bills
to make one one thousand dollar bill."

"Gewhopple! that's climbin' up, ain't it, Bob?" exclaimed Tom,
incredulously.

"Oh, but that's nothing," said Herbert. "Just listen: It would take a
hundred one thousand dollar bills to make one hundred thousand dollars,
and it would require ten times one hundred thousand dollars to make one
million."

"Well, that's fur enough," said Tom, scratching his head. "Don't give me
no more tonight, for I can't take it in no way. A million dollars; and
you say some er them kings loses so much money as all this in almost no
time?"

"Why, yes; perhaps in a single day," answered Herbert.

"And you think, Bob Hunter, that we could go down there with only five
dollars apiece and lay out them kings and scoop the boodle, do you? Now,
answer me that."

"Well, it does seem kinder like takin' chances, ef them fellers loses
money like that."

"Of course it does, Bob, fer you see we wouldn't have but one go at the
game with only five dollars; would we, Herbert?"

"Five dollars wouldn't go very far, for a fact," replied Herbert, "and
in my opinion it would be lost very quickly."

"But I've heard of fellers that went down there without no money, and
they made loads of it."

"Very true," said Herbert; "but did you ever hear of the thousands that
went down there and came away without a cent?"

"No, I never did," admitted Bob, frankly.

Tom smiled quietly, for he felt that Bob would have to acknowledge
himself mistaken, and at last come over to his side.

"Well, now, there is the very point," said Herbert, "and it is the
one that nobody stops to think about. A report is circulated that
some one makes a big haul in Wall Street, and, without thinking about the
thousands of people that lose money there, a thousand or two more people
try their luck at speculating, thinking, each one of them, to make a
great haul too. But the result is the same as it was with the other
thousand speculators--the money is swallowed up, and gone forever."

"What becomes of it all?" asked Bob, much impressed by Herbert's well
founded argument.

"Well, the most of it goes into the pockets of the kings."

"Then I shouldn't think them kings would get busted, as you say they
do," said Bob, always keen at making a point.

"They would not if they had to deal only with the small speculators,
such as you would like to be. If that were the case they would win
nearly every time. But kings are the ones who break k