"Well, I'm much afraid that I'll stand by you till I can't breathe.
Come, brace up. Here's one hundred dollars. Go and buy a machine. Get
the best in the market. If that isn't enough, come back and get more.
I'll let Bowles and Bryant both know that my girl can get on without
them!" and he thrust the roll of bills into her hands as she spoke.

"Bob, am I your girl?" she asked, looking shyly up at him through her
tears.

"Of course you are, unless you don't want to be."

"You won't go back on me when you get rich, will you?" she asked.

"Not much I won't."

"There's my hand then," and she gave him her hand.

He grasped it, squeezed it and did just what any other well-regulated
boy would have done under such circumstances--kissed her on the lips.

"Hello! Spooning, by George!" cried Fred, suddenly entering the room.
"In business hours, too."

Gertie hid her face in her hands, but Bob turned and replied:

"This is very important business for me, Fred, and she---"

"It is very pleasant business, I should say," said Fred, interrupting
him with aggravating coolness.

"Pleasant is no name for it," returned Bob. "We have just engaged to
marry each other in two years."

"Well, it jiggers me! She's a splendid girl. I congratulate you, old
man!" and he grasped Bob's hand and shook it warmly.

The second day after he bought his seat in the Stock Exchange Rock
Island advanced to 90. Bryant was the kingpin in the Rock Island deal.
He saw Fred watching the board which told how the stock stood. Rock
Island stood at 92 when business for the day ended. Next day Bryant
forced the stock up to 95, when Fred dumped his 15,000 shares on the
market. Bryant had to take them. Then the price broke. A panic resulted.
Bowles clutched Fred by the arm. Fred sprang nimbly out of his reach,
and the old man fell prone to the floor, where he lay still like one
dead.

CHAPTER XI.--The Great Deal in Rock Island.

During the lull that followed the fall of the old broker in the Stock
Exchange the storm seemed to be gathering for a still more destructive
sweep. A few friends took up the old man and bore him out. No sooner had
they passed over the threshold than a roar like that of an angry sea
burst forth. Bulls and bears seemed on the verge of personal violence.
The price went up and down in momentary fluctuations, and men dropped
out and flew from the room as if trying to overtake the fortunes that
had slipped away from them. In the mi