He smiled at first at the air of great secrecy and wisdom on the part
of the younger men. They were so heartily and foolishly suspicious. The
older men, as a rule, were inscrutable. They pretended indifference,
uncertainty. They were like certain fish after a certain kind of bait,
however. Snap! and the opportunity was gone. Somebody else had picked up
what you wanted. All had their little note-books. All had their peculiar
squint of eye or position or motion which meant "Done! I take you!"
Sometimes they seemed scarcely to confirm their sales or purchases--they
knew each other so well--but they did. If the market was for any reason
active, the brokers and their agents were apt to be more numerous than
if it were dull and the trading indifferent. A gong sounded the call to
trading at ten o'clock, and if there was a noticeable rise or decline in
a stock or a group of stocks, you were apt to witness quite a spirited
scene. Fifty to a hundred men would shout, gesticulate, shove here and
there in an apparently aimless manner; endeavoring to take advantage of
the stock offered or called for.

"Five-eighths for five hundred P. and W.," some one would call--Rivers
or Cowperwood, or any other broker.

"Five hundred at three-fourths," would come the reply from some one
else, who either had an order to sell the stock at that price or who
was willing to sell it short, hoping to pick up enough of the stock at
a lower figure later to fill his order and make a little something
besides. If the supply of stock at that figure was large Rivers would
probably continue to bid five-eighths. If, on the other hand, he noticed
an increasing demand, he would probably pay three-fourths for it. If
the professional traders believed Rivers had a large buying order, they
would probably try to buy the stock before he could at three-fourths,