n open deed with its red seal attached
said:--

"I now offer for sale the only real, tangible asset the great Rockhaven
Granite Company ever had, a deed of its quarry on Rockhaven Island. This
property originally cost two thousand dollars, and was the sole basis of
this gigantic scheme capitalized at one million! How much am I offered?"

A wag bid ten cents, another a dollar. Then came a bid of fifty. And
then Winn, who up to this time had been a silent spectator of the
comedy, felt a sudden intuition that here and now was his chance. He
thought of the island, still dear to his memory, of the men to whom his
coming had been a godsend, of Jess Hutton who, at parting, had offered
hand and heart, and of Mona and the little knot of flowers he had once
kept fresh in a tiny spring that bubbled out of this same quarry.

And thinking thus, he bid one hundred dollars.

But the auctioneer knew not of the fine sentiment prompting the offer,
and continued his burlesque:--

"One hundred dollars," he said, "one hundred offered for this property,
cheap at two thousand! What are you thinking of?"

Then, after a pause, while he waited another bid, he continued: "One
hundred I'm offered for this splendid piece of real estate, with all its
improvements; for this matchless quarry of pink granite, once called
worth a million! Why, gentlemen, have you gone daft? Don't you know a
good thing when you see it? It wasn't so long ago when I heard some of
you eagerly bidding thirty and forty dollars for a single share in this
immense property, and now you won't raise a bid of one hundred dollars
for its total valuation! Is this business? Is this finance? Come,
gentlemen, wake up and buy this rich ledge of valuable granite, going
for a song! Think of what it has seemed to you; what might again be made
out of it! Think of the thousands of dupes still anxious to buy fairy
tales and pay money for them! Think of the money you have lost in this
one!

"And I am offered one hundred dollars for it! One hundred once, one
hundred twice, one hundred three times, and--sold!"

And that auctioneer, really disgusted this time, stepped down and handed
the deed to Winn.

Winn wrote a check for that amount, and utterly unconscious of how
valuable a purchase he had made, put the deed in his pocket, and left
the crowd.

In a way, the whole affair had seemed much like a burlesque on a
funeral, and he a mourner. When the rest had laughed at the auctioneer's