"Say," observed Phineas, between intervals of clicks, "this feller's in some loony asylum, ain't he.This is pretty nigh as crazy as that message I fetched down....Here 'tis.Maybe you folks know what it means, I don't.It's forty fathoms long, ain't it."It was long enough, surely.It was not all in the code jargon--Davis trusted the privacy of the wire sufficiently to send a portion of it in plain English--but he did not trust even that altogether.Miss Colton and I worked it out as we had the first telegram.As the translation progressed I could feel my hair tingling at the roots.
Was it to help in such a complication as this that I had been summoned? I, of all people! These waters were too deep for me.
Boiled down, the "particulars" for which Davis had been asked, and which he had sent, amounted to this: Colton, it seemed, had sold L.and T."short" for a considerable period of time in order, as Ihad surmised, to force down the price and buy in at a reasonable figure.He had sold, in this way, about three-eighths of the common stock.Of this amount he had in his possession--in his broker's possession, that is--but two of the eighths.The "other crowd"--the Consolidated Pacific, presumably--had, as Davis now discovered, three-eighths actual certificates, in its pocket, had been acquiring them, on the quiet, while pretending to have lost interest.The public, unsuspecting powers in this, as in most of Wall Street little games, had still three-eighths.The "other crowd," knowing "Big Jim's" position, had but to force immediate delivery of the missing one-eighth--the amount of Colton's over-selling--and he might be obliged to pay Heaven knew what for the shares.He MUST acquire them; he must buy them.And the price which he would be forced to pay might mean--perhaps not bankruptcy for him, the millionaire--but certainly the loss of a tremendous sum and all chance of acquiring control of the road."This has been sprung on us all at once," wired Davis."They have got us cold.What shall I do? You must be here yourself before the market opens."And the man who "must be there himself" was critically ill and unconscious!
The long telegram, several hundred words of it, was before us.Iread it through again, and Miss Colton sat and looked at me.
"Do you understand it--now?" she whispered, anxiously.
"Yes, I think I do....What is it, Phin?""I was just wonderin'," drawled Cahoon's voice from the adjoining room, "if I couldn't eat a little mite of this supper.I've got to do it or have my nose and eyes tied up.Havin' all them good things settin' right where I can see and smell 'em is givin' me the fidgets.""Yes, yes, eat away," I said, laughing.And even Miss Colton smiled.But my laugh and her smile were but transient.
"Is it-- Does it mean that things are VERY wrong?" she asked, indicating the telegram.
"They are very serious; there is no doubt of that."The instrument clicked.
"Say, Ros," said Phin, his mouth full, "this feller's gettin' as fidgety as I was afore I got afoul of this grub.He wants to know what his instructions are.What'll he do?""What shall you tell him?" asked Miss Colton.
"I don't know," I answered."I do not know.I am afraid I am of no use whatever.This is no countryman's job.No country banker, even a real one, should attempt to handle this.This is high finance with a vengeance.I don't know.I think he...Suppose we tell him to consult the people at your father's office."She shook her head."No," she said."The people at the office know nothing of it.This was Father's own personal affair.No one knows of it but Mr.Davis.""How about them instructions?" this from Cahoon.
"Tell him--yes, tell him Mr.Colton cannot leave here at present and that he must use his own judgment, go ahead on his own responsibility.That is the only thing I see to do, Miss Colton.
Don't worry; he must be a man of experience and judgment or your father never would use him.He will pull it through, I am sure."I was by no means as confident as I pretended to be, however, and the next message from Davis proved my forebodings to be well founded.His answer was prompt and emphatic:
Matter too important.Decline to take responsibility.Must have definite instructions or shall not act.Is this Mr.Colton himself?
"He would not act without Father's orders in a matter like this.Iwas afraid of it.And he is growing suspicious.Oh, CAN'T you help me, Mr.Paine? CAN'T you? I relied on you.I felt sure YOUwould know what to do.I am--I am SO alone; and with Father so ill--I--I--"She turned away and leaned her head upon her hand on the table.Ifelt again the desperate impulse I had felt when we were alone on board the launch, the impulse to take her in my arms and try to comfort her, to tell her that I would do anything--anything for her.And yet what could I do?
"Can't you help me?" she pleaded."You have never failed me before."There came a knock at the door and Johnson's voice called her name.
"Miss Mabel," he whispered, "Miss Mabel, will you come, please?
The doctor wants you right away."
She rose quickly, drawing her hand across her eyes as she did so.
"I am coming, Johnson," she said.Then, turning to me, "I will be back as soon as I can.Do try--try to think.You MUST, for Father's sake, for all our sakes."She left the room.I rose and, with my hands in my pockets, began to pace the floor.This was the tightest place I had ever been in.
There had been a time, years before, when I prided myself on my knowledge of the stock market and its idiosyncrasies.Then, in the confidence of youth, I might have risen to a situation like this, might have tackled it and had the nerve to pull it through or blame the other fellow if I failed.Now I was neither youthful nor confident.Whatever I did would be, in all human probability, the wrong thing, and to do the wrong thing now meant, perhaps, ruin for the sick man upstairs.And she had trusted me! She had sent for me in her trouble! I had "never failed her before"!
