"Build," said Moneypenny.
"All right--we buy," said Midas.
"It"s a hold-up," said Moneypenny. "K., T. & W. was built for no other purpose."
"Perfectly true," said Midas. "Therefore, instead of announcing that we shall buy, thus sending the price up till it b.u.mps against the Dipper, let us announce that we have decided to build our own connecting line, and when K., T. & W. lands down around 1-7/8 we can go in and scoop it."
"Always right, Midas," said Rockernegie.
"I"ll change my vote and make it unanimous," said Moneypenny, whereupon the Colonel pa.s.sed the cigars and the meeting stood adjourned. It had taken seven minutes to settle a question involving millions upon millions of dollars, and for a moment Jack stood aghast, but for no longer than a moment, for the time for him to get busy had arrived. He was in possession of the most valuable secret on Wall Street, and it behooved him to begin operations. Pa.s.sing hastily out of the office, he first paid a visit to the Urban National, where after an hour"s hard work he succeeded in getting $300,000 out of the vaults, leaving on the cashier"s desk, while he was out at lunch, as security for his loan, a sufficient amount of gilt-edged collateral, also taken from the vaults of the bank itself.
"It"s all right," Jack wrote in his memorandum to the cashier. "I have a big transaction on hand which can"t help win out, and I shall rejoice your heart by liquidating all my loans with you before spring. After all, my dear sir, all business must be done on confidence, and I a.s.sure you you can have plenty in me. I know myself through and through, and can testify to my absolute integrity. Meanwhile let me repeat that your money is the best I have ever used, and is received everywhere with real enthusiasm."
That night before he retired, operating through a dozen brokers" offices so as not to attract undue attention, Jack purchased five thousand shares of K., T. & W. at 20, paying for them in cash. The next morning on the announcement from Colonel Midas"s office that the San Francisco, Omaha & Mott Haven road had decided not to take over the property, K., T. & W. fell off to 10, at which figure, after a hurried visit to the bank, Jack acquired ten thousand more shares. At the end of the week K., T. & W. had slumped to 3-1/8, whereat Jack pyramided by taking over twenty thousand more, all paid for in cash, having meanwhile sent his lawyer to Rocky Corners with seventy-five thousand dollars to close his real-estate deal with Hiram b.u.mpus.
In the brief period of ten days the unfortunate tenant of the freezing apartment at the Redmere had become the owner of fifty thousand shares of K., T. & W., as well as the proprietor of a thirty-thousand-acre farm through which a new line of railway was sure to pa.s.s.
So the campaign went on over the Christmas season. Jack, by following close on the heels of Midas or Moneypenny, it mattered little which, secured inside information as to every deal of magnitude on Wall Street whole days, and even weeks, before anybody else knew about it; and having the resources of the Urban National to draw upon at need, he was never at a loss how to finance himself. January came, and just as it seemed as if K., T. & W. was about to be wiped out of existence came the report that the property had been acquired by the San Francisco, Omaha & Mott Haven crowd, and that its stock had been put on an eight-per-cent.
guaranteed-dividend basis. The quotation immediately began to soar.
K., T. & W. began to jump like a kangaroo. First it leaped to 30, then to 68. On the tenth of January it opened at 128-7/8, and closed at 150, where it stuck. For a time Jack waited for a further rise, but it failed to come, and in February he sold one hundred and twenty thousand shares, which had cost him on an average of $7 a share, for $150 a share, realizing a profit of $17,160,000. Reference to his books showed that he had drawn on the Urban National for a trifle over $1,250,000, which sum he now started to return in the same laborious fashion in which it had been acquired. Every day for a period of ten days the lad would put on his invisible cloak, and at the cashier"s lunch-hour would walk into his office and deposit a great bundle of currency on his desk. Once he found that gentleman, and the president of the bank as well, awaiting him, but it made no difference. Secure in the concealment of his marvellous cloak, Jack stood in the doorway and tossed the package of bills into the room, hitting the astonished president of the bank himself squarely in the stomach with it.
In this way complete rest.i.tution with interest was made, and on the first of February Jack found himself clear of all obligations, with a comfortable fortune of over $15,000,000 on his hands, which made any further involuntary loans on the bank"s part unnecessary; but what was even better than this, the meteoric successes of the young millionaire upon the Street brought him such renown that it was not long before the powers began to take notice.
"That young man," said Colonel Midas, after watching him for a little while, "is the most singularly astute person I ever met. I don"t wish to be vulgar, but he has been the n.i.g.g.e.r in every woodpile I have tackled for six months. He knows what I am going to do almost as quick as I do.
We"ll have to take him in the firm."
"He has a singularly keen premonition as to values," observed Mr.
Rockernegie. "I"ve half a mind to start a trust company and make him president."
As for Mr. Moneypenny, after a year"s experience at finding Jack at the bottom of pretty nearly every scheme he went into, he made the following observation to his daughter, as he pointed Jack out to her at the opera--in his own box now--one night.
"That young man in the third box on the left, my dear, is young Mr. Jack Hardluck. He"s so keen that I don"t even dare think what I"m going to do for fear he"ll find it out!"
"If that"s the case, papa," said Miss Moneypenny, blushing, "the best thing to do is to take him into the family. Don"t you think you"d better--"
The girl hung her head shyly.
"Better what, my dear?" asked the old billionaire, kindly.
"Give him to me for a Christmas present?" she answered. "I think I could get to like him very, very much."
And, indeed, that is how it came to be that in due course of time the young financier became the son-in-law of one of the financial powers of the world.
As for the invisible cloak, Jack wears it now only to travel _incog._, which for a multi-millionaire is sometimes convenient.
Incidentally and in conclusion, let me add that Mike Brannigan, once the janitor of the Redmere, is now the owner of that handsome apartment-house, having received the t.i.tle-deeds through the mails from some anonymous benefactor.
"Who the divvle sint it, I dinnaw!" he said. "Nor what for he done it, nayther. I ain"t never done nothin" to injure n.o.body!"
VI
THE RETURN OF ALADDIN
Night had fallen over the city, but the work in the little tailor shop on the Bowery still went on. The toiling widow of Mustafa, the incorporated valet of the Bachelors" Aid Society, who had died the winter before, leaving his family with nothing but a few debts and his ironing-board, was wearily struggling with the last batch of undarned socks received that morning from the a.s.sociation. She sighed deeply as she labored, for her fingers were sore with many st.i.tches.
"Heigho!" she murmured, sadly. "Why don"t these bachelors get married and have this sort of thing done at home, I wonder? This is the ten-thousandth sock I have darned since Christmas, and as for the suspender b.u.t.tons, the good Lord only knows how many of those I have sewed on. There ought to be a law compelling men to marry on penalty of having to do their own mending."
Poor woman! In the weariness of her spirit she little dreamed that she was growing petulant with her bread and b.u.t.ter. Suddenly she heard the door of the little shop without open, and her son Aladdin entered, a great, buoyant lad of twenty, cheerful of spirit and a good deal of a giant physically.
"Well, Worthless," she said, with an affectionate glance into his fine eyes, "where have you been all day?"
"Looking for work, mother, as usual," said the young man, throwing a small package on the table. "And you?"
"The same old drudgery, dear," she replied, with a sigh. "Did you have any luck?"
"No, mother dear, not a bit," replied Aladdin.
"Do you mean to tell me that in all this great city there is no work of any kind that a hale, hearty, hungry boy like you can get to do?" she demanded.
"Plenty of it, mother," replied the boy; "plenty of it, but nothing in my special line. Lots of snow-shovelling jobs and a position as guard on the Subway were offered me, but I cannot demean myself by taking anything of that sort, Mummsy dear. Father in the last days of his life spent too many hours teaching me how to raise mushrooms under gla.s.s for me to dishonor his memory by undertaking labor that is beneath that in artistic quality, and just at present I cannot find anybody in all this city who wants a helper in mushroom culture."
"Then we shall have to go supperless to bed," sighed the poor woman.
"Not a penny in the house and the pantry bare. Oh, Aladdin, Aladdin, why will you not give up this false pride of yours and get some kind of a job that will at least feed yourself and help me pay the rent?"
The boy was silent. He had had this same argument with his mother time and time and again, and he was quite aware of the futility of speech in trying to overcome her objections to what she termed his incorrigible idleness.
"What have you in the package?" the woman asked, after a prolonged silence.
"I don"t know," replied Aladdin. "I picked it up outside the stage-door of the Helicon Theatre. I saw it lying in the snow and I brought it along with me. It is probably some kind of a make-up box belonging to one of the performers. If there is any reward offered in any of the morning papers for its return, maybe I shall earn a few honest pennies by taking it back to its owner."
His mother busied herself with the string, and in a moment it came untied and a small bra.s.s lamp rolled out of the brown-paper covering. It was very dirty and much battered.
[Ill.u.s.tration: "HUMPH!" SAID SHE, SCORNFULLY]
"Humph!" said she, scornfully, gazing at the homely little object. "I don"t think anybody will be foolish enough to offer a reward for a trumpery little thing like that."
"Ah, well," said Aladdin, gazing out of the shop window at the scurrying crowds on the sidewalk, "it might be worse, Mummsy dear. We at least have a roof over our heads this night, which is more than some of those poor wretches have, and unless I am very much mistaken this storm that is upon us is going to be a blizzard."
In very truth a blizzard had descended upon the city. All the transportation lines were blocked, and over on Broadway all traffic had been tied up for hours. Thanks to the elevated-railway structure, this portion of the Bowery still remained pa.s.sable. Even this was momentarily piling higher and higher with the snow, and the wind was in one of its most violently rampageous moods.
"How would you feel if your little Aladdin had a job as a chauffeur on a night like this?" the lad went on.
The poor woman shuddered and was about to reply, when a terrific crash from without drove all thought of words from her mind. Hastily running to the window, she, too, peered out into the street for a moment over Aladdin"s shoulder, but only for a moment, for in an instant the boy was up and making for the door of the little tailor shop. A heavy limousine car lay overturned upon its side upon the walk, its wheels having skidded on the slippery, snow-covered pavement, and striking the curb, toppled completely over. Aladdin, with the agility of a small monkey, soon mounted to the upper side of the overturned vehicle, and, opening the door, had a.s.sisted a beautifully arrayed young woman, possibly a year or two younger than himself, from within, and after her, fuming and condemning his luck and the world in general, a gray-haired and apparently irascible old gentleman.
"Mother!" cried Aladdin, as the girl fainted in his arms, "come quickly.