n, the cool and collected philosopher that he was, did not
for one moment hope even that he would more than receive his money back.
In his understanding of the matter, this quoted price for the stock was
a mere fiction, and he felt sure that when it was actually offered for
sale, no one would buy. To him it seemed like selling so much air. Never
in his life had he set foot in a stock exchange, and when the next day,
just as the great clock in the exchange marked nine-fifty, and he with
Winn and Nickerson took seats in the gallery, no hint of the coming
turmoil came to Jess, and fortunately no suspicion of his or Hardy's
presence in the city had reached Weston or Simmons.

Then the gong sounded and bedlam ensued.

[Illustration: THE BUBBLE BURSTS.]

In an instant, a hundred men who had been chatting with one another in
the pit, and as many more, as if by magic, leaped out of hiding, and a
howl went up. They gathered in knots around the poles, pushing, pulling,
yelling like demons, waving their arms aloft with fingers open, closed,
or separated--a deaf mute alphabet used by these delirious men to buy or
sell; and as they screamed and screeched and pushed and swore in a mad
scramble, fortunes melted away or were created.

And on one side of that fiscal arena, tall, gaunt, with a fringe of gray
hair about his poll, and watching with eyes as merciless as a lynx ready
to spring, stood Simmons.

On the other, as alert, but younger, with the easy _sang froid_ of one
skilled in this battle of values, stood Page.

Full well he knew what his enemy's tactics would be, and that when the
crowd began to rally around the Rockhaven pole, he would creep up like a
panther, and at the right moment overbid the highest. None were buyers,
for none wanted Rockhaven at its present price, except frightened bears
seeking to cover, and well Simmons knew it.

And so did Page, with his four thousand shares, waiting for the bear
panic sure to come.

Rockhaven's turn now came. It opened at sixteen, then up to seventeen,
eighteen, nineteen, without a halt; a breathless trio in the balcony
attentively watched the dial where its price was recorded, or Page, who
held their fortunes in his hand.

And then came the panic; for it had reached twenty, and Simmons, like a
spectre, advanced, bidding twenty-one for ten thousand shares!

Then two bears, short as much each at five and six, lost their heads.

Up, up it went by leaps of two, three, and fi