"I'm sure of it," Hamilton answered, "and now, gentlemen, it is time to go. When shall we meet again?"
"I suggest day after to-morrow, at the same hour," said McKay. "To-morrow will be a big day in the market, and we shall have a number of things to discuss."
"Yes, the time is ripe," Hamilton responded, "it is a wonderful opportunity."
"How far will cotton decline?" asked Norton.
"I should say, off-hand," answered Hamilton, "a couple of hundred points, at least. But that will be decided, of course, in the usual way. We can tell better after the first break."
"And wheat," queried Brooks, "will go up?"
"Exactly," said Hamilton. "The conditions there are exactly reversed. The advance will be sharp."
He walked over to the sideboard, filled his friends' glasses, and then raised his own high in the air, glancing, as he did so, at the old desk across the room.
"Here's to our predecessors," he said gravely. "The men who came here forty years ago. The men who have made us what we are to-day."