Then it began to advance by degrees until the quotation was a dollar above the purchase price.
John's impulse was to sell, but David made no sign.

The market held firm for a while, even going a little higher.

Then it began to drop rather more rapidly than it had advanced, to about what the pork had cost, and for a long period fluctuated only a few cents one way or the other.

This was followed by a steady decline to the extent of half-a-dollar, and, as the reports came, it "looked like going lower," which it did.

In fact, there came a day when it was so "low," and so much more "looked like going lower" than ever (as such things usually do when the "bottom" is pretty nearly reached), that our friend had not the courage to examine the market reports for the next two days, and simply tried to keep the subject out of his mind.