lately--some that the old man doesn't know about."

Adam looked up; any danger that threatened Phil always enlisted his
sympathy.

"Tell me about it. I can't follow these operations. Most of them are
all Greek to me."

"Well, as I say, we've got to have money, a whole lot of it, or
there's no telling when Madeleine and I will ever be married. And the
Portage Company has got to have money; they have struck bottom so far
as their finances go and can't go on without help. God knows I've
worked hard enough over it--been doing nothing else for weeks."

"What do you float?" Adam was prepared to give him his best attention.

"One million refunding bonds--half to take up the old issue and the
balance for improvements. Our wedding comes in the 'improvements,'"
and Philip winked meaningly.

"Is there enough copper in the mine to warrant the issue?" Adam asked,
recalling Madeleine's remark about the deeper they went the less
copper there was in the mine.

"What's that got to do with it?"

"Everything, I should think. You examined it--didn't you?--and should
know."

"Yes, but nobody has asked me for an opinion. The company's engineer
attends to that."

"What do you think yourself, Phil?"

"I don't think. I'm not paid to think. The other fellow does the
thinking and I do the selling."

"What does Mr. Eggleston say?"

"He doesn't say. He isn't paid for saying. What he wants is his six
per cent, and that's what we've got to earn. This new deal earns it."

"Does the trust company know anything about the mine?"

"Why, of course, everything. Those fellows don't need a guardian.
They've got the mining engineer's sworn certificate, and they trust to
that and----"

"And to the standing of your house," Adam interrupted.

"Certainly. Why not? That's what we're in business for."

"But what do you think of it--you, remember; you--Philip Colton--are
you willing to swear that the mine is worth the money the trust
company will lend on it?"

"I make an affidavit! Not much! What I _say_ is everybody's property;
what I _think_ is nobody's business but my own. The mine _may_ strike
virgin copper in chunks and it may not. That's where the gamble comes
in. If it does the bonus stock they get for nothing will be worth
par." He was a little ashamed as he said it. He was merely repeating
what he had told his customers in advance of the issue, but they had
not returned his gaze with Adam's eyes.

"But you in your heart, Phil, are