Both these interesting documents he now inclosed in an envelope, with
one hundred and ninety-five dollars in bills, sending the whole by
special-delivery mail to the cashier of the bank.
"There!" said Jack, when he had completed this righteous act. "I can
now look myself in the eye again."
* * * * *
From this time on Jack wore his invisible cloak nearly all the time. He
found it very convenient, especially when he wished to go to the
theatre, or to ride on any of our vehicles of public transportation.
Once he seriously contemplated a trip to Europe in it, but this was
postponed by a sudden important development which called for his
attention nearer home. While seated in the back of Colonel Midas's box
at the Metropolitan Opera House one night, listening to the dreamy
numbers of "La Boheme," utterly unobserved, of course, by any of the
other occupants of the box, thanks to his magic cloak, Jack overheard
Colonel Midas engaged in a strenuous conversation with one of his male
relatives, who had asked the eminent financier for some kind of a tip
that would make a rich man of him.
"If you'll tell me whether the San Francisco, Omaha & Mott Haven is
going to buy the K., T. & W. or not, Colonel," the man had said, "I can
make a million or two."
"Of course you could, Jim," said the Colonel, "but I can't tell you now
what will be done in that matter. I don't know myself whether we'll buy
K., T. & W. or build our own connecting line. We haven't decided. If we
do buy, the stock will go jumping up ten, twenty, thirty points at a
time. If we don't, the bottom will drop out of it. It's the turn of a
hand which way that cat will jump, but I'll do this for you: As soon as
I do know I'll give you twenty-four hours' start with the inside
information. We have a secret meeting to-morrow at my office to discuss
the matter, and when we come to a definite understanding I'll give you
the tip. What I can tell you now is that the new line into Buffalo is
going to run through Rocky Corners, and anybody who gets hold of old
Hiram Bumpus's farm up there under a hundred thousand will clear half a
million without getting out of bed."
"Why don't you go in and buy it yourself?" demanded the other.
"Because I'm not wasting my gray matter on piking little
half-million-dollar deals, that's why," retorted Midas, with a glance of
scorn at his guest.
Bursting with this valuable information, Jack immediately left the Opera
House and dispatched a rush telegram to Hiram Bumpus at Rocky Corners
offering him fifty thousand dollars for his farm.
The answer came back the next morning:
Price of farm seventy-five thousand, cash. No checks taken.