d or called for.

"Five-eighths for five hundred P. and W.," some one would call--Rivers
or Cowperwood, or any other broker.

"Five hundred at three-fourths," would come the reply from some one
else, who either had an order to sell the stock at that price or who
was willing to sell it short, hoping to pick up enough of the stock at
a lower figure later to fill his order and make a little something
besides. If the supply of stock at that figure was large Rivers would
probably continue to bid five-eighths. If, on the other hand, he noticed
an increasing demand, he would probably pay three-fourths for it. If
the professional traders believed Rivers had a large buying order, they
would probably try to buy the stock before he could at three-fourths,
believing they could sell it out to him at a slightly higher price. The
professional traders were, of course, keen students of psychology; and
their success depended on their ability to guess whether or not a broker
representing a big manipulator, like Tighe, had an order large enough
to affect the market sufficiently to give them an opportunity to "get
in and out," as they termed it, at a profit before he had completed the
execution of his order. They were like hawks watching for an opportunity
to snatch their prey from under the very claws of their opponents.

Four, five, ten, fifteen, twenty, thirty, forty, fifty, and sometimes
the whole company would attempt to take advantage of the given rise of
a given stock by either selling or offering to buy, in which case the
activity and the noise would become deafening. Given groups might
be trading in different things; but the large majority of them would
abandon what they were doing in order to take advantage of a speciality.
The eagerness of certain young brokers or clerks to discover all that
was going on, and to take advantage of any given rise or fall, made
for quick physical action, darting to and fro, the excited elevation of
explanatory fingers. Distorted faces were shoved over shoulders or
under arms. The most ridiculous grimaces were purposely or unconsciously
indulged in. At times there were situations in which some individual was
fairly smothered with arms, faces, shoulders, crowded toward him when
he manifested any intention of either buying or selling at a
profitable rate. At first it seemed quite a wonderful thing to young
Cowperwood--the very physical face of it--for he liked human presence
and activity; but a littl