ts of tenacity, patience
and stability which in the delicately constructed mechanism of
confidence and credit had made him an indispensable balance wheel,
powerful in his own right, yet irresistible in the intermarried forces
of industry he could set in motion. Fontaine was of the old landed
aristocracy; Stone, a Middle-Westerner, floated to wealth on the
miraculous flood of oil.

Aware that every conversation would be noted, Drake allowed several
minutes to pass before approaching the group and, profiting by a
movement of the crowd, contrived to carry off Gunther on the pretext of
showing him a new purchase of Chinese porcelains in the library. They
remained a full twenty minutes, engrossed in the examination of the
porcelains and Renaissance bronzes, of which Gunther was a connoisseur,
and returned without a mention of matters financial. But as Wall Street
men are as credulous as children, this interview made an immense
impression, for Gunther was of such power that no broker was unwilling
to concede that the slightest move of his could be without significance.

To be again in the arena of manipulation awakened all the boyish
qualities of cunning and excitement in Drake. In the next hour he
conversed with a dozen men seemingly bending before their advice,
bullish or bearish, mixing up his orders so adroitly that had the entire
list been spread before one man, it would have been impossible to say
which was the principal point of attack. At two o'clock, as the party
began to thin out, Borneman and Haggerdy came up to shake hands.
Borneman restless and worried, Haggerdy impassive and brooding.

"What, going already? Haven't they been treating you right?" said Drake
jovially.

"Dan, you've a great poker face," said Borneman slyly.

"In what way?"

"That was quite a little bluff you threw into us--those selling orders.
Orders are cheap _before_ business hours."

"So you think I'll call you up in the morning, bright and early, and
cancel?"

Borneman nodded with a nervous, jerky motion of his head.

"I suppose you've been sort of fretting over those orders all evening.
Trouble with you, Al, is _you_ don't play poker: great game. Teaches you
to size up a bluff from a stacked hand."

"I've got your game figured out this time all right," said Borneman,
with his ferret's squint.

"Have you told Haggerdy?" said Drake laughing. "You have. Want a little
bet on it? A thousand I'll tell you exactly what you've figured o