"Well, I tell you the bondholders won't put up another penny unless——" The Easterner paused, growing thoughtful. Some minutes passed before he resumed: "There's one condition on which they'll do it, and I'll guarantee their support."
"And the condition?"
"That you surrender your stock to them."
"For the twenty or twenty-five thousand dollars more that will be needed? My shares representing a hundred thousand? And I presume I should have to withdraw altogether."
"Naturally," Gretzinger responded. "I should then take charge."
Bryant's expression exhibited a certain amount of curiosity.
"Do you really think you could finish the ditch on time?" he inquired.
A slight sneer was the answer. Gretzinger was one not given to wasting time with men of Bryant's type.
"How about it? Am I to take back to New York with me your agreement to this?" he asked, curtly.
The other spread his feet apart and hooked his thumbs in his coat pockets and directed his full regard at the speaker.