The overhead iron grill slammed shut. The Swedish match king saw the horrified faces of the gaping tourists, pressed against the latticework, fading to a speck as he fell away.

He plunged, along with the two Dianes and the Fool, through the skeletal chambers of the Statue of Liberty. There was a chordal wailing sound, as though they were being drawn through the pipes of an gigantic music-box, as some garganguan and unearthly musician inhaled before the next chord.

They were spat out of the pipe, and found themselves somewhere inside Liberty's face, piled on top of one another like balled-up socks in a laundry hamper.

They were instantly aware of a Presence in the room. It was an enormous red-and-green-streaked head. It seemed to be all forehead, though the bone structure beneath bore an uncanny resemblance to the handsome, young Mat Lomen. Embedded in it were three smaller skulls: one on each side, and one, slightly higher, squarely in the middle. A hideous blood-like blue light gushed from the thing's eyes.

Though the light had originally drawn them to it, it now reversed current and hurled them away, flattening them against the walls. The screams of the two Dianes were almost drowned out by those of the Swedish Match King. The Fool was silent.

From outside, two-laser lines of light could be seen coming from the Statue's eyes, and the tourists in the crown felt the floor beneath them shudder.

The two Dianes saw the opening first -- it was a second tunnel, leading down and to the left. It was Lady Liberty's left arm. They scratched and clawed their way over one another toward it. But the first Diane got there first, and dove headlong into the abyss. She was amazed, as she fell, that the Force seemed not to be pursuing her any longer. Perhaps it had stopped, to feed on those above.

Bruised and battered at the elbow, she found herself behind the book. The Book of Justice, cradled in Lady Liberty's left hand.

Justice! Justice for all the good people of our land. High Lady Liberty, holding that book as a beacon for all who approach our fair shores, promising them their day in court, their fair measure of justice. How could one place a value on such a book?

How indeed? How does one measure book value?

She screamed, "He-e-e-e-e-e-elp! He-e-e-e-e-e-e-elp!!!"

Help, dear reader. With Shareholder Equity on the balance sheet of The Statue of Liberty, Inc., of $100 million, what would the book value per share be of a company with 10 million shares outstanding?

1) $10

2) $100

3) $1,000

4) $50

The answer is 1) $10.

Book Value, also known as Shareholder Equity, is what is left after total liabilities are subtracted from total assets. In this case the amount is $100 million, and would be easily found at the lower right of the Statue of Liberty, Inc.'s balance sheet. To get a better indication of how much of that equity pertains to each share, simply divide it by shares outstanding. In this case it was 10 million, so the total book value per share came out to $10.

Book value represents the amounts the company originally paid for its assets. The market value of the company depends on the market values of such assets, but even more importantly for most companies, on intangible assets that are not recorded on balance sheets. Great management (GE,
Microsoft), brand superiority (Coca-Cola), and technological wizardry (Intel) are examples of such unrecorded assets.

While in theory this is the net worth of a company, it does not readily indicate the earnings potential of the company or the "true" worth of the company. That is why you will rarely find a company trading at book value, even though there are quite a few (even some trading below book value). Presently the average stock is trading for more than 4 times book value.

When Diane #1 stopped screaming, she listened. There was a low harmonic sound coming from above. She wondered if any of the others were still alive.

Just then the blue light reappeared, and she was sucked upward at what seemed like the speed of light.

Tomorrow: The Roaring 20s, Episode 10

The Crown

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