through the crowds of passengers to the forward part of the
boat, he stood where he could get the full sweep of the wonderful
panorama:

The jagged purple line of the vast city stretching as far as the eye
could reach; with its flat-top, square-sided, boxlike buildings, with
here and there a structure taller than the others; the flash of light
from Trinity's spire, its cross aflame; the awkward, crab-like movements
of innumerable ferry-boats, their gaping alligator mouths filled with
human flies; the impudent, nervous little tugs, spitting steam in every
passing face; the long strings of sausage-linked canalers kept together
by grunting, slow-moving tows; the great floating track-yards bearing
ponderous cars--eight days from the Pacific without break of bulk; the
skinny, far-reaching fingers of innumerable docks clutching prey
of barge, steamer, and ship; the stately ocean-liner moving to sea,
scattering water-bugs of boats, scows and barges as it glided on its
way:--all this stirred his imagination and filled him with a strange
resolve. He, too, would win a place among the masses--Ruth's hand fast
in his.

CHAPTER XXIII

When Jack, in reply to Breen's note, stepped into his uncle's office, no
one would have recognized in the quick, alert, bronze-faced young fellow
the retiring, almost timid, boy who once peered out of the port-hole of
the cashier's desk. Nor did Jack's eyes fall on any human being he had
ever seen before. New occupants filled the chairs about the ticker. A
few lucky ones--very few--had pulled out and stayed out, and could now
be found at their country seats in various parts of the State, or on the
Riviera, or in Egypt; but by far the larger part had crawled out of the
fight to nurse their wounds within the privacy of their own homes where
the outward show had to be kept up no matter how stringent the inside
economies, or how severe the privations. Others, less fortunate, had
disappeared altogether from their accustomed haunts and were to be found
filling minor positions in some far Western frontier town or camp, or
menial berths on a railroad, while at least one victim, too cowardly
to leave the field, had haunted the lunch counters, hotel lobbies, and
race-tracks for months, preying on friends and acquaintances alike until
dire poverty forced him into crime, and a stone cell and a steel grille
had ended the struggle.

Failing to find any face he recognized, Jack approached a group around