In the little balcony on the south wall opposite the visitors' gallery a figure had appeared, a tall grave man, in a long black coat--the secretary of the Board of Trade.Landry with the others saw him, saw him advance to the edge of the railing, and fix his glance upon the Wheat Pit.In his hand he carried a slip of paper.
And then in the midst of that profound silence the secretary announced:
"All trades with Gretry, Converse & Co.must be closed at once."The words had not ceased to echo in the high vaultings of the roof before they were greeted with a wild, shrill yell of exultation and triumph, that burst from the crowding masses in the Wheat Pit.
Beaten; beaten at last, the Great Bull! Smashed! The great corner smashed! Jadwin busted! They themselves saved, saved, saved! Cheer followed upon cheer, yell after yell.Hats went into the air.In a frenzy of delight men danced and leaped and capered upon the edge of the Pit, clasping their arms about each other, shaking each others' hands, cheering and hurrahing till their strained voices became hoarse and faint.
Some few of the older men protested.There were cries of :
"Shame, shame!"
"Order--let him alone."
"Let him be; he's down now.Shame, shame!"But the jubilee was irrepressible, they had been too cruelly pressed, these others; they had felt the weight of the Bull's hoof, the rip of his horn.Now they had beaten him, had pulled him down.
"Yah-h-h, whoop, yi, yi, yi.Busted, busted, busted.
Hip, hip, hip, and a tiger!"
"Come away, sir.For God's sake, Mr.Jadwin, come away."Landry was pleading with Jadwin, clutching his arm in both his hands, his lips to his chief's ear to make himself heard above the yelping of the mob.
Jadwin was silent now.He seemed no longer to see or hear; heavily, painfully he leaned upon the young man's shoulder.
"Come away, sir--for God's sake!"
The group of traders parted before them, cheering even while they gave place, cheering with eyes averted, unwilling to see the ruin that meant for them salvation.
"Yah-h-h.Yah-h-h, busted, busted!"
Landry had put his arm about Jadwin, and gripped him close as he led him from the Pit.The sobs were in his throat again, and tears of excitement, of grief, of anger and impotence were running down his face.
"Yah-h-h.Yah-h-h, he's done for, busted, busted!""Damn you all," cried Landry, throwing out a furious fist, "damn you all; you brutes, you beasts! If he'd so much as raised a finger a week ago, you'd have run for your lives."But the cheering drowned his voice; and as the two passed out of the Pit upon the floor, the gong that closed the trading struck and, as it seemed, put a period, definite and final to the conclusion of Curtis Jadwin's career as speculator.
Across the floor towards the doorway Landry led his defeated captain.Jadwin was in a daze, he saw nothing, heard nothing.Quietly he submitted to Landry's guiding arm.The visitors in the galleries bent far over to see him pass, and from all over the floor, spectators, hangers-on, corn-and-provision traders, messenger boys, clerks and reporters came hurrying to watch the final exit of the Great Bull, from the scene of his many victories and his one overwhelming defeat.
In silence they watched him go by.Only in the distance from the direction of the Pit itself came the sound of dying cheers.But at the doorway stood a figure that Landry recognised at once--a small man, lean-faced, trimly dressed, his clean-shaven lips pursed like the mouth of a shut money bag, imperturbable as ever, cold, unexcited--Calvin Crookes himself.
And as Jadwin passed, Landry heard the Bear leader say:
"They can cheer now, all they want._They_ didn't do it.It was the wheat itself that beat him; no combination of men could have done it--go on, cheer, you damn fools! He was a bigger man than the best of us."With the striking of the gong, and the general movement of the crowd in the galleries towards the exits, Page rose, drawing a long breath, pressing her hands an instant to her burning cheeks.She had seen all that had happened, but she had not understood.The whole morning had been a whirl and a blur.She had looked down upon a jam of men, who for three hours had done nothing but shout and struggle.She had seen Jadwin come into the Pit, and almost at once the shouts had turned to cheers.That must have meant, she thought, that Jadwin had done something to please those excited men.They were all his friends, no doubt.They were cheering him--cheering his success.He had won then!
And yet that announcement from the opposite balcony, to the effect that business with Mr.Gretry must be stopped, immediately! That had an ominous ring.Or, perhaps, that meant only a momentary check.
As she descended the stairways, with the departing spectators, she distinctly heard a man's voice behind her exclaim:
"Well, that does for _him!_"
Possibly, after all, Mr.Jadwin had lost some money that morning.She was desperately anxious to find Landry, and to learn the truth of what had happened, and for a long moment after the last visitors had disappeared she remained at the foot of the gallery stairway, hoping that he would come for her.But she saw nothing of him, and soon remembered she had told him to come for her, only in case he was able to get away.No doubt he was too busy now.Even if Mr.
Jadwin had won, the morning's work had evidently been of tremendous importance.This had been a great day for the wheat speculators.It was not surprising that Landry should be detained.She would wait till she saw him the next day to find out all that had taken place.
Page returned home.It was long past the hour for luncheon when she came into the dining-room of the North Avenue house.
"Where is my sister?" she asked of the maid, as she sat down to the table; "has she lunched yet?"But it appeared that Mrs.Jadwin had sent down word to say that she wanted no lunch, that she had a headache and would remain in her room.
