"In my pocket, sir," said Tom, white as a sheet.
It was found and given to the broker, who turned to Bob and said:
"Please send that off for me, Bob, and if you know of a boy who can make a good messenger send him to me in the morning."
"h.e.l.lo, Fred! This is the place for you!" and Bob grabbed Fred by the arm and forced him around in front of Tracey. "Here"s the one you want, sir--Fred Halsey."
"All right; come here to-morrow morning."
So the next morning Fred went to Tracey"s office and was engaged as messenger. During the day B. & H. went to 87 and Fred as soon as he was sent on an errand stopped in at the bank and bad his shares sold for Halsey & Co.
Bob was getting $6 a week as messenger for Tracey and it pleased his aunt greatly. The next day Tabor gave Bob a statement for Halsey & Co., showing a net profit of over $1,200, which he placed to their credit.
Fred and Bob were standing under the gallery of the Stock Exchange in the place allotted to messengers, when Broker Keeley gave a howl and sprang at the throat of Broker Gaines. They fell to the floor. The old man turned his eyes toward Fred. They seemed to pop out of his head for the maniac was choking him.
"I can"t stand that!" cried Fred, and the next moment both his hands were in Broker Keeley"s hair. He let go the old man"s throat, and a dozen brokers ran in to separate them and quell the row.
Next day Fred said to Bob: "I met Gaines"s typewriter just now and she said Mr. Gaines had not been to the office since his row with Broker Keeley. The clerk who is running the office insulted her and she wants to leave."
"By George!" answered Bob, "Bryant"s girl has just asked me to find a place for her. What did you tell Callie?"
"I told her I would look out for her, and I will."
During the day Fred got a place for Callie with Broker Tabor, and Bob secured a temporary place for Bertie Clayton in old Broker Bowles"s office.
The day after the two boys met the girls in a restaurant, and Callie told Fred of a tip she had come across. It was Pacific Mail, and it was going to be cornered.
CHAPTER V.--The Typewriter Girl"s Tip.
Fred and Bob came away from the restaurant with the two girls, going toward Wall Street. Fred asked Callie several questions about the deal she had mentioned.
"I"ll make a note of what I can find out," she said to him, "and let you know after 3 o"clock."
"But be careful and let no one else know it," he replied.
"Oh, I can keep a secret even if I am a girl," and she left him on the corner of Na.s.sau and Wall to go to the bank.
Fred clutched Bob"s arm when the two girls were gone, and said:
"Callie says a big corner in Pacific Mail is being made up in Barron"s office."
"By George! Is it straight, do you think?"
"Yes. She says she"ll make notes and give "em to me. She let it out by saying if she had any money laid up she could make a pile out of Pacific Mail. I soon got the whole thing out of her."
"When will you see her again?"
"After three o"clock."
It was a little after three o"clock when Fred saw her come out of the bank. He went to meet her, and she said to him:
"Bryant is going to do the buying--begins to-morrow. You won"t tell any one that I told you?"
"No; that would never do."
She lived over on the west side, and had a widowed mother and little brother to support. He walked nearly all the way home with her. Bob went uptown with Gertie Clayton, and did not see Fred again till the next morning.
"I am going to buy Pacific Mail, Bob," Fred said to him.
"Go ahead then--for Halsey & Company--the whole pile."
Pacific Mail was going that morning at 52. Fred went to Tabor and asked him to buy Pacific Mail on 10 per cent margin. Tabor gave a start, looked keenly at him for a moment, and then asked:
"Why do you buy that stock?"
"I heard a man tell another one it was safe to try it."
"Give me his name."
"No, sir. Will you buy it for me?"
"I"d rather not do it," and he shook his head.
"Oh! Then I"ll try somebody else," and Fred went away with a check for $1,200 in his pocket.
He went over to Bowles" office, and arranged with the old man to buy for him 230 shares at 52. The old broker had the shares bought inside of ten minutes. By twelve o"clock Fred saw Bryant buying all that he could get hold of, but there were thousands and thousands of shares on the market, and he had bought 10,000 ere there was any signs of life in the deal.
Then it began slowly to advance. It closed with an advance of one point on the first day. But the next day saw it go up three points, and the brokers in the Exchange began to hustle. It was an immense concern and the shares were in every broker"s hands. But Bryant gathered them in by the thousand at a time. On the third day it was up to sixty, and Fred met Callie at lunch to tell her she had got the thing down fine.
"Oh, if I only had some money to put up!" she said.
"You have got ten per cent interest in my little pile," he said to her.
"What! Just for the tip?"
"Yes."
"Oh, my! I could give you tips almost every day."
"Wall Street is always full of tips," and he laughed. "Such a thing as this, though, comes but once or twice a year."
"B. & H. was a big thing for some of the brokers," she replied.
"Yes, and a very bad one for a number of them, too."
"Do you know, I think Mr. Gaines was badly squeezed in that deal?"
"Ah! I saw him nearly choked to death by that fellow who lost his head.
If I had not interfered he"d have been killed."