ch him. He paused not a moment for food
or drink, and at three o'clock when the market closed he stood with a
hundred yards of tape from the ticker coiled serpent like about his
legs, the wreck of empires of wealth beneath his feet, his heart still
beating a single wild cry--"more, more, more!"

What a day! In all the annals of man's inhumanity to his fellow-man
never were there more opportunities for generosity, for kindly deeds
and noble acts of kingly heroism. Never were so few recorded.

Martial war at least has for its justification the flag and the life of
a nation for which it stands the gleaming symbol in the sky, and in
real war they do not kill the wounded or fire on women and children.
Even the Turk does not fire on a hospital. But in this war which
maniacs waged for gold, they fired on women and children without mercy
and when night had fallen they searched the field, dragged out and
stabbed to death the wounded!

When the president of the Van Dam Trust Company failed to receive the
promised millions from Bivens he called his telephone and receiving no
answer sprang into his automobile and dashed down town to the little
main office.

When the clerk at the door informed him that Mr. Bivens could not be
seen by anyone, he turned quickly on his heel, drove back to the
palatial house of his bank, smiled sadly at the mob in front of its
huge pillars, ordered its bronze doors closed, walked around the corner
to his home, locked himself in his room and blew his brains out.

CHAPTER VIII

A RAY OF SUNLIGHT

For a week the panic held the financial world in the grip of death. A
dozen banks had closed their doors and a score of men who had long
boasted their courage among men had died the death of cowards when put
to the test.

One of the most curious results of the panic was the revulsion of
popular feeling against the daring and honest young officer of the law
who had rendered the greatest service to the people wrought by any
public servant in a generation.

His enemies saw their opportunity. When the panic was at its worst they
opened their artillery of slander and falsehood. The people who
yesterday had shouted his praises for the fearless work in their behalf
joined his enemies and vied with each other now in reviling him. He was
hailed as the arch traitor of the people, the man who had used his high
office to produce a panic and carve a fortune out of the ruin of
millions whose deposits were t