new that the fresh toy was on its way toward the roof
or the cellar. It may seem strange after the countless schemes which
have come to naught, that any remain who could be inveigled into a new
one, but as a wise showman once said, "the world loves to be humbugged,"
and the early dividend worked its inevitable result among the real
investors, while the gamblers' chance stimulated "the street"; and
between the two Rockhaven was pushed upward. And the _Market News_, as
well as other city papers anxious to sell space, helped to swell the
bubble until Rockhaven became one of the loaded dice all speculators
love to play with. It started at two dollars a share, bid by Simmons,
who the next day offered three for it and had two hundred more sold him
by a too-confident bear who didn't own a share, and who later on bought
it in at a higher price, pocketing his loss with a smile. And so it kept
on, now up a point and back a half, then up two and down one, to go back
again when some nervous bear sought to cover. Some who owned it at the
subscription price of one dollar sold, and quadrupled their money, to
see it go still higher, and catching the fever, bought it in again;
while others who were short of it at three, bid it in at five, and
distrustful of it as ever, went short again, and so the definite stock
value in this case, as in all others, became a guess.

In the meantime Weston, the spider in his web, and Simmons, his trusty
spokesman, watched the market and were not idle. They had sold some
thirty thousand shares, the _Market News_ kept printing items (at a cost
of fifty cents per word), the street was all guessing, and Rockhaven
bade fair to become a sensation "on 'change."

Then a few far-seeing bulls, believing the natural sequence of stock
manipulation in this case would end in a "corner," began bidding it up,
while Simmons, quick to feel the pulse of the situation and really
holding the key to it, aided them by spreading a report to that effect,
and when the price showed weakness, buying a few hundred. As most of
"the street" asserted that the stock was valueless, his object was to
create a short interest, if possible, and in time so manipulate matters
as to scare the shorts, knowing full well what the result would be.

The only danger he knew lay in the action of Winn Hardy and what he
might do. If that duped young man scented the game and, returning,
alarmed his aunt, who had bought ten thousand shares and locked the