s of golden beer. That
was actually gold, in the raw state. He strove to comprehend it.

Here was the certified report of the assay, on the letter-head of the
chemist who had examined the ore. It ran _a hundred and sixty-three
dollars to the ton_! Marvelous; perfectly marvelous! Mr. Daw himself,
even as he showed the assay, admired it over and over. As for Mr.
Gilman, words could not explain how he was impressed. A genuine assay!

Now, here is what Mr. Daw had done. Immediately upon receiving the
report upon this assay he had scraped together all the money he could,
and had bought up an additional ten per cent. of the stock of that
company, which left him holding thirty per cent. Also, he had secured
an option upon the thirty per cent. still outstanding. That additional
thirty per cent. could be secured, if it were purchased at once, for
three thousand dollars. Now, if Mr. Gilman could invest that much
money, or knew any one who could, by pooling their stock Mr. Gilman
and Mr. Daw would have sixty per cent. of the total incorporated stock
of the company, and would thus hold control. Mr. Gilman certainly knew
what that meant.

Mr. Gilman did, for Mr. Smalley's Filmore Bank had been started as a
stock company, with Mr. Smalley holding control, and by means of that
control Mr. Smalley had been able to vote himself sufficient salary to
be able to buy up the balance of the stock, so that now it was all
his; but Mr. Gilman could not see where it was possible for him to
secure three thousand dollars for an investment of this nature.

An investment? Mr. Daw objected. This was not an investment at all. It
was merely the laying down of three thousand dollars and immediately
picking it up again fourfold. Why, having secured this stock,
all they had to do was to let the secret of the finding of the
hundred-and-sixty-three-dollar-a-ton gold be known, and, having
control to offer, they could immediately sell it, anywhere, for four
times what they had paid for it. The entire transaction need not take
a week: it need not take four days.

Now, here is what Mr. Daw would do--that is, after he had ordered
another pitcher of beer. He had the thirty per cent. of stock with
him. He spread it out before Mr. Gilman. It was most beautifully
printed stock, on the finest of bond paper, with gold-leaf letters, a
crimson border and green embellishments, and was carefully numbered in
metallic blue. It was also duly transferred in the name of Ho