y
come bleating to the shepherd to beg that he will shear them, for
their wool presses too heavily on them; another day they butt their
heads together and will not listen to their leader. Again, and no one
can tell why, when the bell-wether begins to run, all the rest of the
flock run after him; neither the shepherd nor his dog can stop them.
The science lies in knowing when there is good weather on the
stock-exchange. On a favorable day men are in such excellent
humor--there is so much gold in every pocket, everything goes
well--that even a company for the excavation and alienation of the
icebergs would find bidders. On a bad day the best and safest
speculation would get not a single offer.

It was on one of the good days that the Bondavara Coal Company made
its _debut_ at the Vienna Stock-exchange. It caught on, and by the day
on which the subscriptions should be paid into the Bank of Kaulmann
came round it was necessary to have a military cordon drawn across the
street, to allow the stream of people to pass through in any sort of
order. The subscribers had, in fact, collected before the doors early
in the morning; those who were strong trusted to their own strength to
make way for themselves by elbow force. In the crush battered hats and
torn coats were matters of small consequence; verbal insults and
personal injuries, such as pushing and squeezing, were treated as
nothing. The windows of the bank which looked on the street were burst
open, and some excited individual called out:

"I subscribe ten thousand, a hundred thousand, a million!"

When at last six o'clock struck, and the doors of the bank were
closed, a stentorian voice called from the balcony to the crowd below:

"The subscription is closed!"

What a disappointment for those who had not been able to get their
money in in time! They went away dejected men.

The Bondavara mine had indeed "caught on." Instead of ten millions,
eight hundred and twenty thousand millions had been subscribed. Did
the subscribers really possess all that money? Certainly not. Each one
deposited the tenth portion of the sum subscribed as a guarantee, and
this only on paper; actual money the company did not as yet touch.
Those who made part of the vast crowd, who tore the coats from one
another's backs, were not blessed with a superfluity of money, neither
had they the slightest interest in the production of coal, but to-day
it is fine weather on the exchange; the Bondavara Co