of reckoning for
other "conspirators" equally as grasping as those with whom I had
measured my puny sword.

As the hands of the clock slowly crawled to the hour of three the frenzy
of the mob in the centre of the pit became maddening. I had no way of
knowing from where we stood whether prices were moving up or down, but
it was evident that Harding was "feeding the animals."

Then the gong boomed the signal that the session was ended. The tumult
rose to one resounding crash, hesitated, subsided and died away. The
struggling groups dissolved and partial sanity resumed its sway.

I was ushered into Mr. Harding's private office immediately on our
return. The magnate was in his shirt sleeves. His mouth was set in stern
lines and his dark hair tousled as if he had just emerged from deadly
physical combat. As I entered the room his features relaxed and then he
laughed. It was the roar of the lion who raises his head for a moment
from his stricken quarry.

"We won this foursome, Smith, ten up and eight to play," he said. "Sit
down and I'll tell you how we stand. I put the market up to 175. Could
have put it to a thousand if it had been necessary, but what's the use?
There is a short interest of 60,000 shares. Most of them are in the
outer offices waiting to come in and settle. I'm going to let 'em off
easy, Smith. Those who were extra dirty will settle at 200, and I've
made a sliding scale down to 150, which is about what N.O. & G. is
actually worth as an investment. Outside of your original 45,000 shares
you have profits coming to you on about 20,000 shares which I bought for
you at various figures on the way up. Roughly speaking it will net you
somewhere between a million and a half and two millions, depending on
how merciful we are to your 'conspirators.' How much will it cost you to
take up your 45,000 shares?"

[Illustration: "Ten up and eight to play"]

I consulted the statement of my account with Morse & Davis, my brokers
in these transactions.

"I have paid them $1,525,000, which margined it down to 30," I said.
"In order to take the stock up I must pay them about $1,375,000 more,
making my investment in N.O. & G. a total of $2,900,000."

"Tell you what I'll do, Smith," said Mr. Harding. "If you care to get
out of this deal I'll take that block of 45,000 shares off your hands at
$150 a share. That's $6,750,000," he concluded after making a rapid
calculation.

"Thank you," I said, "but I've decided to hold it