"You're just like all the other government men I've ever had to do business with, Brouillard; pig-headed, obstinate, blind as bats to their own interests. I didn't especially want to begin by knocking you into line, but I guess it'll have to be done. In the first place, let me tell you that there are all kinds of big money behind this little sky-rocket of ours here in the Niquoia: ten millions, twenty millions, thirty millions, if they're needed."
Brouillard shook his head. "I can't count beyond a hundred, Mr. Hosford."
"All right; then I'll get you on the other side. Suppose I should tell you that practically all of your bosses are in with us; what then?"
"Your stockholders' listings concern me even less than your capitalization. We are miles apart yet."
Again the representative of Niquoia Improvement took time to shift the extinct cigar.
"I guess the best way to get you is to send a little wire to Washington," he said reflectively. "How does that strike you?"
"I haven't the slightest interest in what you may do or fail to do," said Brouillard. "At the same time, as I have already said, I don't wish to quarrel with you or with your company."
"Ah! that touched you, didn't it?"
"Not in the sense you are imagining; no. Send your wire if you like. You may have the use of the government telegraph. The office is in the second shack north of this."
"Still you say you don't want to scrap?"