Certainly there was a limit to everything in this world, and when Vance reached his, why then—at that stage of his reflections Mr. Jarboe always smiled grimly.
But as day succeeded day, that desirable point never seemed to be reached.
Thornton met all his engagements to the minute, and Jack Fox continued to wear the same confident smile he had sported the morning he first went into the pit to buck against the bear traders.
The same thorn annoyed Mr. Jarboe that bothered the rest of the combination.
Where did Vance’s money come from?
For good and sufficient reasons, insisted on by Thornton after the first week of their partnership, William Bradhurst had kept discreetly in the background, meeting Vance only when necessary, and then each time at a different rendezvous.
No one who saw Bradhurst lounging at times about the office door of the Grand Pacific Hotel would have suspected that impenetrable man had a dollar at stake in any precarious scheme.
Yet there were moments when he had reason to fear that even his eleven millions, now almost swallowed up in the insatiable maw of the corn market, would not be enough to stave off ultimate disaster.
But never for a moment did he lose confidence in the boy who was making such a shrewd fight against the combined bear interests of the Board of Trade.
Mr. Bradhurst had come to be a frequent visitor at the Thornton home, where he had been introduced by Vance the evening following their partnership arrangement.