Over the telephone that I was holding, Dexter himself politely informed us that he had reached a point where orders from Mr. Maddox to be filled must have some more binding force than word of mouth over the telephone.
“Tell him to wait just a moment,” directed Kennedy, turning to the other broker who had come to us. “Will you, sir, tell Mr. Merrill to step down to the office of Mr. Dexter? I shall be there in a moment myself. Walter,” he added, calmly, “ring Dexter off. Get Shelby Maddox and tell him to use the new wire connections.”
I did as I was told. Even over the telephone I could feel that the strain was telling on Shelby’s shattered strength. His voice was shaky as he inquired thickly for news. I shouted something encouraging back, and urged him to get on the other wire, at which, at our end, Kennedy was already impatiently waiting.
A moment later I heard Kennedy and Shelby exchange a few words. Shelby was evidently much alarmed over the sudden turn of events.
As I waited, I saw Kennedy jam the receiver down on the little metal base. The three prongs, reaching upward, engaged the receiver tightly, fitting closely about it. Then he took the small disk receiver from its hook and placed it to his ear instead of the regular one.
I wondered what it all meant. Craig’s face showed that, whatever it was, it was most important.
“Yes,” I heard him call back, “give whatever orders you want now to me. I will see that they are delivered. Pay no attention to the other telephone. Let it ring—until I tell you. Go ahead.”
Evidently Shelby was giving orders for stock up to the limit of his resources that were available.
For a moment there evidently came a pause in what was being said over the telephone at the Westport end, and Kennedy gazed impatiently about the room.
“What good will that do?” I objected, seeing that Kennedy was not occupied. “Don’t you suppose they’ll hear what is said over this line, too? We know they’ve cut in on the two trunk lines at the Harbor House, and there is every reason to suppose that some one taps the brokers’ wires here—unless the brokers are crooks, too. They’ll know what Shelby is going to do.”