DRAKE'S GAME
The evening was still at its height as Daniel Drake left Haggerdy and
Borneman with their heads together puzzling over the significance of his
selling orders.
"Let them crack that nut," he said, chuckling grimly. "Borneman will
worry himself sick for fear I'll catch him again." He looked around for
further opportunities, anxious to avail himself of the seeming chance
which had played so well into his plans. Across the room through the
shift and sudden yield of gay colors he saw the low, heavy-shouldered
figure of Gunther, the banker, in conversation with Fontaine and Marcus
Stone. Gunther, the simplest of human beings, a genius of common sense,
had even at this time assumed a certain legendary equality in Wall
Street, due to the possession of the unhuman gift of silence, that had
magnified in the popular imagination the traits of tenacity, patience
and stability which in the delicately constructed mechanism of
confidence and credit had made him an indispensable balance wheel,
powerful in his own right, yet irresistible in the intermarried forces
of industry he could set in motion. Fontaine was of the old landed
aristocracy; Stone, a Middle-Westerner, floated to wealth on the
miraculous flood of oil.
Aware that every conversation would be noted, Drake allowed several
minutes to pass before approaching the group and, profiting by a
movement of the crowd, contrived to carry off Gunther on the pretext of
showing him a new purchase of Chinese porcelains in the library. They
remained a full twenty minutes, engrossed in the examination of the
porcelains and Renaissance bronzes, of which Gunther was a connoisseur,
and returned without a mention of matters financial. But as Wall Street
men are as credulous as children, this interview made an immense
impression, for Gunther was of such power that no broker was unwilling
to concede that the slightest move of his could be without significance.
To be again in the arena of manipulation awakened all the boyish
qualities of cunning and excitement in Drake. In the next hour he
conversed with a dozen men seemingly bending before their advice,
bullish or bearish, mixing up his orders so adroitly that had the entire
list been spread before one man, it would have been impossible to say
which was the principal point of attack. At two o'clock, as the party
began to thin out, Borneman and Haggerdy came up to shake hands.
Borneman restless and worried, Haggerdy impassive and brooding.
"What, going already? Haven't they been treating you right?" said Drake
jovially.
"Dan, you've a great poker face," said Borneman slyly.
"In what way?"
"That was quite a little bluff you threw into us--those selling orders.
Orders are cheap _before_ business hours."
"So you think I'll call you up in the morning, bright and early, and
cancel?"
Borneman nodded with a nervous, jerky motion of his head.
"I suppose you've been sort of fretting over those orders all evening.
Trouble with you, Al, is _you_ don't play poker: great game. Teaches you
to size up a bluff from a stacked hand."
"I've got your game figured out this time all right," said Borneman,
with his ferret's squint.
"Have you told Haggerdy?" said Drake laughing. "You have. Want a little
bet on it? A thousand I'll tell you exactly what you've figured out."
He took a bill from his pocketbook and held it out tauntingly.
"Are you game?"
Borneman hesitated and frowned.
"Come on," said Drake, with a mischievous twinkle, "the information's
worth something."
This last decided Borneman. He nodded to Haggerdy.
"My check to-morrow if you win. What exactly have I figured your game to
be?"
"You've figured out that I am long to the guzzle in the market and that
I'm putting up a bluff at running down values to get you fellows to run
stocks up on me while I unload. Credit that thousand to my account. I'm
going to use it!"
Haggerdy smiled grimly and handed over the bill, while Borneman,
completely perplexed, stood staring at the manipulator like a startled
child.
"Al, don't buck up against me," said Drake, serious all at once. "Of
course you will, but remember I warned you. Let bygones be bygones or
trim some other fellow."
"I don't forget as easy as that," said Borneman sullenly.
"Great mistake," said Drake, with a mocking smile. "You let your
personal feelings get into your business--bad, very bad. You ought to be
like Haggerdy and me--no friends and no enemies. Well, Al, you will have
a crack at me, I know. If you've figured it out, you've got me. I may
have told you the truth. It's all very simple--either you're right or
you're wrong. Flip up a coin."
Borneman went off mumbling. Haggerdy loitered, ostensibly to shake
hands.
"Drake, you and I ought to do something together," he said slowly, with
his cold, lantern stare.
"Why not?"
"Instead of taking a fling, suppose we work up something worth while.
The market's ready for it."
"And Borneman?"
"Use him," said Haggerdy, with a trace of a smile.
"Why, yes, we might do something together," said Drake, pretending to
consider. "You might do me or I might do you."
"I'm serious."
"So am I." He shook hands and turned back for a final shot. "By the way,
Haggerdy, I'll tell you one thing. Your information's correct. That
federal suit is coming off. Didn't know I knew it? Lord bless you, I
passed it on to you!"
He turned his back without waiting to watch the effect of this
disclosure and returned to the supper room, where he signaled Crocker
and drew him aside.
"Tom, I'll have a little something for you to do to-morrow. It's about
time we started moving things. I'm going to put some orders in through
you and I'm going to operate some through one of my agents. Put this
away in your head--Joseph R. Skelly. Write it down when you get home.
Anything that comes through him, I stand behind. We won't do anything in
a rush, but we'll lay a few lines. To-morrow I want you to sell for
me--" He paused and deliberated, suddenly changing his mind. "No, do it
this way. Call me up from your office at twelve--no, eleven sharp. I've
got that wedding at three. Ask for me personally. Understand? All
right?"
At half past three Fred DeLancy, Marsh and Bojo went out with the last
stragglers. Fred was in high spirits, keeping them in roars of laughter,
on the brisk walk home. He had been with Gladys Stone constantly all the
evening and the two friends had watched a whispered parting on the
stairs.
"I believe it's a go," said Marsh, while DeLancy was passing the time of
day with the policeman at the corner. (Fred was assiduous in his
cultivation of the force; he called it "accident insurance.")
"Something was settled," said Bojo nodding. "They've got an
understanding, I'll bet. I passed them once tucked in back of a palm and
they stopped talking like a shot. Wish we had the infant safely put
away, Fred."
"So do I."
The streets were unearthly stilled and inhuman as they came back to Ali
Baba Court, with all the windows black, and only the iron lanterns at
the entrances shining their foggy welcome.
"Don't feel a bit like sleep," said Bojo.
"Neither do I," said Marsh. He stood looking up at the incessantly
vigilant windows of the great newspaper office now in the charge of the
night watch. "Wonder what's filtering in there? I always feel guilty
when I cut a night. I suppose it's like the fascination of the tape. It
always gets me--the click of the telegraph."
"How are things working out on the paper?" said Bojo.
"Thanks, I'm getting into all sorts of trouble," said Marsh, rather
gloomily, he thought. "I'm finding out a lot of things I don't
know--sort of measles and mumps period. I had no right to be out
to-night. I say, if you get into any other good thing, let me know. I
may need it."
Alone in his room, Bojo did not go to bed at once. He was nervously
awake, revolving in his mind too many new impressions, new ambitions and
strange philosophies. The evening at the Drakes had swept from him his
last prejudices against the adventurous life on which he had embarked.
There was something overpowering in the spectacle of society as he had
seen it, something so insolently triumphant and aloof from all plodding
standards, so dramatically enticing that he felt no longer compunctions
but only fierce desires. The appetite had entered his veins, infusing
its fever. The few words Drake had spoken to him had sent his hope
soaring. He was surprised, even a little alarmed, at the intensity which
awoke in him to risk the easy profits against a greater gamble.
The market went off a shade the next morning, rallied and then weakened
under a steady stream of selling orders. Rumors filled the air of
possible causes known only to the inside group, a conflict of big
interests, a suit for dissolution by a federal investigation. Something
was up-- Drake's name was whispered about, along with Haggerdy's and a
western group. On the Exchange a hundred rumors came into existence like
newly hatched swarms of insects. Some one was steadily bearing eastern
railroads and some one as obstinately supporting them, but who remained
a mystery, eagerly discussed in little knots, fervently alive to a
firmer touch on the strings of speculation.
At eleven o'clock, true to appointment, Bojo called up Daniel Drake on
his private wire and received an order to buy at once 500 shares of
Seaboard Air Line and sell 500 of Pittsburgh & New Orleans. He turned
the order over to Forshay, with the caution of secrecy that had been
transmitted to him. This transaction created quite a flurry, and after a
consultation Forshay was delegated to sound Bojo.
"Personal order from the old man himself?" he said, when he had reported
to him the execution of the order. "Nothing confidential, of course.
Happened to hear you telephone."
"Why, no," said Bojo, telephoning in his report.
"Suppose you've an inkling what's up? Naturally you have," said Forshay.
"Now, I'm not going to beat around the bush or worm things out of you.
We're mighty grateful to you, Tom, for the shot at Indiana Smelter. If
you can let us in on anything, why do so. You understand. I've been
talking things over with Hauk and Flaspoller. If Drake's going into the
market, we don't see why we can't be of use. 'Course, on account of your
relations, he probably wouldn't want to do much openly here. Too many
eyes on us. But what we want you to put up to him is--we can cover
things up as well as any one else. Any orders to be placed quietly, we
can work through certain channels--you understand. By the way, doing
anything on your own account?"
"Not yet."
"Don't want to talk?"
Bojo shrugged his shoulders.
"I'm quite in the dark, Mr. Forshay," he said cautiously.
Forshay took a few steps thoughtfully about the room, stopping curiously
to examine the tape and came back.
"Look here, Tom, if there's anything on a big scale on, why shouldn't we
get a whack at it? You see, I'm putting my cards on the table. We
consider you a sort of a member of the firm. I made you a proposition
once. Perhaps we can better it now." He hesitated, rearranging the
sheets on the desk before him. "I'm trying to see how we could work this
out. It's not exactly etiquette to give commissions down here--though
why the Lord knows. Suppose I work out a scale of salary--to meet, say,
certain eventualities. Let me think that over. Meanwhile here's what
we'd be glad to do. You can't be calling up Drake out here where any one
can be pricking up his ears. Now it may fit in his plans or not, but
there's no harm trying. If he wants to operate through us, and have
things well covered up, it might be better for you to handle it from my
room on a special wire. We'll fix you up in there; glad to." He stopped,
considered Bojo thoughtfully, and added: "Tom, we want some of Drake's
business. No reason in the world why you shouldn't get it. You know us.
You know we can be trusted, and you know we are appreciative--understand?
"I can try," said Bojo doubtfully.
But to his surprise when he approached Drake on the following night he
found a receptive listener.
"Don't know but what I could use your firm," said the operator
thoughtfully. "Not that I'm rushing matters too much, Tom. The market's
pretty strong at present. I want to feel it out. Maybe I could use
them--for what I want them to know. Get your raise, but keep out of the
firm--for the present, anyhow. Just now I'm holding back a little, Tom,
a little early to uncover my game--tell you, though, what you might do;
sell five hundred shares a day of Pittsburgh & New Orleans for me, but
tell them to break it up 50 here and 50 there. I don't mind telling you
one thing, but keep it under your belt; no confidences this time." He
looked up sharply at the young fellow, who twisted on his heel under the
look. "Confidences sometimes react and I don't want the cat out of the
bag. What's Pittsburgh & New Orleans quoted?"
"47-1/8 Closing," said Bojo.
"A month from to-day it'll sell below thirty. And another thing, Tom,
don't go trying any fliers on your own hook, without coming to me. You
had fool's luck once, don't try it again. Remember I'm manipulating this
pool and I have my ways!"
This time Bojo was under no illusions. Despite his warning he knew in
the bottom of his heart that when the moment came he would operate for
himself. However, he resolved on two things: to share his secret with no
one and to watch the course of Pittsburgh and New Orleans for a week
before making up his mind. The first flurry had subsided. To the
surprise of every one the attack ceased over night. The list resumed its
normal position with the exception of several southern railroad stocks,
notably Pittsburgh & New Orleans, which remained heavy, declining
fractionally.
During these days, Bojo resolutely stuck to his resolve, imparting no
information, keeping out of the market himself. On the announcement of
the first order for Drake, his salary was raised to $125 a week and the
affection of the firm showed itself in several invitations to enter the
consultation. Each day Forshay found opportunity to ask in a casual way:
"Not doing anything on your own hook yet, eh? Sort of watching
developments?"
Ten days after the first attack, another flurry arrived, but this time
the attack was from the open, from all the bear cohorts who for months
had been grumbling in vain, predicting disaster from inflation and the
panic that must follow inevitable readjustment. Borneman and his crowd
sold openly and viciously, raiding all stocks alike, particularly
industrials. That day, among other orders, Hauk, Flaspoller and Forshay
sold 10,000 shares of Pittsburgh & New Orleans which broke from 44 to
39-5/8 under savage pounding. Crocker resisted no longer and sold a
thousand for his own account. That day Forshay failed to make his usual
inquiry.
After three days of convulsive advances and speedy falls, the attack
again slackened, but this time the whole list rallied with difficulty,
receding almost imperceptibly, but slowly yielding under a decided
change of public sentiment. When Pittsburgh & New Orleans touched 38,
Bojo squared his conscience to the extent of exacting the most solemn
promises of undying secrecy from Fred DeLancy before communicating to
them the information that had now become a conviction, that he had
placed $50,000 in a pool which Drake was engineering to sell the market
short and make a killing of Pittsburgh & New Orleans. He imparted the
confidence not simply because it had become an almost intolerable secret
to carry, but for deeper reasons. Fred DeLancy had sunk half of his
former profits in the purchase of an automobile and in free spending,
and Marsh was faced with serious losses on the paper from a strike of
compositors and a falling of advertising as the result of the new
radical policy of the editorial page.