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The Curb Market · The Adventuress

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  Chapter twenty three of The Adventuress by Arthur b Reeve. This LibriVox recording is
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  in the public domain. Read by Anne Fletcher, chapter twenty three, The
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  kerb Market. It's impossible to trace all the telephone lines back, considered Kennedy,
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  thinking still of the eavesdropping as we met Burke again downstairs. Perhaps if
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  we begin at the other end and follow the wires from the point where they
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  enter the building to the switchboard, we may find something. If we don't,
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  then we shall have to work harder. That's all. With the aid
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  of Burke, who had ways of getting what he wanted from the management of
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  anything from a bank to our hotel, we succeeded in getting down into the
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  cellar Quietly. Kennedy began by locating the point in the huge cellar of the
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  lodge where the wires of the two telephones one hundred and one hundred one main
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  entered underground, that system having been adopted so as to avoid unsightly wires outside
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  the hotel. Carefully, Craig began a systematic search as he followed the two
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  lines to the point underneath the switchboard upstairs. So far, nothing irregular had
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  been apparent. Craig looked up perplexed, and I feared that he was about
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  to say that the search must be continued wherever the wires led through the house,
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  a gigantic and almost impossible task. Instead, he was looking at a
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  little dark storeroom that was near the point where we were standing. He walked
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  over to it curiously and peered in, and then he struck a match.
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  In the flickering light, we could see a telephone receiver and a little switchboard
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  standing beside it. For a moment, his hand hesitated on the receiver,
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  as though he were afraid that by taking it off the hook, it might
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  call or alarm somebody. Finally, he seemed to decide that unless something were
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  risked, nothing would be gained. He took the receiver deliberately and held it
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  up to his ear. Do you hear anything, I asked. He shook
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  his head as if to discourage conversation. Then he changed the plugs and listened
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  again. Several times. He repeated it. At last, he kept the
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  plugs in for some time while we waited in the darkness in silence. Evidently
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  some one has tapped the regular telephone wires, he said to us at length,
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  and has run extensions to this little switchboard in the store room, prepared
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  to overhear almost anything that goes on over either set of wires that come in.
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  And they've done more. They must have tampered with the switchboard upstairs.
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  Just now I heard a girl call Shelby's room. The doctor answered that rained
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  nurse has arrived and Miss Walcott has gone to her room as she promised.
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  We can't take the time to trace out how it's done, and besides,
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  it too dark at night to do it. Anyhow, Shelby was right.
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  For a moment. Kennedy tried to puzz the thing out, as though determining
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  what was the best course to pursue. Then he stooped down and began picking
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  up even the burnt matches he had dropped. Don't disturb a thing, he
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  said to Burke. We must circumvent this scheme. Has the last train back
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  to the city gone. Burke looked at his watch. Yes, unfortunately,
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  he nodded. Then I'll have to send some one back to the city to
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  my laboratory by automobile. Continued Kennedy. I can't wait until morning, for
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  we shall have to go to the city. Then there's that student of mine,
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  but he's pretty tired. I can get a car and a fresh driver
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  for him, remarked Burke. Perhaps he could doze off during the ride.
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  How would that do? It'll have to do, decided Kennedy. Get the
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  car. We went back upstairs by the way of the kitchen to avoid suspicion,
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  and while Burke hunted up a car and driver, Kennedy found Watkins and
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  gave gave him detailed instruction about what he wanted. I calculate it will take
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  him at least four hours to go and get back, remarked Kennedy. A
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  few minutes later. There isn't anything we can do yet. I think we'd
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  better get a little rest for I anticipate a strenuous time to morrow. We
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  passed through the lobby. There was Sanchez talking to the night clerk. I
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  was down on the dark in front of the casino when the explosion came.
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  We could hear him telling the clerk, yes, sir, it's a wonder
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  any of them were saved. What did you think of that, queried Burke
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  in the elevator, A cruel attempt at an alibi. Kennedy shrugged non committally.
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  I think I'll have Riley watch him until he goes to bed, continued
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  the secret serviceman. I can telephone down from the room. No one's listening
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  now, least by all means, agreed Craig. Tired though we were,
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  I do not think we slept very much as we waited for the return of
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  the car from New York. Still we were at least resting, although to
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  me the hours seemed to pass as a shifting phantasmagoria of fireballs and explosions,
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  strangely blended with the faces of the two beautiful women who had become the chief
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  actresses in the little drama. From one very realistic dream in which I saw
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  Winifred Pequita, Irene Maddox and Francis Walcott, all fantastically seated as telephone operators
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  and furiously ringing Shelby's bell. I woke with a start to find that it
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  was our own bell ringing, and that Kennedy was answering it. The car
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  is back from the city, he said to me, you needn't get up.
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  I can do this job alone. There was no sleep for me,
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  however, I knew, and with the final yawn, I pulled myself together
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  and joined Craig and Burke in the hall. As we went down stairs as
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  quietly as we could, Riley had left a hastily scribbled report in the letter
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  box for Burke, saying that Sanchez had done nothing further suspicious, but had
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  gone to bed. Paquita was in her room. Winifred, Mister and Missus
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  Walcott, Irene Maddox and all the rest were present and accounted for, and
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  he had decided on resting too. Kennedy sent Watkins off to bed after taking
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  from him the things he had brought back from the city, and the early
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  morning, just as it was beginning to lighten a bit, found us three
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  again in the cellar. Kennedy carefully reconnoitered the store room where the telephone outfit
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  had been placed. It was deserted, and he set to work quickly.
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  First he located the wires that represented the number one hundred main and connected them
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  with what looked very much like a seamless iron tube, perhaps six inches long
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  and three inches in diameter. Then he connected, in a similar manner the
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  other end of the tube the wires of Maine one oh one. This is
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  a special repeating coil of high efficiency, he explained, to Burke, whom
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  he was instructing. Has it occurred to him just what he wanted done?
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  Later? It is absolutely balanced as to resistance, number of turns, and
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  everything. I shall run this third line from the coil itself outside and upstairs
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  through Shelby's window before I go to the city. I want you to see
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  that the local telephone company keeps a couple of wires to the city clear for
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  us. I'll get them on the wire and explain the thing, if you'll
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  use your authority at this end of the line, in spite of the risk
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  of disturbing Shelby Maddox, Kennedy finished leading the wires from the coil up to
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  his room and placed a telephone set on a table near the bed. Then
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  he carefully concealed the tube in the cellar, so that under ordinary circumstances no
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  one could find it or even guess that anything had been done with the two
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  trunk lines. Shelby was resting quietly under an opiate, and the nurse was
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  watching faithfully. I did not hear Kennedy's instructions entirely, but I remember he
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  said that Burke was to be allowed into the outer room, and that Shelby,
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  Maddox, and Winifred were to talk only over the new line, as
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  he would later direct again. We retired to our rooms and I fell asleep,
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  listening to Kennedy instruct Burke minutely in something which I think was just as
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  much Greek to the Secret Service man as it was to me. Kennedy saw
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  that it was, and wrote down what he had already said, to make
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  doubly sure My sleep was dreamless this time, for I was thoroughly tired.
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  Whether Kennedy slept, I do not know, but I suspect that he did
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  not, for when he was conducting a case, he seemed unable to rest
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  as long as there was something over which he could work or think. It
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  seemed almost no time before Kennedy roused me he was already dressed. In fact,
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  I don't think he'd taken time for more than a change of linen.
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  A hasty bite of breakfast, and we were again on the first accommodation train
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  that went into the city in the cool, gray dawn, leaving Burke with
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  instructions to keep us informed of anything important that he discovered. No one for
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  whom we cared saw us leave, and we had the satisfaction of knowing that
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  we should be in the city and at work long before any one probably knew
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  it. That was a quality of Kennedy's vigilance and sleeplessness. It's just as
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  important to guard against prying ears at this end of the line as the other,
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  remarked Kennedy, after hurriedly mapping out a course for ourselves, which included
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  first of all, calling out of bed an officer of the telephone company with
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  whom he was intimately acquainted and whom he could therefore afford to take into his
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  confidence without a moment's more delay, we hurried down town from the railroad station.
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  Shelby Maddocks had given Craig the names of two Curb brokers with whom he
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  was dealing in confidence, for although Maddock's munitions was being traded in largely,
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  it was still a Kurb market stock and not listed on the Big Exchange.
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  They're in the same building on Broad Street, remarked Kennedy, as we left
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  the subway at the Wall Street station and took the shortest cuts through the basements
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  of several tall buildings in the financial district. And I don't trust either one
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  of them any farther than I can see him. It was very early and
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  comparatively few people were about. Craig, however, managed to find the janitor
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  of the building where the broker's offices were, a rather old structure overlooking that
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  point where Broad Street widens out and has been seized on by that excited,
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  heterogeneous collection of speculators who gathered daily in a corner roped off from traffic,
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  known as the kerb Market. From the janitor, he learned that there was
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  one small office in the front of the building for rent at a seemingly prohibitive
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  rate. It was no time to haggle over money, and Kennedy laid down
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  a liberal deposit for the use of the room. His tentative arrangements with the
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  janitor had scarcely been completed when two men from the telephone company arrived into our
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  new and unfurnished office. Craig led them while the janitor, for another fee,
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  agreed to get us a flat top desk and some chairs. Whatever we
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  do, began Craig, in a manner that inspired enthusiasm, must be done
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  quickly. You have the orders of the company to go ahead. There's one
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  line that runs into the office of Dexter and Co. On the second floor,
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  and another to Merril and more on the fourth. I want you to
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  locate the wires, cut in on them, and run the cut in extensions
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  to this office. It's not a wire tapping game, so you need have
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  no fear will be any comeback on what you do. While the telephone men
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  were busy locating the two sets of wires, Kennedy laid out on the desk
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  which the janitor brought up on the freight elevator, a tube and a coil
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  similar to that which I had already seen him employ at Westport. Though the
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  telephone men were as clever as any that the official of the company could have
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  sent, it was a complicated task to locate the wires and carry out the
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  instructions that Kennedy had given, and it took much longer than he had anticipated.
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  At least it seemed long in our excited frame of mind. Every minute
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  counted now for the advance guard of office boys, stenographers and clerks had already
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  begun to arrive at the offices in preparation for the work of the day.
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  We had fortunately been able to start early enough so that that part of the
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  work which would have excited comment was already done before the office workers arrived.
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  As for the rest on the surface, as it appeared only as though someone
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  had rented the vacant office and had been able to hurry the telephone company along
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  in installing its service. There was no difficulty about connecting up our own regular
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  telephone, and as soon as it was done, Kennedy hastened to call Westport
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  and the lodge on long distance. Shelby has awakened, much improved after his
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  night's rest, he announced, after a rapid fire conversation. Miss Walcott is
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  with him now, as well as the nurse. I think we can depend
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  on Burke to handle things properly out there. It's an emergency and we'll have
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  to take chances. I don't blame Shelby for feeling impatient and wishing he could
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  be here, But I told the doctor that as long as things were as
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  they are, he had better humor his patient by giving him an outlet for
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  his excitement than to keep infuming and eating his heart out in bed helpless.
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  Between Winifred and ourselves, we ought to keep him occupied. I do not
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  think that the telephone men had the faintest idea what it was that Kennedy was
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  planning to do, and I'm quite sure that I did not, for in
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  addition to the outfit like that at Westport, he now laid on the table
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  a peculiar arrangement. It seemed to consist of a metal base which he placed
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  near the telephone receiver. From the base, three prongs reached up, and
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  there was attached to it on one side one of those little flat watch case
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  receivers, such as are used on office telephones. It was getting late,
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  and Kennedy and the men from the telephone company were working as rapidly as possible,
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  testing and adjusting the connections he had caused to be made. As I
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  stood by the window watching the gathering crowd below, I suddenly realized that the
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  market had opened. It was as Kennedy had expected. Pandemonium seemed to rain
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  on the curb. Buyers and sellers crowded and elbowed one another, wildly,
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  shouting and gesticulating from the thick of what looked like a huge free for all
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  fight. Orders and sails were relaid by word of mouth to clerks standing on
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  the sidewalk, who in turn shouted them to other clerks in the windows of
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  our own building, or others about, or dispatched messengers to offices farther away.
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  It was a curious sight, and one never to be forgotten. Passers
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  by stopped on both sides of the street to look and listen to the struggling
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  mob, and I soon saw that even the usually electrified atmosphere of the curb
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  was this morning more than ordinarily. Surcharged with excitement, far above all the
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  noise and bustle. I made out that there had been over night a veritable
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  flood of orders from weak holders as well as others, to sell Maddock's munitions.
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  It was not to the weak hold, as we feared so much as
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  the hidden others who were seeking to manipulate the stock. Our telephone rang,
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  and Craig answered it, while the men still worked on the new line.
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  It was Shelby. He had called up his brokers and had heard of the
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  market opening. I'm not quite ready yet, hastened Kennedy. Go ahead and
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  place your orders over the regular wire with the brokers. I'll let you know
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  when we're ready and what to do. Don't worry. Kennedy had stationed me
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  now permanently at the window to report what was happening below. From my eerie
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  point of vantage, I could now see that the first flood of selling orders
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  was receding, as Shelby's brokers wormed their way in and now and then snapped
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  up a lot of stock offered for sale. The buying momentarily seemed to stiffen
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  the price, which before had threatened to toboggan. Yet no sooner had the
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  buying begun than it seemed as if other blocks of stock were brought up for
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  sale. It was, for all the world like a gigantic battle in which
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  forces were hurled here and there, with reinforcements held in reserve to be loosed
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  at just the right moment. Who was back of it? Gradually, in
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  spite of the large purchases which Shelby had made, the price of the stock
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  worked its way down. I began to understand something of what was going on.
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  Actually, it seemed as though every time there was an order to buy
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  coming from either Dexter or Merrill, and more, there was a corresponding new
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  order to sell by some other broker. Thousands of shares were thus being dumped
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  on the market recklessly, relentlessly. It looked as though some one was wise.
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  Were the brokers with whom Shelby was dealing straight. I said as much
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  to Kennedy, but he merely shook his head and plunged into work deeper.
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  One after another, blocks of stock appeared for sale. There could be no
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  doubt now that there was a carefully planned, quick assault being made at the
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  very opening of trading to take people by surprise. At the suddenness of the
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  bare raid, more and more frenzy became the selling and buying. I could
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  imagine the strain that it placed on Shelby, miles away, forced to take
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  only the reports that his brokers sent him, and to fling back other and
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  larger orders to buy. As the trading progressed, it became evident that the
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  offerings of stock were coming with more surprising regularity. The more I observed,
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  the more I was convinced that there was some collusion here. It was not
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  chance. Someone was informed of each move of Shelby's even before it could be
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  executed, was enabled to prepare for it, to meet it with a decided
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  advantage. It was a game being played for high stakes, But as far
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  as Shelby was concerned, the cards were stacked and marked. Our telephone rang
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  insistently, and Kennedy answered it. It was from Dexter. They were feeling
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  shaky and worried. Our door opened, and a clerk from the merrill and
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  more firm, and he was suave and polite. But back of it all
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  could be discovered, the eagerness to stand from under a possible crash. You
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  will readily understand. The broker hinted that under the circumstances we cannot continue to
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  take mister Maddox's order over the telephone indefinitely. I suppose he should repudiate some
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  of them. Where would we find ourselves? Kennedy glanced at the two telephone
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  men, one of whom had straightened up and was watching the other. I
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  understand, he said, simply, a grim smile flickering about his mouth.
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  Just a moment, Sir Walter, keep Dexter on this wire. Below on
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  the street, I could hear the babble of voices. I knew what it
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  meant. At both ends of Shelby's telephone line were traitors. A panic in
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  the stock was not only threatened, it was here Maddock's munitions was on the
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  verge of collapse. Of Chapter twenty three