dreamed--suggested to him an idea that he never before thought of.

It came about in this way. One day, after he had toiled for two hours or
so on the hoist, and had finished his work, he went up to the cashier to
get his money, as he had done many times before. A man with a satchel
strapped to his shoulder was just ahead of him.

"Good morning, Mr. Smith," said the man with the satchel, addressing the
cashier.

[Illustration: HERBERT RANDOLPH WORKING ON THE HOIST.]

"Good morning," responded the latter. "I am glad you came today, Mr.
Woodman, for we have an unusually large supply of stamps on hand."

"The market is very much overstocked at present," replied Woodman,
unslinging his satchel, and resting it on the desk. "I bought a thousand
dollars' worth of stamps yesterday from one party at five per cent off."

"Five per cent," repeated the cashier, arching his eyebrows.

"Yes, five per cent."

"And you expect to buy from us at that rate?"

"I wish I could pay you more, but my money is all tied up now--the
market is glutted, fairly glutted."

"I should think it would be, when you buy them in thousand dollar lots."

"Well, that does seem like a large amount of stamps, but I know of one
lot--a ten thousand dollar lot--that I could buy within an hour, if I
had the money to put into them."

"You could never get rid of so many, Woodman," said the cashier,
surprised at the broker's statement.

"Oh, yes, I could work them off sooner or later, and would get par for
most of them too."

"How do you do it?"

"I put them up in small lots of fifty cents and a dollar, and upwards,
and sell them to my customers. Of course, when I buy big lots I do a
little wholesaling, but I put away all I cannot sell at the time."

"They are sure to go sooner or later, I suppose," said the cashier.

"Oh, yes, sure to sell. During the summer months very few stamps come
into the market."

"And this gives you an opportunity to work off your surplus stock?"

"Yes."

"I presume you sell as a rule to stores and business offices."

"Yes; I have a regular line of customers who buy all of their stamps off
me--customers that I worked up myself."

"And they prefer buying of you to going to the post office for their
supply?"

"Certainly; for I give them just as good stamps, and by buying of me
they save themselves the trouble of going to the post office for them."

Herbert Randolph was waiting for his money, and overheard this
conve