Rockhaven

by Charles Clark Munn

  CHAPTER XXX

  THE BUBBLE BURSTS

  In response to Winn's summons, dressed in a somewhat faded andnondescript garb, with bell-crowned silk hat of ancient style, JessHutton reached the city.

  And he was a picture!

  His coat, a surtout with small gilt buttons, a reddish brown vest,trousers of gray mixed stuff, a high collar with black satin stock, andhis ruddy brown face with fringe of gray beard and keen twinkling blueeyes made him conspicuous. He carried a cane, limping a little asalways, and when he greeted Winn on the station platform, the latterfelt that all Rockhaven had arrived.

  "Ain't this a _leetle_ sudden?" he said, when the two had shaken hands."I sorter cac'lated ye'd send fer me, an' when I got the message Ithought o' old Abner Tucker's tombstone. He'd allus been skeered o'lightnin', an' when he got hit his widder had his stun sot up 'n' puton't, 'I 'spected this, but not so soon.'"

  "I'm glad you came," said Winn, heartily, "and hope you have brought allthe stock I sold on the island."

  "Oh, I fetched it all, even the parson's, 'n' he told me a blessin' wentwith hisn," responded Jess.

  And then Winn, more light-hearted than ever before in his life, hurriedthe old man into a carriage.

  "We are to keep in hiding," he said, "until my friends say the word, andthen I'll take you to the stock exchange and we will see our stocksold."

  "I don't see no use in hidin' in this 'ere jumble o' humanity," assertedJess, as their vehicle became entangled in a street blockade, "thepuzzle on't here 'ud be to find anybody ye wanted."

  "It's best that we hide, however," replied Winn. "If Weston caught sightof either of us, he would know our errand here at once."

  "I don't cac'late he'd 'member me," said Jess, "though I'd recklect themgray stun'sls o' hisn out o' a million."

  And Winn, contrasting the old man's present raiment with what he usuallywore, concluded he was right.

  But that evening, when Page and Nickerson were ushered into the roomwhere Jess was held in (to him) durance vile, there was a scene.

  "I'm powerful glad to meet ye, gentlemen," Jess asserted, shaking thehand of each in a way that made them wince, "I'd a sorter cac'latedbrokers had horns 'n' claws the way ye're spoken on, but ye look purtyharmless. I suppose ye air brokers," looking from one to the other, "an'which sort air ye, bulls or bears?"

  "Either one or the other, as occasion serves," answered Page, laughingheartily. "We get together and toss or claw one another, according tothe market, and when the fracas is over, count our cash and go out anddrink to each other's good luck."

  And this, be it said, fairly expresses the financial warfare daily waged"on 'change."

  "I've read 'bout yer doin's," continued Jess, "an' I allus cac'lated yewere all a purty slick crowd o' deceivers, an' best ter steer clear on.I'm a sort o' an old barnacle livin' on an island, 'n' when this 'ereWeston woke me up one day, I made a fairly good dicker with him, an''long come this young man, 'n' I'll own up I kinder took ter him, bein'sI hadn't chick nor child 'n' nothin' fer company but an old fiddle, 'n'just ter help him out, bought a leetle stock. I got a few o' the rest tobuy some, 'greein' I'd see they wasn't to lose by it. I fetched it'long, 'n' I tell ye, Mr. Hardy, yer message has stirred up quite afuss. I'll bet yer landlady, the Widder Moore, hain't slept a winksense, 'n' if Roby hadn't been obligated to Uncle Sam, he'd 'a' startedfer the mainland that night."

  "You are just in time, Mr. Hutton," observed Page, interested in thishonest old man at once, "and unless all signs fail, I'll sell your stockto-morrow at ten or twenty times its cost. How would you like to carryback five thousand dollars for yourself and double that to distributeamong your friends?"

  "They'd all hev fits," answered Jess, "an' 'ud quit fishin' an' start toquarryin' right away. But I don't cac'late ye will, Mr. Page, an' we'llall on us be satisfied to git our hats back. Hope ye may, though; butthar's no use in countin' chickens till they're hatched."

  And Jess Hutton, the cool and collected philosopher that he was, did notfor one moment hope even that he would more than receive his money back.In his understanding of the matter, this quoted price for the stock wasa mere fiction, and he felt sure that when it was actually offered forsale, no one would buy. To him it seemed like selling so much air. Neverin his life had he set foot in a stock exchange, and when the next day,just as the great clock in the exchange marked nine-fifty, and he withWinn and Nickerson took seats in the gallery, no hint of the comingturmoil came to Jess, and fortunately no suspicion of his or Hardy'spresence in the city had reached Weston or Simmons.

  Then the gong sounded and bedlam ensued.

  THE BUBBLE BURSTS.]

  In an instant, a hundred men who had been chatting with one another inthe pit, and as many more, as if by magic, leaped out of hiding, and ahowl went up. They gathered in knots around the poles, pushing, pulling,yelling like demons, waving their arms aloft with fingers open, closed,or separated--a deaf mute alphabet used by these delirious men to buy orsell; and as they screamed and screeched and pushed and swore in a madscramble, fortunes melted away or were created.

  And on one side of that fiscal arena, tall, gaunt, with a fringe of grayhair about his poll, and watching with eyes as merciless as a lynx readyto spring, stood Simmons.

  On the other, as alert, but younger, with the easy _sang froid_ of oneskilled in this battle of values, stood Page.

  Full well he knew what his enemy's tactics would be, and that when thecrowd began to rally around the Rockhaven pole, he would creep up like apanther, and at the right moment overbid the highest. None were buyers,for none wanted Rockhaven at its present price, except frightened bearsseeking to cover, and well Simmons knew it.

  And so did Page, with his four thousand shares, waiting for the bearpanic sure to come.

  Rockhaven's turn now came. It opened at sixteen, then up to seventeen,eighteen, nineteen, without a halt; a breathless trio in the balconyattentively watched the dial where its price was recorded, or Page, whoheld their fortunes in his hand.

  And then came the panic; for it had reached twenty, and Simmons, like aspectre, advanced, bidding twenty-one for ten thousand shares!

  Then two bears, short as much each at five and six, lost their heads.

  Up, up it went by leaps of two, three, and five points, bid by thesehalf-crazed speculators, while Page eyed Simmons.

  Two tigers of finance, cool, calculating, merciless!

  The jam about the pole grew worse. A screaming, pushing, mad mass ofbeings, insane with greed!

  Some on top, some under, and all cursing, yelling, a writhing monster,all heads and hands, the like of which can nowhere else be found. Thirtywas bid, then thirty-two, four, six, eight!

  Then forty!

  And then Page, calculating to a nicety, leaped in!

  In an instant, almost, the price fell twenty points, for Simmons, quickto see his enemy's offer to sell, lost his nerve and offered blocks often and twenty thousand shares down, down at any price!

  And the scared bears, as quick as he to see the tide had turned, joinedthe downward bidding.

  But Page had sold!

  Winn and Jess were saved!

  The bubble had burst!

  Conscience, as in all great climaxes of human feeling, was a factor inthe crash; for Simmons, knowing that he had once wronged and robbedPage, intuitively felt that a revenge was coming, and to save what hecould out of the wrecked plot, joined the insane selling. For once inhis life he played the coward.

  After the financial delirium was over, there was a scene between him andWeston, over which it were best to draw the veil.

  A more hilarious episode, however, occurred in Page's office, when allmet there after the exchange closed.

  "I didn't win out as I hoped," Page said to the rest, "for the marketbroke like an egg-shell. I unloaded the four thousand at an average oftwenty, however, and had the pleasure of seeing Simmons gnash his falseteeth and shake his fist at me, which was worth as much more." Thenturning to Jess he added: "How
did you enjoy the pow-wow?"

  Jess smiled.

  "I've seen a passel o' hungry hogs squealin' an' pawin' over a trough,an' two dogs fightin' over a bone. I've seen a cage o' monkeys all madan' makin' the fur fly, an' if the whole kit 'n' boodle had been put ina pen 'n' sot a-goin', it wouldn't 'a' ekalled the fracas I've seento-day. How any on 'em got out 'thout broken bones is more'n I kin see.I'd 'a' gin a hundred to 'a' held the nozzle o' a fire-engine hose 'n'squirted water on 'em."

  "How would you have enjoyed being among them?" put in Nickerson, to whomthe old man with his grotesque raiment and speech was a source ofmerriment.

  "I wouldn't 'a' sot foot 'mong that crowd o' loony-tics fer a hundreddollars," answered Jess. "I cac'late they'd 'a' turned to 'n' bit me,same ez mad dogs."

  "They'd have played foot-ball with your hat," responded Jack, who knewthe ways of brokers, "and in two minutes you wouldn't have had a wholegarment on you. I've seen them tie a man's legs and drag him around theroom with a rope, then toss him in a blanket for a wind-up. They are atough lot, and a stranger who gets into their hands meets hard usage."

  "That's about the idee I had on 'em," said Jess; "they're wuss'n Injuns,an' ain't satisfied with takin' a man's money, they want his hair, hide,'n' toe nails. If ever one on 'em comes ashore on Rockhaven 'n' I'maround, he'll think he's run into a hornet's nest. We'll use him wuss'nwe did Abe Winty. He was a shiftless cuss that got out into the islandsomehow 'bout ten year ago, an' begun beggin' for a livin'. He 'lowed hehad asmer an' heart troubles an' a tech o' liver complaint, 'n' jestcouldn't do no liftin' or any sort o' hard work. He fooled us a spell,till we began missin' things 'n' found they were gittin' into the handso' a low-down fellar who sold rum on the sly, 'n' then we held a sort o'indignation caucus, 'n' Abe wa'n't invited. We had diskivered by thistime that Abe's heart 'n' liver was doin' business 'bout ez usual, 'n'the only thing that ailed him was downright laziness. We sorter comparedidees at the meetin', an' the upshot on't was we concluded the islandwa'n't big 'nuff for him. We'd tried all manner o' talk to shame him,but callin' names an' 'busin' him didn't hev no more 'fect than rain ona duck's back. We'd tried coaxin' an' cussin' to git him to work, buthim 'n' work wus mortal enemies, 'n' when he couldn't beg 'nuff to eathe'd steal it. Suthin' had to be did, 'n' we did it. Fust we ketched 'n'shackled him 'n' locked him up in a fish-house fer two days, feedin' himon bread 'n' water,--mostly water at that,--an' when he'd got good 'n'hungry we sarved him a meal cooked with drug stuff, 'nuff in it to turnthe stomach o' a Digger Injun. He was that starved he et it middlin'quick, an' then, to make the preceedin's more interestin' to Abe, theman that took the vittles to him told him pizen had been put in 'em 'n'he hadn't more'n an hour to live. Then we gathered round, peekin' in thedoor 'n' winders ez if cac'latin' to enjie Abe's dyin' agonies. Itwa'n't long 'fore the drug stuff began workin', an' Abe, he got morescared than old Bill Atlas was when we sot the sea sarpint up to meethim. He hollered for mercy, an' when his vittles started to worry him hebegan prayin' an' took on woful, an' we just lookin' at him sober-like,ez if his end was clus to. The perceedin's lasted 'bout two hours, 'n'by that time Abe wus so weak he couldn't hold up his head. Then westraddled him on a rail 'n' carried him to the boat, 'n' Cap'n Roby sothim ashore."

  "How would you like to serve Weston that way?" put in Winn when thestory was ended.

  "I wouldn't mind," answered Jess, chuckling at the thought, "though Icac'late we've come purty near gettin' square with him. I'd like to seehim humsoever, jist about now, 'n' tell him old Rip Van Winkle hez wokeup, 'n' if he wants any more quarries I'll 'commodate him if he'll cometo Rockhaven."

  Then when Page had made up the accounts of all three whose stock he hadsold, handing each a check for their dues, all shook hands andseparated.

  And so warm was Winn's heart toward the old man who had "sorter took tohim on sight" that he escorted him to the hotel and remained with himuntil he left for Rockhaven the next morning.