orld of
them. I kicked 'em up last year when I was huntin' horses, and realized
their value. They'd go off like hot cakes to high schools and
collectors. We could get a professor in here cheap--a lunger, maybe--to
classify 'em, and then we'd send out our own salesman. We can advertise
and create a market.

"Gentlemen," solemnly, "we have not one iota of reason to be
discouraged! With thousands of acres available for peppermint; with
more air to the square inch than any place else in the world, with an
inexhaustible bed of fossils under our very noses, all we need to
fulfill the dreams of our city's founder is unity of effort and capital.
In other words--MONEY!"

"And the longer you stay in Prouty the more you'll need it!"

The jeering voice from the rear of the room belonged to Toomey.

The Club turned its head and looked at the interrupter in astonishment.
He was sitting in the high-headed arrogance with which once upon a time
they had all been familiar. Though momentarily disconcerted, Mr.
Butefish collected himself and retorted:

"Perhaps you have something better to offer, Toomey."

"If I hadn't I wouldn't offer it," he replied insolently.

The thought that came instantly to every mind was that Toomey must have
had a windfall. How else account for this sudden independence? This
possibility tempered the asperity of Mr. Butefish's answer, though it
still had plenty of spirit:

"We are ready to acknowledge your--er--originality, Mr. Toomey, and will
be delighted to listen."

To Toomey it was a rare moment. He enjoyed it so keenly that he wished
he might prolong it. Uncoiling his long legs, he surveyed his auditors
with a tolerant air of amusement:

"I presume there are no objections to my mentioning a few of the flaws
that I see in the schemes which have been outlined?"

"Our time is limited," hinted Mr. Butefish.

"It won't take long to puncture those bubbles," Toomey answered,
contemptuously.

Certainly he had made a raise somewhere!

"We will hear your criticisms," replied Mr. Butefish, with the restraint
of offended dignity.

"In the first place, everybody knows that the soil in this country sours
and alkalies when water stands on it." Toomey spoke as a man who had
wide experience. He looked at "Doc" Fussel, who shrivelled with the
chagrin that filled him, when Toomey added, "That settles the peppermint
bog, doesn't it?

"Take the next proposition: What's the use of car-lines that begin
nowher