. Ten minutes later he was in his
own library and was directing that two gentlemen, whom he was expecting,
be ushered there to talk business.

The two were alike only in that each had a versatile and executive
brain. One was elderly and stout, and, though two decades of established
success had polished his original crudity into a certain dignity, there
survived in his eyes the darting shiftiness of glance that had settled
there in days when his one asset was an almost diabolical cleverness as
a criminal lawyer.

An old trick of badgering witnesses with a brow-beating stare from
half-closed lids clung unpleasantly to him, discounting his acquired
distinction of bearing. This was Isaac Ruferton, of the firm of Ruferton
and Willow. From criminal lawyer to corporation-scourge and from
corporation-scourge to corporation counsel are logical stages of
development. From clients who need, and can pay for, a mind of unusual
resource, as formerly from vagabond's in police-court cages, he earned
what he was paid.

The second visitor was younger. Mr. Tarring was also a specialist in
ideas and from his confidence of bearing one seemed to derive a snap of
electric energy. In many ways Hamilton Burton found him serviceable and
on the smaller scale of his delegated functions he operated as Hamilton
himself did along the broader front; with dash, determination and the
belief that nothing is impossible.

"Gentlemen," began Burton crisply, when the three were seated, "I sent
for you this evening to outline a simple matter--but one calling for a
nicety of execution. It can neither afford delay nor premature
undertaking. It must be done at its own instant. When the stock-holders'
meeting of Coal and Ore is called to order I must be in a position to
assume control."

Tarring leaned forward in his chair and fixed his gaze on a bronze
statuette. This casual announcement meant nothing less than a making
over of a map: the map of High Finance. Ruferton was never surprised. He
twirled his shell-rimmed glasses at the end of their broad tape and
nodded. "And you find yourself at this juncture short of just the
requisite balance--though you know where it is held?" Mr. Ruferton
always made a point of anticipating his client's next statement--if
possible. It was a small thing, but at times valuable. It indicated that
he was keeping not only abreast, but a step ahead of what was being told
him. Hamilton smiled.

"I still need a block held by Hen