AT PAR
The devil's comedy was being played daily on the stock-exchange. The
Bondavara Company's shares, the Bondavara Railway shares were tossed
here and there, from one hand to another. The tragedy had turned to
comedy--that is, for some people, who found the game very humorous.
The very word Bondavara made the stockbrokers laugh. When it happened
that some fool bought a share, no one could help laughing. The shares,
in fact, were given in exchange for anything of little value--for
instance, as make-weight with an old umbrella for a new one. They were
also presented to charitable institutions.
One witty man went to a fancy ball in a coat made of the shares. This
conceit was thought diverting. The exchange, however, was still the
field where a desultory fight was kept up by the shareholders. These
poor wretches fought for the last flicker of the lamp, which the bears
wanted to extinguish altogether.
Prince Waldemar, the leader of the conspiracy, forced the shares day
by day lower and lower. At last they fell to one and a half per cent.,
then to one and a quarter, and this quarter was to go lower, the
prince wanting to banish the shares from the quotation list. The
owners were making a fight to prevent this--an ineffectual one, it
seemed to be. They were almost agreed to give up the fight as a
forlorn hope. How could they make head against such odds? The day upon
which Rauné's report was in the newspapers they resolved to lay down
their arms; there seemed no good in protracting the struggle. The
report in question was the one which stated what was the nature of the
elements that, since the fire in the Bondavara mine, had been found
mixed with the water on the lake of the castle; this caused a great
"sensation," and was the last straw upon the back of the unfortunate
shareholders.
Prince Waldemar had the news proclaimed on 'change that on the last
day of the month he would sell his Bondavara Company shares at ten
florins. Some people took up the gauntlet he had thrown down. These
were shareholders who knew that they would lose by taking this wager,
but at the same time hoped by this stroke of policy to prevent the
shares from disappearing altogether from the share list. If,
therefore, at the end of the month the shares went down to six gulden,
they must pay the other side twenty thousand gulden difference; if the
shares went up, the other side must do the same.
About noon a broker came to the bank, and said, loud enough for all
bystanders to hear, that a gentleman was present who would take five
hundred Bondavara shares at par.
If some one had struck a hammer upon the open keys of a piano no
greater whir and whiz could have been heard than now ran through the
hall. Screams of laughter, exclamations of astonishment, howls of joy,
curses, and ejaculations of incredulity were raised in every corner.
Who is he? Is he a lunatic? At par! Bondavara shares! Where is the
man?
The broker pointed him out. He was evidently a provincial gentleman,
very unassuming in his appearance. He was leaning against a pillar,
calmly surveying the Olympian games.
"He is evidently a silly knave who wants to have a joke," scoffed
Prince Waldemar. "Go to him," he went on to the agent, "and ask him
for his name. We must know what is the name of any one who treats with
us."
The broker returned in a few minutes with the news that the gentleman
gave his name as a Hundred Thousand Gulden, saying that money was the
best surname. He showed his hands full of bank-notes, which he
received from the stranger.
"Who sells five hundred Bondavara shares at par?"
This cry caused a revolution on 'change. Tranquillity was at an end;
tumult took its place; uproar and confusion reigned. Credulous and
incredulous people surrounded the stranger; they pressed upon him,
overwhelming him with questions, stretching over one another to thrust
their note-books into his hands. The unknown met all this noise with
cool indifference, merely pointing out to his broker the crowd who
were ready to do business with him.
Prince Waldemar now made his way through the mob to where the
new-comer stood. With the most refined impertinence he drew the brim
of his hat over his eyes and stuck his hand into his waistcoat pockets
as he surveyed the other.
"Sir, your appearance has caused a sudden revolution. May I ask your
name?"
"My name is Ivan Behrend," returned the stranger, without changing his
negligent attitude.
"Ah," said the prince, suddenly taking off his hat and bowing low. "I
have had the honor of hearing of you. Are you not the renowned
pistol-shot, who can shoot a cigar out of a man's mouth? I am a nobody
in comparison; I am only Prince Waldemar Sondersheim. I cannot shoot
as you do. But let us talk sensibly. You want to buy Bondavara shares
at par? Have you inherited suddenly the fortune of an Indian nabob,
who made it a condition that you should buy the shares at par?"
"No. I buy them because they are worth that price."
"Don't you know that the Bondavara mine is on fire?"
"I happen to own the adjoining one, therefore I am quite aware that
such is the fact."
"Then your mine will be on fire next."
"Not so. I extinguished the fire in mine a fortnight ago."
At these words the noise rose to a regular tumult; the shareholders
pressed round Ivan, and nearly suffocated him. The man is there who
can extinguish the fire. The mine will soon be again in working order.
Bondavara stands once more at par.
The bears had to retire. The joyful shareholders surrounded Ivan and
carried him in triumph out of the hall.
That same evening a large meeting was held, at which Ivan, before an
enormous audience, filling the room to suffocation, declared
authoritatively that he had an infallible plan, which had, in fact,
been tried on the Bondavara mine, and had put out the conflagration.
He invited every one present to see the experiment tested next day in
the open air, when it would be distinctly proved that his words were
no idle boast.
The following morning, in presence of a large crowd, he fulfilled his
promise, succeeding admirably in the demonstration. A funeral pile of
coal and turf, over which petroleum had been poured, was set fire to,
and when blazing to its greatest height was put out in a few minutes
by some drops from a small bottle.
The jubilant public conducted Ivan back to the town in triumph, and
at the next general meeting of shareholders it was resolved to offer
him a remuneration of six hundred thousand gulden if he would
undertake to bring the Bondavara mine into working order.
There were not wanting, however, plenty of opponents. Foremost there
was Prince Waldemar, who possessed the largest proportion of shares,
and who, nevertheless, offered the most determined opposition. He did
everything to embarrass and obstruct Ivan's scientific propositions.
"I grant," he said, "that you may be able to put out with one bucket
of fluid six cubit feet of burning coals; but consider for a moment
that in the Bondavara pit, reckoning from the place where the
explosion took place to the castle, there must be at least sixty
thousand cubit feet of burning stratum. You must have, to meet this,
ten thousand buckets of fluid ready to shoot over the mass. What
machine have you that would be able for such an operation as this?"
"I have not forgotten that such a machine would be necessary,"
returned Ivan, quietly.
"Let us suppose," continued the prince, "that you do succeed in
getting a sufficient quantity of fluid to bear upon the burning mass.
Don't you perceive that this very supply will develop a monstrous
amount of gas, which would permeate the pit from top to bottom, and
cause another and still worse explosion?"
"I have foreseen this danger."
"And, finally, if you possess any idea, which you evidently do, of the
mechanism of machines and the expenditure necessary to procure the
best, you must face the problem that a million of money will not be
sufficient to procure the necessary materials which would be wanting
to make the experiment successful."
"I have drawn up an estimate of probable outlay."
The shareholders here shouted out to him that they undertook all
expenses, even if they amounted to a million, and on the spot it was
agreed that Ivan should receive full powers to do for the Bondavara
mine what he considered necessary, let the cost be what it might.
Prince Sondersheim saw that he could not stem the course of Ivan's
popularity; it must have its way. While the assembled shareholders
were signing the deed of authorization, he took Ivan aside, and said
to him:
"Ivan Behrend, whether the undertaking you have engaged in succeeds or
not--I do not believe that it will succeed--you will have taken out of
my pocket a million--a million net. Besides this, you have squandered
five hundred gulden of your own money, without reckoning what is yet
to be spent. Let that be. You have done this by fixing the quotations
at par. It is true that the shares will neither be bought nor sold,
for both sides will be afraid, and will hold back; nevertheless, the
quotation will stand at par, and I am obliged to pay the difference on
this--that will cost me a million. But that is nothing; I have lost as
much before now, and recovered it again. One has only to play the
waiting game. If, however, in a fortnight's time you find that you
miscalculated your powers, and that your experiment fails, you have
only to let it be known, and I shall pay one million into your hand."
Ivan answered this contemptible proposal with business-like composure.
"Prince Sondersheim, the stock-exchange is, as I am well aware, a
privileged place. Here a man can say things without having any fear of
consequences. What a man says or does, what proposals he
makes--everything is, in a sense, allowable, and the ordinary rules
which govern the outside world do not apply. Here one man may ask the
other, 'How much do you ask for selling the honor of your company?'
and if the answer is, 'It is not for sale,' that is enough. Here there
is plain speaking; no one is offended at being asked to be an
accomplice in a robbery. It would be no reflection on his character;
he would assume no airs of righteousness, but simply answer, 'I really
haven't time.' If men quarrel, if they spit at one another, tear the
hats off one another's heads, that is nothing; it goes no further; no
one turns round to look at them. They wipe the spittle off their
faces, pick up their hats, and after half an hour walk about arm in
arm. No one remembers that they were fighting; it was only a little
'difference,' which led to an animated scene. Therefore, to the
proposal made by Sondersheim, the Bondavara coal-merchant, to Behrend,
the Bondavara coal-trader, there is but one answer, 'Sir, I cannot
entertain your offer.' Prince Waldemar Sondersheim will, however, do
well to remember not to repeat outside the stock-exchange such a
proposal to Ivan Behrend."
The prince laughed. "I guessed as much. I have often heard of you, and
if you behave well you shall hear how it came to pass that I know so
much about you. Once upon a time you took my part in a very energetic
manner; and to a very pretty woman. I do not know why you should have
done so; it is sufficient for me that you did. Also, you withdrew your
own claim to the favor of this very pretty woman. But it was no good,
she is now the wife of an unworthy fellow; but your unexplained
intervention in my favor, which could not have been a business
manoeuvre, but must have sprung from almost a chivalrous Puritanism,
has placed me under a debt of gratitude towards you. If that lady had
listened to your advice, things would have been very different. No
sulphur deposit would have been found in the castle lake; the whole
speculation, in fact, would have had no existence. Outside the
exchange we will not recur to the subject. I have mentioned it from a
sense of gratitude, and I shall note it in my book. If you succeed in
extinguishing the fire you are to receive six hundred thousand gulden
from the company; if you fail you shall have a million from me."
This long conversation between Ivan and the prince excited some alarm
among the shareholders; they tried to interrupt it.
"No tampering, prince. Let our man alone." They were afraid he would
turn round.
"Don't be afraid," returned the prince; "we are talking of a lady whom
we both admired."
But the shareholders' suspicions were not allayed by these words. They
chose from among themselves a commission of three members, who should
accompany Ivan in every step he took, never leave him, eat with him,
sleep outside his door, keep watch under his window, so that their
enemy should not approach him without their knowledge. This was all
done under the pretence of giving him assistance, and for the purpose
of keeping him supplied with money.
Ivan procured the necessary machines and workmen, and travelled back
with them and his three companions to Bondavara.
His three commissioners were likewise to furnish the company with a
daily report of the progress of the work. One of the three was the
clerk Spitzhase, who had the reputation of being the most circumspect,
careful, and impudent servant of the company. This last epithet is
not meant in the worst sense of the word. In money matters modesty and
meekness are oftentimes great faults, and the contrary qualities are
of infinite use. The word is therefore meant in praise. Ivan many
times chucked Spitzhase out at the door, but the clerk always returned
by the window.