第66章

"But I do feel as though I ought to be on the spot just for now.I can't get it out of my head that we're going to have livelier times in a few months.""But even Mr.Gretry says that you don't need to be right in your office every minute of the time.He says you can manage your Board of Trade business from out here just as well, and that you only go into town because you can't keep away from La Salle Street and the sound of the Wheat Pit."Was this true? Jadwin himself had found it difficult to answer.There had been a time when Gretry had been obliged to urge and coax to get his friend to so much as notice the swirl of the great maelstrom in the Board of Trade Building.But of late Jadwin's eye and ear were forever turned thitherward, and it was he, and no longer Gretry, who took initiatives.

Meanwhile he was making money.As he had predicted, the price of wheat had advanced.May had been a fair-weather month with easy prices, the monthly Government report showing no loss in the condition of the crop.

Wheat had gone up from sixty to sixty-six cents, and at a small profit Jadwin had sold some two hundred and fifty thousand bushels.Then had come the hot weather at the end of May.On the floor of the Board of Trade the Pit traders had begun to peel off their coats.It began to look like a hot June, and when cash wheat touched sixty-eight, Jadwin, now more than ever convinced of a coming Bull market, bought another five hundred thousand bushels.

This line he added to in June.Unfavorable weather--excessive heat, followed by flooding rains--had hurt the spring wheat, and in every direction there were complaints of weevils and chinch bugs.Later on other deluges had discoloured and damaged the winter crop.

Jadwin was now, by virtue of his recent purchases, "long" one million bushels, and the market held firm at seventy-two cents--a twelve-cent advance in two months.

"She'll react," warned Gretry, "sure.Crookes and Sweeny haven't taken a hand yet.Look out for a heavy French crop.We'll get reports on it soon now.You're playing with a gun, J., that kicks further than it shoots.""We've not shot her yet," Jadwin said."We're only just loading her--for Bears," he added, with a wink.

In July came the harvesting returns from all over the country, proving conclusively that for the first time in six years, the United States crop was to be small and poor.The yield was moderate.Only part of it could be graded as "contract." Good wheat would be valuable from now on.Jadwin bought again, and again it was a "lot" of half a million bushels.

Then came the first manifestation of that marvellous golden luck that was to follow Curtis Jadwin through all the coming months.The French wheat crop was announced as poor.In Germany the yield was to be far below the normal.All through Hungary the potato and rye crops were light.

About the middle of the month Jadwin again called the broker to his country house, and took him for a long evening's trip around the lake, aboard the "Thetis."They were alone.MacKenny was at the wheel, and, seated on camp stools in the stern of the little boat, Jadwin outlined his plans for the next few months.

"Sam," he said, "I thought back in April there that we were to touch top prices about the first of this month, but this French and German news has coloured the cat different.I've been figuring that I would get out of this market around the seventies, but she's going higher.I'm going to hold on yet awhile.""You do it on your own responsibility, then," said the broker."I warn you the price is top heavy.""Not much.Seventy-two cents is too cheap.Now I'm going into this hard; and I want to have my own lines out--to be independent of the trade papers that Crookes could buy up any time he wants to.I want you to get me some good, reliable correspondents in Europe; smart, bright fellows that we can depend on.I want one in Liverpool, one in Paris, and one in Odessa, and I want them to cable us about the situation every day."Gretry thought a while.

"Well," he said, at length, "...yes.I guess I can arrange it.I can get you a good man in Liverpool--Traynard is his name--and there's two or three in Paris we could pick up.Odessa--I don't know.I couldn't say just this minute.But I'll fix it."These correspondents began to report at the end of July.All over Europe the demand for wheat was active.

Grain handlers were not only buying freely, but were contracting for future delivery.In August came the first demands for American wheat, scattered and sporadic at first, then later, a little, a very little more insistent.

Thus the summer wore to its end.The fall "situation"began slowly to define itself, with eastern Europe--densely populated, overcrowded--commencing to show uneasiness as to its supply of food for the winter; and with but a moderate crop in America to meet foreign demands.Russia, the United States, and Argentine would have to feed the world during the next twelve months.

Over the Chicago Wheat Pit the hand of the great indicator stood at seventy-five cents.Jadwin sold out his September wheat at this figure, and then in a single vast clutch bought three million bushels of the December option.

Never before had he ventured so deeply into the Pit.

Never before had he committed himself so irrevocably to the send of the current.But something was preparing.

Something indefinite and huge.He guessed it, felt it, knew it.On all sides of him he felt a quickening movement.Lethargy, inertia were breaking up.There was buoyancy to the current.In its ever-increasing swiftness there was exhilaration and exuberance.

And he was upon the crest of the wave.Now the forethought, the shrewdness, and the prompt action of those early spring days were beginning to tell.

Confident, secure, unassailable, Jadwin plunged in.

Every week the swirl of the Pit increased in speed, every week the demands of Europe for American wheat grew more frequent; and at the end of the month the price--which had fluctuated between seventy-five and seventy-eight--in a sudden flurry rushed to seventy-nine, to seventy-nine and a half, and closed, strong, at the even eighty cents.

On the day when the latter figure was reached Jadwin bought a seat upon the Board of Trade.

He was now no longer an "outsider."