t, and this is the opportunity. We will be dealing with natural
products in a simple and natural way. The district supplies the power
and the raw material; the outside and neighboring country, the market.
We supply the brains."

"What does this cost you personally?" hazarded Stoughton a little
uncertainly.

"A hundred dollars in traveling expenses, and I have assumed a hundred
and thirty thousand of town debentures at six per cent. If you don't
want it there are others who do."

Wimperley looked up. His face had taken on a new expression. He
caught Riggs' eye and his lips formed the word "cheap."

The latter nodded. There was a slight flush in his otherwise sallow
cheeks. Then he put a series of searching questions which were
answered by Clark with a wealth of detailed information which it seemed
was impossible to have been collected by one man in the course of a few
days. After which the three went to the big map and, turning their
backs on Clark, traced out railway lines and steamship routes and the
general transportation situation, and all the while the latter sat
quite motionless, while his eyes regarded the group across the room
with a look at once hypnotic and profound. These were telling moments,
during which unseen forces seemed to move and stretch themselves in
hidden potency.

Presently came Wimperley's voice. "How much money would be necessary
for the first year's operations?"

"About a million, possibly more."

"And how," demanded Stoughton, "do you propose to get it?"

"I am not going to get it," replied Clark with extreme placidity; "you
are."

Came a joint laugh from the three at the map, not hearty or contagious,
but burdened with that negative humor with which men sometimes accept a
situation which holds them helpless and at the same time summons all
their power to meet it.

Stoughton drew a long breath. "Well," he said slowly; "I suppose we
are."

There followed an hour's conference. Clark did not display a trace of
triumph but poured out the contents of his extraordinary brain. A
million to start with and after that more millions as the occasion
demanded. These were his requirements and the rest could be left to
him. And it might be noted that the prospect did not cause the others
much anxiety, for as the undertaking unfolded with communicable power,
they perceived more fully than ever that he was in actuality dealing
with fundamentals, and fundamentals were things they w