Oregon_ broke the market."

"How much did you get for them?" asked Johnny.

"A dollar apiece for most, and fifty cents for the rest. I came out two
hundred and seventy dollars ahead all told. That, with Frank's and my
ten dollars, gave me sixty dollars above the necessary amount."

Johnny arose and kicked himself solemnly.

"For not guessing what newspapers were good for," he explained. "Go on!
What next? What did you do with the rest of the day?"

Talbot leaned forward, and all the animation of the dinner table
returned to his manner and to his face.

"Boys," said he earnestly, "this is the most wonderful town that has
ever been! There has been nothing like it in the past; and there will
never be anything like it again. After I had sold out my papers I went
wandering across the Plaza with my hands in my pockets. Next the El
Dorado there is a hole in the ground. It isn't much of a hole, and the
edges are all caving in because it is sandy. While I was looking at it
two men came along. One was the owner of the hole, and the other said he
was a lawyer. The owner offered to rent the hole to the lawyer for two
hundred and fifty dollars a month; and the lawyer was inclined to take
him up. After they had gone on I paced off the hole, just for fun. It
was twelve feet square by about six feet deep! Then I walked on down
toward the water front, and talked with all the storekeepers. They do a
queer business. All these goods we see around came out here on
consignment. The local storekeepers have a greater or lesser share and
sell mainly on commission. Since they haven't any adequate storehouses,
and can't get any put up again, they sell the stuff mainly at auction
and get rid of it as quickly as possible. That's why some things are so
cheap they can make pavements of them when a ship happens to come in
loaded with one article. I talked with some of them and told them they
ought to warehouse a lot of this stuff so as to keep it over until the
market steadied. They agreed with that; but pointed out that they were
putting up warehouses as fast as they could--which wasn't very fast--and
in the meantime the rains and dust were destroying their goods. It was
cheaper to sell at auction."

"And a heap more exciting," put in Johnny. "I went to one of them."

"Well, I wandered down to the shore, and looked out over the bay. It was
full of shipping, riding high at anchor. I had an idea. I hired a boat
for five dollars, and rowed out t