g had been backward, cold, bitter, inhospitable, and Jadwin
began to suspect that the wheat crop of his native country, that for so
long had been generous, and of excellent quality, was now to prove--it
seemed quite possible--scant and of poor condition. He began to watch
the weather, and to keep an eye upon the reports from the little county
seats and "centres" in the winter wheat States. These, in part, seemed
to confirm his suspicions.

From Keokuk, in Iowa, came the news that winter wheat was suffering
from want of moisture. Benedict, Yates' Centre, and Douglass, in
southeastern Kansas, sent in reports of dry, windy weather that was
killing the young grain in every direction, and the same conditions
seemed to prevail in the central counties. In Illinois, from Quincy and
Waterloo in the west, and from Ridgway in the south, reports came
steadily to hand of freezing weather and bitter winds. All through the
lower portions of the State the snowfall during the winter had not been
heavy enough to protect the seeded grain. But the Ohio crop, it would
appear, was promising enough, as was also that of Missouri. In Indiana,
however, Jadwin could guess that the hopes of even a moderate yield
were fated to be disappointed; persistent cold weather, winter
continuing almost up to the first of April, seemed to have definitely
settled the question.

But more especially Jadwin watched Nebraska, that State which is one
single vast wheat field. How would Nebraska do, Nebraska which alone
might feed an entire nation? County seat after county seat began to
send in its reports. All over the State the grip of winter held firm
even yet. The wheat had been battered by incessant gales, had been
nipped and harried by frost; everywhere the young half-grown grain
seemed to be perishing. It was a massacre, a veritable slaughter.

But, for all this, nothing could be decided as yet. Other winter wheat
States, from which returns were as yet only partial, might easily
compensate for the failures elsewhere, and besides all that, the Bears
of the Board of Trade might keep the price inert even in face of the
news of short yields. As a matter of fact, the more important and
stronger Bear traders were already piping their usual strain. Prices
were bound to decline, the three years, sagging was not over yet. They,
the Bears, were too strong; no Bull news could frighten them. Somehow
there was bound to be plenty of wheat. In face of the rumours of a
sho