“What do you mean?”
“Mr. Whitemore directed me to investigate the true state of the corn situation at Elevatorville, Missouri.”
“Well?”
“There are five elevators in that place. They have been reported out of business temporarily.”
“So I understand. Are they not?”
“Possibly they may be,” replied Vance, “but all the same Jarrett, Palmer & Carrington have five million bushels of corn stored in them at this moment.”
“Five million bushels?” almost gasped Mr. Jarboe.
“Yes, sir—five million bushels.”
“If this is the fact,” said Mr. Jarboe, greatly excited, “we are beaten to a standstill. Without money we cannot take a dollar of that corn which the pool will throw on the market at once, now they have learned of Mr. Whitemore’s misfortune. Thornton, as sure as you sit there, there will be a panic in the corn pit to-morrow morning.”