CHAPTER XXIII
THE STARTING OF A "CORNER"
There are always two parties in every stock exchange, well known asbulls and bears. Those who believe in an advance, or what is to the sameend, manipulate a stock to increase its price, are said to be "bullingit"; while those who honestly think it quoted above its worth and sellit, or plot to depress its price, are said to "bear it." Like the evervarying hues of the kaleidoscope, so the opinions and actions of eachindividual among those men constantly change, and a bull to-day may be abear to-morrow. Then cliques and pools take up one little joker ofvalues, and seek by force of number and capital to toss it up or down.To this end they fill the press with columns of false reports,fictitious statements, and items of apparent news for one purpose--todeceive. When the wildcat, Rockhaven, started on its career, the bullsand bears, glad of a fresh toy, began to toss it back and forth. Nonebelieved it of any actual value, but merely one of the many dice in thespeculative box. All united in asserting that it was the _avant courier_of a scheme; it might be pushed up to a fabulous price and it might anyday go down with a crash. It was this very certainty of being anuncertainty--the fact that its future was an open gamble, a positivechance--that made it interesting. None of these astute speculators weredeceived by the early dividend, even for one moment; and when Simmons,well known as Weston's mouthpiece, openly bid two dollars for fivethousand shares or any part of it, and really obtained one hundred, andthat the identical hundred originally given a prominent man for the useof his name, all knew that the fresh toy was on its way toward the roofor the cellar. It may seem strange after the countless schemes whichhave come to naught, that any remain who could be inveigled into a newone, but as a wise showman once said, "the world loves to be humbugged,"and the early dividend worked its inevitable result among the realinvestors, while the gamblers' chance stimulated "the street"; andbetween the two Rockhaven was pushed upward. And the _Market News_, aswell as other city papers anxious to sell space, helped to swell thebubble until Rockhaven became one of the loaded dice all speculatorslove to play with. It started at two dollars a share, bid by Simmons,who the next day offered three for it and had two hundred more sold himby a too-confident bear who didn't own a share, and who later on boughtit in at a higher price, pocketing his loss with a smile. And so it kepton, now up a point and back a half, then up two and down one, to go backagain when some nervous bear sought to cover. Some who owned it at thesubscription price of one dollar sold, and quadrupled their money, tosee it go still higher, and catching the fever, bought it in again;while others who were short of it at three, bid it in at five, anddistrustful of it as ever, went short again, and so the definite stockvalue in this case, as in all others, became a guess.
In the meantime Weston, the spider in his web, and Simmons, his trustyspokesman, watched the market and were not idle. They had sold somethirty thousand shares, the _Market News_ kept printing items (at a costof fifty cents per word), the street was all guessing, and Rockhavenbade fair to become a sensation "on 'change."
Then a few far-seeing bulls, believing the natural sequence of stockmanipulation in this case would end in a "corner," began bidding it up,while Simmons, quick to feel the pulse of the situation and reallyholding the key to it, aided them by spreading a report to that effect,and when the price showed weakness, buying a few hundred. As most of"the street" asserted that the stock was valueless, his object was tocreate a short interest, if possible, and in time so manipulate mattersas to scare the shorts, knowing full well what the result would be.
The only danger he knew lay in the action of Winn Hardy and what hemight do. If that duped young man scented the game and, returning,alarmed his aunt, who had bought ten thousand shares and locked them up,the game would be balked.
"We must keep your man Hardy on the island all summer," he said toWeston, "and let him quarry stone, at whatever cost. If ever he hearswhat Rockhaven is quoted at and isn't a fool, he will hurry back and notonly unload his thousand shares, but tell his aunt, and she will do thesame."
"I doubt that he will," answered Weston; "he has few friends in thecity, and those are not posted on the market, and as for his aunt, Ihave assured her that if she hopes to sell out her stock at the topprice, she must keep her investment an absolute secret. I gave her thetip on Sunday as we were walking home from church together, and in sucha way that I feel sure she will heed it. The good woman is wrapped up inchurch work and putting the matter in the way I did, and at that time,insures her secrecy. Some people must be handled with religious gloves,"he added, smiling urbanely, "and some hit with a club." He thought ofHill in this connection.
And in the case of Winn Hardy, he reckoned without Jack Nickerson.
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