tole a few hundred dollars, and were caught, usually got as long a
term as those who stole thousands. If he stole one bond he was just as
likely to get ten years in State's prison as if he stole fifty--so he
stole fifty, and when they were wiped out he stole fifty more--and,
well, if the reader is interested he will learn before the end of the
story just what John _did_ steal.

Somehow, Prescott's speculations never succeeded. Occasionally they
would make a good turn and get a few bonds back, but the next week there
would be a new fiasco, and John would have to visit the Overland 4s
again. That performance of the accountants had given him a huge contempt
for bankers and banking. He knew that if he wanted to he could grab up a
million any day and walk off with it, but he didn't want to. All he
desired now was to get back to where he was before. All the speculation
was in the hands of Prescott, and Prescott never seemed worried in the
least. He called on John almost daily for what extra bonds were needed
as additional collateral, and John took his word absolutely as to the
result of the transactions. He could not do otherwise, for one word from
Prescott would have ruined him.

Before long the pile of two hundred Overland 4s was gone. So was a large
quantity of other securities, for John and Prescott had dropped cotton
and gone plunging into the stock market. Here, however, they had no
better success than before. Of course, a difficulty arose when the
interest on the Overland 4s came due. The coupons had to be cut by some
one in the bank, and although John usually cut them he did not always
do so. Sometimes the loan clerk himself would take a hand, and call for
a particular lot of bonds. John, however, was now fertile in devices.
The owner of the larger pile of six hundred bonds usually wrote to have
his coupons cut about the twenty-seventh of April. John would make up a
collection of six hundred bonds of the same sort, carry them up and cut
the coupons in the loan cage. The other man generally sent in a draft
for his interest on the second or third of May. But now the bonds were
away, scattered all over the Street. So John started a new operation to
get the bonds back and straighten out the coupon tangle. He substituted
with the brokers an equal number of bonds of other companies, the
interest upon which was not yet due. There was a large block of Electric
5s and Cumberland 4s which served his purpose admirably, and thus