.

"'J,'" he faltered, "'J,' I'm blest if I know."

And then, all in the same moment, the two men were on their feet.

Jadwin sprang forward, gripping the broker by the shoulder.

"Sam," he shouted, "do you know----Great God! Do you know what this
means? Sam, we can corner the market!"

_III.--The Corner Breaks_

The high prices meant a great increase of wheat acreage. In June the
preliminary returns showed 4,000,000 more acres under wheat in the two
states of Dakota alone, and in spite of all Gretry's remonstrances,
Jadwin still held on, determined to keep up prices to July.

But now it had become vitally necessary for Jadwin to sell out his
holdings. His "long line" was a fearful expense; insurance and storage
charges were eating rapidly into the profits. He _must_ get rid of the
load he was carrying little by little.

A month ago, and the foreign demand was a thing almost insensate. There
was no question as to the price. It was, "Give us the wheat, at whatever
figure, at whatever expense."

At home in Chicago Jadwin was completely master of the market. His
wealth increased with such rapidity that at no time was he able even to
approximate the gains that accrued to him because of his corner. It was
more than twenty million, and less than fifty million. That was all he
knew.

It was then that he told Gretry he was going to buy in the July crops.

"' J,' listen to me," said Gretry. "Wheat is worth a dollar and a half
to-day, and not one cent more. If you run it up to two dollars--"

"It will go there of itself, I tell you."

"If you run it up to two dollars it will be that top-heavy that the
littlest kick in the world will knock it over. Be satisfied now with
what you've, got. Suppose the price does break a little, you'd still
make your pile. But swing this deal over into July, and it's ruin. The
farmers all over the country are planting wheat as they've never planted
it before. Great Scott, 'J,' you're fighting against the earth itself."

"Well, we'll fight it then."

"Here's another point," went on Gretry. "You ought to be in bed this
very minute. You haven't got any nerves left at all. You acknowledge you
don't sleep. You ought to see a doctor."

"Fiddlesticks!" exclaimed Jadwin. "I'm all right. Haven't time to see a
doctor."

So the month of May drew to its close, and as Jadwin beheld more and
more the broken speculators, with their abject humility, a vast contempt
for human nature grew with