the floor that would surpass anything I had witnessed yet.

It failed to come. There was almost a pause in the proceedings.

I caught a glimpse of Doddridge Knapp across the room, looking on with
a grim smile on the wolf jaws and an apparently impassive interest in
the scene. I marveled at his coolness when his fortune, perhaps, turned
on the events of the next five minutes. He gave no sign, nor once
looked in my direction.

The clamor on the floor began and swelled in volume, and a breath of
visible relief passed over the anxious assembly.

Wallbridge and Eppner made a dive at once for a yelling broker, and a
cold chill ran down my back. I saw then that I had set my brokers
bidding against each other for the same stock.

"Great Mammon!" I thought. "If Doddridge Knapp ever finds it out, what
a circus there will be!"

"She's going up!" said my neighbor with a shout of joy. He owned none
of the stock, but like the rest of the populace he was a bull on
principle.

I nodded with a dubious attempt to imitate his signs of satisfaction.

Forty-five--forty-seven--fifty-five--it was going up by leaps. I
blessed the forethought that had suggested to me to put a limit on
Wallbridge and stop the competition between my agents at fifty. The
contest grew warmer. I could follow with difficulty the course of the