r heads than that of the General. He found
an egg in his possession that he was not ready to eat, though it was too
hot to be held long in either hand, and could not be dropped without
disaster.

For a week, he was haunted with the expectation of a suit, but it was
not brought, and then he began to breathe easier, and to feel that
something must be done to divert his mind from the subject. He drank
freely, and was loud-mouthed and blustering on the street. Poor Talbot
had a hard time, in endeavoring to shield him from his imprudences. He
saw that his effort to make his principal "last" was not likely to be
successful.

Rallied by his "friends" on his ill luck, the General declared that he
only speculated for fun. He knew what he was about. He never risked any
money that he could not afford to lose. Everybody had his amusement,
and this was his.

He was secure for some months in his seat as President of the Crooked
Valley Railroad, and calculated, of course, on buying back his stock in
his own time, at his own price. In the meantime, he would use his
position for carrying on his private schemes.

The time came at last when he wanted more ready money. A grand
combination had been made, among his own unprincipled set, for working
up a "corner" in the Muscogee Air Line, and he had been invited into it.
He was flattered by the invitation, and saw in it a chance for redeeming
his position, though, at bottom, the scheme was one for working up a
corner in Robert Belcher.

Under the plea that he expected, at no distant day, to go to Europe, for
rest and amusement, he mortgaged his house, in order, as he declared,
that he might handle it the more easily in the market. But Wall street
knew the fact at once, and made its comments. Much to the proprietor's
disgust, it was deemed of sufficient importance to find mention in the
daily press.

But even the sum raised upon his house, united with that which he had
received from unloading his Crooked Valley stock, was not sufficient to
give him the preponderance in the grand combination which he desired.

He still held a considerable sum in Crooked Valley bonds, for these were
valuable. He had already used these as collaterals, in the borrowing of
small sums at short time, to meet emergencies in his operations. It was
known by money-lenders that he held them. Now the General was the
manufacturer of these bonds. The books of the corporation were under his
control, and he intended t