out an Option
on the Interest.

Now he could give the Cackle to all the Knights of the Road who had
blown their Substance along the gay White Ways of Crawfordsville,
Bucyrus, and Sedalia.

He was the real Gazook with a Glass Cage, a sliding Desk and a whole
Battery of Rubber Stamps.

In order to learn every Kink of the Game, freeze out the other Holders
of Stock and gradually possess himself of all the Money in the World,
Aleck now found it necessary to organize himself into both a Day and a
Night Shift and have his Lunches brought in.

The various Smoothenheimers who were out on the Road had a proud
chance to get by with the padded Expense Account. Aleck could smell a
Phoney before he opened the Envelope, because that is how he got His.

With a three-ton Burden on his aching Shoulders, he staggered up the
flinty Incline.

Away back yonder, while sleeping above the Store, a vision had come to
him. He saw himself sitting as a Director at a Bank Meeting--an
enlarged and glorified Fishberry.

Now he was playing Fox and pulling for the Dream to work out.

The cold-eyed Custodians up at the main Fortress of Credit began to
take notice of the Rustler.

He was a Glutton for Punishment, a Discounter from away back, and a
Demon for applying the Acid Test to every Account.

He was a Sure-Thinger, air-tight and playing naught but Cinches. No
wonder they all took a slant at him and spotted him as a Comer.

The Business Associates of Alexander liked to see Europe from the
inside every summer and investigate the Cocktail Crop of Florida every
winter, so they allowed him to be the Works.

He began building the Skids which finally carried them to the Fresh
Air and left only one name on the Gold Sign.

Up to his Chin in Debt and with a Panic looming on the Horizon, it
behooved Alexander to be on the job at 7:30 A.M. and hang around to
scan the Pay-Roll until 9:30 P.M.

Ofttimes while galloping from his Apartment to the Galleys or chasing
homeward to grab off a few wasteful hours of Slumber, he would see
People of the Lower Classes going out to the Parks with Picnic
Baskets, or lined up at the Vaudeville Palaces, or watching a
hard-faced Soubrette demonstrate something in a Show Window.

It got him to think Dubs could frivol around and waste the golden
Moments when they might be hopping on to a Ten-Cent Piece.

His usual Gait was that of a man going for the Doctor, and he talked
Numbers to himself as he sped along a