120 WALL STREET AND THE WILDS 



layed for some hours the traffic on the road. I 

 was borrowing a few millions of gold and only 

 reached the Gold Room after every one had ar- 

 ranged his accounts for the day. I always at- 

 tended to our loans myself and had made no pro- 

 vision for absence. 



As I was not on hand to renew my borrowings 

 of gold the holders had loaned it elsewhere or 

 arranged to have it carried outside. The loan 

 market was almost bare of offerings and I dare 

 not bid it up on myself, so I took to the street 

 and raced around among the houses most likely 

 to have gold over. I picked up a goodly 

 amount, but at 2 p. m. was three quarters of a 

 million short, leaving fifty thousand to be bor- 

 rowed and delivered for every minute of time 

 that was left me. 



It amuses me now to think of the wild way in 

 which I dashed into offices, demanding all the 

 gold they had over, grabbing and running with 

 it if it were in checks, but if it were partly in 

 coin telling them to send it to Drexel, or Shafer, 

 or Fisk and Hatch for our account on receipt. 



