Harry Decker was amused at Grant’s look of surprise and bewilderment.

“You’ll get used to it in time,” he said.  “Say—­there is Mr. Reynolds.  I must speak to him.”

Mr. Reynolds stood near a placard on which, in prominent letters, was inscribed “Erie.”  Harry handed him a paper, which he took, glanced at quickly, and then resumed his bidding.

“He has just bought one thousand Erie,” said Harry, aside, to Grant.

“One thousand?”

“Yes, a thousand shares, at fifty-five.”

“Fifty-five dollars?”

“Yes.”

“Why, that will make fifty-five thousand dollars,” ejaculated Grant, in wonder.

“Yes, that is one of the orders I brought over just now.”

“A man must have a great deal of capital to carry on this business, if that is only an item of a single day’s business.”

“Yes, but not so much as you may imagine.  I can’t explain now, but you’ll understand better as you go on.  Now we’ll go back and see if there’s anything to do in the office.”

Not long afterward Harry had to come back to the Exchange again, and Grant came with him.  He found something new to surprise him.

A tall man of dignified presence was walking across the floor, when a fellow member with a sly stroke sent his tall hat spinning across the floor.  When the victim turned the mischief-maker was intent upon his memorandum book, and the tall man’s suspicions fell upon a short, stout young man beside him.  With a vigorous sweep he knocked the young man’s hat off, saying, “It’s a poor rule that don’t work both ways.”

This led to a little scrimmage, in which a dozen were involved.  The brokers, staid, middle-aged men, most of them, seemed like a pack of school boys at recess.  Grant surveyed the scene with undisguised astonishment.

“What does it mean, Harry?” he asked.

“Oh, that’s a very common occurrence,” said Harry, smiling.

“I never saw grown men acting so.  Won’t there be a fight?”

“Oh, it’s all fun.  The brokers are unlike any other class of men in business hours,” explained Harry.  “It’s one of the customs of the place.”

Just then, to his astonishment, Grant saw his employer, Mr. Reynolds, pursuing his hat, which was rolling over the floor.  He was about to run to his assistance, but Harry stopped him.

“No interference is allowed,” he said.  “Leave them to their fun.  I used to think it strange myself, when I first came into the Exchange, but I’m used to it now.  Now we may as well go back to the office.”

There is no occasion to follow the boys through the day’s routine.  Grant found his companion very obliging, and very ready to give him the information he needed.  Many boys would have been supercilious and perhaps been disposed to play tricks on a country boy, but Harry was not one of them.  He took a friendly interest in Grant, answered all his questions, and did his best to qualify him for the position he was to assume.