Weems had been wiser to have held his stock for tungsten in large quantities was discovered and what cost Trent five thousand dollars was now worth ten times that amount.
It was one evening shortly after his adventures with the Baron von Eckstein that Weems called him up on the telephone. That he was able to do so annoyed Trent who had carefully concealed his number. But Horace Weems had secured it by a use of mendacity and with it the number and the address. He said he was ’phoning from a nearby drug store and was about to pay a visit.
Weems was ill at ease. And he was unshaven and his shoes no longer shone with radiance. His disheveled appearance and attitude of dejection swept away his host’s annoyance. He took a stiff Scotch and seltzer.
“Little Horace Weems,” he announced, “has got it in the neck!”
“What’s happened?” Trent demanded.
“Got that Wall Street bunch sore on me and hadn’t the sense to see the danger signals.” Weems soothed his throat with another stiff drink. “The trouble with me is I’m too courageous. I knew what I was up against but did that frighten me? No siree, no boss, I went for ’em like you used to go through a bunch of forwards in a football game. I’m like a bull terrier. I’m all fight. Size don’t worry me. They pulled me down at last but it took all the best brains in the ‘Street’ to do it. They hate a comer and I’m that. Well, this is the first round and they win on points but this isn’t a limited bout. You watch little Horace. I’ll have a turbine steam yacht yet and all the trimmings. Follow me and you’ll wear diamonds or rags—nothing between. Rags or diamonds.”
Weems was a long time coming to the point. When he did it was revealed as a loan, a temporary loan.
“It’s like this,” said the ingenuous Weems, “when I sold you those shares in a tungsten mine I did it because you were a friend.”
“You did it,” Trent reminded him, “because you hadn’t a faint idea there was tungsten there and you thought you’d done something mighty clever. What next?”
“You needn’t be sore about it,” Weems returned, “you made money.”