Mr. Townsend hardly knew what to think. His confidence in the old way that he had been for years pursuing, was impaired, and in spite of his better judgment, confidence in the new way was gaining strength. It occurred to him that he might be neglecting, unwisely, to improve the golden opportunities that were presenting themselves every day, because they did not exactly accord with his old notions of business. He remembered how successful he had been, many years before, in speculating in flour and cotton, and then asked himself why he might not be quite as successful, if he tried his hand in some of the many money-making schemes that were put in operation all around him. Another disastrous voyage, which no human foresight could have prevented, completely unsettled his mind, and, in this state, with a kind of bewildered desperation, he stepped aside from the old beaten way, into one of the many paths that diverged towards the mountains of wealth that were seen in the distance, towering up to the skies. Cleveland, like a tempting spirit, was near him to suggest the path he should take. Stocks, Townsend had a prejudice against, except United States Bank stock, and in that there was not sufficient fluctuation in the price to make its purchase desirable. As a safe investment of money, he would have preferred it to almost any thing else; but as a matter of speculation, the inducements were not strong. “I do not like to have any thing to do with stocks,” he said to Cleveland, who proposed their buying up a majority of the stock of a broken bank, the charter of which was perpetual, and embraced several advantages not usually possessed by banking institutions. “To me there is something intangible about them. A ship, a bale of cotton, or a piece of real estate, have a certain value in themselves; will always bring a certain price; but scrip is merely a representative of property that may or may not exist. You are never certain about it.” “You may be certain enough. As to the Eagle Bank stock, it may be had for thirty cents on the dollar, and, by proper management, in twelve months, or even a less time, be made worth, in the market, from seventy to eighty cents, or even par. It has been done with the People’s Bank, and can and will be done with this. I know several monied men who are beginning to turn their thoughts towards this charter, and if we don’t take hold of the matter at once, the opportunity will pass by. Another such a chance is not likely soon to offer.”