hool. Fellows," he continued gravely,
"I've prayed for you and for your success every day since you left.
And my faith in my Saviour is too great to be shattered now by your
adverse report. He certainly will show us a way out; and I can trust
him and wait."

Reed and Harris looked at him and then at each other with puzzled
expressions on their faces. The man continued earnestly:

"Colombia is a rich and undeveloped country, you have said. There must
be other mineral properties available there. Did you see none on your
travels? Or could we not organize an exploration party to search for
mines?"

"Who'd furnish the wherewithal?" asked Harris bluntly.

"Oh, that could be arranged."

"Will your sheep stand for further shearing?" queried the grinning
Harris.

"Fellows," said Ketchim, brightening and drawing his chair closer,
"you've got something--I know it! You've got something to suggest that
will save the Molino stockholders!"

"But not yourself, eh?" taunted Harris.

"I shall sacrifice myself," answered Ketchim deprecatingly. His manner
had now become animated, and he leaned expectantly toward them.

Reed and Harris again looked questioningly at each other. "I guess we
might as well," said Reed in a low voice. "It is bound to come out,
anyway."

"Sure," returned Harris; "drive ahead."

"Mr. Ketchim," began Reed, turning to the eager, fidgeting man, "when
I came to New York a year ago, looking for a business opening, my
friend and former classmate in the University, Mr. Cass, put me in
touch with you. At that time you were booming the Molino company hard,
and, I have no doubt, thought you really had something down in
Colombia. But when you offered to lease me a portion of your
properties there, I laughed at you. And, in the course of time, I
succeeded in convincing you that you knew nothing whatsoever about the
properties on which you were selling so much stock. Then, after months
of parley, from an offer to permit me to go down to Colombia at my own
expense to examine Molino's mines, to ascertain whether or not I
wished to operate a part of them on a royalty basis, you adopted my
own view, namely, that the time had come for you to know whether the
company possessed anything of value or not. And so you sent my
associate, Mr. Harris, and myself down there to examine and report on
Molino's so-called mines. And you gave us each a block of stock as
part compensation. We found the mines barren. And now you have