“By George, Ames, you certainly were stingy not to let us in on that!” exclaimed Kane.
“Cotton belongs to me, gentlemen,” replied Ames simply. “You will have to keep out.”
“Well,” remarked Fitch, glancing about the table, “suppose we get down to the business of the evening––if agreeable to our hostess,” bowing in the direction of the Beaubien.
The latter nodded her approval of the suggestion. “Has any one anything new to offer?” she said.
Some moments of silence followed. Then Ames spoke. “There is a little matter,” he began, “that I have been revolving for some days. Perhaps it may interest you. It concerns the Albany post road. It occurred to me some time ago that a franchise for a trolley line on that road could be secured and ultimately sold for a round figure to the wealthy residents whose estates lie along it, and who would give a million dollars rather than have a line built there. After some preliminary examination I got Hood to draft a bill providing for the building of the road, and submitted it to Jacobson, Commissioner of Highways. He reported that it would be the means of destroying the post road. I convinced him, on the other hand, that it would be the means of lining his purse with fifty thousand 95 dollars. So he very naturally gave it his endorsement. I then got in consultation with Senator Gossitch, and had him arrange a meeting with the Governor, in Albany. I think,” he concluded, “that about five hundred thousand dollars will grease the wheels all ’round. I’ve got the Governor on the hip in that Southern Mexican deal, and he is at present eating out of my hand. I’ll lay this project on the table now, and you can take it up if you so desire.”
“The scheme seems all right,” commented Weston, after a short meditation. “But the profits are not especially large. What else have you?”
“Well, a net profit of half a million to split up among us would at least provide for a yachting party next summer,” remarked Ames sententiously. “And no work connected with it––in fact, the work has been done. I shall want an additional five per cent for handling it.”
An animated discussion followed; and then Fitch offered a motion that the group definitely take up the project. The Beaubien put the vote, and it was carried without dissent.
“What about that potato scheme you were figuring on, Ames?” asked Fitch at this juncture. “Anything ever come of it?”
Ames’s eyes twinkled. “I didn’t get much encouragement from my friends,” he replied. “A perfectly feasible scheme, too.”