t. These men who were known to be minor partners
and floor assistants were derisively called "eighth chasers" and
"two-dollar brokers," because they were always seeking small orders and
were willing to buy or sell for anybody on their commission, accounting,
of course, to their firms for their work. Cowperwood, regardless of his
intrinsic merits, was originally counted one of their number, and he was
put under the direction of Mr. Arthur Rivers, the regular floor man of
Tighe & Company.

Rivers was an exceedingly forceful man of thirty-five, well-dressed,
well-formed, with a hard, smooth, evenly chiseled face, which was
ornamented by a short, black mustache and fine, black, clearly penciled
eyebrows. His hair came to an odd point at the middle of his forehead,
where he divided it, and his chin was faintly and attractively cleft. He
had a soft voice, a quiet, conservative manner, and both in and out of
this brokerage and trading world was controlled by good form. Cowperwood
wondered at first why Rivers should work for Tighe--he appeared almost
as able--but afterward learned that he was in the company. Tighe was the
organizer and general hand-shaker, Rivers the floor and outside man.

It was useless, as Frank soon found, to try to figure out exactly why
stocks rose and fell. Some general reasons there were, of course, as he
was told by Tighe, but they could not always be depended on.

"Sure, anything can make or break a market"--Tighe explained in his
delicate brogue--"from the failure of a bank to the rumor that your
second cousin's grandmother has a cold. It's a most unusual world,
Cowperwood. No man can explain it. I've seen breaks in stocks that you
could never explain at all--no one could. It wouldn't be possible to
find out why they broke. I've seen rises the same way. My God, the
rumors of the stock exchange! They beat the devil. If they're going down
in ordinary times some one is unloading, or they're rigging the market.
If they're going up--God knows times must be good or somebody must
be buying--that's sure. Beyond that--well, ask Rivers to show you the
ropes. Don't you ever lose for me, though. That's the cardinal sin in
this office." He grinned maliciously, even if kindly, at that.

Cowperwood understood--none better. This subtle world appealed to him.
It answered to his temperament.

There were rumors, rumors, rumors--of great railway and street-car
undertakings, land developments, government revision of