There is no difference between
the shrewdest business man and a fool in a boom, for the boom
levels all grades of intelligence and produces as distinct a form
of insanity as you can find within the walls of an asylum.
Lots took wings sky-ward. Hale bought one for June for thirty
dollars and sold it for a thousand. Before the autumn was gone,
he found himself on the way to ridiculous opulence and, when
spring came, he had the world in a sling and, if he wished, he
could toss it playfully at the sun and have it drop back into his
hand again. And the boom spread down the valley and into the
hills. The police guard had little to do and, over in the
mountains, the feud miraculously came to a sudden close.
So pervasive, indeed, was the spirit of the times that the Hon.
Sam Budd actually got old Buck Falin and old Dave Tolliver to sign
a truce, agreeing to a complete cessation of hostilities until he
carried through a land deal in which both were interested. And
after that was concluded, nobody had time, even the Red Fox, for
deviltry and private vengeance--so busy was everybody picking up
the manna which was dropping straight from the clouds.
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