Beadle's Half Dime Library, No. 655 — page 14: what you’re looking at

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

meee — _ ———— ————— there. Ihad learned that my father was dead, W hat became of his property I did not care. I was sure none of it would be left to me, and I did not wantit. I came back to New York and opened a broker’s office.” ‘¢ But what hasthis to do with Simon Slink?”’ ‘“T willtell you. Bya very strange chance i came into possession of my father’s will and the papers relating to his property. I learned, to my surprise, that it had all been left to me. ' But it had disappeared. What had become of it I did not know. I did not try very hard to find out, itistrue. I wassatisfied to paddle my own canoe. Therefore it was not until you told me your story, the other day, that I learned that Simon Slink had swallowed up the whoie estate. From that moment I made up my mind to make him disgorge.” ; By this time Roger was on his feet in astate ef high excitement. ae Where did you find your papers?” he asked, eagerly. ‘+ On the floor of Mr. Burnaud’s office.” ‘¢ And whatis your real name?” ‘* Edward Homer.” Roger dropped into his chair as if he had been shot. He was so utterly taken aback that he had not a word to say. — — — — CHAPTER XIII. THE ‘‘ CORNER’ COLLAPSE, Tue office of the President of the Royal In- surance and Trust Co. is a very different-look- ing place from Simon Slink’s private office. Yet there is but little change in old Simon, as he sits there among his luxurious surroundings. With his rusty suit, stooping shoulders, and parchment-like skin, he looks very much out of place in that richly-furnished room, with its velvet and bronzes. Little the old rascal cares for all this. It is ast three o’clock, and the business of the bank is over for the day. ‘¢'T'o-morrow,” he says to himself, ‘‘ I will do it. What dolIcarefor them? Let every man look out for himself in this world. That’s my motto. Lamafraid of the market. We have stiffened it again; but it is shaky, it is shaky. I will sell out to-morrow. Simon Slink is not going to be made acat’s-paw of in hisold days.” He was interrupted by the entrance of the cashier of the company, with some papers to sign. us Have you seen the last edition of the Mail ?” he asked, as the president affixed his signature, ‘¢No. Full of lies as usual, is it?” ‘‘T can’t say whether itis a lie or not, but it has an interesting bit of information.” ‘¢ Ah! what is that?” ‘* Everything is at sea on the street. Wheat has made a terrible tumble. They say that the great corner is broken, and everything has gone to pot.” he pen dropped from Simon’s fingers, His knees began to tremble. Ina minute his teeth were chattering, and he was shaking from head to foot as in an ague. The cashier looked at him in amazement. ‘‘ What is wrong, Mr. Slink?” he asked. hope you are not sick.” “No, no,” muttered the old rogue. ‘‘ You left that door open, and let in a draught.—The corner broke! Ha, ha! I knew it was some newspaper lie. The corner is too strong to break. It has all the wheat in the country in its pocket. What's to break it?” ‘Why, they say that one of the gang has turned traitor, and sold out. Will Josephs, [ believeit is. He puta block of a hundred thou- sand bushels on the market just before three. But he has been making heavy sales privately these two days. The price is broke, Wheat felltwo cents at asurge. N obody knows what figure it will open at to-morrow.’ Simon listened to him with fallenjaw, He looked for the moment as if every drop of blood had left hisbody. Then a hot flush came to his face, his eyes flashed, hislimbs stiffened. “Will Josephs!” he yelled, in a_ tigerish rage. ‘‘Hettheinfernaltraitor! Ill have his blood! By Heaven, I’ll have his blood!” He sprung upas if he had been moved by a powerful spring, snatched his hat and ran for the door with a face so wild and terrible that the cashier shrunk back in affright. ‘¢ What does this mean?” asked the astounded officer. ‘‘Isheinit? Itlooksso, though | never suspected it. And he has been drawing heavil on the Trust funds. Good heavens, I fear the Institution may be on the brink of ruin!” The next day dawned. Wall street was in a cy “< cree LL LLL LLL LLL oo | Plucky Paul, the Boy Speculator. terrible excitement as the hour of business ap- proached. No man could say what the day would bring forth. The fortunes of many of the men there present hung on a thread. Wheat opened at a dollar. The excitement was redoubled. Therecame a wild pressure to sell. -On all sides wheat was forced on the mar- ket. Down it went to 99, 98, 973¢. No one could say where it would stop. ‘‘Our fortunes are made, Roger Wilton,” cried Harry Plum, rushing wildly into the of- fice where sat Roger. ‘‘ What shall we do? Close?” ‘*No. The panic has not reached its climax yet. Wait.” By noon wheat had touched 95, ‘*Let us close our contracts,” suggested Roger. ‘*I doubtif it will go lower.” ‘*{ agree with you,” said Harry. He wasright. It went nolower. After fluc- tuating for an hour about that figure it began torise, Themarketclosedat97._ . But the two daring young brokers had made theirfortunes.. When that day ended they were worth, between them, three hundred thousand dollars. Roger’s instinct had proved better than Harry’s judgment. There was another story afloat to which, in the hight of the excitement, the brokers had aid little attention. lt was said that Will Josephs had been met and stabbed by Simon Slink, who was completely beside himself. Josephs had been taken home dangerously wounded, and Slink had been confined, raving like a maniac, In his fit of temporary insanity he had made no effort to make his contracts ood. They were sold out at the panic price, and Simon Slink was ruined. Worth his mil- lion a week ago, to-day he might not be worth a penny. ‘*Itis my last speculation,” said Roger Wil- ton. ‘‘ I had Providence on my side in this, but I will take no blind risks.” ‘Nor I,” answered his partner. These words were spoken a week after the day of the great excitement, and in Mr. Burnaud’s office. ‘* You have feathered your nests very well as it is,” retharked that gentleman. ‘‘ But what is this you tell me? That Harry Plum and Edward Homer are the same person?” ‘* Yes, and that it was he that took the papers from the floor of your office.” Mr. Burnaud looked around with a serious face at the young man. ‘‘That was not a square operation,” he re- joined. ‘‘ It needs some explanation.” ‘*T think I was justified in keeping my own,” replied Harry, or Edward, as we had better call him. ‘‘ But [owe you an explanation,” **T think you do,” ‘*On the day on which you lost the papers, I had occasion. to see you on some matter of busi- ness. I forgetnow whatit was. At any rate when I reached your store and walked in, found everybody running wildly out. I was at first inclined to follow, but I was in a hurry, and went back to your office instead, Lipps. to find you there. The office was ee an the floor carelessly strewn with some lega look- ing documents. Now, I never could bear to see things littered, and I stooped down to pick up some of these scattered papers. I had -no thought of reading them, but my eye wascaught by my father’s name on the outside of one of them. This aroused my curiosity, and I natur- ally opened the paper. What was my astonish- ment to see toat it was my father’s will, and that it left all his estate to me!” ‘‘T should fancy that you would be slightly surprised,” (**T hastily examined the remaining papers, and found that they all related to the same estate. They were all mine. My first impulse was to secure the papers and leave the store. obeyed this impulse. I took possession and quietly slipped out of the store. The salesmen had returned, but they were grouped together, busily talking, and no one observed me.” ‘Well, well, that explains the mystery, any- how,” said Mr. Burnaud, rubbing his chin. e And it has puzzled me not a little, I tell ou. ‘* T have been equally puzzled,” replied Homer, ‘*T read your advertisements, and discovered that the police were on the hunt for the lost eh But I kept shady, I thought I would ide my time, and mystify you as much as pos- sible. And I wanted to get on my feet from m own efforts before I accepted any help from my father’s estate.” ‘* And you have done so bravely,” said Mr. Burnaud, ‘‘Thanks to your own skill and Roger’s luck,” ‘* It was so odd that we should gointo partner- ship together. It was not until he came to tell me the story of his life that I discovered the real villain with whom I had to deal. Up to that time I blamed you with pocketing my in- heritance.” ‘*It is astrange retribution,” remarked Mr. Burnaud gravely. ‘‘Simon Slink’s career of fraud is at an end, The heartless villain has lost his all, and is at the bottom of the ladder again. Heis amply punished.” ; ‘* He is not half-punished,” exclaimed Roger, who had remained silent. ‘‘ Not till I see him in the position in which he placed my mother will I be satisfied. I have not forgotten my vow of revenge.” ‘* But they say he is stillin the asylum, dead crazy,” rejoined Edward, ‘‘ and that Josephs is ° very low from his wound.” ‘You have not heard the latest news,” de- clared Roger. ‘‘He has recovered his senses and been discharged from the asylum, and Josephs has taken a favorable turn. He will get well.” ** At any rate Slink has lost his money,” eh r.Burnaud. ‘* He is reduced to poy- erty. ‘* Not much he is,” exclaimed Roger. "He can snap his fingers at us yet. He has turned over his real estate to the Trust Company, and closed out his debt. And he still holds his stock and the office of president. There is nothing to hinder him building up a new fortune, by shay- ing with the Trust funds,” ‘*Ts allthis so?” cried Homer, his eyes flashing with excitement, ‘*Every word of it. I have not lost sight of him fora moment. He owes me a debt that is not yet eng - ‘*And me. Has the estate held in trust for Albert Homer been accounted for in this settle- ment?’ ** | think not. find out.” ‘*{ certainly will, Am I not justified in that, Mr. Burnaud?” **Yes. Your claim is a just one. And old Slink is a villain that deserves to be pushed to the wall.” Two days after this conversation a claim was made on the Royal Insurance and Trust Com- pany that created a breeze of surprise and ex- citement in that concern. The papers of the Homer estate were placed on record, and a demand made for a settlement with the legal heir, whose inheritance the com- pany held in trust, It was the straw that broke the camel’s back, Those perilous papers, which had been so mys- teriously rescued from the fire in which the vil- lain had sought to burn them, had at last risen ee evidence against him, and his ruin was com- ete. Old Slink was utterly vanquished by this as- sault from an unexpected foe. He did not lose his senses, but all his energy and vim disappear- ed. The fight was quite taken outof him. He acknowledged everything, gave up the property which the Trust ep ey held as security for his stock, and moved from his expensively fur- nished house to the meager apartments former- ly occupied by Mrs, Wilton and her family. Roger observed all this with keen eyes. His vow had not yet been accomplished, but it seemed in a fair way of being so. The discormffited rogue feebly hoped to save some relics of his property, but the active meas- ures of the court, which pushed the affair with itiless vigor, threatened to sweep every penny rom his grasp. The whole affair was laid bare, and excited so much public indignation that it was determined . to maxe a severe example of this robber of the orphan, n consequence his property was pushed to a forced sale, and went at such a figure that EKd- ward Homer was obliged to buy in the greater portion of it to secure himself from loss, The affair ended in the utter impoverishment of the rtiined miser. ‘‘T'll take one of those properties off your hands,” said Roger Wilton to his partner, the day after the sale. ** Which one?” ‘* The house in Germon street,” ‘The one in which Slink is now living?” ‘¢ Where he has rooms, at least.” ‘All right. It is yours, at the price I paid for it. But whatdo you Want withit? Areyou going into real estate? ‘*The rooms he now occupies were occupied by my mother three years ago. He was land- lord then. I wish to be landlord now. I told Simon Slink on that occasion that. the world If you take my advice you will | f . ;