value in this case, as in all others, became a guess. In the meantime Weston, the spider in his web, and Simmons, his trusty spokesman, watched the market and were not idle. They had sold some thirty thousand shares, the _Market News_ kept printing items (at a cost of fifty cents per word), the street was all guessing, and Rockhaven bade fair to become a sensation "on 'change." Then a few far-seeing bulls, believing the natural sequence of stock manipulation in this case would end in a "corner," began bidding it up, while Simmons, quick to feel the pulse of the situation and really holding the key to it, aided them by spreading a report to that effect, and when the price showed weakness, buying a few hundred. As most of "the street" asserted that the stock was valueless, his object was to create a short interest, if possible, and in time so manipulate matters as to scare the shorts, knowing full well what the result would be. The only danger he knew lay in the action of Winn Hardy and what he might do. If that duped young man scented the game and, returning, alarmed his aunt, who had bought ten thousand shares and locked them up, the game would be balked. "We must keep your man Hardy on the island all summer," he said to Weston, "and let him quarry stone, at whatever cost. If ever he hears what Rockhaven is quoted at and isn't a fool, he will hurry back and not only unload his thousand shares, but tell his aunt, and she will do the same." "I doubt that he will," answered Weston; "he has few friends in the city, and those are not posted on the market, and as for his aunt, I have assured her that if she hopes to sell out her stock at the top price, she must keep her investment an absolute secret. I gave her the tip on Sunday as we were walking home from church together, and in such a way that I feel sure she will heed it. The good woman is wrapped up in church work and putting the matter in the way I did, and at that time, insures her secrecy. Some people must be handled with religious gloves," he added, smiling urbanely, "and some hit with a club." He thought of Hill in this connection. And in the case of Winn Hardy, he reckoned without Jack Nickerson. CHAPTER XXIV THE PROGRESS OF A "CORNER" There are honest and honorable stock brokers, and Page, a friend of Nickerson's and acting broker for him, was one of them. He knew Simmons well, and had at one time or another come in sharp conflict with the latter in some stock deal. He had watched the bubble, Rockhaven, ever since its inception, and accustomed as he was to the endless variety of tricks resorted to by others of his class, had an intuitive conception of how the general partnership of Weston & Hill and Simmons would be carried to its culmination.