t of the game--any game--think the way the other man thinks,
and then think two jumps ahead of him. Now if I was reasonably sure a
certain powerful gang was going to put stocks down, and put them down
hard, I might look around to see how that could benefit me at one end
while it was annoying me, almightily annoying me, at the other. Now when
them coyotes get to juggling stocks they always like to juggle stock
they know about--something with a nice little pink ribbon to it, with a
president and board of directors on the other end, that'll wriggle in
the right direction when the coyotes pull the string.

"Now I'd been particularly hankering after Pittsburgh & New Orleans for
quite a while. It was good in their old Southern system, but it looked
mighty better outside of it. In independent hands it could stir up a
lot of trouble; sort of like a plain daughter in a rich man's house--no
one notices her until she runs off with the chauffeur. That was my idea.
Only Pittsburgh was high. But--again the but--if some particular breed
of coyote would be obliging enough to run it down along with a lot of
other properties on the market, I might pitch in and help them force it
down to where I could pick up what I wanted from the bargain counter.
See?"

"But you sold openly," said Bojo, amazed.

"Exactly. Sold it where they could see it and bought it back twice over,
ten times over, where they couldn't. Very simple process. All great
processes are simple, and it never dawned on those monumental
intelligences that they were fetchin' and carryin' for yours truly until
they woke up at six o'clock to-day to find while they were scrambling in
the dark, the chauffeur had run off with Miss Pittsburgh!"

He turned and walked to the table desk, motioning to Bojo.

"Come over here, look at it." He held out a check for ten million
dollars. "You don't see one of those fellows very often. Great man,
Gunther. When he's got to act he doesn't waste time. Right to the point.
'We are satisfied you have control. What's your terms?' 'Ten millions
and what the stock cost me.' 'We accept your terms,' Great man, Gunther.
Suppose I might have added another million, but it wouldn't have sounded
as well, would it? Something rather nice about costs and ten million!"

As he spoke, he had drawn out his check-book and filled out a check to
Bojo.

"Well, Tom, this isn't ten millions, but it's some pin money, and I
guess to you it looks bigger than the other. T