“If I was conservative and cautious,” answered Jadwin, “I wouldn’t be in this game at all. I’d be buying U.S. four percents. That’s the big mistake so many of these fellows down here make. They go into a game where the only ones who can possibly win are the ones who take big chances, and then they try to play the thing cautiously. If I wait a while till the market turns up and everybody is buying, how am I any the better off? No, sir, you buy the September option for me tomorrow⁠—five hundred thousand bushels. I deposited the margin to your credit in the Illinois Trust this afternoon.”

There was a long silence. Gretry spun a ball between his fingers, top-fashion.

“Well,” he said at last, hesitatingly, “well⁠—I don’t know, J. ⁠—you are either Napoleonic⁠—or⁠—or a colossal idiot.”

“Neither one nor the other, Samuel. I’m just using a little common sense.⁠ ⁠… Is it your shot?”