m, it was that that brought on this
crisis. Josie and I went sleighing, and the hound was furious. Next time
we met he started this business going."

I was studying the schedule, and said nothing. After a while he began
talking again, in a slow manner, as if the words came lagging behind a
labored train of thought.

"Remember the mill the Dutchman had?... Ground salt, and nothing but
salt ... Ours won't grind anything but mortgages ... Well, the hair of
the dog must cure the bite ... Fight fire with fire ... _Similia
similibus curantur_ ... We can't trade horses, nor methods, in the
middle of the ford.... The mill has got to go on grinding mortgages
until we're carried over; and Hinckley and the Grain Belt Trust must
float 'em. Of course the infernal mill ground salt until it sent the
whole shooting-match to the bottom of the sea; but you mustn't be misled
by analogies. The Dutchman hadn't any good old Al to lose telegrams in
an absent-minded way where they would do the most good, and sell
railroads to old man Pendleton ... As for us, it's the time-worn case of
electing between the old sheep and the lamb. We'll take the adult
mutton, and go the whole hog ... And if we lose, the tail'll have to go
with the hide.... But we won't lose, Al, we won't lose. There isn't
treason enough in all the storehouses of hell to balk or defeat us. It's
a question of courage and resolution and confidence, and imparting all
those feelings to every one else. There isn't malice enough, even if it
were a whole pack, instead of one lone hyena, to put out the fires in
those furnaces over there, or stop the wheels in that flume, or make our
streets grow grass. The things we've built are going to stay built, and
the word of Lattimore will stand!"

"My hand on that!" said I.

* * * * *

There was little in the way of higgling: for Cornish proudly refused
much to discuss matters; and when we found what we must pay to prevent
the explosion, it sickened us. Jim strongly urged upon Harper the taking
of Cornish's shares.

"No," said Harper, "the Frugality and Indemnity is too good a thing to
drop; and I can't carry both. But if you can show me how, within a short
time, you can pay it back, I'll find you the cash you lack."

We could not wait for the two millions from Pendleton; and the interim
must be bridged over by any desperate means. We took, for the moment
only, the funds advanced through Harper; an