HOW STORRI HAD A VIVID IMAGINATION
Storri had no more of moral nature than has a tiger or a kite. He was
founded upon no integrity, would keep faith with no one save himself.
Storri was not a moral lunatic, for that would suppose some original
morality and its subversion to insane aims; rather he was the moral
idiot. At that, his imbecility paused with his morals; in what a world
calls business he was notably bright and forward.
Storri was of education, had traveled wide and far, as ones of his
predatory stamp are prone to do, and with a Russian facility for tongues
spoke English, German, French, and half the languages of Europe. The
instinctive purpose of Storri's existence was to make money. To him,
money was a prey, and stood as do deer to wolves; and yet, making a fine
distinction, he was rapacious, not avaricious. Avarice includes some
idea of a storekeeping commerce that amasses by buying for one dollar
and selling for two. Storri would have failed at that. He was rapacious
as the pirate is rapacious, and with a gambler's love for the uncertain,
he balked at anything whereof the possible profits were cut and dried.
He wanted to win, but he was willing to lose if he must; and above all
he distasted the notion of a limit. Like every wild thing, Storri shied
at a fence and loved the wilderness. While Storri knew nothing of
honesty, he preferred his gold on legitimate lines. This leaning towards
the lawful came not from any bias of probity; Storri simply wanted to be
safe, having a horror of chains and bolts and cages and striped
garments.
When Storri arrived in Washington, he came from Canada by way of New
York. The year before he had been in Paris, and was something--not for
long--of a figure on the Bourse. He had been in every capital of Asia
and Europe, and all the while his restless eye sleepless in its search
for money.
Gifted with an imagination, Storri evolved a scheme. Starting in
moderation, it grew with his wanderings until, link upon link, it became
endless and belted the earth. Storri's imagination was like a tar
barrel; accident might set fire to it, but once in the least of flame it
must burn on and on, with no power of self-extinguishment, until it
burned itself out. Or it was like him who, given a halter, straightway
takes a horse.
It is the theory of Europe that Americans are maniacs of money. European
conservatism draws a money-line beyond which it will not pass. When any
man of Europe has a proposal of business too big for the European
mouth--wearing its self-imposed half-muzzle of conservatism--that
promoter and his proposal head for America. It was this which gained
Washington the advantage of a visit from Storri; his stop in
Canada--being a six-months' stay in Ottawa--was only preliminary to his
coming here.
While his own people of Russia drew back from those enterprises which
Storri's agile imagination had in train, the government at St.
Petersburg, in what was perhaps a natural hope that he might find
Americans more reckless, endowed him as he came away with a guarded pat
on the back. The St. Petersburg government advised its representatives
in America to introduce without indorsing Storri.
Storri was by no means wise after the manner of a Franklin or a Humboldt
or a Herschel; but he did possess the deep sapiency of the serpent or
the fox. He owned inborn traits to steal and creep upon his prey of
money. Being in Washington, and looking up and down, he was quick to
note the strategic propriety of an alliance with Mr. Harley. Mr. Harley
had connections with American millionaires; most of all, he was the
_alter ego_ of a powerful congressional figure. Storri could talk with
Mr. Harley; Mr. Harley could talk with Senator Hanway. Since Congress
would be required for the success of Storri's plans, this last was to be
of prime importance.
Because Mr. Harley made it his affectation to be boisterously frank and
friendly upon short acquaintance, Storri met no vexatious delays in
coming to an understanding with him. You are not to assume that Mr.
Harley was truthful because he was boisterous or his frankness went
freighted of no guile. It is commonest error to believe your frankest
talker, your greatest teller of truth; whereas, in a majority of
instances, the delusive garrulity is a mask or a feint, meant only to
cover facts and screen designs of which the victim's first notice is,
snap! when they pin him like a steel-trap. Still, Storri entertained no
risks when he broke into confidences with Mr. Harley. It was Mr. Harley
who listened and Storri who talked; besides, Storri, in any conflicting
tug of interest, could be as loquacious as Mr. Harley, and as false. It
was diamond cutting diamond and Greek meeting Greek. Only, since Storri
was a Count, and Mr. Harley one upon whom a title went not without
blinding effect, Storri had a fractional advantage.
Storri and Mr. Harley enjoyed several casual talks; that is, Mr. Harley
thought them casual, although every one was planned by Storri. In none
did Storri unpack his enterprises; these talks were feelers, and he was
studying Mr. Harley. Storri was gratified to find Mr. Harley, by native
trend, as rapacious and as much the gambler as himself. Also, he
observed the licking satisfaction wherewith Mr. Harley listened to every
noble reference; with that, Storri contrived--for his conversation--a
fashion of little personal Kingdom on the Caspian, tossed himself up a
castle, and entertained therein from time to time about half the royal
blood of Europe; all to the marvelous delight of Mr. Harley, whom Storri
never failed to wish had been a guest on those purple occasions.
At this seductive rate, it was no more than a matter of ten days before
Mr. Harley went quoting his friend Storri; he had that titled Slav to
dinner, when the latter became as much the favorite with Mrs.
Hanway-Harley as he was with her ruder spouse.
Storri saw Dorothy; and was set burning with a love for her that, if the
flame were less pure, was as instant and as devouring as the love to
sweep over Richard upon the boot-heel evening when he caught her in his
arms. Storri forgot himself across table, and his onyx eyes were riveted
upon Dorothy as though their owner were enthralled.
Dorothy felt at once flattered and repelled. She was interested, even
while she shuddered; it was as though she had been made the object of
the sudden, if venomous, admiration of a king-cobra.
"My friend," purred Storri, one afternoon when he and Mr. Harley were
alone, "my good friend, I will no longer refrain from taking you into my
confidence; and when I say that, you are to understand, also, into the
confidence of my Czar."
Storri rested his head in his hand a moment, and seemed to ponder the
propriety of what he was about. Mr. Harley said nothing, but sat
a-fidget with curiosity. It is not given every American to be taken, via
a Count with estates on the Caspian, into the confidence of a Czar.
"Yes, into the confidence of my Czar," repeated Storri. "See now, my
friend, I will lay bare my soul to you. I am resolved you shall be with
me in my vast adventure. With you--who are practical--who have business
genius--my dreams will become realities. Without you, I--who am a mere
poet of finance--an artist of commerce--would fail. I have genius to
conceive; I cannot carry out. But you--you, my dear friend, are what you
call executive."
Mr. Harley felt profoundly flattered, and showed it; Storri pushed on,
watching the other with the tail of his eye. The slant survey was
satisfactory; Mr. Harley showed half upon his guard and wholly
interested.
"I have conceived projects so gigantic they will stagger belief. And yet
they are feasible; you will make them so. You will take them and girdle
the earth with them as Saturn is girdled by his rings. Observe now!
These, my designs, have the good wishes of my Czar; and next to him you
are that one to whom they are first told. Why do I come so far with my
dreams? I will tell you; it was by command of my Czar.
"'Storri, you must go to America,' were his words. 'You would only stun
Europe; you would not gain her aid. Go to America. There, and there
only, will you find what you require. They, and they of all men, have
the courage, the brains, the money, the enterprise, and--shall I
say?--the honor!'"
Having quoted his Czar in these good opinions of Americans, Storri
rapidly and in clearest sequence laid out his programmes. Before he was
half finished, Mr. Harley went following every word with all his senses.
Storri was lucid; Storri was hypnotic; Storri had his projects so
faultlessly in hand that, as he piled up words, he piled up conviction
in the breast of Mr. Harley.
Storri began with China. Being equipped for the conversation--which had
not been so much the result of romantic chance as Mr. Harley might have
supposed--he laid upon the table a square of yellow silk. It was written
over with Chinese characters which, for all Mr. Harley knew, might have
been inscriptions copied from a tea chest. As a matter of truth, they
were genuine. The silk was the record of a concession by the Chinese
Government. It gave Storri, or what company he might form, the privilege
of building a railway across China from east to west. He might select
his port on the Pacific, build his road, and break into Russia on the
west and north at what point best matched the enterprise. Also, it
granted a right to buy land wherever it became necessary, and to own
what wharf and water rights were required. Incidentally, so Storri said,
it permitted gold digging.
"You shall take it to the Chinese legation!" exclaimed Storri. "They
shall translate for you. Yes; it gives gold rights. Gold? There is so
much gold in China that your own California becomes laughable by
comparison. See there," and Storri placed a little leathern pouch on the
table. "There are three ounces. Do you know how they were obtained? I
spread a blanket in the bed of a little stream, and weighted it with
stones so that it lay flat. Then I took a stick, and tossed up the mud
and the sand of that little stream, just above. The muddy water, thick
as paint, flowed over the blanket. In thirty minutes I took my blanket
ashore, and washed from the sediment it had caught and held this
gold--three ounces! Bah! Gold? China is the home of gold! But China and
these concessions are only the beginning."
Storri sketched a steamship line to connect his Chinese railway with
Puget Sound. For this they ought to have a subsidy from the United
States. From Puget they must have a railway to Duluth. On the Great
Lakes, Storri would have a line of steamships.
"Only, we will improve upon those lakes!" cried Storri. "It was that to
carry me to Ottawa."
Then Storri unrolled maps and reports from Canadian engineers which
vouched the plausibility of a ship canal from a deep-water point on that
eastern arm of Lake Huron called Georgian Bay to Toronto on Lake
Ontario.
"It shall be two hundred feet wide," explained Storri, "and thirty feet
deep. The distance is less than one hundred miles, and the fall less
than one hundred feet. To dig it will be child's play; you may read the
reports of the engineers; they show how advantage may be had of a Lake
Simcoe, and of a little river. Here also are letters and guarantees from
eminent men of Canada that their parliament will permit and protect the
canal. Less than one hundred miles long; and yet that canal will cut off
seven hundred."
Once in Lake Ontario at Toronto, Storri's boats, by way of the St.
Lawrence--which might have to be dredged in places--were to make a
straight wake for St. Petersburg, touching at English, French, and
German ports. The ships were to clear in Duluth for St. Petersburg; and
in St. Petersburg for Duluth. They were to fly the American flag; that,
too, should mean a subsidy. Besides, there must be an American
commission to confer with a Canadian commission touching the canal.
Once in St. Petersburg, Storri would have the aid of his own country in
whatever might be necessary to carry him to the western terminus of his
Chinese railway. He had writings in French from the Czar's government
which set this forth. Only, the Russian assurances were made contingent
upon a standing army of "Ifs." "If" Storri _should_ throw a railway
across China; and "if" he _should_ launch a line of steamships across
the Pacific--the same fostered by the Washington Government with a
subsidy--and "if" all and singular the railway from Puget to Duluth, the
Canadian Canal, and the line of steamships from Duluth to St.
Petersburg--also with a subsidy--_were_ once extant and in operation,
then the Czar would step graciously in and see what might be done in
forging those final Russian railway links required to unite the ends of
this interesting chain.
"And you are to know," went on Storri, "that my government, the St.
Petersburg Government, is paternal. It will give whatever, in the way of
land rights and loans, is demanded by the exigencies of the project.
"And there," cried Storri in conclusion, as he shoved maps, papers, and
concessions, Russian, Canadian, and Chinese, across to Mr. Harley, "is
an idea the magnificence of which the ages cannot parallel! It is
simple, it is great! We shall have three-score small companies--that is,
small compared with the grand one I am to name. We shall have land and
banking and lumber and mining and railway and steamship and canal
companies. We shall have companies owning elevators and factories and
stores and mills. Each will employ a capital of from two to two hundred
millions of dollars. Over all, and to own the stock of those smaller
ones, we must throw a giant company. Do you know what it will require?
Do you realize what its capital must be? It will call for the cost price
of an empire, my friend; it will demand full thirty billions! Think of
the president of such a company! He will have rank by himself; he will
tower above kings. What shall we call it? Name it for that mighty
Portuguese who was first to send his ship around the globe; name it
Credit Magellan!"
Mr. Harley wiped the sweat from his forehead. It was a day in October,
one reasonably cool, and yet, when Storri ended with his Credit Magellan
and came to a full stop, Mr. Harley was in a perspiration. It was those
thirty billions that did it. Mr. Harley was no stoic to sit unmoved in
the presence of such wealth, and the graphic Storri made those billions
real.
When Storri had done, Mr. Harley gulped and gasped a bit, and then asked
if he might retain the armful of papers for further consideration. He
would like to go over them carefully; particularly those Canadian
reports and assurances that related to the canal.
"My dear, good friend," cried Storri, with a magnificent wave of the
hand, "you may do what you will!"
There are men, reckoned shrewd in business, whose shrewdness can be
overcome by ciphers. It is as though they were wise up to seven figures.
Mr. Harley was of these; he had his boundaries. His instincts were
solvent, his policies sound, his suspicions full of life and courage, so
that you went no higher than nine millions. Burdened beyond that, his
imagination would break down; and since his instincts, his policies, and
his suspicions rested wholly upon his imagination, when the latter fell
the others must of need go with it. There is a depth to money just as
there is to a lake; when you led Mr. Harley in beyond the
nine-million-dollar mark he began to drown. When Storri--Pelion upon
Ossa--piled steamship on railway, and canal on steamship, and banking
and lumber and mining and twenty other companies on top of these, Mr.
Harley was dazed and benumbed. When Storri concluded and capped all with
his Credit Magellan, capital thirty billions, it was, so far as Mr.
Harley is to be considered, like taking a child to sea. In the haze and
the blur of it, Mr. Harley could see nothing, say nothing; his impulse
was to be alone and collect himself. He felt as might one who has been
staring at the sun. Storri's picture of an enterprise so vast that it
proposed to set out the world like a mighty pan of milk, and skim the
cream from two hemispheres, dazzled him and caused his wits to lose
their way.
At the end of three days Mr. Harley had begun to get his bearings; he
was still fascinated, but the fog was lifting. Step by step he went over
Storri's grand proposals; and, while he had now his eyes, each step
seemed only to take him more deeply into a wilderness of admiration.
That very admiration filled him with a sense of dull alarm. He resolved
to have other counsel than his own. Were he and Storri to embark upon
this world-girdling enterprise, they must have money-help. He would take
the project to certain money-loving souls; he would get their opinions
by asking their aid.
Mr. Harley went to New York and called about him a quintette of
gentlemen, each of whom had been with him and Senator Hanway in more
than one affair of shady profit. Mankind does not change, its methods
change, and trade has still its Kidds and Blackbeards. Present commerce
has its pirates and its piracies; only the buccaneers of now do not
launch ships, but stock companies, while Wall and Broad Streets are
their Spanish Main. They do not, like Francis Drake, lay off and on at
the Isthmus to stop plate ships; they seek their galleons in the Stock
Exchange. Those five to gather at the call of Mr. Harley were of our
modern Drakes. He told them, under seal of secrecy, Storri's programme,
and put before them the documents, Russian, Canadian, and Chinese.
Mr. Harley felt somewhat justified of his own enthusiasm when he
observed the serious glow in the eyes of those five. They sent to Mott
Street, and brought back a learned Oriental to translate the Chinese
silk. The Mott Street one, himself a substantial merchant and a Mongol
of high caste, appeared wrapped in rustling brocades and an odor of
opium. When he beheld the yellow silk he bent himself, and smote the
floor three times with his forehead. More than anything told by Mr.
Harley did this profound obeisance of the Mott Street Oriental leave its
impress upon the five. They, themselves, bowed to nothing save gold; the
silken document must record a franchise of gravity and money-moment to
thus set their visitor to beating the carpet with his head! Having done
due honor to the Emperor's signature, the Mott Street one gave Mr.
Harley and his friends the silken document's purport in English. It
granted every right, railway, wharf, and gold, asserted by Storri. Then
Mr. Harley wired that nobleman to join them in New York.
Storri had not been informed of Mr. Harley's New York visit. But he had
counted on it, and the summons in no wise smote him with surprise. Once
with Mr. Harley and the adventurous five, Storri again went over his
project, beginning at the Chinese railway and closing with Credit
Magellan, capital thirty billions. Not one who heard went unconvinced;
not one but was willing to commence in practical fashion the carrying
out of this high financial dream.
It was the romance--for money-making has its romances--and the
adventurous uncertainty of the thing, the pushing into the unknown,
which formed the lure. Have you ever considered that nine of ten among
those who went with De Soto and Balboa and Coronado and Cortez and
Pizarro, if asked by some quiet neighbor, would have refused him the
loan of one hundred dollars unless secured by fivefold the value? And
yet the last man jack would peril life and fortune blindly in a voyage
to worlds unknown, for profits guessed at, against dangers neither to be
counted nor foreseen. Be not too much stricken of amazement, therefore,
when now these cold ones, who would not have bought an American railroad
without counting the cross-ties and weighing every spike and fish-plate,
were ready to send millions adrift on a sightless invasion of Asia ten
thousand miles away. Besides, as the five with Mr. Harley laid out their
campaign, any question of Oriental danger was for the present put aside.
"The way to commence," said one of the five--one grown gray in first
looting companies and then scuttling them--"the way to commence is by
getting possession of Northern Consolidated. Once in control of the
railroad, we have linked the Pacific with the Great Lakes; after that we
can turn to the matter of subsidies for the two steamship lines, and the
appointment of those commissions to consider the Canadian Canal." Then,
turning to Mr. Harley: "You, of course, speak for Senator Hanway?"
Mr. Harley gave assurance that Senator Hanway, for what might be
demanded congressionally, would be with him. Then they laid their
plotting heads together over a conquest of Northern Consolidated.
Under the experienced counsel of the old gray scuttler of innocent
companies, this procedure was resolved upon. Northern Consolidated was
selling at forty-three. At that figure, over forty millions of dollars
would be required to buy the road. There was little or no chance of its
reaching a higher quotation during the coming ninety days; and ninety
days would bring them into February with Congress in session over two
months.
No, it was not the purpose of the pool to buy Northern Consolidated at
forty-three; those gifted stock ospreys knew a better plan. They would
begin with a "bear" movement against the stock. It was their belief, if
the market were properly undermined, that Northern Consolidated could be
sold down below twenty, possibly as low as fifteen. When it had reached
lowest levels they would make their swoop. The pool would have enough
profit from the "bear" movement to pay for the road. If they succeeded
in selling Northern Consolidated off twenty points--and they believed,
by going cautiously and intelligently to work, the feat was easy--the
profits would equal the purchase sum required.
In "bearing" the stock and breaking it down to a point where the pool
might seize upon the road without risk or outlay on its own intriguing
part, the potent Senator Hanway would come in. At the beginning of
Congress he must offer a Senate resolution for a special committee of
three to investigate certain claims and charges against Northern
Consolidated. That corporation had long owed the government, no one knew
how much. It had stolen timber and stripped mountain ranges with its
larcenies; also it had laid rapacious paw upon vast stretches of the
public domain. It was within the power of any committee, acting
honestly, to report Northern Consolidated as in default to the
government for what number of millions its indignant imagination might
fix upon. Who was to measure the road's lumber robberies, or those
thefts of land? Moreover, the vandal aggressions of Northern
Consolidated made a reason for rescinding divers public grants--the
present values whereof were almost too high for estimation, and without
which the road could not exist--that, in its inception as a railroad,
had been made it by Congress.
Senator Hanway, under Senate courtesies, would be named chairman of the
special committees. He would conduct the investigation and write the
report. It was reasonable to assume, under the public as well as the
private conditions named, that Senator Hanway's findings, and the Senate
action he must urge and bring about, would knock the bottom out of
Northern Consolidated. It must fall to twenty by every rule of
speculation. Facing collection by the government of those claims for
lands ravished and pine trees swept away, to say naught of losing
original grants which were as its life-blood to Northern Consolidated,
the value of the stock--to speak most hopefully in its favor--would be
diminished by one-half.
The conspirators grew in confidence as they talked, and at the end
looked upon Northern Consolidated as already in their talons. They named
the old gray buccaneer to manage for the pool. The amount to be paid in
by each of the eight members--for they counted Senator Hanway--was
settled at five hundred thousand dollars. Four millions would be
required to start the ball rolling; the "bear" movement in the beginning
would demand margins. Once under headway, it would take care of itself.
It would succeed like a barrel downhill.
Storri did not protest the suggestion of the old gray buccaneer that
four millions be contributed to form a working capital for the pool. His
share of a half-million meant fifty thousand more dollars than Storri at
the time possessed, but he did not propose to have the others discover
the fact. Somehow he would scrape together those fifty thousand; his
note might do. Being, like every savage, a congenital gambler, Storri
went into the pool with zest as well as confidence, and rejoiced in
speculation that offered chances wide enough to employ his last dollar
in the stake. Moreover, those four millions would not be asked for
before the first of January. Other speculations might intervene, and
provide those lacking fifty thousand.
Mr. Harley laid the Storri project, and the plans of the pool to seize
Northern Consolidated, before Senator Hanway. That candidate for a
Presidency knitted his brows and pondered the business. As with Mr.
Harley and the pirate five, the mad grandeur of the idea charmed him.
One element seemed plain: there could come no loss from the raid on
Northern Consolidated. He might go that far with safety, and a certainty
of profit; for in the Senate committee of investigation he, himself,
would play the controlling card.
"The proposal," said Senator Hanway, when he and Mr. Harley conferred,
"while gigantic in its unfoldment, seems a reasonable one. After all, it
is the amount involved that staggers rather than what obstacles must be
overcome. Taken piecemeal, I do not say that the entire scheme, even
Credit Magellan, with its thirty billions, may not work through. The
resolution naming a committee to look into the claims and charges
against Northern Securities ought to help my Presidential canvass. It
cannot avoid telling in my favor with thoughtful men. They will see that
I am one who is jealously guarding public interests."
"And the resolution," suggested Mr. Harley, "appointing a commission for
the Canadian Canal, and inviting the Ottawa government to do the same,
ought also to speak in your favor. Consider what an impetus such a
waterway would give our Northwestern commerce."
"Yes," replied Senator Hanway, "I think you are right. It will knock a
third off freight rates on much of the trade between the oceans, and
save heavily in time. Those subsidies, however, must go over until next
session. Subsidies are not popular, and these must be left until after
next November's elections. Then, of course, they may be safely taken
up."
The various conferences over Storri's enterprise, and the consequent
coming together of Storri and Mr. Harley, took place a few weeks prior
to Richard's appearance in this chronicle. Both Storri and Mr. Harley
were fond of stocks in their ups and downs, and now, being much
together, they were in and out as partners in a dozen different deals.
Mr. Harley attended to most of these; and Storri learned certain
peculiarities belonging to that gentleman. Mr. Harley, for one solvent
matter, was penurious to the point of dimes; also, Mr. Harley took no
risks. Mr. Harley was willing to book a joint deal in both Storri's name
and his own; or in his own for the common good of Storri and himself.
But Mr. Harley would not give a joint order solely in Storri's name.
Evidently, Mr. Harley would not trust Storri to divide profits with him
where the case rested only upon that Russian's honor. No more would he
draw his own check for Storri's margins; and one day our nobleman lost
money because of Mr. Harley's cautious delicacy in that behalf. The
market went the wrong way, and Storri could not be found when additional
margins were called for. Whereupon Mr. Harley closed out his friend at a
loss of seven thousand dollars.
Storri knitted his brows when he knew, but offered no comment. In fact,
he treated the affair so lightly that Mr. Harley felt relieved; that
latter speculator had been somewhat disturbed in his mind concerning
Storri's opinion of what, to give it a best description, evinced niggard
distrust of Storri, and cast in negative fashion a slur upon that
gentleman.
Mr. Harley was too ready with his belief in Storri's indifference; that
the latter, for all his surface stoicism, took a serious, not to say a
revengeful, view of the business, found indication on a later painful
day. The experience taught Storri that he might expect neither favor nor
generosity from Mr. Harley; and this, considering how in all they must
adventure in Credit Magellan Mr. Harley would have him in his power,
filled Storri with an angry uneasiness. He decided that for his own
security, if nothing more, he might better bestir himself to gain a
counter-grip upon Mr. Harley. And thereupon Storri began to lie in
ambush for Mr. Harley; and at a lurking, sprawling warfare that sets
gins and dead-falls, and bases itself on surprise, your savage makes a
formidable soldier.
Storri, wisely and without price, had one day aided a sugar company in
securing Russian foothold in Odessa. That aid was ground-bait meant to
lure the sugar favor. This sugar company made more profit on its stocks
than on its sugar. It was in the habit, with one device or another, of
sending the quotations of its shares up and down like an elevator. In
requital of that Odessa good, the president of the sugar company, the
week after, gave Storri a private hint to sell sugar stock. Storri
responded by placing an order selling ten thousand shares.
Storri took no one into his confidence touching sugar. Going the other
way, he urged Mr. Harley to buy on their mutual account two thousand
shares, assuring him that he had been given word, from sources
absolutely sure, of a coming "bull" movement in the stock.
Mr. Harley, who knew of that Odessa favor, believed. Storri, as further
evidence of faith, gave Mr. Harley a check covering what initial margins
would be required for his half of the purchase; and then to make all
secure, he placed in Mr. Harley's hands two hundred shares of a French
company worth that day fifteen thousand dollars.
"I don't want any argument to exist," laughed Storri, as he gave Mr.
Harley the French securities, "for closing me out should a squall strike
the market. Now I shall go to the club."
Mr. Harley also laughed, and took the French stock; acceptance always
came easy with Mr. Harley.
Mr. Harley bought those two thousand sugar shares at eleven o'clock. Two
hours later an extra was being cried about the streets. The sugar
company had ordered half its refineries closed; some alleged loose screw
in sugar trade was given as the reason.
With the order closing down the refineries, the stock began to tumble.
Within thirty minutes it had slumped off six points. There came a call
for further margins, and Mr. Harley offered Storri's French stock.
The security was undeniable, but a technicality got in the way to trip
Mr. Harley. The French securities were original shares, issued in
Storri's name. On the back, however, there was no Storri signature
making the usual assignment in blank. The shares, in their present
shape, would not be received. Mr. Harley flew to a nearby telephone and
called up Storri.
"There is not time for me to get there!" cried that designing gentleman
excitedly. He was a half-mile away. "Don't hesitate; clap my name on the
backs of the certificates yourself. They don't know my signature; and no
one will think of questioning it, coming through your hands."
There was no other way; thereupon Mr. Harley, in a ferment with tumbling
prices, picked up a pen, and, with the best intentions in life, forged
Storri's name. Then he hurried to the broker's and got up the margins.
It was not a squall, it was a storm, and sugar was broken off at the
roots, falling twenty points. Storri, on his private deal, made two
hundred thousand, while Messrs. Harley and Storri, on their joint
account, lost forty thousand dollars--twenty thousand for each. In the
clean-up, Storri paid his losses and got back his French shares. He
smiled an evil smile as he contemplated Mr. Harley's attempts to mock
his signature.
"He loses twenty thousand," commented Storri, "and that should more than
offset those seven thousand lost by me when he refused to protect my
deals. As for these," and here Storri ran a dark, exultant glance over
his imitated signatures, "every one of them makes a reason why my good
friend, Mr. Harley, must now please me and obey me in everything he
does. After all, is it a destiny beneath his jowlish fat deserts, that
an American pig should become slave to a Russian noble?"