"Well, then, make me an offer," said Rimrock bluffly, "or Miss Fortune here, if she'd like to sell. Here, I'll tell you what you do—you name me a figure that you'll either buy at, or sell! Now, that's fair, ain't it?"
A fretful shadow came over Stoddard's face as he found himself still on the defense and he sought to change his ground.
"I'll tell you frankly why I make this offer—it's on account of the Old Juan claim. If you had shown any tendency to be in the least reasonable I'd be the last to propose any change——"
"Never mind about that," broke in Rimrock peremptorily, "I'll take your word for all that. The question is—what's your price?"
"I don't want to sell!" snapped out Stoddard peevishly, "but I'll give you twenty million dollars for your hundred thousand shares of stock."
"You offered that before," countered Rimrock coolly, "when I was shut up in the County Jail. But I'm out again now and I guess you can see I don't figure on being stung."
"I'll give you thirty million," said Stoddard, speaking slowly, "and not a dollar more."
"Will you sell out for that?" demanded Rimrock instantly. "Will you take forty for what you hold? You won't? Then what are you offering it to me for? Haven't I got the advantage of control?"
"Well, perhaps you have," answered Stoddard doubtfully and turned and looked straight at Mary. "Miss Fortune," he said, "I don't know you intimately, but you seem to be a reasonable woman. May I ask at this time whether it is your present intention to hold your stock, or to sell?"
"I intend to hold my stock," replied Mary very quietly, "and to vote it whichever way seems best."