Page:Melville Davisson Post--The Man of Last Resort.djvu/180

156 was blazing fiercely in a dozen places, and under such headway as to be impossible to control. The local fire department was unable to prevent the loss of the building, but fortunately a heavy rainstorm set in and prevented a total loss of the stock.

“In conversation with Hall, I discovered that not one domestic company had a dollar on the building or its stock, but that the entire insurance was carried in my company and a number of London companies usually associated with it, and for whom I acted as general adjuster. This was of itself a suspicious circumstance, since the insured would not be subject to the inquisition of numberless representatives of convenient local companies, and in a legal fight would have the prejudice against a remote company in his favor, and, further, he would have but one man to deal with.

“I observed immediately that Hall was a person of much shrewdness. He talked little, but what he had to say was exceedingly free from any suggestion of concealment or obscurity. When I came to examine the unburned