feeling of all present, Perner took occasion to go somewhat into
detail.

"In the first place," he said, "we're going to be flooded with names.
We'll have our paper all made up and start the presses running at the
rate of a hundred thousand a day the week before our advertising
appears--not sooner than that, because we want money to be coming in as
soon as possible after the papers are printed."

Perner paused to appreciate the admiring glances of the others. His ten
years' business experience was crystallizing itself into a beautiful
system.

"We'll have our clerks," he continued, "all ready with the books--a book
for each State--to enter the names as soon as the answers begin to come.
We must have one distributing clerk with a little post-office
arrangement to assort the letters and cards into States and give them to
the others. These will enter them and turn them over to another set of
clerks, who will address wrappers from the letters and cards themselves.
Then the wrappers will go to another set of clerks, who will wrap the
papers and mail them."

The admiration for Perner grew. It seemed simplicity itself.

"One hundred thousand a day," he continued, "will give us two million
papers in about three weeks. That'll be the first round of the first
issue. Before those are half out we will be getting subscriptions like
hot cakes, and we'll have to double our force to handle them. But
subscriptions mean money, and with twenty or thirty thousand dollars a
day coming in, we'll have money to double them up with."

"If the subscriptions don't come it will double us up," laughed Van
Dorn.

As for Barrifield, he seemed stupefied. He had started the wind, but the
cyclone it had grown to was whirling him along faster than he could
follow; also the memory of Frisby and Bibles still clung to him
somewhat, despite this new and startling method of taking fortune by
storm. He started to speak, but Perner, who had taken on fuel enough for
a long run, was too quick for him.

"When the first round of the first issue has been going out one day," he
said with conviction, "those subscriptions will begin to come. Each
subscription will bring twenty new names, and that'll mean another round
of the first issue, and the checking off in the books of the people that
have subscribed, showing just who sent them and what he is entitled to
in cash."

"We'll send it to him in a check," said Van Dorn. "Checks always look
well."

"Then,"