"No word yet from the overdue steamship 'Majestic;' she is already
forty-eight hours late, and very likely has experienced bad weather."

The "Majestic" is one of the largest and best of the famous White Star
Line fleet. Colonel Harris expected an English gentleman to arrive by
this boat, and he had come on to New York to meet him, as the two had
business of great importance to talk over. "I wonder," thought the
colonel, "if such a thing could happen, that my cherished plan of
retiring with millions, might possibly be frustrated by ship-wreck or any
unlooked-for event?" Whereupon he pulled from his pocket a cablegram, to
make himself doubly sure that his was not a fool's errand, and again read
it in audible tones:

London, May 24, 18--.
_Col. Reuben Harris,
Hotel Waldorf, New York._

Hugh Searles, our agent, sails May twenty-fifth on Majestic. Meet him
at Hotel Waldorf, New York.

Guerney & Barring.

The signers of the cablegram were young bankers and brokers, occupying
sumptuous quarters on Threadneedle Street, in sight of the Bank of
England, the Exchange, and the Mansion House or official residence of the
Lord Mayor of London. The fathers of each member of the firm had been at
the head of great banking houses in London for many years, and after
herculean efforts, their banks had failed. These young men had united
families and forces, and resolved to win again a financial standing in
the world's metropolis. Shrewdly they had opened a score of branch