robert van rensselaer paced his office, his hands behind his back. he had no more money, but he was not frightened; his trust was in the eternal laws of nature,—and besides, he had one or two more cards to play. he was walking up and down meditatively, talking to himself half aloud. "i think," he was saying, "that i've gotten all the best of the pickings; and so it really won't do so much harm if i let them in."
he rang for his secretary and sent five telephone messages. four of them were to friends of his, wall street plungers who had generally worked and fought with him; and the fifth was to mr. chauncey van rensselaer.
it was only a few minutes before the first four were in his office, breathless and wild. "well," said van rensselaer, "what do you think of it?"
[90]"never saw anything like it," cried one of them; it was shrike, the famous wheat plunger. "never in my life! who do you think it is? and what'll come of it?"
"that's what i sent for you for," was van rensselaer's reply. "sit down."
and then he talked to them. "i know who's in this, but i'm not at liberty to tell. but i know that they're going to win out, and i'm going to jump on to-morrow morning with every cent i have and help make it a smash-up. i know who's back of the t. & s. people,—it's smith and shark, in particular,—and i know just what they're good for. i know t. & s. pretty well, too, and it's hanging on the very verge. it's damned inflated stuff—you know that, as well as i do; and the street's just ready to jump on the losing side. the ring that's been making this fight is going to get most of it; but i'm going to get some, and i'm asking you in so as to make it a sure thing. we've only got to pile on to it, you know, and then suddenly let the street find out[91] that it's us. the tumble will come in three seconds after that."
it was several hours before those four gentlemen went out of van rensselaer's office. they talked the situation over in all its phases: the weak points about the t. & s. road, and the rumors that might be used; the impossibility of their being caught in a corner; the fact that thousands of stockholders were hoping for a rise, and trembling in uncertainty and terror at the thought of a fall; the resources of smith and shark and the t. & s. financiers; their own resources, and the weight of their names. in the end the agreement was to buy all the t. & s. offered in the morning, and at the hour of eleven jump in and pound it into the dust.
