e sat down and Rimrock looked out from under his eyebrows at Stoddard
and Mary Fortune.

"Very well," said Stoddard after waiting for a moment. "It's agreeable
to me, I'm sure."

"I'm against it," declared Rimrock promptly. "I'm against any form of
reorganization. I'm in favor of producing copper and taking our
profits from that."

"But this is plain velvet," protested Buckbee, smilingly. "It's just
like money picked up in the road. I don't think I know of any company
of importance that hasn't done something of the kind."

"I'm against it," repeated Rimrock in his stubborn way and all eyes
were turned upon Mary Fortune. She sat very quiet, but her anxious,
lip-reading gaze shifted quickly from one to the other.

"Did you get that, Miss Fortune?" asked Buckbee suavely, "the
proposition is to issue a hundred million shares of common and start
them at, say, ten cents a share. Then by a little manipulation we can
raise them to twenty and thirty, and from that on up to a dollar. At
that price, of course, you can unload if you wish: I'll keep you fully
informed."

"Yes, I understood it," she answered, "but I'm not in favor of it. I
think all stock gambling is wrong."

"You--_what_?" exclaimed Buckbee, and Whitney H. Stoddard was so
astounded that he was compelled to unmask. His cold, weary eyes became
predatory and eager and a subtle, scornful smile twisted his lips.
Even Rimrock was surprised, but he leaned back easily and gave her a
swift, approving smile. She was with him, that was enough; let the
stock gamblers rage. He had won in the very first bout.

"But my dear Miss Fortune," began Stoddard, still smiling, "do you
realize what you have done? You have rejected a profit, at the very
least, of one or two million dollars."

"That may be," she said, "but I prefer not to take it unless we give
something in return."

"But we do!" broke in Buckbee, "that stock is legitimate. The people
that buy in will get rich."

"But the people who buy last will lose," she said. "I know, because I
did it myself."

"Oho!" began Buckbee, but at a glance from Stoddard he drew back and
concealed his smirk. Then for half an hour with his most telling
arguments and the hypnotic spell of his eyes Whitney Stoddard outdid
himself to win her over while Rimrock sat by and smiled. He had tried
that himself in days gone by and he knew Stoddard was wasting his
breath. She had made up her mind and that was the end of it--