I need two million cash by day after to-morrow, absolutely must have it, and they know it and Haggerdy's coming here to look me over, examine my pocketbook and say, 'What have you got that we want!'" At this moment the butler came with a card. "Did you say any one was here?" said Drake, studying the card. "No, sir." "Show Mr. Haggerdy in when I ring," said Drake, with a nod of dismissal. He rose and beckoning Bojo placed him in the embrosine of the window, where a slight recess hid him completely from the rest of the room. "No need of a record; take it in just for your own curiosity," he said, returning to his desk. Mr. James H. Haggerdy came in like a bulky animal emerging from a cage and blinking at the sun. He was not the man to beat about the bush, and in his own long and varied experience in Wall Street he had been called many names, but he had never been branded with anything petty, a fact which made a certain bond of sympathy between the two men. "Hello, Dan!" "Hello, Jim!" Haggerdy moved to a chair, refused a cigar, and said directly: "Well, Jim, I suppose you know what I've come for." "Sure, to carry off the furniture and the silverware," said Drake, laughing. "That's about it!" said Haggerdy, nodding with a grim twist of his lips. He had a sense of humor, though he seldom laughed. "Dan, they've got you." "So they seem to think." "And they want your Eastern C. and I. stock." "That's quite evident. Will they accept it as a present or do they want me to pay them for taking it?" said Drake grimly. "What's the use of faking," said Haggerdy. "Gunther wants the stock and is going to have it. Do you want to sell now or hand it over. You're a sensible man, Dan; you ought to know when you're beaten." "I'm not sure I am a sensible man," said Drake facetiously. "It's all in the game. You're not kicking because you've been caught, are you?" said Haggerdy, as though in surprise. "No. If I were in Gunther's place I should do just what he's doing. Quite right. Only I'm not sure, Jim, he'd do what I do were conditions reversed." "You paid around 79 for the stock. You've got a million shares you're carrying. The stock's to-day at 54. We'll buy you out at 55. Take it, Dan." "Thanks for the advice, but my answer's No." "Why?" "That stock's going to be worth 150 in two years." "Two years isn't to-day. You're facing conditions." He looked at him as though trying to understand his motive. "The old man isn't bargaining when he says 55; he means 55 and no more." "I know that." "Where are you going to raise two million dollars cash in forty-eight hours? You see, we are well informed." Drake smiled as though this were the easiest matter in the world. "Suppose the Clearing House refuses to clear for the Atlantic Trust to-morrow. What'll that mean?" "A panic." "And where would your Eastern Coke and Iron go then?" "To 40 or 35, wherever you wanted it to go--possibly." "And can't you take a hint?"