CHAPTER I.
THE BIRTH OF AN IDEA.
Sunk far back in the huge leather cushions of his morris chair, old Isaac Flint was thinking, thinking hard.

Between narrowed lids, his hard, gray eyes were blinking at the morning sunlight that poured into his private office, high up in the great building he had reared on Wall Street.

From his thin lips now and then issued a coil of smoke from the costly cigar he was consuming.

His bony legs were crossed, and one foot twitched impatiently.

Now and again he tugged at his white mustache.