lkins
and Hinckley that I had come back to a closely-beleaguered camp, where
heavy watching had robbed the couch of sleep, and care pressed down the
spirit. I had returned successful, but not to receive a triumph: rather,
Harper and myself constituted a relief force, thrown in by stratagem,
too weak to raise the siege, but bearing glad tidings of strong succor
on the way.

It was our first full meeting without Cornish; and Harper sat in his
place. He was unruffled and buoyant in manner, in spite of the stock in
the Grain Belt Trust Company which he held, and the loans placed with
his insurance company by Mr. Hinckley.

"I believe," said he, "that we are here to consider a communication from
Mr. Cornish. It seems that we ought to hear the letter."

"I'll read it in a minute," said Jim, "but first let me say that this
grows out of a talk between Mr. Cornish and myself. Hinckley and Barslow
know that there have been differences between us here for some time."

"Quite natural," said Harper; "according to all the experience-tables,
you ought to have had a fight somewhere in the crowd long before this."

"Mr. Cornish," went on Mr. Elkins, "has favored the policy of converting
our holdings into cash, and letting the obligations we have floated
stand solely on the assets by which they are secured. The rest of us
have foreseen such rapid liquidation, as a certain result of such a
policy, that not only would our town receive a blow from which it could
never recover, but the investment world would suffer in the collapse."

"I should say so," said Harper; "we'll have to look closely to the
suicide clause in our policies held in New England, if that takes
place!"

"Well," said Jim, continuing, "last Tuesday the matter came to an issue
between us, and some plain talk was indulged in; perhaps the language
was a little strong on my part, and Mr. Cornish considered himself
aggrieved, and said, among other things, that he, for one, would not
submit to extinguishment, and he would show me that I could not go on in
opposition to his wishes."

"What did you say to that?" asked Hinckley.

"I informed him," said Jim, "that I was from Missouri, or words to that
effect; and that my own impression was, the majority of the stock in our
concerns would control. My present view is that he's showing me."

A ghost of a smile went round at this, and Jim began reading Cornish's
letter.

"Events of the recent past convince me," the secession