k of mine," growled the light keeper.
"He's 'round to see me every day or two. Don't hint any more neither;
comes right out and bids for it. He's got to as high as nineteen a
share now. And he'd go higher, too. HOW far he'll go I don't know, but I
cal'late I'll keep him stringin' along till I find out."

He pulled at his beard for a moment and then added:

"It's plain enough, of course, that Raish is agent for somebody that
wants to buy in that stock. Who 'tis, though, I can't guess. It ain't
your Cabot, Bancroft and Cabot crowd, Mr. Bangs. That's plain enough,
too."

Galusha tried to look innocently interested.

"Oh--ah--yes," he said. "Is it?"

"Sartin 'tis. THEY wouldn't need to be sendin' anybody to buy my shares,
would they? They've bought 'em already. The whole thing is queer. Look
here! Why should anybody be chasin' ME for those shares? Why don't they
get a list of stockholders from the books? Those transfer books ought to
show that I've sold, hadn't they? They would, too, if any transfer had
been made. There ain't been any made, that's all the answer I can think
of. I signed those certificates of mine in blank, transferred 'em in
blank on the back. And somebody--whoever 'twas bought 'em--ain't turned
'em in for new ones in their own name, but have left 'em just the way
they got 'em. That's why Raish and his crowd think I've still got my
stock. Now ain't that funny, Mr. Bangs? Ain't that strange?"

It was not at all funny to Galusha. Nor strange. The light keeper tugged
at his beard and his shaggy brows drew together. "I don't know's I did
right to let go of that stock of mine, after all," he said, slowly.
"Don't know as I did, no."

Galusha asked him why.

"Because I don't know as I did, that's all. If I'd hung on I might have
got more for it. Looks to me as if Raish's crowd, whoever they are, are
mighty anxious to buy. And the Denboro Trust Company folks might bid
against 'em if 'twas necessary. They've got too much of that stock to
let themselves be froze out. Humph!... Humph! I ain't sure as I did
right."

"But--but you did get a profit, Captain Hallett. The profit
you--ah--expected."

"Humph! I got a profit, but how do I know 'twas the profit Julia meant?
I ought to have gone and asked her afore I sold, that's what I ought to
have done, I cal'late."

He frowned heavily and added, in a tone of gloomy doubt: "I presume
likely I've been neglectin' things--things like that, lately, and that's
why