[
 {"chunk": 307, "story": 26,
  "summary": "He dazzles the three small dealers with an expensive lunch; afterwards the hotel manager politely says he must present the two-week bill.",
  "predicament": "A promoter who has just dazzled his prospects with a costly lunch is quietly asked to settle a bill he cannot pay."},
 {"chunk": 308, "story": 26,
  "summary": "He pockets the bill with perfect calm and walks off.",
  "predicament": "A guest handed a bill he cannot pay pockets it with perfect calm, as if money were the least of his concerns."},
 {"chunk": 309, "story": 26,
  "summary": "With nobody to wire for money, he wanders into a flashy cigar store where illegal dice games run openly for cigars.",
  "predicament": "A man with a pressing debt and no one to ask for help wanders into a place where an illegal game offers quick money."},
 {"chunk": 310, "story": 26,
  "summary": "The sharp proprietor sizes him up; a policeman passes through to a back-room poker game, and a customer challenges the proprietor to a dice throw for money.",
  "predicament": "A stranger watches a shrewd operator run an illegal game in the open with the law's blessing, and weighs whether to join."},
 {"chunk": 311, "story": 26,
  "summary": "The promoter joins with his last fifteen dollars; the others drop out and he and the proprietor are left facing each other.",
  "predicament": "A man with only his last few dollars joins a gamble against the house, knowing he is little worse off if he loses."},
 {"chunk": 312, "story": 26,
  "summary": "They raise the stakes; he wins twice with four aces, then throws a mere pair on a two-hundred-dollar pot.",
  "predicament": "A desperate gambler on a winning streak lets it all ride on one more throw against a sharp opponent."},
 {"chunk": 313, "story": 26,
  "summary": "The proprietor throws nothing and loses; called away, he lets the promoter take the money, and the promoter pays his hotel bill, confidence restored.",
  "predicament": "A broke man wins just enough in a lucky gamble to pay his debts and recover his nerve for the scheme ahead."},
 {"chunk": 314, "story": 26,
  "summary": "That evening the proprietor calls: he is a local power, has heard of the consolidation, and says it will fail unless he gets his cut.",
  "predicament": "A local fixer who has heard of a promoter's scheme turns up to announce it will fail unless he gets his share."},
 {"chunk": 315, "story": 26,
  "summary": "The promoter insists the plan is a straight business; the fixer, who always bets that people are not honest, asks what the inside is.",
  "predicament": "A promoter insists his plan is an honest business, and a sharp operator keeps asking where the hidden profit really lies."},
 {"chunk": 316, "story": 26,
  "summary": "The fixer demands to see the agreement, reads it several times, and salutes the promoter for inventing a new game.",
  "predicament": "A shrewd local operator reads a promoter's agreement closely and finds the trick the small traders will never notice."},
 {"chunk": 317, "story": 26,
  "summary": "He explains the trick: the promoter buys each store for stock and resells it to the company at double, pocketing half the shares free; he wants in.",
  "predicament": "A sharp outsider exposes exactly how the promoter's contract cheats the small traders, and asks to be cut in rather than warn them."},
 {"chunk": 318, "story": 26,
  "summary": "He declares himself in for half the free stock; asked what he brings, he says he is the permanent alderman and controls gambling privileges.",
  "predicament": "A local fixer demands half a promoter's hidden profit, and makes clear he has the power to stop the scheme if refused."},
 {"chunk": 319, "story": 26,
  "summary": "They part in good humour, but the promoter spends long hours thinking.",
  "predicament": "A promoter who has been forced to accept an unwanted partner smiles on the surface and privately plans how to deal with him."}
]