THE BANKER AND THE BEAR THE SHORT LINE WAR. BY H. K. WEBSTER AND SAMUEL MERWIN. It is only one novel in twenty that is engrossing enough to insist upon a reading, making the mood for its own enjoyment. It is hardly one in twenty which is successful in interpreting to the people of one class or occupation the struggles and sympathies of those without their social or business circles. That “The Short Line War” should do both, makes it very exceptional indeed.--_Chicago Evening Post._ It is one of those tales of vigorous character and action which touch a responsive chord in nearly every class of readers. The story is finely written.--_Toledo Blade._ 16mo. Cloth. $1.50. THE BANKER AND THE BEAR _The Story of a Corner in Lard_ BY HENRY KITCHELL WEBSTER New York THE MACMILLAN COMPANY LONDON: MACMILLAN & CO., LTD. 1900 _All rights reserved_ COPYRIGHT, 1900, BY THE MACMILLAN COMPANY. Norwood Press J. S. Cushing & Co.--Berwick & Smith Norwood Mass. U.S.A. CONTENTS CHAPTER PAGE I. BEGINNINGS 1 II. DICK HASELRIDGE 25 III. THE WILL 38 IV. A VICTORY 59 V. OLD FRIENDS 74 VI. LARD 85 VII. THE SPY 103 VIII. A BATTLE 118 IX. DEEPER STILL 138 X. NEVER DID RUN SMOOTH 151 XI. COMMON HONESTY 166 XII. CONSEQUENCES 183 XIII. HOW THE BEAR SPENT SUNDAY 200 XIV. GOOD INTENTIONS 212 XV. THE STARTING OF AN AVALANCHE 230 XVI. HARRIET 247 XVII. WEDNESDAY MORNING 267 XVIII. HOW THEY BROKE THE RUN 283 XIX. THE FOURTH DAY 301 XX. ASSAULT AND BATTERY 316 XXI. A CORNER 334 THE BANKER AND THE BEAR CHAPTER I BEGINNINGS For more than forty years Bagsbury and Company was old John Bagsbury himself; merely another expression of his stiff, cautious personality. Like him it had been old from infancy; you could as easily imagine that he had once been something of a dandy, had worn a stiff collar and a well-brushed hat, as that its dusty black-walnut furniture had ever smelled of varnish. And, conversely, though he had a family, a religion to whose requirements he was punctiliously attentive, and a really fine library, the bank represented about all there was of old John Bagsbury.