68 WALL STREET AND THE WILDS 



advice. Of course Read was not always wrong, 

 and I seldom sold at the exact top of the market 

 or bought at the extreme bottom, but I did come 

 marvelously near it, and it was by acting counter 

 to his advice that I won back the most of my 

 losses. 



About this time I made a strike which, although 

 it was strictly business, began with a bet and 

 ended with the luck of a prize in a lottery. 

 There was an upward turn in the market which 

 carried gold above forty in wild excitement. A 

 speculator who had just bought largely shouted, 



"I'll bet four thousand dollars gold sells above 

 fifty this month." 



"Take the bet!" I shouted before the words 

 were fairly out of his mouth, and the next instant 

 I bought fifty thousand gold at near forty. Sev- 

 eral davs later I stood in a half-wild crowd as 

 gold swirled up to fifty — almost. Forty-nine 

 and three quarters was bid, and counting my bet 

 as lost, I stood with hand uplifted to plunk the 

 first bidder for any large lot of gold. With the 

 bet lost, it was necessary for me to sell at once 



