Wall Street said: “Here is the fat of money! It walks into our hands. How shall we divide it?”
But Wall Street had much to learn. These men, brash, boastful and boisterous7, were also very wise. They did not come to play Wall Street’s game. Most of them, like John, had sometime meddled8 with it and cared not for it. Now they were strong enough to play their own game. They brought their brokers9 with them, from Chicago, Cleveland, and Pittsburgh,—men whose tricks they knew,—and bought them seats on the New York Stock Exchange.
“Oh,” said Wall Street. “That’s it, is it? Well,[337] well,” and lolled its tongue in relish10. It knew very little about steel and nothing yet about steel people.
“Now, gentlemen,” said the steel people. “Red or black. High or low. Any limit or none. Let’s shoot.”
Using their own brokers to buy and sell the shares of their own trusts they began to make the canyon11 howl. For a while the play lay between Wall Street and the barbars, and the barbars held all the cards. If Wall Street sold steel shares for a fall the dividends12 were increased in the night. If it bought them for a rise suddenly the mills were shut up and dividends ceased. Wall Street was outraged13. This was worse than gambling14. It was a pea and shell game. The steel people were haled to court on the charge of circulating false information about their properties to influence the value of shares.
Nothing to it! Nobody could prove the information to have been false. Merely the steel people had it first, as they naturally would, and acted upon it in the stock market, as everybody would who could. So they all went back to Wall Street and the play waxed hotter and steeper. No one had ever seen speculation15 like this. At conventions, unwritten rules, limits, the steel people simply guffawed16. They invented rules. Nobody was obliged to play with them. Their creed17 was, “Nothing in moderation.”
After hours they played bridge for ten dollars a point. En route from Wall Street to the Waldorf, which was their rendezvous18, they would lay bets in hundred-dollar units on the odd or even of numbered objects, like passing street cars. Whiskey was their[338] innocuous beverage19. There was one whose drink was three Scotch20 high-balls in succession. As the third one disappeared he would slowly rub his stomach, saying: “That one rings the bell.” Yet all the time they attended strenuously21 to business. They were men of steel, physically22 and mentally powerful. Carousing23 was an emotional outlet24. Gambling on the Stock Exchange was hardly more than pastime. Night and day they kept their eyes on that sign in the heavens.
They had delivered the steel age. The steel industry was their private possession to do with as they damn pleased. They could make a circus of it if they liked. They did. Their way with it had become a national problem. The steel industry was much too important to be conducted in that manner. It kept the country in a state of nerves. These wild, untamable behemoths would have to be bought out. They were willing to sell. There was a ludicrous fiction among them that they were weary of doing, whereas they were only sated with it. However, as they were willing to be bought out and as to be rid of them had become a public necessity, there remained only the question of how. It would take all the spare money there was in the country. Yet it would have to be done. That is what the sign meant.
John called his crowd together saying: “This is the tall goodbye if we want to get out.”
They did. He pledged them in writing to leave everything in his hands and then returned to Wall Street where for months past he had been preparing his ground unobserved. In one of the new steel skyscrapers[339] he had established himself an office. On the door was his name—
John Breakspeare
under that
American Steel Company
North American Manufacturing Company
and nothing more. Inside was a private room of his own with a stock ticker and a desk with a lot of telephones on it. Beyond was a large meeting room furnished with a long table, chairs, brass cuspidors, a humidor and a water cooler. From the window was a panoramic25 view of New York harbor. A very simple establishment one would think. Yet it was the center of a web radiating in all directions. Nothing much could happen in Wall Street without causing an alarm on his desk, for he had made some very excellent and timely connections. His private telephone wires reached the sources of information. One of them, it would have surprised everyone to know, ran to the office of John Sabath, with whom he had come to confidential26 terms. So it was that perhaps no one man, save only Bullguard, knew more than he about what was invisibly taking place under that sign which stood higher and higher in the money firmament27.
What was visible had by this time become very exciting. The newspapers were giving astonished publicity28 to the doings of the golden bulls. What they did in Wall Street was recorded by the financial writers; what they did at large was written by the news reporters. And the public’s imagination was inflamed29.[340] Incipient30 Napoleons of finance, greedy little lambs, comet riders, haberdashers’ clerks, preachers, husbands of actresses, dentists, small business men, delicatessen shop-keepers, jockeys, authors, commuters, winesellers, planters, prizefighters, crows and jackals clamored together at the Wall Street tickers. From ten to three they watched steel shares go up and down, betting on them, trying to out-guess the steel men who ordered their fluctuations31. In the evening all this motley appeared at the Waldorf Hotel, sitting in rows along Peacock Alley32, walking to and fro as if at ease, peering in at the dining-room doors to glimpse the lords and barons of steel at their food and drink.
Everybody loved it. This was the Steel Court,—a court of twenty kings, with its rabble33 and fringe and jesters, sycophants34 in favor, men of mystery passing, the unseen lesser35 deeply bowing to the greater, sour envy taking judgment36 at a distance, greed on ass-ear wings listening everywhere. One might hear a word to make him rich to-morrow. And the Machiavelli, too. That was Sabath, his beard now grey, otherwise the same, sitting always by himself, darting37 here and there his piercing eyes.
This court made news. Often the steel men, bored with gaping38 admiration39, would extemporize40 a midnight stock market and buy and sell their shares among themselves. Each morning as addenda41 to the regular stock market reports would appear: “Transactions at the Waldorf.” The newest rumors43 floated here. No financial editor was safe to go to bed until the Waldorf grill44 room lights were out, for it was generally[341] late at night that the steel men spilled their secrets. One was overheard to say:
“There’s a billion dollar steel trust on the way.”
What tidings!
The remark had gone around the world before daylight, and at the opening of the stock market in London people began to sell American securities. Those Yankees, they said, always a bit mad, now were drunk with the arithmetic of their wealth. Wall Street was vaguely45 uneasy, too. There was no such thing as a billion-dollar corporation.
Rumor42 for once in its life was below the truth. The great steel trust was to be capitalized at a billion and a half. There had to be room for everybody. Bullguard was to be its deity46. There could be no other. The charter had been applied47 for. Famous lawyers had reconciled it with the law. All these facts came out gradually, mostly in the form of midnight rumors. In the highest circles of the steel court an extremely curious fact was already privately48 known. Sabath was to be the manipulator. If he could not perform the unimaginable feat49 of selling the shares of a billion-and-a-half dollar corporation to the public nobody could. Yet how strange that Bullguard and Sabath should sail a ship together.
At length all the salient probabilities had been established, and nothing happened. A week passed. Then another. Wall Street was strung with suspense50 and the nightly Waldorf swarm51 buzzed with adverse52 rumors. Time was priceless. The public was in a fever of excitement. If ever there was an opportunity it[342] was then. Why did Bullguard wait? What unexpected difficulty had been encountered?
There was but one obstacle and that was John. The Breakspeare properties were too important to be left out. A trust of trusts without them simply could not be. Bullguard sent for all the other lords and barons first, and they were quick to come. Then one day John received a telephone call from the office of Bullguard & Company. Would he be pleased to come to their office for a conference? His response was to mention his business address. Next day one of Bullguard’s partners called in person.
“Mr. Bullguard wishes to see you,” he said.
“If I wished to see Mr. Bullguard, I’d look for him at his office, not mine,” said John.
“I beg your pardon?”
John repeated it. The partner went away, deeply offended in the name of Bullguard.
Sabath came to see him. He had been sent. John knew it and Sabath knew he knew it.
“When are you going to see Mr. Bullguard?” he asked.
“I’m here nearly every day,” said John.
“Mr. Bullguard is performing a great public service,” said Sabath, with not a twinkle, as if they did not understand each other down to the ground. “He’s trying to get all you gamblers out of the steel business and bring some peace to the country. And because he spanked53 you once when you were in knee pants, now you’re as proud as a pig with a ribbon in its hereafter. I’ll tell him what I’ve said.”
[343]
“I will,” said Sabath, departing. “I will.”
John’s partners began to be alarmed. He kept nothing from them. When they importuned56 him to bend a little, thinking his obduracy57 might have disastrous58 consequences for all of them, he would say: “It amuses me and it will pay you.”
One morning Sabath’s voice called him on the telephone, saying: “The great mountain is walking. You damn gamblers! Do you want everything in the world?”
“Thanks,” said John.
Twenty minutes later Bullguard appeared. He walked right in, sat on the edge of a chair, crossed his arms, leaned forward on his stick, and glared. When he glared the world was supposed to tremble. He was rather awful to look at. His purple face was of a strawberry texture59; his nose was monstrous60, angry, red, bulbous, with hairy warts61 upon it; his eyebrows62 were almost vertical63.
Three words were spoken,—all three by Bullguard.
“How much?” he asked.
John drew a pencil pad out of his desk and wrote slowly in large, owlish characters, this:
If you smile—
$300,000,000
No smile
$350,000,000
Having written it he stopped to gaze at it thoughtfully[344] for a minute, then pulled out the slide leaf of his desk, tossed the pad there for Bullguard to see, and leaned back.
Bullguard glanced at it and stood up.
“That!” he said, tapping the $350,000,000 with his forefinger64, and stalked out.
Slaymaker, Awns, Wingreene and Pick were waiting in the big room. John walked in and threw the pad on the table.
“There are the terms.”
Knowing John they understood the pencil writing.
“Did he smile?” they asked as one.
“No,” said John.
“My God!” murmured Slaymaker. He sank into a chair and wept.
Two-fifths of it was John’s. His share included the Thane interest which amounted to nearly twenty millions. Slaymaker, Awns, Wingreene and Pick divided $170,000,000. The balance went to thirty or forty minor65 stockholders in the Breakspeare companies.
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1
cabal
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| n.政治阴谋小集团 | |
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rapture
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| n.狂喜；全神贯注；着迷；v.使狂喜 | |
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3
barons
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| 男爵( baron的名词复数 )； 巨头； 大王； 大亨 | |
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thither
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| adv.向那里；adj.在那边的，对岸的 | |
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skyscrapers
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| n.摩天大楼 | |
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brass
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| n.黄铜；黄铜器，铜管乐器 | |
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boisterous
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| adj.喧闹的，欢闹的 | |
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meddled
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| v.干涉，干预（他人事务）( meddle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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9
brokers
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| n.（股票、外币等）经纪人( broker的名词复数 )；中间人；代理商；（订合同的）中人v.做掮客（或中人等）( broker的第三人称单数 )；作为权力经纪人进行谈判；以中间人等身份安排… | |
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10
relish
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| n.滋味，享受，爱好，调味品；vt.加调味料，享受，品味；vi.有滋味 | |
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11
canyon
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| n.峡谷，溪谷 | |
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12
dividends
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| 红利( dividend的名词复数 )； 股息； 被除数； （足球彩票的）彩金 | |
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13
outraged
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| a.震惊的，义愤填膺的 | |
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14
gambling
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| n.赌博；投机 | |
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15
speculation
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| n.思索，沉思；猜测；投机 | |
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16
guffawed
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| v.大笑，狂笑( guffaw的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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17
creed
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| n.信条；信念，纲领 | |
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18
rendezvous
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| n.约会，约会地点，汇合点；vi.汇合，集合；vt.使汇合，使在汇合地点相遇 | |
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19
beverage
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| n.(水，酒等之外的)饮料 | |
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20
scotch
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| n.伤口，刻痕；苏格兰威士忌酒；v.粉碎，消灭，阻止；adj.苏格兰(人)的 | |
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21
strenuously
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| adv.奋发地，费力地 | |
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22
physically
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| adj.物质上，体格上，身体上，按自然规律 | |
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23
carousing
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| v.痛饮，闹饮欢宴( carouse的现在分词 ) | |
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24
outlet
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| n.出口/路；销路；批发商店；通风口；发泄 | |
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25
panoramic
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| adj. 全景的 | |
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26
confidential
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| adj.秘（机）密的，表示信任的，担任机密工作的 | |
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27
firmament
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| n.苍穹；最高层 | |
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28
publicity
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| n.众所周知，闻名；宣传，广告 | |
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29
inflamed
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| adj.发炎的，红肿的v.（使）变红，发怒，过热( inflame的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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30
incipient
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| adj.起初的，发端的，初期的 | |
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31
fluctuations
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| 波动，涨落，起伏( fluctuation的名词复数 ) | |
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32
alley
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| n.小巷，胡同；小径，小路 | |
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33
rabble
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| n.乌合之众，暴民；下等人 | |
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34
sycophants
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| n.谄媚者，拍马屁者( sycophant的名词复数 ) | |
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35
lesser
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| adj.次要的，较小的；adv.较小地，较少地 | |
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36
judgment
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| n.审判；判断力，识别力，看法，意见 | |
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37
darting
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| v.投掷，投射( dart的现在分词 )；向前冲，飞奔 | |
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38
gaping
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| adj.口的；张口的；敞口的；多洞穴的v.目瞪口呆地凝视( gape的现在分词 )；张开，张大 | |
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39
admiration
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| n.钦佩，赞美，羡慕 | |
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40
extemporize
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| v.即席演说，即兴演奏，当场作成 | |
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41
addenda
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| n.附录，附加物；附加物( addendum的名词复数 )；补遗；附录；（齿轮的）齿顶（高） | |
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42
rumor
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| n.谣言，谣传，传说 | |
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43
rumors
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| n.传闻( rumor的名词复数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷v.传闻( rumor的第三人称单数 )；[古]名誉；咕哝；[古]喧嚷 | |
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44
grill
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| n.烤架，铁格子，烤肉；v.烧，烤，严加盘问 | |
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45
vaguely
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| adv.含糊地，暖昧地 | |
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46
deity
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| n.神，神性；被奉若神明的人(或物) | |
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47
applied
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| adj.应用的；v.应用，适用 | |
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48
privately
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| adv.以私人的身份，悄悄地，私下地 | |
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49
feat
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| n.功绩；武艺，技艺；adj.灵巧的，漂亮的，合适的 | |
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50
suspense
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| n.（对可能发生的事）紧张感，担心，挂虑 | |
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51
swarm
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| n.(昆虫)等一大群；vi.成群飞舞；蜂拥而入 | |
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52
adverse
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| adj.不利的；有害的；敌对的，不友好的 | |
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53
spanked
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| v.用手掌打( spank的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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54
allusion
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| n.暗示，间接提示 | |
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55
odds
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| n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别 | |
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56
importuned
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| v.纠缠，向（某人）不断要求( importune的过去式和过去分词 )；（妓女）拉（客） | |
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57
obduracy
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| n.冷酷无情，顽固，执拗 | |
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58
disastrous
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| adj.灾难性的，造成灾害的；极坏的，很糟的 | |
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59
texture
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| n.(织物)质地；(材料)构造；结构；肌理 | |
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60
monstrous
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| adj.巨大的；恐怖的；可耻的，丢脸的 | |
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61
warts
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| n.疣( wart的名词复数 )；肉赘；树瘤；缺点 | |
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62
eyebrows
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| 眉毛( eyebrow的名词复数 ) | |
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63
vertical
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| adj.垂直的，顶点的，纵向的；n.垂直物，垂直的位置 | |
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64
forefinger
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| n.食指 | |
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65
minor
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| adj.较小(少)的，较次要的；n.辅修学科；vi.辅修 | |
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