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An Introduction to Stata Programming 2nd Edition
Christopher F. Baum Digital Instant Download
Author(s): Christopher F. Baum
ISBN(s): 9781597182201, 1597182206
Edition: 2
File Details: PDF, 16.70 MB
Year: 2016
Language: english
Second Edition
CHRISTOPHER F. BAUM Department of Economics and School of Social
Work
Boston College
®

A Stata Press Publication StataCorp LP College Station, Texas

®

Copyright © 2009, 2016 by StataCorp LP

All rights reserved. First edition 2009
Second edition 2016

Published by Stata Press, 4905 Lakeway Drive, College Station, Texas 77845

Typeset in LATEX 2

Printed in the United States of America

10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

Print ISBN-10: 1-59718-150-1

Print ISBN-13: 978-1-59718-150-1

ePub ISBN-10: 1-59718-219-2

ePub ISBN-13: 978-1-59718-219-5

Mobi ISBN-10: 1-59718-220-6

Mobi ISBN-13: 978-1-59718-220-1

Library of Congress Control Number: 2015955595

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or

transcribed, in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy,
recording, or otherwise—without the prior written permission of StataCorp LP.

3
Contents
Figures

Tables

Preface
Acknowledgments

Notation and typography

1 Why should you become a Stata programmer?
Do-file programming
Ado-file programming
Mata programming for ado-files
1.1 Plan of the book
1.2 Installing the necessary software
2 Some elementary concepts and tools
2.1 Introduction
2.1.1 What you should learn from this chapter
2.2 Navigational and organizational issues
2.2.1 The current working directory and profile.do
2.2.2 Locating important directories: sysdir and adopath
2.2.3 Organization of do-files, ado-files, and data files
2.3 Editing Stata do- and ado-files
2.4 Data types
2.4.1 Storing data efficiently: The compress command
2.4.2 Date and time handling
2.4.3 Time-series operators
2.4.4 Factor variables and operators
2.5 Handling errors: The capture command
2.6 Protecting the data in memory: The preserve and restore
commands
2.7 Getting your data into Stata
2.7.1 Inputting and importing data
Handling text files
Free format versus fixed format

5
 The import delimited command
Accessing data stored in spreadsheets
Fixed-format data files
2.7.2 Importing data from other package formats
2.8 Guidelines for Stata do-file programming style
2.8.1 Basic guidelines for do-file writers
2.8.2 Enhancing speed and efficiency
2.9 How to seek help for Stata programming
3 Do-file programming: Functions, macros, scalars, and matrices
3.1 Introduction
3.1.1 What you should learn from this chapter
3.2 Some general programming details
3.2.1 The varlist
3.2.2 The numlist
3.2.3 The if exp and in range qualifiers
3.2.4 Missing-data handling
Recoding missing values: The mvdecode and mvencode
commands
3.2.5 String-to-numeric conversion and vice versa
Numeric-to-string conversion
Working with quoted strings
3.3 Functions for the generate command
3.3.1 Using if exp with indicator variables
3.3.2 The cond() function
3.3.3 Recoding discrete and continuous variables
3.4 Functions for the egen command
Official egen functions
egen functions from the user community
3.5 Computation for by-groups
3.5.1 Observation numbering: _n and _N
3.6 Local macros
3.7 Global macros
3.8 Extended macro functions and macro list functions
3.8.1 System parameters, settings, and constants: creturn
3.9 Scalars
3.10 Matrices
4 Cookbook: Do-file programming I
4.1 Tabulating a logical condition across a set of variables
4.2 Computing summary statistics over groups

6
 4.3 Computing the extreme values of a sequence
4.4 Computing the length of spells
4.5 Summarizing group characteristics over observations
4.6 Using global macros to set up your environment
4.7 List manipulation with extended macro functions
4.8 Using creturn values to document your work
5 Do-file programming: Validation, results, and data management
5.1 Introduction
5.1.1 What you should learn from this chapter
5.2 Data validation: The assert, count, and duplicates commands
5.3 Reusing computed results: The return and ereturn commands
5.3.1 The ereturn list command
5.4 Storing, saving, and using estimated results
5.4.1 Generating publication-quality tables from stored estimates
5.5 Reorganizing datasets with the reshape command
5.6 Combining datasets
5.7 Combining datasets with the append command
5.8 Combining datasets with the merge command
5.8.1 The one-to-one match-merge
5.8.2 The dangers of many-to-many merges
5.9 Other data management commands
5.9.1 The fillin command
5.9.2 The cross command
5.9.3 The stack command
5.9.4 The separate command
5.9.5 The joinby command
5.9.6 The xpose command
6 Cookbook: Do-file programming II
6.1 Efficiently defining group characteristics and subsets
6.1.1 Using a complicated criterion to select a subset of
observations
6.2 Applying reshape repeatedly
6.3 Handling time-series data effectively
6.3.1 Working with a business-daily calendar
6.4 reshape to perform rowwise computation
6.5 Adding computed statistics to presentation-quality tables
6.6 Presenting marginal effects rather than coefficients
6.6.1 Graphing marginal effects with marginsplot

7
 6.7 Generating time-series data at a lower frequency
6.8 Using suest and gsem to compare estimates from nonoverlapping
samples
6.9 Using reshape to produce forecasts from a VAR or VECM
6.10 Working with IRF files
7 Do-file programming: Prefixes, loops, and lists
7.1 Introduction
7.1.1 What you should learn from this chapter
7.2 Prefix commands
7.2.1 The by prefix
7.2.2 The statsby prefix
7.2.3 The xi prefix and factor-variable notation
7.2.4 The rolling prefix
7.2.5 The simulate and permute prefixes
7.2.6 The bootstrap and jackknife prefixes
7.2.7 Other prefix commands
7.3 The forvalues and foreach commands
8 Cookbook: Do-file programming III
8.1 Handling parallel lists
8.2 Calculating moving-window summary statistics
8.2.1 Producing summary statistics with rolling and merge
8.2.2 Calculating moving-window correlations
8.3 Computing monthly statistics from daily data
8.4 Requiring at least n observations per panel unit
8.5 Counting the number of distinct values per individual
8.6 Importing multiple spreadsheet pages
9 Do-file programming: Other topics
9.1 Introduction
9.1.1 What you should learn from this chapter
9.2 Storing results in Stata matrices
9.3 The post and postfile commands
9.4 Output: The export delimited, outfile, and file commands
9.5 Automating estimation output
9.6 Automating graphics
9.7 Characteristics
10 Cookbook: Do-file programming IV
10.1 Computing firm-level correlations with multiple indices

8
 10.2 Computing marginal effects for graphical presentation
10.3 Automating the production of LATEX tables
10.4 Extracting data from graph files’ sersets
10.5 Constructing continuous price and returns series
11 Ado-file programming
11.1 Introduction
11.1.1 What you should learn from this chapter
11.2 The structure of a Stata program
11.3 The program statement
11.4 The syntax and return statements
11.5 Implementing program options
11.6 Including a subset of observations
11.7 Generalizing the command to handle multiple variables
11.8 Making commands byable
Program properties
11.9 Documenting your program
11.10 egen function programs
11.11 Writing an e-class program
11.11.1 Defining subprograms
11.12 Certifying your program
11.13 Programs for ml, nl, and nlsur
Maximum likelihood estimation of distributions’
parameters
11.13.1 Writing an ml-based command
11.13.2 Programs for the nl and nlsur commands
11.14 Programs for gmm
11.15 Programs for the simulate, bootstrap, and jackknife prefixes
11.16 Guidelines for Stata ado-file programming style
11.16.1 Presentation
11.16.2 Helpful Stata features
11.16.3 Respect for datasets
11.16.4 Speed and efficiency
11.16.5 Reminders
11.16.6 Style in the large
11.16.7 Use the best tools
12 Cookbook: Ado-file programming
12.1 Retrieving results from rolling
12.2 Generalization of egen function pct9010() to support all pairs of
quantiles

9
 12.3 Constructing a certification script
12.4 Using the ml command to estimate means and variances
12.4.1 Applying equality constraints in ml estimation
12.5 Applying inequality constraints in ml estimation
12.6 Generating a dataset containing the longest spell
12.7 Using suest on a fixed-effects model
13 Mata functions for do-file and ado-file programming
13.1 Mata: First principles
13.1.1 What you should learn from this chapter
13.2 Mata fundamentals
13.2.1 Operators
13.2.2 Relational and logical operators
13.2.3 Subscripts
13.2.4 Populating matrix elements
13.2.5 Mata loop commands
13.2.6 Conditional statements
13.3 Mata’s st_ interface functions
13.3.1 Data access
13.3.2 Access to locals, globals, scalars, and matrices
13.3.3 Access to Stata variables’ attributes
13.4 Calling Mata with a single command line
13.5 Components of a Mata function
13.5.1 Arguments
13.5.2 Variables
13.5.3 Stored results
13.6 Calling Mata functions
13.7 Example: st_ interface function usage
13.8 Example: Matrix operations
13.8.1 Extending the command
13.9 Mata-based likelihood function evaluators
13.10 Creating arrays of temporary objects with pointers
13.11 Structures
13.12 Additional Mata features
13.12.1 Macros in Mata functions
13.12.2 Associative arrays in Mata functions
13.12.3 Compiling Mata functions
13.12.4 Building and maintaining an object library
13.12.5 A useful collection of Mata routines

10
14 Cookbook: Mata function programming
14.1 Reversing the rows or columns of a Stata matrix
14.2 Shuffling the elements of a string variable
14.3 Firm-level correlations with multiple indices with Mata
14.4 Passing a function to a Mata function
14.5 Using subviews in Mata
14.6 Storing and retrieving country-level data with Mata structures
14.7 Locating nearest neighbors with Mata
14.8 Using a permutation vector to reorder results
14.9 Producing LATEX tables from svy results
14.10 Computing marginal effects for quantile regression
14.11 Computing the seemingly unrelated regression estimator
14.12 A GMM-CUE estimator using Mata’s optimize() functions
References

Author index

Subject index

11
Figures
5.1 Superimposed scatterplots
6.1 Change in Treasury bill rate
6.2 Average marginal effects in a probit model
6.3 Predictions of real exchange rates
7.1 Rolling quantile regression coefficients
7.2 Distribution of the sample median via Monte Carlo simulation
7.3 Q–Q plot of the distribution of the sample median
8.1 Moving-average growth rates
8.2 Estimated monthly volatility from daily data
9.1 Automated graphics
10.1 Point and interval elasticities computed with margins
10.2 Air quality in U.S. cities
12.1 Rolling lincom estimates

12
Tables
2.1 Numeric data types
5.1 Models of sulphur dioxide concentration
9.1 Grunfeld company statistics
9.2 Grunfeld company estimates
9.3 Wage equations for 1984
10.1 Director-level variables
11.1 MCAS percentile ranges
14.1 Demographics: Full sample

13
Preface
This book is a concise introduction to the art of Stata programming. It
covers three types of programming that can be used in working with Stata:
do-file programming, ado-file programming, and Mata functions that work
in conjunction with do- and ado-files. Its emphasis is on the automation of
your work with Stata and how programming on one or more of these levels
can help you use Stata more effectively.

In the development of these concepts, I do not assume that you have

prior experience with Stata programming, although familiarity with the
command-line interface is helpful. While examples are drawn from several
disciplines, my background as an applied econometrician is evident in the
selection of some sample problems. The introductory first chapter motivates
the why: why should you invest time and effort into learning Stata
programming? In chapter 2, I discuss elementary concepts of the command-
line interface and describe some commonly used tools for working with
programs and datasets.

The format of the book may be unfamiliar to readers who have some
familiarity with other books that help you learn how to use Stata. Beginning
with chapter 4, each even-numbered chapter is a “cookbook” chapter
containing several “recipes”, 47 in total. Each recipe poses a problem: how
can I perform a certain task with Stata programming? The recipe then
provides a complete worked solution to the problem and describes how the
features presented in the previous chapter can be put to good use. You may
not want to follow a recipe exactly from the cookbook; just as in cuisine, a
minor variation on the recipe may meet your needs, or the techniques
presented in that recipe may help you see how Stata programming applies to
your specific problem.

Most Stata users who delve into programming use do-files to automate
and document their work. Consequently, the major focus of the book is do-
file programming, covered in chapters 3, 5, 7, and 9. Some users will find
that writing formal Stata programs, or ado-files, meets their needs.
Chapter 11 is a concise summary of ado-file programming, with the
cookbook chapter that follows presenting several recipes that contain
developed ado-files. Stata’s matrix programming language, Mata, can also
be helpful in automating certain tasks. Chapter 13 presents a summary of

14
Mata concepts and the key features that allow interchange of variables,
scalars, macros, and matrices. The last chapter, cookbook chapter 14,
presents several examples of Mata functions developed to work with ado-
files. All the do-files, ado-files, Mata functions, and datasets used in the
book’s examples and recipes are available from the Stata Press website, as
discussed in Notation and typography.

The second edition of this book contains several new recipes illustrating
how do-files, ado-files, and Mata functions can be used to solve
programming problems. Several recipes have also been updated to reflect
new features in Stata added between versions 10 and 14. The discussion of
maximum-likelihood function evaluators has been significantly expanded in
this edition. The new topics covered in this edition include factor variables
and operators; use of margins, marginsplot, and suest; Mata-based
likelihood function evaluators; and associative arrays.

15
Acknowledgments
I must acknowledge many intellectual debts that have been incurred during
the creation of the first and second editions of this book. I am most indebted
to Nicholas J. Cox, who served as a technical reviewer of the original
manuscript, both for his specific contributions to this project and for his
willingness to share his extensive understanding of Stata with all of us in the
Stata user community. His Speaking Stata columns alone are worth the cost
of a subscription to the Stata Journal. Studying Nick’s many routines and
working with him on developing several Stata commands has taught me a
great deal about how to program Stata effectively.

My collaboration with Mark E. Schaffer on the development of ivreg2

and other routines has led to fruitful insights into programming techniques
and to the coauthored section 14.12. At StataCorp, Bill Gould, David
Drukker, Alan Riley, and Vince Wiggins have been most helpful and
encouraging. In the Stata user community, David Roodman and Ben Jann
have contributed greatly to my understanding of Stata’s and Mata’s
programming languages.

Several of the new recipes in this edition have been inspired by

participants in Stata Users Group meetings and seminars at the IMF Institute
for Capacity Development, the Civil Service College Singapore, DIW
Berlin, and several academic venues. I thank Stan Hurn for encouraging a
more detailed discussion of maximum-likelihood estimation techniques.

Oak Square School Christopher F. Baum

Brighton, Massachusetts
November 2015

16
Notation and typography
In this book, I assume that you are somewhat familiar with Stata, that you
know how to input data, and that you know how to use previously created
datasets, create new variables, run regressions, and the like.

I designed this book for you to learn by doing, so I picture you reading
this book while sitting at a computer and using the sequences of commands
contained in the book to replicate my results. In this way, you will be able to
generalize these sequences to suit your own needs.

Generally, I use the typewriter font to refer to Stata commands,

syntax, and variables. A “dot” prompt followed by a command indicates that
you can type verbatim what is displayed after the dot (in context) to
replicate the results in the book.

I use the italic font for words that are not supposed to be typed; instead,
you are to substitute another word or words for them. For example, if I said
to type by(groupvar), you should replace “groupvar” with the actual name
of the group variable.

All the datasets and do-files for this book are freely available for you to
download. You can also download all the user-written commands described
in this book. See http://www.stata-press.com/data/itsp2.html for
instructions.

In a net-aware Stata, you can also load the dataset by specifying the
complete URL of the dataset. For example,

This text complements the material in the Stata manuals but does not
replace it, so I often refer to the Stata manuals by using [R] , [P] , etc. For
example, [R] summarize refers to the Stata Base Reference Manual entry
for summarize, and [P] syntax refers to the entry for syntax in the Stata
Programming Reference Manual.

1
17
Chapter 1
Why should you become a Stata programmer?
This book provides an introduction to several contexts of Stata
programming. I must first define what I mean by “programming”. You can
consider yourself a Stata programmer if you write do-files, which are text
files of sequences of Stata commands that you can execute with the do
([R] do) command, by double-clicking on the file, or by running them in the
Do-file Editor ([R] doedit). You might also write what Stata formally
defines as a program, which is a set of Stata commands that includes the
program ([P] program) command. A Stata program, stored in an ado-file,
defines a new Stata command. You can also use Stata’s matrix programming
language, Mata, to write routines in that language that are called by ado-
files. Any of these tasks involves Stata programming.1

With that set of definitions in mind, we must deal with the why: why
should you become a Stata programmer? After answering that essential
question, this text takes up the how: how you can become a more efficient
user of Stata by using programming techniques, be they simple or complex.

Using any computer program or language is all about efficiency—getting

the computer to do the work that can be routinely automated, reducing human
errors, and allowing you to more efficiently use your time. Computers are
excellent at performing repetitive tasks; humans are not. One of the strongest
rationales for learning how to use programming techniques in Stata is the
potential to shift more of the repetitive burden of data management,
statistical analysis, and production of graphics to the computer. Let’s
consider several specific advantages of using Stata programming techniques
in the three contexts listed above.

Do-file programming

Using a do-file to automate a specific data-management or statistical task

leads to reproducible research and the ability to document the empirical
research process. This reduces the effort needed to perform a similar task at
a later point or to document for your coworkers or supervisor the specific
steps you followed. Ideally, your entire research project should be defined

19
by a set of do-files that execute every step, from the input of the raw data to
the production of the final tables and graphs. Because a do-file can call
another do-file (and so on), a hierarchy of do-files can be used to handle a
complex project.

The beauty of this approach is its flexibility. If you find an error in an

earlier stage of the project, you need only to modify the code and then rerun
that do-file and those following to bring the project up to date. For instance,
a researcher may need to respond to a review of her paper—submitted
months ago to an academic journal—by revising the specification of
variables in a set of estimated models and estimating new statistical results.
If all the steps that produce the final results are documented by a set of do-
files, her task is straightforward. I argue that all serious users of Stata
should gain some facility with do-files and the Stata commands that support
repetitive use of commands.

That advice does not imply that Stata’s interactive capabilities should
be shunned. Stata is a powerful and effective tool for exploratory data
analysis and ad hoc queries about your data. But data-management tasks and
the statistical analyses leading to tabulated results should not be performed
with “point-and-click” tools that leave you without an audit trail of the steps
you have taken.

Ado-file programming

On a second level, you may find that despite the breadth of Stata’s official
and user-written commands, there are tasks you must repeatedly perform
that involve variations on the same do-file. You would like Stata to have a
command to perform those tasks. At that point, you should consider Stata’s
ado-file programming capabilities. Stata has great flexibility: a Stata
command need be no more than a few lines of Stata code. Once defined, that
command becomes a “first-class citizen”. You can easily write a Stata
program, stored in an ado-file, that handles all the features of official Stata
commands such as if exp, in range, and command options. You can (and
should) write a help file that documents the program’s operation for your
benefit and for those with whom you share the code. Although ado-file
programming requires that you learn how to use some additional commands
used in that context, it can help you become more efficient in performing the
data-management, statistical, or graphical tasks that you face.

20
Mata programming for ado-files

On a third level, your ado-files can perform some complicated tasks that
involve many invocations of the same commands. Stata’s ado-file language
is easy to read and write, but it is interpreted. Stata must evaluate each
statement and translate it into machine code. The Mata programming
language (help mata) creates compiled code, which can run much faster
than ado-file code. Your ado-file can call a Mata routine to carry out a
computationally intensive task and return the results in the form of Stata
variables, scalars, or matrices. Although you may think of Mata solely as a
matrix language, it is actually a general-purpose programming language,
suitable for many nonmatrix-oriented tasks, such as text processing and list
management.

The level of Stata programming that you choose to attain and master
depends on your needs and skills. As I have argued, the vast majority of
interactive Stata users can and should take the next step of learning how to
use do-files efficiently to take full advantage of Stata’s capabilities and to
save time. A few hours of investment in understanding the rudiments of do-
file programming—as covered in the chapters to follow—will save you
days or weeks over the course of a sizable research project.

A smaller fraction of users may choose to develop ado-files. Many users

find that those features lacking in official Stata are adequately provided by
the work of members of the Stata user community who have developed and
documented ado-files, sharing them via the Stata Journal, the Statistical
Software Components (SSC) archive,2 or their own user site. However,
developing a reading knowledge of ado-file code is highly useful for many
Stata users. It permits you to scrutinize ado-file code—either that of official
Stata or user-written code—and more fully understand how it performs its
function. In many cases, minor modifications to existing code may meet your
needs.

Mata has been embraced by programmers wishing to take advantage of

its many features and its speed. Although this book does not discuss
interactive use of Mata, I present two ways in which Mata can be used in
ado-files: in “one-liners” to fulfill a single, specific task, and as functions to
be called from ado-files.

1.1 Plan of the book

21
The chapters of this book present the details of the three types of Stata
programming discussed above, placing the greatest emphasis on effective
use of do-file programming. Each fairly brief chapter on the structure of
programming techniques is followed by a “cookbook” chapter. These
chapters contain several “recipes” for the solution of a particular,
commonly encountered problem, illustrating the necessary programming
techniques to compose a solution. Like in a literal cookbook, the recipes
here are illustrative examples; you are free to modify the ingredients to
produce a somewhat different dish. The recipes as presented may not
address your precise problem, but they should prove helpful in devising a
solution as a variation on the same theme.

1.2 Installing the necessary software

This book uses Stata to illustrate many aspects of programming. Stata’s

capabilities are not limited to the commands of official Stata documented in
the manuals and in online help. The capabilities include a wealth of
commands documented in the Stata Journal, the Stata Technical Bulletin,
and the SSC archive.3 Those commands will not be available in your copy of
Stata unless you have already located and installed them. To locate a user-
written command (such as thatcmd), use search thatcmd (see [R] search).

Newer versions of the user-written commands that you install today may
become available. The official Stata command adoupdate
([R] adoupdate), which you can use at any time, will check to see whether
newer versions of any user-written commands are available. Just as the
command update query will determine whether your Stata executable and
official ado-files are up to date, adoupdate will determine whether any
user-written commands installed in your copy of Stata are up to date.

. There are also specialized forms of Stata programming, such as dialog programming,
scheme programming, and class programming. A user-written program can present a
dialog, like any official Stata command, if its author writes a dialog file. The command
can also be added to the User menu of Stata’s graphical interface. For more information,
see [P] dialog programming and [P] window programming. Graphics users can write
their own schemes to set graphic defaults. See [G-4] schemes intro for details. Class
programming allows you to write object-oriented programs in Stata. As [P] class
indicates, this has primarily been used in Stata’s graphics subsystem and graphical user
interface. I do not consider these specialized forms of programming in this book.
. For details on the SSC (Boston College) archive of user-contributed routines, type
help ssc .

22
Chapter 2
Some elementary concepts and tools
2.1 Introduction
This chapter lays out some of the basics that you will need to be an effective
Stata programmer. The first section discusses navigational and
organizational issues: How should you organize your files? How will Stata
find a do-file or an ado-file? The following sections describe how to edit
files, appropriate data types, several useful commands for programmers,
and some guidelines for Stata programming style. The last section suggests
how you can seek help for your programming problems.

2.1.1 What you should learn from this chapter

Know where your files are: master the current working directory and
the ado-path
Learn how to edit do- and ado-files effectively
Use appropriate data types for your variables
Use compress when useful
Use time-series operators effectively
Use factor variables and operators effectively
Use capture, preserve, and restore to work efficiently
Use Stata’s data input commands effectively
Adopt a good style for do-file programming and internal documentation
Know where (and when) to seek help with your Stata programming
Know how to trace your do-file’s execution to diagnose errors

2.2 Navigational and organizational issues

We are all familiar with the colleague whose computer screen resembles a
physical desk in a cluttered office: a computer with icons covering the
screen in seemingly random order. If you use Stata only interactively, storing
data files on the desktop might seem like a reasonable idea. But when you
start using do-files to manage a project or writing your own ado-files, those
files’ locations become crucial; the files will not work if they are in the
wrong place on your computer. This section describes some navigational

24
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 "Yes, I see it now. But he always was odd—he always held something
back. I tell you, he's crazy! Now, he's either just crazy over his fool
Socialist ideas, or else he's going to hold out for a squeeze. In the first case
you can handle him. In the second, I can.

"You see—I couldn't tell our directorate," he went on; "but there was
always something lacking which I couldn't handle myself. We need him,
and we've got to have him! You can get him, I know you can. You can do
anything you like. You're wonderful!"

She sat and looked at him, her lips still parted in the same enigmatic
smile which he did not like to see; but she made no answer.

"What's wrong with him?" he went on immediately. "What does he say is

the trouble, anyway? And is it the truth that he's got the overhead current?"

She nodded. "Of course, I know something about it from my work in the
office. Yes, he told me that he had done what you have all been trying to do
so long. He said he came over under power from the overhead—just as he
told you."

"He may be lying, for all we know. You can't look at a car and tell where
its charge came from. Electricity is electricity, to all intents and purposes.
What I want to know is, what he's got against us, anyhow, Jennie?"

"Well, for one thing, he seemed troubled because Grace would not go
back with him. He seemed to think that you and the life you could give her
had been the reason for her abandoning him."

"Why, what nonsense! Grace hasn't abandoned him! And I only got her
over here because I needed her myself—before—well, before we were
married. Who was to take care of me, I'd like to know? And you say he
complains of that!"

"That was one of the things."

"But Grace would go back! She's none too well pleased now, since you
and I have taken charge here. She'd go back to Charley to-morrow if he
asked her—why, I'd make him take care of her, of course. The trouble with
him is, he values his own personal affairs too much. That's no way to begin
in the business world. A man has to bend everything to the one purpose of
success. Look at me, for instance."

IV

She did look at him, calmly, coldly, without the tremor of an eyelid,
without raising a hand to touch him as he stood close by, without indeed
making any verbal answer. A slight shudder passed over her, visible in the
twitch of her shoulders.

"It's getting cooler!" he exclaimed. "I'll fetch a wrap for you." And so
hastened away, obsequious, uxorious, as he always was with her.

"But Charley never would take any counsel from anybody," resumed he
presently. "He's always been tractable enough, that's true; never raised much
of a disturbance until to-night—I don't see why he cut up so ugly now. He's
not crazy over Grace, and if the truth be told, Grace isn't the sort of girl that
a man would get crazy over. You're that sort."

"Perhaps not," she smiled faintly. "Just the same, Grace's attitude may
have started him to thinking. When he began thinking he seemed to
conclude that all the world was wrong."

"And he's starting in to set it right! He's going in for the uplift stunt, eh?
That's the way with a lot of these reformers! They want to set the world
right according to their own ideas. They don't pay any attention to the men
who keep them from starving. I made that boy—what he's got he owes to
me."

"Indeed! How singular! He says that it's just the other way about; that
what you have you took from him! He says you want to take more—more
than your share—from things that belong to everybody."
 "What's that! What's that! Well, now, of all the insane idiocy I ever
heard! Good God, what next! Him, Charles Halsey, the man I brought up
with me! Jennie, I never heard the like of that in all my time."

"But if that's the way he feels, now's not the time to argue that with
him!"

"But, good God, the effrontery—"

"All the world is full of effrontery, Mr. Rawn," she said—continuing to

address him formally, as she always did. "It's buy and sell. Everything we
get we pay for in one way or another. Even if we took power out of the air
by our overhead motors, we'd pay for that, one way or another—nothing
comes from nothing—we pay, we pay all the time, Mr. Rawn!"

"You don't need to go into theories and generalizations," said he testily.

"We've had enough of that from him. We are both practical. You simply get
that man and bring him back into the fold, that's all! Do your share."

"My share? It's easy, isn't it?" She smiled at him again annoyingly.

"But you can do it?"

"Yes, I can do it. But I can't evade the truth I just told you. I'd have to
pay. You'd have to pay."

"We're beggars, and can't choose," said John Rawn savagely. "Besides,
there's no harm done—I'm not asking you to do anything improper,
anything to compromise yourself—but get him, that's all! And when we've
got him in hand—when I know what I want to know—I'll wring him dry
and throw him on the scrap heap. That's what I'll do with him!"

"Yes, I think you would," she said.

 "It's the only right thing to do," Rawn fumed. "He'll get what's coming to
him. He's been throwing down his one best friend."

"Are there any best friends in business, Mr. Rawn?" she asked.

"Of course there are. Haven't I been a friend to him; haven't I got a lot of
friends of my own?"

"What would they do for you to-morrow, Mr. Rawn?"

"Well, that's a different matter; they might take care of themselves—I

would take care of myself. But this fool here that I'm asking you to handle
isn't taking care of himself or any one else. He's crazy, that's all about him!
Did he hand you out any of this talk about the rights of man? I more than
half suspect him of sympathizing with these labor unions. He's a Socialist at
heart, that's what he is!"

She nodded her head a little. "Names don't make much difference in such
matters."

VI

"Isn't it a funny thing," he rejoined, turning to her in his walk, "that the
very men who have failed, the very ones who most need help themselves,
are the ones who are out to help everybody else! The blind always want to
lead the blind! These labor unions depend on us for their daily bread and
butter, yet they want to fight us all the time. There's no trust in this country
so big as the labor trust, and there's no ingratitude in the world like that of
the laboring man's.

"Why, look at me, Jennie—you know something of my plans. This very

month I was going to put fifty thousand dollars more into my cooperative
farm in the South, a thing I have been working out for the benefit of my
laboring people. I'm going to do more than old Carnegie has done! You and
I ought to have set up some kind of prizes, medals—start some sort of hero
competition. Helping colleges is old, and so are libraries old. I don't place
myself any station back of Rockefeller himself. The Rockefeller Foundation
was a great idea. Just wait! I'll raise him out of the game! When I get all my
plans made, they'll speak of John Rawn when they mention philanthropy!

"And just to think, Jennie," he went on excitedly, "that all such big plans
as that, plans for the good of humanity, should come to nothing! To be held
up and handicapped by the folly of a man who has never been able to do
anything for himself or any one else! It makes me sick to think of it. He
claims to be a friend of the laboring people, and here he's tying the hands of
the greatest friend of the laboring men in this town to-day—myself, John
Rawn, standing here! Why, if I'd hand this country the John Rawn
Foundation for industrial assistance, all thought out, all financed, all ready
to go to work to-morrow, that crazy fool there, with his Socialist ideas,
would block it all. He's going to block it all.

"Now, it's up to you. You're the only one that can keep him from doing
that very thing. Don't you see, it isn't just you and me he's ruining. It isn't
himself he's ruining. He's going to hurt the whole country. Jennie, there's a
considerable responsibility on you to-night. Where he is wrong is in
thinking that the weak can help the weak. It's the other way about—it's the
strong that can help—Power!—that's what counts! It's for you to show him
that. Jennie, girl—it's not so much myself. But think of your country."

"Yes," she nodded, "that's precisely it!"

"But he didn't affect you in the least, Jennie—he didn't get you going
with that kind of foolishness."

"I never heard any one talk just as he did, before," said she slowly. "You
see, I hadn't thought of these things myself, for I'm only a woman. He said
that all this power, taken from the hills and the forests and the air and the
rivers, belongs to everybody—to all the world—"

"But he didn't impress you with that nonsense, Jennie?"

"He said things—I told him that I'd never thought of life just that way.
And I haven't, Mr. Rawn. I told him, as I admit to you, that I hadn't thought
of anybody much but myself—I just tried to climb. I think all women do."

"It's right they should, it's the only way. Selfishness is the one great
cause of the world's progress, my dear."

"Well, I told him that his way of thinking was so new to me, that I
needed time to think it over."

"But you didn't believe a word he said—you never would!"

VII

"Mr. Rawn," said she, looking him full in the face, "we've both of us
climbed pretty fast. I always put my family out of memory all I could. But
somehow I seem to recollect that my father used to talk of things a good
deal as Mr. Halsey does. I begin to realize what I told you a while ago—no
matter how or where we climb, we pay for what we get, sometime,
somewhere, somehow!

"But listen," she leaned toward him with some sudden access of
emotion. "I can do this much! I'll agree to bring in Charley Halsey, bound
hand and foot! You can throw him and me, too, on the scrap heap when the
time comes! It's a game. I'll play it. I'll take my chance." She half rose,
thrilling, vibrant.

"I knew you would, Jennie."

"Yes, but you'll have to pay."

"Have I ever said I wouldn't? Didn't I just get done telling him I'd make
him rich the minute he said the word?"

"It doesn't seem to be money he wants. I—don't—believe—that's what

the pay would have to be."
 "What do you mean? You're getting too deep for me now. I'm only a
plain man, my girl!"

She smiled at him, still enigmatic, still cool and calm, still almost
insolent, as she often was with him. "He's been talking all sorts of folly
about getting things in tune—getting gravitation in tune with labor—all
sorts of abstractions. Well, don't you see, if I got in tune with his notions, I
might be able to influence him!"

Rawn grew cold and hard. "There's one thing we can't do, Jennie," said
he. "We can't side in with any of his socialistic talk. What he wants to do is
to give to the people of this country for nothing what this International
Power Company is planning to sell them for ever. What we want is
monopoly! I've been gambling everything I've got on the certainty of that
monopoly. I'm in soak, in hock, up to my eyes on the market, this minute.
I'm margined to the full extent of my credit. The biggest men of America
are back of me. I'll be rich if this thing goes through—one of the richest
men in America. But I'd almost rather lose it all than to see you side in with
him, or listen for five minutes to his rotten talk about the 'rights of man.'
There are no rights of man except what each man can take for himself! As
for him, I'd kill him, or get him killed, if I knew first how he got that current
through the receivers. Give me that, and I'll let the rights of man wait a
while. I'll show them a thing or two!

"But of course," he added, frowning again in helpless perturbation,

"we've got to get him in hand. Grace couldn't do it."

"No; on the contrary. I can—if I pay!"

"Then pay!" he snarled suddenly, his voice harsh, half choking. "What's
the price—nothing worth mentioning. But it's got to be paid, no matter what
it is. We're caught, and we're squeezed! We've got to pay, no matter what it
is, Jennie!"

"Is it no matter to you, Mr. Rawn?"

"How can it be? I'm almost crazy to-night! Do it, that's all, and draw on
me to the limit!"
 "To the limit, Mr. Rawn?"

"To the limit!" He looked her straight in the eye, and she met his gaze
fully. She shivered slightly again, but her delicately clean-cut face showed
no further sign. Only she shivered, and pulled her wrap a trifle closer about
her shoulders.

"Very well," she said. "I may have to draw on you—and myself, too."

"It's all in the game, Jennie—we've got to play it together—we're two of

the same sort—we've got to climb, to succeed. We run well together. One
must help the other's hand."

"Yes, it's a game," she answered; and so rose, and left him without
further word.

VIII

John Rawn followed her up the stair, mumbling some sort of conjugal
affection, but she left him at the landing and passed toward her own
apartments down the hall, giving him hardly even a look of farewell. He
followed her with his eyes, standing a little time, his hand resting on the
lintel of his own door.

Alone, Rawn seated himself in the Elizabethan armchair devised by his

most favored decorator as fitting for this Elizabethan room. A vast oak bed,
heavily carved, with deep and heavy curtains, represented the decorator's
idea of what the Virgin Queen preferred. The walls were deeply carved in
wainscot and cornice. A rude attempt was made at strength and simplicity in
this, the sanctum of the master of Graystone Hall. Granted the aid of a
lively imagination, this might have been the apartment of some feudal lord
of another day; as the designer and architect had not failed delicately to
suggest to Mr. Rawn.
 It is possible that in the time of Elizabeth pier glasses with heavily
carved frames were not common in the size affected by Mr. Rawn in his
private apartment. He stood before the great glass now and gazed at what he
saw; a face haggard and lined, shoulders stooping a little forward, body a
little stooped, a little heavy, a little soft; the watch charm hanging in free air
—the figure of a man no longer athletic, if ever so.

Rawn stood engaged in his regular nightly devotions—he made no

prayers of eventide beyond that to his mirror. But now something he saw
caused him to fling himself into a seat at a smaller glass, where the light
was better. He gazed into this also, intently. Something seemed strange
about his eyes, about his mouth. He turned his face slightly sidewise and
studied the deep triangular lines at the corner of the chin. He saw a roll of
fat at the back of his neck, and observed a certain throatiness, a
voluminousness of flesh below the chin. The latter stood out distinct,
pushing forward;—the rich man's chin, the old man's chin. He lifted a finger
and touched the arteries on his temples. They were firmer to the touch than
once they had been. He looked at the veins on his hands, and realized that
they stood fuller than was once the case. His nose, large, just a trifle
bulbous, seemed to him to have gained somewhat in color in late years. He
looked at his eyes in eager questioning. Yes, they belonged to him! But for
some reason they lacked brilliance and fire. They were colder, less
impressive, less responsive;—the rich man's eyes, the old man's eyes. He
looked at his hair, now almost white at the temples. He hesitated for a
moment, then picked up a hand glass and deliberately turned his back to the
mirror. Yes, it was there, a shiny spot of naked epidermis. He knew that, but
always he shunned the knowledge and the proof. For many years his thick
mane of wiry hair had been his pride.

John Rawn turned and put the hand mirror on the dresser top again. He
looked full into the glass at his image once more. His pendulous lower lip
drooped, tremulously. He saw his eyes winking. He saw something else.
Yes, to his wonder, to his gasping horror, he saw something strange and
revolutionary! A tear was standing in the corner of his eye! It dropped, it
trickled down his cheek.
 John Rawn for the first time in his life was learning what the one game is
—and learning that time is the one winner in that one game! He was old.

CHAPTER VI
AN INFORMAL MEETING

It must surprise those simple folk, Messieurs Washington, Jefferson, and

their like, were they to return to life at this advanced day and gaze upon the
admirable republic which they fancied to be founded on immutable
principles. As in politics to-day those principles would seem proved to have
been not quite immutable, so, in commerce, men and methods would appear
wholly different from those known in that earlier day. For instance, in
commercial matters, the men of that day would now find in daily
application a fourth dimension of affairs once wholly unknown; the sixth
sense of the modern business man, a delicately differentiated faculty
evolved in the holy of holies where events cast their financial shadows far
in advance of themselves. John Jay, or any financier of Revolutionary time,
very likely lacked in that regard, and had but his five senses.

This keen sense of prophecy, property of modern leaders in finance, was

not lacking in the case of the directors of the International Power Company,
all and several; and more especially several. Capitalists hunt in packs—but
only up to a certain point. The sauve qui peut has small chivalry about it
even in the holy of holies.

Within a few days after the turbulent scenes which took place in the
quiet surroundings of Graystone Hall, there was held, quite informally,
indeed on a wholly impromptu basis, a meeting of the greater portion of the
directors of the International Power Company. It was a meeting not called
by the president, and the president knew nothing of it. It was not set for the
usual headquarters in the East; on the contrary, by merest chance, these
keen-witted men met by accident in the western city where were located the
works and central operating offices of the International Power Company.
They made their stopping place, as usual, at the National Union Club,
where they were less certain to become the prey of prying reporters—a
breed detested above all things by these and their like.

II

There was, this afternoon, casually present, a certain gray-haired, full-

bodied man, of full beard and rather portly body. He was speaking with
President Standley, of St. Louis, who also by merest chance happened to be
in town. To them presently came the former general traffic manager of Mr.
Standley's road, Ackerman, also present by merest accident. Two or three
others, moreover, by mere accident, joined them, figures which were
familiar at the long table in the New York headquarters. They looked at one
another frankly, and laughed without much reservation.

"Well," said Ackerman, after a time, "let's sit down and have a little
powwow—informally, you know."

The gray-haired man grinned pleasantly again and said nothing, but drew
up a chair.

"Of course, you know," said Standley, as he seated himself, "that our
dissatisfied friend, Van, is here in town to-day?"

The full-bearded man nodded, and an instant later jerked his head toward
the door. "He's here in the club, too," said he, and smiled. "Just happened in,
I suppose." Indeed, as they turned to look they saw advancing, talking
animatedly, a rather slender, youngish man of brown eyes and pointed
beard; none less than the disgruntled director who had long ago been so
summarily handled by John Rawn, president of the International Power
Company.
 "Hasn't he got the nose for news, though?" commented Standley
admiringly. "Now, who told him there was anything doing!"

"He didn't need to have anybody tell him," growled Ackerman. "He can
take care of himself. And by Jove! I'm half inclined to think that he was the
lucky one—to get out the way he did, and when he did."

"Yes, he's lucky," said Standley gravely. He turned to see the vast round
belly of the gray-bearded man heaving in silent mirth. The railway magnate
obviously was amused.

"I don't know!" remarked Ackerman suddenly. "Others, eh?"

III

"Well, boys, why not admit it?" rejoined the older man. "We all know the
facts. We all know why we're here. As you said, Ack, let's hold a little
informal meeting, and talk over what we had better do!"

"How much did you sell!" demanded Standley casually.

"Twenty thousand last week. You sold about double that."

"Yes, it's leaking out, no use denying that! You don't need to list this
thing—it leaks!"

"Of course, Van's buying it," said Standley, nodding toward the slender
figure of the ex-director. "First time I ever knew him to go out for revenge.
It doesn't very often pay."

"Well, I can't figure it out," ventured Ackerman. "The stock won't do him
any more good than it does us. He can't get the control over that old
bonehead Rawn—I mean our respected president—anyhow, any more than
we can. He's sitting tight, with the papers in his box. I admit that I let go a
little, because I figured it was time we were doing something better than six
per cent. with that stock, and all Rawn has done is to make one explanation
on top of another. He can't keep on putting that across with me, anyhow.
But he can sit there, as I say, with the control in his hands, looking at those
nice pictures of the Lady of the Lightnings, which he had engraved as our
trademark."

"He's awfully gone on her," spoke up one. "Not that I blame him, either.
I hate to sell my stock, because I like the looks of our engraved goddess so
much!"

"There's most always a lady standing around somewhere, with the

lightning in her hands," ventured the gray-bearded man solemnly. They
looked at one another again suggestively, but no one spoke more definite
words than that.

IV

"Well, we've had high-sounding talk put up to us about long enough,"

commented Ackerman, at length. "I was one of the first to go in for this, and
I believe in it yet, but I don't want this thing with Rawn in control. Why,
look at him,—he was just a clerk when he came to us, and here he's putting
on more side than any other man in the town. He's taken advantage of his
situation to play the market in and out, all the time, which he couldn't have
done if it hadn't been for friends like us. He squeezed us into backing him—
after we gave him that first little flyer in Rubber, and some Oil—that hadn't
cost us anything and didn't look worth anything. In return he's handed us
promises and explanations and hot air, and nothing else. I've just got an idea
that there's a man-sized nigger somewhere around this woodpile. For me, I
prefer being hung as a little lamb rather than as a full-sized goat. Yes, I let
go a little International—to Van—I'll admit. Time enough to get back into
the game when we've put Rawn out!"

Standley nodded slowly. "That's a good deal the way I felt about it," he
said. "It riles me to see the airs that fellow puts on. I remember him when
he didn't have two suits of hand-me-down clothes to his name, and now he
seems to have a hundred, all done by the best tailors in New York. He used
to tie his drawers with white tape strings, and now he wears specially
shaped silks. Where'd he get it? You talk about the Keeley motor—this
thing has got it beat a mile for mystery. And we fellows have been standing
for that! That is, unless we can stand from under, somehow."

"Yes, seemingly," ventured the last speaker. "But how is that somehow?
There isn't any market for International."

The gray-bearded man laughed jubilantly at this. "Have you found that
out?"

"Yes, I certainly have found it out. Of course, the market has been Van
yonder. But he won't take on over a certain amount. He wants to break the
control, of course. But he's going to wait until he gets up to the point and
then do something quick. He's not going to hold our bag for us—oh, no!
Not him!"

"Well, I've a suspicion," said the older man finally, "that that secret we've
been after has been in the hands of our superintendent for a long time."

"Why didn't Rawn tell us, then?" demanded one of his companions. "Has
he sold us out?"

"No, Rawn hasn't sold us out. At least I don't think so."

"Who has, then?"

"I don't know. The young man who made the wheels go for us whenever
Rawn wanted him to—he's the real key to this situation, if I'm a good
guesser. There's your contraband, and you can locate him somewhere in this
particular woodpile, or I'm no judge."

"Rawn's pretty well spread out in the general market," quite irrelevantly
suggested Standley.

"I should say he was!" growled Ackerman. "He's been in on all the good
things in the last two or three years. He must have made millions—I don't
know how much."
 "In the general market—not International, of course. He's got all his
holdings in that. He has been spending money, though!" Standley wagged
his head.

"For instance, on the Lady of the Lightnings?" suggested Ackerman,

grinning amiably.

"Yes, on his young wife, and his new house, and his boats, and his
automobiles, and all the regular things. He can't have done it out of
International dividends, that's sure!"

"All the better that he hasn't," ventured Standley. The old man nodded.

"Go over there and call Van," he said simply.

The slender man with pointed beard came up pleasantly, his eyes
twinkling. "Well, my fellow sports and department heads!" he said. "What's
the good word this morning?"

"Sit down," said the gray-bearded man. "We know why you're here, and
why you've been hanging around here for the last six months. It's foolish of
you, son, to be out for revenge—nothing in that!"

"I'm not after revenge," smiled the other, his eyes still twinkling. "I've
made my peace!"

"Yes," commented Ackerman. "The friendship of some of you gladiators

is surely a wonderful thing! Rawn hates you, and you hate Rawn. Don't
your ears burn?"

"No, my heart!" He laid a hand on that organ with mock gravity.

"What could you do with the Lady of the Lightnings, Van?" asked
Standley discreetly.
 "Nothing, absolutely nothing."

"Hasn't she any social instincts?"

"Plenty, but all gratified; that's the trouble. There isn't anything those
people want that they haven't got. No, I must say his position is pretty
strong."

"But it's not impregnable, Standley," cut in the gray-bearded man,

stopping the twiddling of his fingers above his round-paunched body.
"Now, look here, we're all friends together, when it comes to that. You
belong with us a lot more than you do with that Jasper from the country. Of
course, you split with us, got mad, took your dolls and all that sort of thing
—we're all used to that—and we all sat tight because it looked good. It
looked better than it does now. So, we're friends again."

"Of course," nodded the slight man. "I understand that."

"Sure you do! Now, it's plain that when it comes to being on the inside,
you're there as an ex-director just as much as we are as real directors—
maybe more so, for all I know."

"Maybe more, yes, that's so," smiled the slender man, his brown eyes
twinkling yet more.

"How much more, then?"

"Why, a whole lot more!"

"What do you know?"

"I know what I've learned for myself and by myself. Gentlemen, it's on
the table! Play the game! I did. I've had some of those college professors at
work for me—they're the people that first got us locoed, anyhow. Rawn, or
rather his son-in-law, got his first notion from his own professor in his
college."
 VI

"The real trouble with business to-day," interrupted the gray-bearded

man, reverting to his universal and invariable grievance, "is that things are
all going wrong with the American people. These Progressives down there
at Washington have set this whole country by the ears—not even the
Supreme Court can square things any more. The suspiciousness of the
average man is getting to be almost criminal, that's what it is. The public
thinks every man with money is a rascal. The public is damnably
ungrateful. Look what we have done for this country, this little set of men
sitting right here—what we've built for them, what we've paid out to them
for wages! What are we getting in return? They envy us our daily bread,
and by the Eternal! they'll come near putting us where we can't get that
much longer! Look at the railway rate cases—it's robbery of the railways.
Capital hasn't any chance any more! The public seems to be getting ready
for anarchy; that's all."

"Isn't it the truth?" remarked the slender man sympathetically. "Still, we

have to handle men as we find them, my friends. In my own case, I've been
fighting the devil with a little of his own fire."

"How's that?"

"Well, for instance, I went out to see if I couldn't land that little secret of
the receiving motor myself, as I just told you. If International doesn't want
to take me in, or if I can't break in, maybe there can be another company
formed—there's considerable corporation room left in New Jersey. You
folks on the International have been having your own troubles with labor,
haven't you?"

"Well, rather!" growled Ackerman. "We put that up to old Colonel J. R.

Bonehead, our president! He seems to have got in about as nearly wrong as
any one could with our esteemed friends of the labor unions!"

"Naturally; well, I'll make a confession, since we're all friends together
—I've had men conferring with your horny-handed citizens and suggesting
that the International Power Company was 'unfair,' and a bad outfit to work
for!"
 "That was nice of you!" growled Ackerman, getting red in the face.
"Fine business, for you to come snooping around our works."

The slender man smiled at him pleasantly. "How else could I get
information?" he inquired. "You must remember that I'm no longer on the
board! But you must remember, also, that of late I have picked up an
occasional dollar's worth of International. I wanted to know how about
certain things!"

"Well, how about them, then?" demanded Standley fiercely. "Where do

we stand?"

"You want me to incriminate myself!"

"Oh, fiddlesticks about incrimination! Cut out that part of it!"

"All right, I will," said the other grimly. "Well, then, I've tried my best to
bribe your people, and I've got little out of it. I've tried the foreman, the
night watchman, and everybody else. I've had a dozen of your workmen
slugged for scabbing, and four or five of them shot, one or two at least, for a
good, permanent funeral. And I paid the funeral expenses! You didn't know
that? Well, that's the truth of it!"

"Well, what do you know about that!" gasped Standley, aghast.

"I know a good deal about it, my Christian friend," said the slender man
relentlessly. "I can tell you what you already know, that your motors are
dismantled to-day. I can tell you also that there's a very good chance that the
secret we've been after is in the hands of one man, and he's holding it up for
some reason best known to himself. We've got nothing on him! I can also
tell you that if he won't give up—though why he won't, I can't imagine—it's
possible we can work out a receiver of our own elsewhere, without him."

VII
 "Well, what does he want?" This from the old man.

"That's the everlasting mystery and puzzle of it. He doesn't want

anything, so far as I can learn. There's some factor in him that I can't get my
hands on, try the best that I can. Not that I don't expect to break you wide
open eventually, my friends."

"Now why do you want to do that?" asked the older financier. "Why not
join in with us and break the bonehead?"

"Fine! But how can we do that? He's sitting pretty tight. The man's
played in fine luck. I admit I rather admire him."

"Bah, that's the way with all the new ones; they all play in luck for a
time. Each Napoleon has his boom, but after a time boom values shrink—
they always do. This chap'll find his level when we get ready to tell him."

"For instance?"

"Well, for instance, then! He's sitting there with a small margin of
control in the International. That gave him his start, and he's wise enough to
hang on to that. But it didn't give him his money—he's only made dividend
money out of that; and who cares for dividend money? He doesn't own
control in the Guatemala Oil Company, does he? He's made a lot out of
Arizona and Utah coppers, but he doesn't own control in a single company
there, does he? He's in with the L.P., but he borrowed to get in. He's made a
big killing in Rubber, but he doesn't own any Rubber control of his own,
does he? Now, you follow him out in every deal he's made—-iron, copper,
steel, oil, rails, timber, irrigation, utilities, industrials—and you'll find he's
simply been banking on his inside information and his outside credit. Who
gave him both of those things?—Why, we did, didn't we? All right!
Suppose we withdraw our credit. What happens?"

VIII
 They went silent now, and grouped a little closer about the tabouret
which stood between them. The old man's voice went on evenly, with no
excitement. Their conversation attracted the attention of none in the wide
lounging room, where large affairs more than once had been discussed—
even the making of Senators to order.

"I'll tell you what happens," the old man resumed. "He quits using us for
a stalking horse, and he comes down to his own system. He's spread out.
Banks are all polite, but—well, he has to put up collateral; and then some
more. If he doesn't want to put up International, he's apt to find that a bunch
of automobiles is poor property when sold at twenty per cent. their cost. He
turns off two or three butlers, but still that doesn't serve for margins. The
market doesn't suit his book any more.

"He's discovering now the great truth of something any old friend Emory
Storrs used to say—Emory always was in debt, or wanted to be, and says
he: 'There's no trouble about prosperity in this country; there's plenty of
money—the only trouble is in the confounded scarcity in collateral.' Well,
he goes over to this young man, who is standing out for some reason best
known to himself, and he tries to get him to come through, and he doesn't
come through. What's left? Why, the diamond lightnings of the Lady of the
Lightnings—and his International Power stock.

"Meantime, all this thing can't be kept entirely secret; that is to say, the
market part of it can't be. But we sit tight, all of us. We hold our regular
directors' meetings of the International board, and we smile, and look
pleasant. We don't know a thing about his hot water experiences in the open
market. He explains to us why this and that happens, or doesn't happen, in
International; and we smile and look pleasant, and we don't know a thing.
After a time it's up to him and the Lady of the Lightnings. Something pops!
He's up against it, all except his International Power. Then Van, and you,
Standley, and you, Ack, and you, and you and I, and all of us—why we're
still pleasant as pie to him and we say, 'Well, Mr. John Rawn, if you'd only
sell us two or three shares of International, we'd pay you twenty times what
it's worth—but it's very much cheaper now—by reason of Van's competing
company!'

"That's about all, I think!"

 The others nodded silently. The game was not new to them, and even in
its most complicated features might have been called simple, with resources
such as theirs. If these resources had made Rawn, they could unmake him.
It was all in the day's work for them.

"So I'll tell you what we'll do," concluded the old financier after a time.
"We'll just let you and Van look around here a little bit and see what more
you can learn. You're one of the real directors of International Power to-day,
Van. Mr. Rawn is on the minority and the toboggan list, or is going to be
there. We'll take the first steps when we see the boys down East. The
country's getting right now for a little speculation—things have been dead
long enough. There'll be a market. When the market starts, I think you know
which way it will go for a certain person I needn't name."

IX

They rose, stood about loungingly for a time, and at length slowly
separated, the older man and the ex-director with the pointed beard falling
back of the others for just an instant.

"What's the truth about the row, Van?" demanded the old man, laying a
large, pudgy hand on the other's shoulder.

"I don't know, honestly, what it is. I can tell you this much—your factory
is closed. Your superintendent, Halsey, has quit his work and left his old
residence. Didn't Rawn tell you that?"

"No! What's up now—some trouble with a woman? Wasn't he married to

Rawn's daughter?"

"Yes, and she went to live with Papa. Papa had the coin."

"And the superintendent is going the chorus girl route here or in New
York?"
 "No, sir, not in the least,—nothing of the sort. You can't guess where he's
gone."

The other shook his head.

"Well, I'll tell you then, since you are one of the directors of the
International and I'm not! He's gone and taken his other pair of pants and
his celluloid collar, and moved over to the North Shore! He's living in the
same house with Papa J. Rawn right now;—that is to say, he has been for
two or three weeks."

"Well, what do you know about that, too!" commented his friend.

"I don't know much about it. As I told you, there's something in here I
don't understand. I can't for the life of me figure out that chap Halsey's
motives or his moves. But I don't care about him. It's Rawn I'm after—and
I'm going to get him!"

CHAPTER VII
THEY WHO SOW THE WIND

The information given by the ex-director in regard to the whereabouts of

Charles Halsey was substantially, if not circumstantially, correct. He had,
indeed, done the most unlikely thing. He had taken up his abode, for the
time at least, at the very place to which he might have seemed least apt to
return; that is to say, the home of his father-in-law, John Rawn.

Many things moved Halsey to this action. In the first place, having
ended his labors, he found no reason for any pretense of continuing them.
Again, although he fully intended to bring divorce proceedings, and fully
intended to leave the city, he was unwilling to depart without seeing once
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