a package of bonds into his overcoat pocket than he did of taking that garment down from its peg behind the door.  He knew from inquiry that men who stole a few hundred dollars, and were caught, usually got as long a term as those who stole thousands.  If he stole one bond he was just as likely to get ten years in State’s prison as if he stole fifty—­so he stole fifty, and when they were wiped out he stole fifty more—­and, well, if the reader is interested he will learn before the end of the story just what John did steal.

Somehow, Prescott’s speculations never succeeded.  Occasionally they would make a good turn and get a few bonds back, but the next week there would be a new fiasco, and John would have to visit the Overland 4s again.  That performance of the accountants had given him a huge contempt for bankers and banking.  He knew that if he wanted to he could grab up a million any day and walk off with it, but he didn’t want to.  All he desired now was to get back to where he was before.  All the speculation was in the hands of Prescott, and Prescott never seemed worried in the least.  He called on John almost daily for what extra bonds were needed as additional collateral, and John took his word absolutely as to the result of the transactions.  He could not do otherwise, for one word from Prescott would have ruined him.

Before long the pile of two hundred Overland 4s was gone.  So was a large quantity of other securities, for John and Prescott had dropped cotton and gone plunging into the stock market.  Here, however, they had no better success than before.  Of course, a difficulty arose when the interest on the Overland 4s came due.  The coupons had to be cut by some one in the bank, and although John usually cut them he did not always do so.  Sometimes the loan clerk himself would take a hand, and call for a particular lot of bonds.  John, however, was now fertile in devices.  The owner of the larger pile of six hundred bonds usually wrote to have his coupons cut about the twenty-seventh of April.  John would make up a collection of six hundred bonds of the same sort, carry them up and cut the coupons in the loan cage.  The other man generally sent in a draft for his interest on the second or third of May.  But now the bonds were away, scattered all over the Street.  So John started a new operation to get the bonds back and straighten out the coupon tangle.  He substituted with the brokers an equal number of bonds of other companies, the interest upon which was not yet due.  There was a large block of Electric 5s and Cumberland 4s which served his purpose admirably, and thus he kept up with the game.  When the coupons became due on the latter he carried back the first.  It kept him and Prescott busy most of the time juggling securities—­at least John knew he was kept busy, and Prescott claimed to be equally so.