Mines, valueless now for the lack of transportation facilities, would
become abundant producers; and there were many fertile valleys and mesas
to attract the ranchman, who would find on the western slopes of the
mountains an unfailing water supply for his reservoirs and ditches. Ford
did not hesitate to predict that within a short time the extension would
earn more, mile for mile, than the grain-belt portion of the system.

When he sat down he felt that his cause was lost. There was no
enthusiasm, no approval, in the faces of his auditors. After a short and
informal discussion, in which the engineer was called on to explain his
plans and estimates in detail to one and another of the members, Magnus,
the bank president, sufficiently summed up the sense of the meeting when
he said:

"There is no question about the ingenuity of your plan, Mr. Ford. You
must have given a great deal of time and thought to it. But it is rather
too large for us, I'm afraid, and there are too many contingencies. Your
province, I understand, is the building and operating of railroads, and
it is nothing to your discredit that you are unfamiliar with the
difficulties of financing an undertaking as vast as this proposal of
yours."

"I don't deny the difficulties," said Ford. "But they wouldn't seem to
be insuperable."

"Not from your point of view," rejoined the banker suavely. "But you
will admit that they are very considerable. The opposition on the part
of the competing systems would be something tremendous. No stone would
be left unturned in the effort to dismount us. To go no further into the
matter than the proposed purchase of the majority stocks in the three
short roads: at the first signal in that field you would find those
stocks flying skyward in ten-point advances, and your five millions
wouldn't be a drop in the bucket. In view of the difficulties, I think I
voice the conviction of the board when I say that the plan is too
hazardous."

The nods of assent were too numerous to leave Ford any hope of turning
the tide in his favor. He rose, gathered up his papers, and reached for
his hat.

"It is very pointedly your own funeral, gentlemen," he said curtly.
"'Nothing venture, nothing have' is an old proverb, but it is as true
now as it was when it was coined. With P. S-W. stock at thirty-eight and
steadily declining; with another dividend about to be passed; and with
the certainty that the July interest on the bonds will have to be