ause of the poor and
neglected STOKER, for whose accommodation, and social, moral, religious,
and intellectual improvement, a large stock of evangelical tracts will
speedily be required. Tenders of these, in quantities of not less than
12,000, may be sent in to the Interim Secretary. Shares must be applied
for within ten days from the present date.

"By order of the Provisional Committee,

"ROBERT M'CORKINDALE, _Secretary_."

"There!" said Bob, slapping down the prospectus on the table with as
much triumph as if it had been the original of Magna Charta, "what do
you think of that? If it doesn't do the business effectually, I shall
submit to be called a Dutchman. That last touch about the stoker will
bring us in the subscriptions of the old ladies by the score."

"Very masterly indeed," said I. "But who the deuce is
Mhic-Mhac-vich-Induibh?"

"A bona-fide chief, I assure you, though a little reduced. I picked him
up upon the Broomielaw. His grandfather had an island somewhere to the
west of the Hebrides; but it is not laid down in the maps."

"And the Captain of M'Alcohol?"

"A crack distiller."

"And the Factor for Glentumblers?"

"His principal customer. But, bless you, my dear St. Mirrens! Don't
bother yourself any more about the committee. They are as respectable a
set--on paper at least--as you would wish to see of a summer's morning,
and the beauty of it is that they will give us no manner of trouble. Now
about the allocation. You and I must restrict ourselves to a couple of
thousand shares apiece. That's only a third of the whole, but it won't
do to be greedy."

"But, Bob, consider! Where on earth are we to find the money to pay up
the deposits?"

"Can you, the principal director of the Glenmutchkin Railway, ask me,
the secretary, such a question? Don't you know that any of the banks
will give us tick to the amount 'of half the deposits.' All that is
settled already, and you can get your two thousand pounds whenever you
please merely for the signing of a bill. Sawley must get a thousand
according to stipulation; Jobson, Heckles, and Grabbie, at least five
hundred apiece; and another five hundred, I should think, will exhaust
the remaining means of the committee. So that, out of our whole
stock, there remain just five thousand shares to be allocated to the
speculative and evangelical public. My eyes! Won't there be a scramble
for them!"

Next day our prospectus appeared in the newspapers. It was read