"Now, I want to ask you somethin'. You newspaper fellers are supposed to
know about all there is to know of everything under the sun. Do you know
much about the Stock Exchange?"

Pearson smiled.

"All I can afford to know," he said.

"Humph! That's a pretty good answer. Knowledge is power, they say,
but--but I cal'late knowledge of the Stock Exchange is poverty, with a
good many folks."

"I think you're right, Captain. It's none of my business, but--were you
planning to tackle Wall Street?"

Captain Elisha glanced, under his brows, at his new friend, and his eyes
twinkled.

"Didn't know but I might," he replied, solemnly. "Ain't got
any--er--tips, any sure things you want to put me on to, have you?"

"I have not. My experience of Wall Street 'sure things' leads me to
believe that they're sure--but only for the other fellow."

"Hum! I know a chap down home that made money in stocks. He made it so
easy that, as the boys say, 'twas almost a shame to take the money. And
'twas the makin' of him, too."

Pearson was embarrassed and troubled. If this big-hearted, simple-minded
countryman had come to New York to buck the stock market, it was time