The Argosy, Vol. 84 No. 2 — page 122: what you’re looking at

Machine-transcribed from the original scan — historical spelling and the odd misread are preserved.

304 THE morrow, wondered what Wheelock would think of American Chrome, wondered what Chase would be able to do in the way of putting through a sale before the great rush would begin. He had no doubt that the knowledge of the two men at the show was shared by plenty of others. At last he went to sleep, figuring how much he would make on a hundred shares of a stock bought at thirty—he had got a paper and found that American Chrome Steel was selling at closing for twenty- seven and a half, but was willing to face bravely the misfortune of having to pay thirty for it-—if the stock went up to par. He called up Wheelock’s home at eight the next morning. He got Mrs. Wheelock, who was a bit sleepily snappish until he told who he was, and then expressed deep regret that her husband had remained in the city over night in order to be up early and attend to some business in the morn- ing. She gave him the telephone number of the hotel. Wheelock had left the place five minutes before he called. Once more he hesitated. Supposing the tip were wrong? Suppose he lost his seven hundred dollars? Well, he would still have over eight hundred in the bank, enough to do better with something else. Somehow the thought of losing seven hundred dollars failed to arouse as much terror as the thought of losing seven hundred cents would have caused him a week before. _ He called up the club. It seemed that Chase lived there. The operator sent some one to page him from the dining-room, when she found he was not in his room. And Chase came to the phone. It took a minute to make the broker’s manager remember him. Then Bruce in- quired: “Have you heard anything about American Chrome Steel?” “Yes,” Chase answered promptly. “ Have you?” Bruce told of the conversation he had overheard, ‘“ What do you think of it?” he asked. “ARGOSY. “T heard something of the sort my- self,” the other admitted. ‘ Of course it’s hard to tell about tips these days. Chrome went up a point last night on the strength of that story. If it came from Kuhn Loeb’s, it’s right from headquarters. I didn’t know where the story came from.” His voice sounded more hopeful than the words themselves. “Want some of it?” he queried. “Well, would you advise it?” Bruce demanded. ‘Oh, now you’re asking me to break the rules. If I told you to buy it, and the tip didn’t pan out, you’d be sore- at me. I’m hoping to know you better, not worse.” “Then you don’t think it’s a good buy?” To say that his tone was crest- fallen puts it mildly. Bruce had felt as if he had discovered a gold mine. “ Now you’re getting me wrong again. I only said I couldn’t tell you what to buy or what not to buy. I wouldn’t tell you to buy Standard Oil at ten a share. Kut Tl tell you what I know about American Chrome; which is, that it’s about as low as it will ever get, unless the com- pany fails entirely. And I don’t know of any danger of that. American Chrome is a going business and has some good men i: it. It’s capitalized at five million in fifty-dollar shares.” Evans was up in the air. He wished Chase would be more definite; wondered if that was the best the manager would do for friends like Mercer. If Mercer’s account of his trading in Tubular Brass was true, Chase had not done any won- derful tipping in that case. “Say,” he suggested, “even if there isn’t anything in this war order, isn’t the stock likely to take a jump just on the strength of the rumor?” ‘“T’ve seen many a stock move twenty points without any better reason,” was the reassuring response. ‘“ Well—if I get a check in your hands by half past nine, will I have a chance at a buy right at the opening, before the stock changes much?” Bruce inquired. ECORMMICLOOOLK (C@