Not one of the forty knew of the other thirty-nine; not one was aware of Mr.Bayard in the business of the day.

Thirty as a maximum had been commissioned to buy--each man twenty thousand shares--six hundred thousand shares of Northern Consolidated.

The orders had come through banks in the city, and from banks and brokerages in London, Paris, Berlin, and a dozen points in Europe.

They ran from five hundred to as high as twelve thousand shares the order.

Each broker was given a certain limit below which he might buy, and the orders of no two were in conflict.