on was true. Guilford Duncan had begun to take upon
himself the duties of a leader--in an important way--in the work of
upbuilding which at that time was engaging the attention of all men of
affairs. He had accumulated some money, partly by saving, but more by
the profits of his little investments, and by being "let in on the
ground floor" of many large enterprises, in the conception and conduct
of which his abilities were properly appreciated by the capitalists who
undertook them.

Except as a legal adviser, he was no longer a man employed by other men
now. His relations with Will Hallam were closer than ever, but they were
no longer those of secretary, or clerk, or employee in any other
capacity. In many enterprises he was Hallam's partner. In all, he was
his legal adviser, besides being employed in a like capacity by one or
two railroad companies and the like. He had offices of his own, and
while he was still not at all rich, or a man who was reckoned a
capitalist, he was everywhere recognized as a young man of power and
influence, whose brains had brought him into close association with the
greater men of affairs, not only in Cairo, but in all parts of the
country, and especially in New York. For that great city had by this
time made itself completely the financial capital of the country, and
its controlling hand was felt in every enterprise of large moment
throughout the land.

XXI

AN INTERVIEW WITH NAPPER TANDY

For more than a year now Guilford Duncan had been diligently studying
those processes of upbuilding which were so rapidly converting the West
into an empire of extraordinary wealth and power. He had made many
suggestions that had commended themselves for immediate execution,
together with some that must wait for years to come. He had condemned
some projects that seemed hopeful to others, and he had induced
modifications in many.

All these things had been done mainly in his letters and reports to
Captain Will Hallam, but the substance of those letters and reports had
been promptly laid before others, especially before those great
financiers of the East, upon whom all enterprises of moment throughout
the country depended for the means of their accomplishment. In that way
Guilford Duncan had become known to the "master builders" as he called
these men, and had won a goodly share of their confidence. He was
regarded as a young man of unusual gifts in the way of constructive
enterprise--a trifl