CHAPTER XVI
THE GROWTH OF A BUBBLE
"Young Hardy's making his mark down on the island," observed J. MalcolmWeston to his partner that morning when they had received notice of thestock purchase made by Jess, "and if the fellow keeps on as he hasstarted the quarry won't stand us out a penny."
"I doubt if he does," responded Mr. Hill, who, be it said, fulfilled thepart of a balance wheel to Weston. "From what you have told me therearen't many on the island who have any spare money."
"Oh, you can't always tell by the clothes such jays wear how much theyhave hid away in old stockings," responded Weston. "Those mossbacksnever spend a cent and once they grasp a dollar it passes out ofcirculation."
"I am surprised Hardy landed this man Hutton for five hundred," saidHill, "and so early in the game."
"I am also," replied Weston, "and if I felt sure that Hardy could betrusted with our plans, I would tell him what our next move is, but I amnot. The trouble with him is, he is too honest, and when we begin tothrow out bait in the way of advance dividends, he will suspect our gameand I am not sure how he will take it."
"Do not think of that yet," replied Hill, "so long as we keep all thecards in our own hands, we know where the joker is, but neverafterward."
"I am a good mind to take a ran down to Rockhaven," continued Westonmeditatively, "and get better acquainted with this old duffer Hutton andthe rest. Also make some of them a present of a little stock, just tointerest them. It's the way to catch mackerel and those few shares willreturn us good results when we declare a dividend."
"Better not," replied the more cautious of the two, "those old fishermenare not fools, and will conclude that if you are willing to give stockaway, it's of no value. When we do pay a dividend this Hutton will notkeep it a secret and Hardy can then reap the harvest. Besides, he andhis honesty must be considered. It won't do to alarm him. He believesthe scheme is legitimate, and as he has a finger in the pie, will workfor his own end and sell all the stock he can. What I should advise isthat we notify him the price is now two dollars per share and let thatleaven work as it will. How much stock have we sold already?"
"About six thousand shares," replied Weston, "counting that bought byHardy."
"And two per cent on the par value of that," continued Hill, figuring ona slip of paper, "would be twelve hundred dollars. I think one per centenough as a starter and that we should pay it now."
"No," replied the more liberal Weston, "it's not best to pinch in thematter of chum, as the fishermen say, and do things by halves. If wemust bait them now let us bait them well."
And bait them well they did, for the next day's issue of the _MarketNews_ contained the following:--
"It is with pleasure we announce that the Rockhaven Granite Company hasdeclared a dividend of two per cent on the par value of the stock,payable at the office of Weston & Hill. As we stated a short time ago inthese columns, this well-known and reliable firm, whose enterprise isnow so agreeably proven, do nothing by halves and are only too glad todistribute all profits as soon as accrued. The stock has already doubledin price and we predict will reach par in the near future."
And when Jess Hutton received by mail a check for one hundred dollarsas his share of the dividend upon the par value of five hundred sharesand the parson one for ten, Rockhaven began to get excited, and all whohad a dollar to invest made haste to call upon Winn. Captain Doty boughtone hundred shares, Captain Moore, uncle to David the irrepressible, thesame, a few others lesser amounts, and to cap the climax, poorhard-working Mrs. Moore, Winn's landlady, came to him.
"I've got a little money laid away in the savin's bank ashore," shesaid, "an' it's only drawin' four cents a dollar, which ain't much. Ifyou thinks it's safe mebbe I'd best take some out an' buy some o' thisstock. They all tell me it's payin' and like to go up."
And that night, in the seclusion of his own room, as Winn Hardy thoughtmatters over, and realized how this speculative excitement was startingon Rockhaven, just a faint suspicion that the golden apple might berotten at the core came to him. As was his way when he wanted to thinkand think hard, he at once betook himself out of sight and sound of eventhat quiet village, and hied away to the top of Norse Hill. Here he lita cigar and planted himself beside the strange structure there, thehistory of which no one knew.
And how solemn and silent the still summer evening seemed, and how likeeternity the boundless ocean faintly visible in the starlight. Only itslow murmur at the foot of the cliff and just a faint breeze redolent ofits salty zest reached him. And of Weston & Hill and this new outcome?
He had worked and talked to this end; he had hoped for it, striving tobring it about, and now that the quarry was each day a busy hive ofworkers, the third vessel load of quarried stone nearly all on board andready to ship, the entire island agog over this new industry, and notonly willing but anxious to invest their hard-earned savings inRockhaven stock, and a prosperous outcome to his ambition in sight, Winnhesitated.
And the more he ground the grist of Weston & Hill's scheme in his mindthere beside the old stone tower, the less he liked it and the deeperthe germ of suspicion took root. And the cause of it all was the two percent dividend!
Winn Hardy, though a country-born boy and lacking in worldly experience,as well as education, was no fool. He knew that two shiploads ofgranite, though sold at a fabulous price, would not pay a profit equalto half the cost the quarry had so far been, to say nothing of adividend, and the only conclusion was not flattering to his firm'shonesty. Then one by one, every little detail of the entire affair;every instruction they had given; the stock they had presented to him;the letters they had written; the donation to the parson; JackNickerson's innuendoes; and now this unreasonable payment of dividendswhich he knew were not earned,--all passed in review. Honest himself, hewas slow to suspect dishonesty in others, but the longer and morecarefully he weighed these facts in his mind the plainer he saw the word"fraud" written on each one of them.
And he had put every dollar of the few he had saved into this stock andborrowed some besides! And worse than that; this honest old fellow Jess,out of good will to him had put five hundred in and persuaded others toinvest also!
Suspicion is like sailing in a fog; we cannot tell where clear air endsand fog begins, only the first we know the air seems damp and chill, thesun obscured and danger near. And so with Winn, there on Rockhaven, withhis vocation and paths in life all mapped out, these people lookingtoward him as a benefactor and ready to trust him with their money andthe sun of success shining! And all at once the air seemed chill withthe fog of deceit and fraud, and he knew not where he was. To refusethose who would buy more stock, he dare not, since it would awakensuspicion; to accept it was as bad, for it compromised him the deeper.For a long hour he tried to think a way for himself out of this fog, andthe more he thought the more positive his suspicion grew, and then hereturned to his abode. And there in Rock Lane and as if to increase hisburden of responsibility, was Mona sitting in the porch of her humblehome alone.
"Why, little girl," he said softly, pausing at the gate, "are you notabed and asleep?"
And Mona, unconscious of how or in what way it would strike him, and inthe utter innocence of her heart, came quickly out to where he wasstanding.
"I was lonesome," she said simply, "and waiting for you to come back. Isaw you go up the hill and wondered what for." And Winn, despondent andworried as he was, and looking down into the sweet face and earnest eyesupraised to him, felt their tender sympathy wondrously sweet.
"I went up there to think," he said, "and to be alone. It is a way Ihave when business troubles me." And bidding her "good night" he lefther.
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