His uncle told him the poor fellow had "run up solid" against a short interest in a stock that some Croesus was manipulating to get even with another Croesus who had manipulated HIM, and that the two Croesuses had "buried the old man alive." The name of the stock Jack had forgotten, but the suffering in the victim's face had made an indelible impression.

In reply to Jack's further inquiry, his uncle had spoken as if the poor fellow had been wandering about on some unknown highway when the accident happened, failing to add that he himself had led him through the gate and started him on the road; forgetting, too, to say that he had collected the toll in margins, a sum which still formed a considerable portion of Breen & Co.'s bank account.

One bit of information which Breen had vouchsafed, while it did not relieve the gloom of the incident, added a note of courage to the affair: "He was game, however, all the same, Jack.

Had to go down into his wife's stocking, I hear.

Hard hit, but he took it like a man.".