“Well, do something,” said the Major, testily; “don’t go and fling your money down a mine.”
“But there are mines and mines, Jollivet, old fellow. If I were asked to join in some company to buy a mine or open a new one, I should of course hesitate; but in this case I have one of my own, one that is undoubtedly very ancient, and must have had a great deal of tin or copper or both in it.”
“No doubt, and it was all dug out and sold long enough ago. The old people had the oyster, and you’ve got the shell.”
“I don’t know so much about that, sir,” said the Colonel, earnestly. “I brought home a piece of old ore that was dug out, and it’s very rich in tin. There’s plenty of room down below for there to be an enormous amount, and as the only outlay will be for machinery for pumping and raising the ore, I have made up my mind to start a company of the owners to work that mine.”
“And lose all your money.”
“I hope not. The mine is already sunk, and I believe when it is pumped dry we shall find that there are drifts with plenty of ore in them, waiting to be worked—plenty to pay well for the getting.”
“And if there turns out to be none at all?”
“Well, that’s the very worst way of looking at it. If it turns out as bad as that, I shall have spent so many hundred pounds in new pumping machinery, and have it to sell for what it will fetch to some fresh company.”
“But you would only get half the value.”
“If I got half the value, I should be satisfied. Then the loss would not be so very severe.”