as our friend
Cedarquist, but I am quick to see my chance. Boy, the whole East is
opening, disintegrating before the Anglo-Saxon. It is time that bread
stuffs, as well, should make markets for themselves in the Orient. Just
at this moment, too, when Lyman will scale down freight rates so we can
haul to tidewater at little cost."

Magnus paused again, his frown beetling, and in the silence the
excited murmur from the main room of the club, the soprano chatter of a
multitude of women, found its way to the deserted library.

"I believe it's worth looking into, Governor," asserted Harran.

Magnus rose, and, his hands behind him, paced the floor of the library
a couple of times, his imagination all stimulated and vivid. The
great gambler perceived his Chance, the kaleidoscopic shifting of
circumstances that made a Situation. It had come silently, unexpectedly.
He had not seen its approach. Abruptly he woke one morning to see the
combination realised. But also he saw a vision. A sudden and abrupt
revolution in the Wheat. A new world of markets discovered, the matter
as important as the discovery of America. The torrent of wheat was to be
diverted, flowing back upon itself in a sudden, colossal eddy, stranding
the m