He himself, however, continued to meet the judge casually, and one
evening he contrived to broach the subject of profitable
investments. The judge admitted that by careful hoarding and much
stinting he had managed to save a few thousand dollars which he
was anxious to invest in something good.

Quick as the keen-eyed vulture swoops down on its prey the wily
financier seized the opportunity thus presented. And he took so
much trouble in answering the judge's inexperienced questions, and
generally made himself so agreeable, that the judge found himself
regretting that he and Ryder had, by force of circumstances, been
opposed to each other in public life so long. Ryder strongly
recommended the purchase of Alaskan Mining stock, a new and
booming enterprise which had lately become very active in the
market. Ryder said he had reasons to believe that the stock would
soon advance, and now there was an opportunity to get it cheap.

A few days after he had made the investment the judge was
surprised to receive certificates of stock for double the amount
he had paid for. At the same time he received a letter from the
secretary of the company explaining that the additional stock was
pool stock and not to be marketed at the present time. It was in
the nature of a bonus to which he was entitled as one of the early
shareholders. The letter was full of verbiage and technical
details of which the judge understood nothing, but he thought it
very liberal of the company, and putting the stock away in his
safe soon forgot all about it. Had he been a business man he would
have scented peril. He would have realized that he had now in his
possession $50,000 worth of stock for which he had not paid a
cent, and furthermore had deposited it when a reorganization came.