CHAPTER X
THE MONEY STORM BREAKS LOOSE
AS soon as the “Rocket” had fallen away from the mocking strangers andwas heading back at nearly full speed for the Long Island coast, EbenModdridge came almost totteringly on deck.
“Poor Frank Delavan wasn’t aboard that other boat,” he groaned.
“No,” answered Halstead, trying hard to keep his disapproval of theother’s cowardice from sounding in his voice.
“Then, good heavens! We must get back to East Hampton without loss of amoment,” cried the owner’s friend.
“Don’t you think we’ll do a lot better to hustle back to Cookson’sBay?” demanded the young skipper. “We all of us know, as well as weneed to, that Mr. Delavan was aboard that racing boat this morning,so we must agree that Mr. Delavan was carried ashore while that othercraft had the island between us and them. We’re out to find Mr.Delavan, aren’t we? If we are, sir, the trail starts from Cookson’sBay.”
“But there are other matters you don’t understand,” replied Moddridge,nervously. “Both Delavan and I have interests at work in Wall Street.Those interests involve many millions of dollars. While I was hopingevery minute to come up with Frank Delavan, the chase seemed to me tobe the main thing. But I should have been in East Hampton hours ago, toanswer frantic appeals for instructions that must have been coming inover the long distance telephone.”
“Then do you instruct me, sir, to head for East Hampton, and leave Mr.Delavan to take his chances in the hands of rascals?”
“Don’t—don’t put it in that way,” begged Mr. Moddridge, shivering.
“Unfortunately, sir, I don’t see any other way to put the question,”young Halstead answered.
Eben Moddridge wavered, thinking it all over in an evident frenzy.While he was thus pondering Captain Tom was heading straight in forwhere he knew Cookson’s Inlet to be.
“It’s—it’s—bad either way,” Moddridge finally confessed. “If I delayin reaching the telephone Frank and I may lose millions through someunfortunate turn in Wall Street. And, on the other hand, if poor Frankhas vanished, perhaps never to turn up again, he and I may both beruined in the money world.”
“As between losing some millions, and all,” spoke Tom, as judicially ashe could, “I should say it would be better to risk some of the moneyand keep on after Mr. Delavan himself.”
“If that’s the way it appears to you, then do so,” replied EbenModdridge, slowly, hesitatingly. “Oh, dear, I simply can’t think when Iam so nervous.”
“This is a funny sort of an associate to take into a big moneydeal,” thought Halstead, wonderingly. The young skipper discovered,later, that Moddridge was a power in Wall Street simply because hehad inherited more millions than he was capable of handling. He wasvaluable when men wanted more money for financial operations than theythemselves controlled. Moddridge was in the present big Delavan dealssimply because Moddridge had discovered that he could always trust Mr.Delavan.
So Tom headed for Cookson’s Bay, making that shallow little body ofwater in less than an hour. Another hour was spent in lowering the portboat and in rowing Moddridge both to the little island and to the mainshore. It was a sparsely settled region. Only one of the cottageson the little island was occupied, and that only by a bachelor whoadmitted that he had been asleep at the time when the two motor boatshad dodged about the island. He aided, however, in searching the othertwo cottages, but no sign was found of Mr. Delavan or of his probablecaptors. The search was continued on the main shore, with no betterresults.
“Now, we simply must get back to East Hampton,” urged Moddridge, andHalstead was reluctantly of the same opinion.
“If Frank can’t be found soon,” chattered the nervous one, as the“Rocket” headed toward her pier at East Hampton, “and if the newsbecomes public, then every stock he is heavily interested in will goaway down on the Stock Exchange.”
“Why?” asked Tom Halstead.
“Why, people will think there’s something queer about thedisappearance,” Moddridge explained. “Take the P. & Y. Railroad, forinstance. Its capital is eighty million dollars. Delavan owns fifteenmillion of that himself. He’s the president, biggest stockholder,and the virtual czar of that railroad. If Frank can’t be found, whatwill folks be apt to think? Why, simply that he has been guilty ofcriminally mismanaging the railroad, for his own profit, and that nowhe has fled to some foreign country to hide away from the Americanlaw. P. & Y. stock will take a fearful drop.”
“That won’t happen, all in a day, will it?” questioned Captain Tom.
“It might. It will be sure to happen within a very few days, if Frankdoesn’t show up again. Wall Street is the most sensitive place in theworld. Let a breath of suspicion blow against a certain stock, andthat stock drops and drops, until perhaps it goes down out of sight.Everyone who has his whole fortune invested in that stock may be ruinedby the smash. If the P. & Y. stock goes down, it will knock Frank’sdeals and mine into a cocked hat.”
“Why?” asked Tom, wonderingly.
“Why?” repeated Eben Moddridge, shiveringly. “Why, I’ve told you thatFrank holds fifteen millions of P. & Y. stock. I hold five millionsmyself. Frank told you, yesterday, that we were plunging in Steel andother allied stocks that Mr. Gordon influences heavily. Steel andthose other stocks are going to work up and down, like a see-saw, forthe next few days. To raise the funds for our operations Frank and Ihave been pledging our P. & Y. stock, which stands at 102. But supposeDelavan can’t be found, and P. & Y. drops to forty—or even thirty?”gasped Eben Moddridge. “What would happen then?”
“Well, what would happen?” questioned Tom Halstead, to whom the wholevast Wall Street game was a great puzzle.
“Why, if P. & Y. tumbles like that,” continued Eben Moddridge, “thegreat banking houses that have been advancing us money on P. & Y. stockto play with Steel and allied stocks will be forced to call in theirloans in order to protect themselves. Frank Delavan and I are pledgedas heavily as we possibly can be. We couldn’t raise five milliondollars more between us. So, if the bottom drops out of the P. & Y.stock Delavan and myself stand to be wiped off the board in all ourdeals—ruined!”
The last word came from Moddridge in a sobbing gasp. He was clutchingat the rail as the “Rocket” moved in nearer to her pier.
“Halstead,” he continued soon, “as quickly as we land, I want you toget a carriage and rush to the telephone office with me. I’m so excitedI feel as though I’d fall over in a faint. You must go with me—remainwith me until this fearful ordeal is over.”
Half a dozen well-dressed, alert-looking young men who stood on thepier seemed to be greatly interested in the “Rocket” as that boat wasberthed. Jed was at the wheel as Captain Tom stood by the rail, readyto leap ashore.
“Mr. Francis Delavan aboard?” hailed one of the young men, just as theyoung skipper’s feet touched the pier.
“Why do you want to know?” Halstead cross-questioned.
“I’m from the New York ‘Herald’,” replied the young man. “I am here tointerview Mr. Delavan.”
“I’m from the ‘World’,” added another young man. Halstead at onceunderstood that this group was made up of reporters.
“Mr. Delavan didn’t go out with us this morning,” replied Captain Tom,while Eben Moddridge surveyed the reporters, uneasily. Seeing a cab upthe road, Halstead signaled it vigorously.
“Where is Mr. Delavan?” demanded the “World” representative.
“That’s Mr. Delavan’s business. I can’t tell you,” replied Tom, a bitstiffly.
“Is his friend, Mr. Moddridge, aboard? Is _that_ Mr. Moddridge?” askedanother of the reporters. The nervous man, under the concentrated gazeof six reporters, became more nervous than ever.
“Gentlemen,” went on Halstead, hurriedly, drawing out his watch justas the vehicle rolled down to the pier and stopped, “it’s twenty-fiveminutes of three, and the Stock Exchange in New York closes at threeo’clock. That is Mr. Moddridge on board,
but he is in a rush to reachthe telephone office, and he can’t lose even a second until he hastalked with New York.”
Halstead almost led the nervous one from the boat to the cab, helpinghim inside, and getting in with him.
“Wait here, gentlemen, if you wish to talk with Mr. Moddridge,” coaxedTom. As the cab started one of the reporters bounded up onto the step,from which he was adroitly yanked by Jed Prentiss. Then the driverwhipped his horses forward, and the reporters were distanced for thetime being.
Yet one of the press scribes, as he ran along in the vain effort toovertake the cab, shouted:
“There’s a mysterious report in New York that everything is wrong withthe P. & Y., and that Delavan has absconded to some other country. Canyou say anything to that, Mr. Moddridge?”
If Moddridge could, he didn’t. Instead, his jaw dropped. He reeled toone side as though about to fall from the seat. Tom hastily changed tothe same seat, supporting the worried man.
“So the news has already reached New York and Wall Street?” he asked,faintly.
“If it has,” whispered Halstead, watching to see whether the driver wastrying to listen, “then it’s because the crowd back of the troubletook pains to send word in early this morning. Mr. Moddridge, the newsmust have been known hours ago, since reporters have had time to getaway out here from the city.”
“If——”
“Don’t try to say any more, Mr. Moddridge,” urged Halstead, again in awhisper. “The driver may be trying to overhear.”
As they reached the telephone office, and got out, Tom hurriedly paidthe driver, then escorted Mr. Moddridge inside. The manager of theoffice looked up to say, briskly:
“The wire in booth number two is waiting for you, Mr. Moddridge.”
“Come in the booth with me, Halstead,” begged Moddridge, shaking. “Imay need you, if my voice is too unsteady.”
So the young skipper followed his employer’s friend into the booth,making sure that the door was tightly closed. Hardly had this been donewhen three of the reporters, who had followed in another carriage,entered the office. The manager, however, would not allow them near thebooth.
The telephone instrument was already directly connected with a broker’soffice in Wall Street, New York City. Immediately after he had rungModdridge asked:
“Is that you, Coggswell? How is everything going?”
Tom Halstead, standing close to the receiver, could hear the reply:
“Oh, is that you, Mr. Moddridge? Where on earth is Mr. Delavan?”
“He is not here just now.”
“Mr. Moddridge,” came the earnest voice from the other end of the wire,“I hope you will be able to get hold of Mr. Delavan at the earliestpossible moment. P. & Y. has gone down, to-day, from 102 to 91.There’ll be a further drop unless you can bring Delavan to the fore.”
Eben Moddridge groaned. Tom could see perspiration oozing out on thenervous one’s face and neck.
“There are persistent rumors,” continued Broker Coggswell, “thatDelavan has secretly and systematically wrecked the P. & Y. Railroad,and that the road’s finances are in a bad condition. The newspapershave taken up the yarn, and there’s a bad flurry in all Delavan stocks.”
“The reporters are out here, trying to interview me,” admitted Mr.Moddridge.
“Then,” begged the New York broker, “produce Delavan at the earliestpossible moment, and let the reporters interview him. It will do a lotto steady your interests in Wall Street. Where is Mr. Delavan, anyway?”
“I can’t tell you that over the wire, Mr. Coggswell. I’ll write youthis afternoon.”
“Is it true that Delavan has fled, and is in hiding on account offinancial irregularities with the P. & Y. Railroad?”
“It’s wholly false, Coggswell,” cried Moddridge, hoarsely.
“Then hurry up and produce him, or the banks will call your loans, andyou’ll both go under in the crash, besides dragging a good many scoresof innocent people down with you.”
“Oh, I hope it won’t be as bad as that,” shivered Moddridge.
“If you and Delavan go under during the next few days,” warned BrokerCoggswell, “Wall Street is so shaky and suspicious that a good manyfailures will result.”
“I’ll put Delavan in touch with you at the earliest possible moment,”promised Eben Moddridge. “And now, as my watch tells me it’s tenminutes to closing time on the Stock Exchange, I’ll wait right here forthe day’s final news.”
As soon as he had turned away from the instrument Moddridge looked outthrough the glass door of the booth at the reporters hovering by thestreet door.
“There’s a side door out of this place, Halstead,” whispered thenervous one. “I don’t want to have to meet all those reporters again.Slip into another booth and ’phone the Eagle House to have Delavan’scar rushed down to the side door.”
Tom Halstead accomplished this, returning to the booth before BrokerCoggswell called up Mr. Moddridge.
It was a few minutes after three when that call came.
“You, Moddridge?” demanded the New York broker’s voice.
“Yes, Coggswell.”
“P. & Y. has broken down to 86. If it goes to 85 in the morning, eitheryou’ll have to put up extra collateral for your loans and Delavan’s, orthe bankers will call in your loans.”
“Good heavens!” shuddered Mr. Moddridge.
“But Delavan’s reappearance will stop all the wild rumors, and P. &Y. ought to climb back up where it belongs. Be swift and active, Mr.Moddridge, for you know how many millions are at stake. I shall be hereat my office for two hours yet for the situation looks black at thisend.”
“Brace up, sir, please do,” begged Tom, anxiously, as Eben Moddridgeturned away from the instrument and rose, his face haggard and ashengray, his knees tottering under him. “The reporters will see you. Thinkwhat they may imagine if you look scared to death. A frightened facemay cost you millions at this time! Throw your head up and back. Laugh,then keep smiling. That’s right; now come!”
Delavan’s automobile was waiting up the street a little way. As soon asthe clever chauffeur saw the pair appear at the side door, the machineglided up to that side door, the nearer tonneau door open. Into itstepped Moddridge and the young skipper, the latter closing the door.The machine turned and was rolling away just as the reporters, suddenlyalert, hurried to the spot.
Arrived at the hotel, Eben Moddridge got to his room as quickly aspossible. There, all disguise dropping, he began to shake so that hewas forced to drop into a chair.
“Tell the clerk I want no cards; that I’m too busy to see any callers,”directed the nervous one. “Tell him, on no account, to let anyone getup here. Yet, Halstead, someone must see the reporters. Why can’t youdo it? Your nerve is all right. See them! Talk to them. But don’t letthem know we can’t find Delavan. Go! To the clerk, first, then thereporters.”
Slipping downstairs, Captain Tom Halstead was able to fill both ordersat the same time, for the reporters were all at the clerk’s desk,offering their cards. At sight of Halstead the six scribes bore downupon him.
“You can’t see Mr. Moddridge for two or three hours, anyway,” Tomassured the gentlemen of the press. “Every instant of his time is takenup. If there’s anything I can properly tell you, I’ll do so.”
“Where’s Delavan?” the six chorused together.
“Why do you want to know that?” inquired Halstead, innocently.
“Why?” replied one of the reporters. “Because it is reported andbelieved that Francis Delavan has wrecked the P. & Y. Railroad, that hehas sent the proceeds of his work out of the country, and that he hasfollowed the money. There’s another story to the effect that Delavan,overcome with horror, has committed suicide by drowning himself innearby waters. There’s a big tumble in Wall Street, already, and themoney storm is breaking loose!”
The Motor Boat Club off Long Island; or, A Daring Marine Game at Racing Speed Page 10
