"Did you hear that?
There! It's seventeen hundred--now it's seventeen-fifty! Whew!"
I echoed the exclamation.
"Oh, why haven't I got ten thousand shares?" he groaned.
"Who is getting them?"
"Knapp got the last lot. O-oh, look there! Did you ever see the like of
that?"
I looked. Decker, hatless, with hair disheveled, had leaped the rail
and was hurrying into the throng that surrounded Doddridge Knapp.
"There was never two of 'em on the floor before," cried Wallbridge.
At Decker's appearance the brokers opened a lane to him, the cries
fell, and there was an instant of silence, as the kings of the market
thus came face to face.
I shall never forget the sight. Doddridge Knapp, massive, calm,
forceful, surveyed his opponent with unruffled composure. He was
dressed in a light gray-brown suit that made him seem larger than ever.
Decker was nervous, disheveled, his dress of black setting off the
pallor of his face, till it seemed as white as his shirt bosom, as he
fronted the King of the Street.
The foes faced each other, watchful as two wrestlers looking to seize
an opening, and the Board-room held its breath. Then the crowd of
brokers closed in again and the clamor rose once more.
I could not make out the progress of the contest, but the trained ear
of Wallbridge interpreted the explosions of inarticulate sound.
"Phew! listen to that! Two thousand, twenty-one hundred, twenty-one
fifty. Great snakes! See her jump!" he cried.
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