A FIGHT IN MILLIONS
Drake did not immediately proceed. Having impulsively expressed his
intention to reveal his financial crisis, he hesitated as though
regretting that impulse. He left the fireplace and went from door to
door as though to assure himself against listeners, but aimlessly,
rather from indecision than from any precaution. Returning, he flung
away his cigar, though it was but half consumed, and took a fresh one,
offering the box to Bojo without perceiving that he was in no need. So
apparent was his disinclination, that Bojo felt impelled to say:
"Perhaps you would rather not tell me, sir!"
"I'd only be telling you what my enemies know," said Drake sharply,
flinging himself down. "They know to a dollar what I've pledged and what
I can draw on-- Oh! trust them."
"Mr. Drake," said Bojo slowly, "I don't need to tell you, do I, that I
would do anything in this world for Patsie, and that without knowing in
the slightest what she feels toward me--believe me. I say this to
you--because I want you to know that I've come only in the wildest hope
that I might help in some way--some little way."
Drake shook his head.
"You can't, and yet--" He hesitated a last time and then said, in a
dreamy, indecisive way, so foreign to his nature that it showed the
extent of the mental struggle through which he had passed, "and yet
there are some things I'd be glad to have you know--to remember, Tom,
after it's all over, particularly if you come into the family. For I
don't think you quite understand my ways of fighting. You took a rather
harsh view of certain things from your standpoint-- I admit you had some
cause."
"I didn't judge you," said Bojo hastily, blushing with embarrassment. "I
was only judging myself, my own responsibility."
"Well, you judged me too," said Drake, smiling. "Yes--and I felt it, and
I'll say now that I felt uncomfortable--damned uncomfortable. That's why
I'm going to let you see that according to my ways of looking at things
I play the game square. I'm going to let you overhear a certain very
interesting little meeting that is going to take place" (he glanced at
the clock) "in about half an hour. Mr. James H. Haggerdy is coming to
make me a proposition from Gunther and Co. It'll interest you."
"Thank you," said Bojo simply.
"Now, here's the situation in a nutshell. If I could weather this
depression a year, six months, or if there had been no depression, but
normal times, I would be able to swing a deal and clear out at over one
hundred millions-- I gambled big. It was in me--fated-- I had to sink or
swim on a big stake. If I'd have won out, I'd have been among the kings
of the country. That's what I wanted--not money. It's the poker in my
blood. However. Here's the case: I made money, as you know--a great
deal of money. I was worth considerable after the Indiana Smelters got
going. I was worth ten millions more when I had sold back Pittsburgh &
New Orleans. That was the crisis. I wanted to get in with the inner
crowd--not simply to be a buccaneer, for that's about what I'd been.
That's why they bought their old railroad back. I was rated a dangerous
man. I was. So is every man dangerous till he gets what he wants. I went
to Gunther and laid my cards on the table. Gunther's a big man, the only
man I'd have done it to, but he has one fault--he can hate. The ideal
master ought to have no friends and no enemies. I said to Gunther:
"'Gunther, let's talk straight. I want to come into the field--on your
level--you know what that means. Your word and I'll be satisfied. Am I
big enough yet? Do you want me inside or outside the breastworks? Say
the word.'
"He sat there smiling, listening, gazing out the window.
"'I know what I'm asking's a big thing, to forget what I've cost you. It
_is_ a lot to ask. But you're big enough to see beyond it. Say the word
and I'm yours, through thick and thin, from now on, and I'll lay before
you now a campaign as big as anything you handled so far. All I want is
your word--is it peace or war!'
"That's where he played square.
"'I don't forget easily,' he said.
"'So that's the answer?' I said.
"He nodded.
"'I'm sorry. I came to you because you're the only man down here I'm
willing to look up to,' I said, for I knew there was no use going on,
but as I went out I plumped in a last shot: 'In a year from now I'm
going to put the same offer to you, and when I do I'll carry a few more
guns.'
"I went out and I got to work. As a matter of fact, I had already begun.
I went in with Majendie of the Atlantic Trust, Ryerson of the Columbian,
and Dryser of the Seaboard Trust. I bought my way in. I'd got a say in
institutions able to lend millions on good collateral without having to
duck at a bell pressed downtown. Then I started with a group of
Middle-Westerners to make myself felt. There was only one big field left
and it was a question how long that would be left alone. They had
organized their steel industries and their railroads, they'd knocked out
or digested competitors, controlled the field of production and had
things sailing along gloriously, but they'd forgotten, or almost
forgotten, one thing which they ought to have controlled the first, the
iron to pour into their furnaces and the coke to keep them going. When
they woke up, they found me in control of the Eastern Coke and Iron
Company, holding about eighty million dollars worth of land in West
Virginia and Virginia which they had to have sooner or later. Then they
woke up with a vengeance. The first thing they did was to send word to
me through Haggerdy to get out of the Seaboard Trust and be a good
little boy and they'd let me come around and play. I laughed at that,
though I knew it meant war to the knife. About ten weeks ago I got a
taste of what they could do. Of course, to carry what I was carrying, I
had need of big sums, and I had large blocks of Eastern Coke and Iron
hypothecated not only among my Trust Company connections, but in banks
around town, where it was upon good strong margins. Ten weeks ago, when
I dropped in at a certain bank to renew my loan, I was told that they
had decided on account of the business outlook, the downward trend of
prices and what not, to call in their loans and proceed on a very
conservative basis. Of course, under that rigamarole I knew what was
doing--orders from headquarters--and more to follow. I placed the loan
with the Atlantic Trust and waited. Last week another refusal. This time
the warning was a little more pointed. The president himself looked with
grave concern--that's always the expression--on the amount of Eastern
C. and I. stock hypothecated at present. A collapse in the stock, which
had been declining steadily, might seriously upset financial conditions
all over the country, etc. Well, I weathered that and a couple others
until I've got where I'm stumped. A bank has got the right to decide for
itself what it wants to lend money on; it can decline a loan on any
security or all securities offered, and what are you going to do about
it? The trust companies are carrying all they can and besides they're
being squeezed themselves. As a matter of fact, with solid properties
worth to-day in the market from fifty-five to fifty-seven millions, of
which we own sixty per cent., there isn't a bank in town will lend us a
hundred thousand dollars. The word has been passed around and those who
are independent don't dare. I need two million cash by day after
to-morrow, absolutely must have it, and they know it and Haggerdy's
coming here to look me over, examine my pocketbook and say, 'What have
you got that we want!'"
At this moment the butler came with a card.
"Did you say any one was here?" said Drake, studying the card.
"No, sir."
"Show Mr. Haggerdy in when I ring," said Drake, with a nod of dismissal.
He rose and beckoning Bojo placed him in the embrosine of the window,
where a slight recess hid him completely from the rest of the room.
"No need of a record; take it in just for your own curiosity," he said,
returning to his desk.
Mr. James H. Haggerdy came in like a bulky animal emerging from a cage
and blinking at the sun. He was not the man to beat about the bush, and
in his own long and varied experience in Wall Street he had been called
many names, but he had never been branded with anything petty, a fact
which made a certain bond of sympathy between the two men.
"Hello, Dan!"
"Hello, Jim!"
Haggerdy moved to a chair, refused a cigar, and said directly:
"Well, Jim, I suppose you know what I've come for."
"Sure, to carry off the furniture and the silverware," said Drake,
laughing.
"That's about it!" said Haggerdy, nodding with a grim twist of his lips.
He had a sense of humor, though he seldom laughed. "Dan, they've got
you."
"So they seem to think."
"And they want your Eastern C. and I. stock."
"That's quite evident. Will they accept it as a present or do they want
me to pay them for taking it?" said Drake grimly.
"What's the use of faking," said Haggerdy. "Gunther wants the stock and
is going to have it. Do you want to sell now or hand it over. You're a
sensible man, Dan; you ought to know when you're beaten."
"I'm not sure I am a sensible man," said Drake facetiously.
"It's all in the game. You're not kicking because you've been caught,
are you?" said Haggerdy, as though in surprise.
"No. If I were in Gunther's place I should do just what he's doing.
Quite right. Only I'm not sure, Jim, he'd do what I do were conditions
reversed."
"You paid around 79 for the stock. You've got a million shares you're
carrying. The stock's to-day at 54. We'll buy you out at 55. Take it,
Dan."
"Thanks for the advice, but my answer's No."
"Why?"
"That stock's going to be worth 150 in two years."
"Two years isn't to-day. You're facing conditions." He looked at him as
though trying to understand his motive. "The old man isn't bargaining
when he says 55; he means 55 and no more."
"I know that."
"Where are you going to raise two million dollars cash in forty-eight
hours? You see, we are well informed."
Drake smiled as though this were the easiest matter in the world.
"Suppose the Clearing House refuses to clear for the Atlantic Trust
to-morrow. What'll that mean?"
"A panic."
"And where would your Eastern Coke and Iron go then?"
"To 40 or 35, wherever you wanted it to go--possibly."
"And can't you take a hint?"
"Not when I know a stock that's worth over a hundred has been pushed
down on purpose to freeze me out."
"You're not talking morality, Dan?"
"Oh, no! You think I'm beaten. I know I'm not."
"You're bluffing, Dan."
"Find out."
"To-morrow'll be too late."
"Possibly, but if Gunther can buy it at 40 or 35, why should he pay 55
to me?"
"I think he likes you, Dan," said Haggerdy slowly.
"No. He wants to make sure of getting the stock. He doesn't want a
scramble for it," said Drake. "I'm surprised to hear you talking such
nonsense."
Haggerdy rose, shaking his head impressively.
"A mistake, Dan--a mistake." He waited a moment and then played his last
card. "Of course, if you sell out in this, it's understood Gunther'll
see you through on the rest. And that may mean the question of the roof
over your head."
"That means credit at the bank--that I'll be allowed to put up good
collateral like a respectable member of the crowd?"
"Phrase it as you will, that's it. Gunther will buy out your Trust
Company holdings for what you paid for them and he'll see you through on
Indiana Smelters--that means something saved out of the wreck--and, Dan,
there's a big smash up just over the horizon."
"I thought that was the proposition," said Drake, ruminating. "Well,
Jim, it's more than ever no."
"Why more than ever?"
"Because this in good old-fashioned English means just one
thing--getting out, saving my skin at the expense of others."
"Quite so--every man for himself."
"Not with me. I've given my word on the Coke and Iron deal. I'll see it
through. Tell Gunther I'll sell out at 80 all or nothing, and give him
twenty-four hours."
Haggerdy stretched out his hand in farewell.
"Are you sure of the other fellows, Dan?" he said slyly.
"I don't give a damn what the other fellows may do. I've given my word
and I stand by that."
"I'm sorry for you, Dan," said Haggerdy, shaking his head ominously.
"Telephone me if you change your mind."
"Thanks for your wishes, but don't lose any sleep--expecting," said
Drake, laughing.
Bojo came out aghast.
"You don't mean to say the Atlantic Trust is in danger," he cried,
foreseeing all in a glance the structures that would go toppling.
"It's in danger, all right," said Drake moodily, "but they won't--they
don't dare let it close--impossible!"
"And if you can't raise two million?"
Drake shrugged his shoulders.
"But surely there's some way," Bojo cried helplessly, "some
friends--there must be a way to raise it. This house surely is worth
twice that--it isn't mortgaged, is it?"
"No, it's quite clear, but it belongs to my wife," said Drake, and again
there came into his face that shadow of broken despair which Bojo had
noticed a score of times.
"But then--does she realize--"
"Yes, she knows," said Drake to himself. It was easy to see that the
interview with Haggerdy had profoundly convinced him. "Mrs. Drake's
fortune outside of that is fully three millions, which I have given
her--"
"But why haven't you told her and your daughter--they ought--" Suddenly
he stopped short, his eyes met Drake's and a suspicion of the truth
struck him. "You don't mean--"
"Don't," said Drake helplessly, and for the first time he caught a
glimpse of the vastness of his inner suffering. The next minute he had
hurriedly recovered his mask, saying: "Don't ask me about that-- I
can't-- I must not tell you."
"Mrs. Drake has refused to help you!" exclaimed Bojo, carried away. "She
has--she has. I see it by your face."
Drake walked to the fireplace and stood gazing down. Presently he
nodded as though talking to himself.
"Yes; my wife could come to my assistance. I have been forced to ask
her. She won't. I have been living in a fool's paradise. That's what
hurts!"