Daily Kennebec journal. [microfilm reel] (Augusta, Me.) 1870-1975, 1912-12-26

penny he possessed. In a fever of APP
prehension he hurried across the chan
mel to follow Wellington's army. When
on the edge of the forest of Soignes,
ne found all the preparations for a
pitched battle, he could no longer mas
ter his excitement, and. though essen
tally man of peace, he took up be-
times a position in the field whence
with every nerve atingle, he could
watch the issue of the day.
Long before Napoleon had called
upon the Old Guard to make their last
desperate attempt to break the British
lines. the financier was in full retreat.
He had seen enough 10 convince him
that the fate of the first empire was
decided and his nerve was restored.
Riding poste haste back to Brussels.
he set off for Ostend. He now had
campaign of his own to attend to.
Here the fortune of war seemed to
have declared against him, for it was
blowing a full gale in the channel, and
not a skipper would put out In vain
he offered 500, $3.50 even 5000. Not a
man held his life so cheaply In the
end the young master of a smack came
forward and offered to attempt the
passage on condition that his fare paid
$500 to his wife before they started.
His private opinion was that before
they had been afioat very long neither
he nor his passenger would have fun
Their need of money.
The financier gladly clinched the
bargain. He reached Dover, half
drowned, after a terrible crossing and
rewarded the plueky skipper hand
somely. From Dover he posted to
London, without minutes delay.
Early on the following morning he
was at his accustomed place, leaning
against a pillar on change. His face
was deathly pale; The looked like a
man who had aged 10 years in a single
night.
The tension in the city was very
high that morning Even iron nerves
were beginning to feel the strain, for
every kind of ulgy rumor was en- the
wing Reports that Butcher had been
disastrously defeated, and that Well
lington himself was in full retreat
passed from mouth to mouth.
The sight of Rothschild seemed to
confirm what might otherwise have
passed for unfounded rumors, and the.
city realized that their country's most
relentless enemy might at that very
moment be restored to power and be
master of the continent
A sudden wave of panic swept over
the house. No story was too fantastic
to find belief When once prices be-
gan to fall they went down with
rush. The slump was not arrested
when the observant noted that Roths-
child himself, as well as his accredited
brokers, was throwing stock on the
market with both hands. Not even
the soundest securities We're proof
against the general sense of alarm and
uncertainty. They were caught and
swept away in the current.
The pale-faced man, propped up
against his pillar, was an object Of
sympathy to every one who could
spare him a thought. He was watch
ing. they imagined, the erumbling of
the fortunes of his house. What he
was watching was his confidential
agents acting under secret instruc-
tons. buying up sound securities at
panic prices.
on the following morning the official
news came through of Butchers sue
cess at Ligny. and of the erowning
victory of Waterloo. Prices rose as
rapidly at the opening of the markets
as they had fallen on the previous
day. The battle of Waterloo, it is es-
timated, was worth over 100000 ster-
ling to Nathan Rothsehild, so what
ever his fare for the channel crossing
may have cost him, it was cheap at
the price.