I was in some anxiety lest he might not know where
Richmond was to be found. But he took the note without question, and I
lay down with orders that I was to be called in time to reach the
opening session of the stock market, and in a moment was fast asleep.
The Stock Exchange was a boiling and bubbling mass of excited men as I
reached it. Pine Street, wet and sloppy, was lined with a mob of
umbrellas that sheltered anxious speculators of small degree, and the
great building was thronged with the larger dealers--with millionaires
and brokers, with men who were on their way to fortune, and those who
had been millionaires and now were desperately struggling against the
odds of fate as they saw their wealth swept away in the gamblers'
whirlpool.
I shouldered my way through the crowd into the buzzing Board-room as
the session opened. Excitement thrilled the air, but the opening was
listless. All knew that the struggle over Omega was to be settled that
day, and that Doddridge Knapp or George Decker was to find ruin at the
end of the call, and all were eager to hasten the decisive moment.
Wallbridge came panting before me, his round, bald head bobbing with
excitement.
"Ready for the fray, eh? Oh, it's worth money to see this. Talk of your
theaters now, eh? Got any orders?"
"Not yet," I returned, hardly sharing the little man's enjoyment of the
scene. The size of the stakes made me tremble.
I could see nothing of Doddridge Knapp, and the uneasy feeling that he
was at Livermore came over me.
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