----"

"I own twenty-five per cent., for I have put my savings into that
enterprise," answered Duncan.

"Well, so much the better. You must see that the Redwood mines, in which
you own twenty-five per cent., will benefit as much as the Quentin mines
do, by this extension of the railroad. It will give us two markets for
our coal instead of one. We can play one market against the other, you
see, and----"

"That isn't the question that I am employed and paid to answer,"
interrupted Duncan. "You have other and vastly greater interests than
those of the mines, that would be served by the extension of the
railroad. But the financiers who are asked to put their money into this
project will be in nowise benefited, either by the increased earnings of
your coal mine and ours, or by the development of your other and far
greater interests that are dependent upon this extension. So when they
employ me to report upon the project, I am not free to consider any of
these things. I must consider only their interests. I must ask myself
whether or not it will 'pay' them to undertake this extension. I _know_
that it will not. I _know_ that the extended line cannot, within a
generation to come, pay even operating expenses, to say nothing of
interest on the cost of construction. I am bound to set forth those
facts in my report. They pay me to tell them what the facts are. Of
course, I shall tell them truly. Otherwise I should not be an honest
man. I should be a swindler, taking their money as pay for deceiving
them and inducing them to undertake a losing enterprise."

"Now wait a while, Duncan. Listen to me. Your worst fault, and, in
business, your worst handicap, is a tendency to go off at half-cock.
You've learned a lot about business since you came to the West, but you
still have your old Southern notions, and they embarrass you. Let me
explain. I'm a business man, pure and simple. I haven't any ideas, or
prejudices, or foolishnesses of any kind. Neither have those fellows in
New York who have employed you to report on this scheme. They are
playing the game, to win or lose as the case may be. Generally, they
win, but now and then, in a little matter like this, they lose. Of
course, they don't mind. They take their losses and their winnings
together, and if the total result is on the right side they don't bother
about the times they have put their money on the wrong card. It's all a
gamble with them, you know."

"Is it? Then why do th