登陆注册
5170900000114

第114章

"No," he said, "let him go, let him go.The man is merely mad."But, Jadwin, struggling for a second in the midst of the group that tried to hold him, suddenly flung off the restraining clasps, thrust the men to one side, and rushed from the room.

Gretry dropped into his chair before his desk.

"It's the end," he said, simply.

He drew a sheet of note paper to him, and in a shaking hand wrote a couple of lines.

"Take that," he said, handing the note to the senior clerk, "take that to the secretary of the Board at once."And straight into the turmoil and confusion of the Pit, to the scene of so many of his victories, the battle ground whereon again and again, his enemies routed, he had remained the victor undisputed, undismayed came the "Great Bull." No sooner had he set foot within the entrance to the Floor, than the news went flashing and flying from lip to lip.The galleries knew it, the public room, and the Western Union knew it, the telephone booths knew it, and lastly even the Wheat Pit, torn and tossed and rent asunder by the force this man himself had unchained, knew it, and knowing stood dismayed.

For even then, so great had been his power, so complete his dominion, and so well-rooted the fear which he had inspired, that this last move in the great game he had been playing, this unexpected, direct, personal assumption of control struck a sense of consternation into the heart of the hardiest of his enemies.

Jadwin himself, the great man, the "Great Bull" in the Pit! What was about to happen? Had they been too premature in their hope of his defeat? Had he been preparing some secret, unexpected manoeuvre? For a second they hesitated, then moved by a common impulse, feeling the push of the wonderful new harvest behind them, they gathered themselves together for the final assault, and again offered the wheat for sale; offered it by thousands upon thousands of bushels; poured, as it were, the reapings of entire principalities out upon the floor of the Board of Trade.

Jadwin was in the thick of the confusion by now.And the avalanche, the undiked Ocean of the Wheat, leaping to the lash of the hurricane, struck him fairly in the face.

He heard it now, he heard nothing else.The Wheat had broken from his control.For months, he had, by the might of his single arm, held it back; but now it rose like the upbuilding of a colossal billow.It towered, towered, hung poised for an instant, and then, with a thunder as of the grind and crash of chaotic worlds, broke upon him, burst through the Pit and raced past him, on and on to the eastward and to the hungry nations.

And then, under the stress and violence of the hour, something snapped in his brain.The murk behind his eyes had been suddenly pierced by a white flash.The strange qualms and tiny nervous paroxysms of the last few months all at once culminated in some indefinite, indefinable crisis, and the wheels and cogs of all activities save one lapsed away and ceased.Only one function of the complicated machine persisted; but it moved with a rapidity of vibration that seemed to be tearing the tissues of being to shreds, while its rhythm beat out the old and terrible cadence:

"Wheat--wheat--wheat, wheat--wheat--wheat."Blind and insensate, Jadwin strove against the torrent of the Wheat.There in the middle of the Pit, surrounded and assaulted by herd after herd of wolves yelping for his destruction, he stood braced, rigid upon his feet, his head up, his hand, the great bony hand that once had held the whole Pit in its grip, flung high in the air, in a gesture of defiance, while his voice like the clangour of bugles sounding to the charge of the forlorn hope, rang out again and again, over the din of his enemies:

"Give a dollar for July--give a dollar for July!"With one accord they leaped upon him.The little group of his traders was swept aside.Landry alone, Landry who had never left his side since his rush from out Gretry's office, Landry Court, loyal to the last, his one remaining soldier, white, shaking, the sobs strangling in his throat, clung to him desperately.

Another billow of wheat was preparing.They two--the beaten general and his young armour bearer--heard it coming; hissing, raging, bellowing, it swept down upon them.Landry uttered a cry.Flesh and blood could not stand this strain.He cowered at his chief's side, his shoulders bent, one arm above his head, as if to ward off an actual physical force.

But Jadwin, iron to the end, stood erect.All unknowing what he did, he had taken Landry's hand in his and the boy felt the grip on his fingers like the contracting of a vise of steel.The other hand, as though holding up a standard, was still in the air, and his great deep-toned voice went out across the tumult, proclaiming to the end his battle cry:

"Give a dollar for July--give a dollar for July!"But, little by little, Landry became aware that the tumult of the Pit was intermitting.There were sudden lapses in the shouting, and in these lapses he could hear from somewhere out upon the floor voices that were crying: "Order--order, order, gentlemen."But, again and again the clamour broke out.It would die down for an instant, in response to these appeals, only to burst out afresh as certain groups of traders started the pandemonium again, by the wild outcrying of their offers.At last, however, the older men in the Pit, regaining some measure of self-control, took up the word, going to and fro in the press, repeating "Order, order."And then, all at once, the Pit, the entire floor of the Board of Trade was struck dumb.All at once the tension was relaxed, the furious struggling and stamping was stilled.Landry, bewildered, still holding his chief by the hand, looked about him.On the floor, near at hand, stood the president of the Board of Trade himself, and with him the vice-president and a group of the directors.Evidently it had been these who had called the traders to order.But it was not toward them now that the hundreds of men in the Pit and on the floor were looking.

同类推荐
  • 入越录

    入越录

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • URSULA

    URSULA

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 因明正理门论本

    因明正理门论本

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • The Critique of Judgement

    The Critique of Judgement

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 医林琐语

    医林琐语

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
热门推荐
  • 爱的代价

    爱的代价

    明明是她和汪磊是世人口中的一对模范情侣,她也期许着今后的生活,却眼睁睁看着对她承诺之人出轨。伤透了心的女主,遇上了暖男体质的苏洋,她是否能够重拾爱情?
  • 法华玄义释签

    法华玄义释签

    本书为公版书,为不受著作权法限制的作家、艺术家及其它人士发布的作品,供广大读者阅读交流。汇聚授权电子版权。
  • 未来在磨砺中生辉

    未来在磨砺中生辉

    宝剑锋从磨砺出,梅花香自苦寒来。只有经历过磨砺的人生,才能熠熠生辉。
  • 创世纪之日新月异

    创世纪之日新月异

    这是一个商业故事,也可以说是商业传奇。五年时间创造了一千多亿元的市值,让人不可思议,甚至怀疑。清静下心来,慢慢阅读,细细品味。
  • 无人寄我相思泪

    无人寄我相思泪

    往后余生,空无一人,当相遇时,不知是谁的初心先动。在遇到他之前,她的世界一片荒芜,当她遇上之后,心中的黑暗一驱而散。可曾谁想,当有一天发现,他接近她另有目的,她失望难过地放手离开,却也无意中找到了她的身世,原来,她是……
  • 人间无敌

    人间无敌

    兜率宫前青牛咆哮,一只猴子一棒挑翻了西天,往生桥上阎罗干了三碗忘川的水,“嗝~”……天意如此,我偏要反抗!在某一日,曹曦说出这句话时,天也在为此颤抖……世间遍地妖魔又如何,我要当那人间最无敌!(讲一个我心中的故事。天上地下都是妖魔在统治,当死去的生物再次苏醒,当远古的神话再次降临……人将何去何从……)(ps;无力简介,但保证看了不后悔……)
  • 影帝男神:变装女神霸上你

    影帝男神:变装女神霸上你

    颜夏是一个长相十分帅气的女生,被自家表姐拐骗女扮男装去参加比赛后,意外获得了进入娱乐圈的通行证。她不仅依靠一身男装在娱乐圈里混得风生水起,还一不小心拐跑了影帝男神的心!
  • 登月传真

    登月传真

    科学是人类进步的第一推动力,而科学知识的普及则是实现这一推动的必由之路。在新的时代,科技的发展、人们生活水平的不断提高,为我们青少年的科普教育提供了新的契机。抓住这个契机,大力普及科学知识,传播科学精神,提高青少年的科学素质,是我们全社会的重要课题。科学教育,是提高青少年素质的重要因素,是现代教育的核心,这不仅能使青少年获得生活和未来所需的知识与技能,更重要的是能使青少年获得科学思想、科学精神、科学态度及科学方法的熏陶和培养。科学教育,让广大青少年树立这样一个牢固的信念:科学总是在寻求、发现和了解世界的新现象,研究和掌握新规律,它是创造性的,它又是在不懈地追求真理,需要我们不断地努力奋斗。
  • 相公的倒霉妻

    相公的倒霉妻

    莫南烟,朝京第一剩女,年过二十还未出嫁克死未婚夫,自许配的三位公子均无端退婚后,当朝京人都以为她再也嫁不出去时终在快二十岁生日时,皇帝下旨赐婚给青楚的韩王之子白洛飞朝京人民集体松了一口气盲婚哑嫁,二十一世纪的女性怎么能从韩王之子白洛飞,懦弱又好色,怎么配得上自己花银子买假海盗劫持自己,眼见自由在望谁知假海盗变成了真海盗。。。。。。嫁不出去的女人要塞给自己,白洛飞这口气怎么能咽得下去传闻那女人人不但长得丑,性格更是古怪取回家不是笑话吗?装痴卖傻已经很久了,这次可装不下去了。。。。。。感谢卫给偶做的视频,某夜自己看过之后,都暴汗不已,亲们一定要去看看,实在是.........反正偶是超喜欢.推荐自己的文:《丑妃无敌》:丑女不丑,帅哥很帅《坏坏相公倒霉妻》:聪慧可人的女主,腹黑的男主《娘子你别太嚣张》:男扮女装,女扮男装反串《夫君,女子不好欺!》:《错惹狂帝》:《王爷让偶轻薄下》:被人退婚不是可耻的事情,而是生命的新生《劣妻》:夜给自己建了一个群,群号:45841753,非铁杆勿入,定期清理群成员,敲门砖:潇湘帐户名+喜欢的文名
  • 长安乱上

    长安乱上

    亡国公主长安。她,名唤长安,是个倔脾气的公主。她,精通兵法武艺,胸有家国万志,却始终被“情”这一字尽误“白哥哥,你是否记得,说要带着长安一起品那香飘十里的桃花酿?”情这一字,熏神染骨,误尽苍生。