m up,
the game would be balked.

"We must keep your man Hardy on the island all summer," he said to
Weston, "and let him quarry stone, at whatever cost. If ever he hears
what Rockhaven is quoted at and isn't a fool, he will hurry back and not
only unload his thousand shares, but tell his aunt, and she will do the
same."

"I doubt that he will," answered Weston; "he has few friends in the
city, and those are not posted on the market, and as for his aunt, I
have assured her that if she hopes to sell out her stock at the top
price, she must keep her investment an absolute secret. I gave her the
tip on Sunday as we were walking home from church together, and in such
a way that I feel sure she will heed it. The good woman is wrapped up in
church work and putting the matter in the way I did, and at that time,
insures her secrecy. Some people must be handled with religious gloves,"
he added, smiling urbanely, "and some hit with a club." He thought of
Hill in this connection.

And in the case of Winn Hardy, he reckoned without Jack Nickerson.

CHAPTER XXIV

THE PROGRESS OF A "CORNER"

There are honest and honorable stock brokers, and Page, a friend of
Nickerson's and acting broker for him, was one of them. He knew Simmons
well, and had at one time or another come in sharp conflict with the
latter in some stock deal. He had watched the bubble, Rockhaven, ever
since its inception, and accustomed as he was to the endless variety of
tricks resorted to by others of his class, had an intuitive conception
of how the general partnership of Weston & Hill and Simmons would be
carried to its culmination.

"It's a swindle, pure and simple," he said in confidence to Nickerson,
"and while Weston is willing to dupe the confiding investors he has
persuaded to buy the stock, the real end and aim of his scheme is to get
the street short of it and, by some sort of scare, start the bears to
bidding against each other, and when the right time comes Simmons will
appear on the scene and unload Rockhaven at top price. How soon that
time will come and how far up they will push the stock before the shorts
take fright, is a guess. It is now steady at six and not much interest
in it. Then again it's an open question how much stock is owned on the
street and how great a short interest has been created. No one has any
confidence in it, and yet many are ready to take a flyer in it for a
turn. My idea is to handle it as one would a hot horses