“Great Jehu, there is nothing slow about you!” he breathed. “Yes. My guess—and mind this, it’s no more than a guess—is that Dickover has advance information that this chemical process is now a verity. You see? It is probably workable on ores of a certain silver-zinc combination. I deduce this from the fact that the Apex Crown, the two holdings I sold Henderson, and the Big Bony I sold Dickover are of almost the same identical ore properties. Only such a discovery would get Dickover after low-grade ores.”
She was leaning forward now, her eyes shining like twin stars.
“I see! Of course!” she exclaimed eagerly. “Henderson learned of this and at once went out on his own hook to secure all the mines and claims possible containing this grade of ore! And Dickover is here in San Francisco to buy everything in sight before news of the discovery has broken! Is that it?”
“You’ve said it. So far all’s straight. Got any questions ready?”
“Heaps!” The girl laughed, then instantly grew grave. “Dickover knows that Henderson is a traitor and has been buying Apex Crown; yet Dickover is ready to buy our stock, make the Apex Crown a great success and enrich Henderson! Why?”
“I’ve doped it out; I struck the same snag myself—and others, too. Like this! If Dickover gets our block of stock, he controls that mine. He can let it lie useless for years, until Henderson has given up hope and sold out the stock he’s been buying. And until that happens, Dickover lets the mine lie dead for five years or fifty! Savvy?”
“Sure, so far.” Miss Ferguson frowned. “It’s getting involved, though. The salient fact is the human equation—Dickover wants to smash Henderson first, then develop the mine!”
“Exactly. He knows that Henderson is loaded to the guards with the stock and is taking all that’s offered.”
“Then why does Dickover threaten to throw all his stock on the market? How would that smash anybody? Henderson could simply buy it up, control the mine, and develop it by means of the new chemical process!”
Bowen leaned back in his chair and puffed for a moment.