ARTHUR.T Stories ------The Last of the Wire-Tappers --IV---Page 21

"Make the odds 5 to 3," shouted a short, ill-favored man, who sat at a

desk puffing a large black cigar. The place buzzed like a beehive and

ticked like a clockmaker's. It had an atmosphere of breathless

excitement all its own. Felix watched and marvelled, wondering if dreams came true.

The short, ill-favored man strolled over and condescended to make Mr.

Felix's acquaintance. An hour later the three of them were closeted

among the zitherns. At the same moment the fifteen operators were ranged in a line in front, of a neighboring bar, their elbows simultaneously
elevated at an angle of forty-five degrees.

Felix still had lingering doubts. Hadn't Mr. McPherson some little

paper--a letter, a bill, a receipt or a check, to show that he was

really in the employ of the Western Union? No, said "Mac," but he had
something better--the badge which he had received as the fastest
operator among the company's employees. Felix wanted to see it, but
"Mac" explained that it was locked up in the vault at the Farmers' Loan
and Trust Co. To Felix this had a safe sound--"Farmers' Trust Co." Then
matters began to move rapidly. It was arranged that Felix should go down
in the morning and get $50,000 from his bankers, Seligman and Meyer.
After that he was to meet Nelson at the store and go with him to the
pool room where the big financiers played their money. McPherson was to
remain at the "office" and telephone them the results of the races in
advance. By nightfall they would be worth half a million.

"I hope you have a good large safe," remarked Nelson, tentatively. The
three conspirators parted with mutual expressions of confidence and
esteem.

Next morning Mr. Felix went to his bankers and procured $50,000 in five ten-thousand-dollar bills. The day passed very slowly. There was not even a flurry in zitherns. He waited impatiently for Nelson who was to come at five o'clock. At last Nelson arrived and they hurried to the
Fifth Avenue Hotel where the _coup_ was to take place.

And now another marvel. Wassermann Brothers' stock-brokering office,
which closes at three hummed just as the "office" had done the evening
before--and with the very same bees, although Felix did not recognize
them. It was crowded with men who struggled violently with one another
in their eagerness to force their bets into the hands of a
benevolent-looking person, who, Felix was informed, was the "trusted
cashier" of the establishment. And the sums were so large that even
Felix gasped.

"Make that $40,000 on Coco!" cried a bald-headed "capper."

"Mr. Gates wants to double his bet on Jackstone,--make it $80,000!"

shrieked another.

"Gentlemen! Gentlemen!" begged the "trusted cashier," "not quite so fast, if you please. One at a time."

"Sixty thousand on Hesper--for a place!" bawled one addressed as "Mr. Keene," while Messrs. "Ryan," "Whitney," "Belmont," "Sullivan,"
"McCarren," and "Murphy" all made handsome wagers.

From time to time a sporty-looking man standing beside a ticker, shouted the odds and read off the returns. Felix heard with straining ears:

"They're off!"

"Baby leads at the quarter."
"Susan is gaining!"

"They're on the stretch!"

"Satan wins by a nose--Peter second."

There was a deafening uproar, hats were tossed ceilingward, and great wads of money were passed out by the "trusted cashier" to indifferent millionaires. Felix wanted to rush in and bet at once on something--if he waited it might be too late. Was it necessary to be introduced to the cashier? No? Would he take the bet? All right, but--

At that moment a page elbowed his way among the money calling

plaintively for "Felix! Mr. Felix." Shrinking at the thought of such

publicity in such distinguished company, Felix caught the boy's arm and learned that he was wanted at the telephone booth in the hotel.

"It must be 'Mac,'" said Nelson. "Now don't make any mistake!" Felix promised to use the utmost care.

It was "Mac."

"Is this Mr. Felix?--Yes? Well, be very careful now. I am going to give
you the result of the third race which has already been run. I will hold
back the news three minutes. This is merely to see if everything is
working right. Don't make any bet. If I give you the winners correctly,
you can put your money on the fourth race. The horse that won the last
is Col. Starbottle--Don Juan is second. Now just step back and see if I
am right."

Felix rushed back to the pool room. As he entered the man at the tape
was calling out that "they" were off. In due course "they" reached the

quarter and then the half. A terrific struggle was in progress between

Col. Starbottle and Don Juan. First one was ahead and then the other.

Finally they came thundering down to the stretch, Col. Starbottle

winning by a neck. "Gates" won $90,000, and several others pocketed wads running anywhere from $20,000 to $60,000.

Felix hurried back to the telephone. "Mac" was at the other end.

"Now write this down," admonished McPherson; "we can't afford to have any mistake. Old Stone has just won the fourth race, with Calvert
second. Play Old Stone to win at 5 to 1. We shall make $250,000--and Old Stone is safe in the stable all the time and his jockey is smoking a
cigarette on the club house veranda. Good luck, old man."

Felix had some difficulty in getting near the "trusted cashier" so many financiers were betting on Calvert. Felix smiled to himself. He'd show them a thing or two.