It would be steady and growing."
"Yes; but it would take years to pile up a fortune, Harry."
"What do we really want with fortunes?"
"We want them, Harry," Tom went on, almost passionately, "because we have ambitions. Look out upon the great mountains of this Range. Think of the rugged bits of Nature in any part of the world, waiting for the conquering hand and the constructive brain of the engineer! Harry, don't you long to do some of the big things that are done by engineers? Don't you want to get into the real—-the big performances of our profession?"
"Of course," nodded Hazelton. "For that reason, aren't we doubly wasting our time here?"
"That's just as it turns out," Reade went on, with a vehemence that astonished his chum. "Harry, what's our office address? Where are our assistant engineers—-where our draftsmen? Where are our foremen that we could summon to great undertakings? Where is the costly equipment that we would need as a firm of really great engineers? You know that we must these things before we can climb to the top of our profession. The gold that's hidden somewhere under that ridge would give us the offices, the assistants, the draftsmen, the equipment and the bank account that we need before we can launch ourselves into first class engineering feats of the great civilization that rules the world today. Harry, I've firm faith in our claim, and I can go on working on a meal every third day."
"Then now, as always, you can count on me to stand by you without limit or complaint," said Harry generously.
"But, just the same, you haven't my faith in the mine, have you?"
Tom queried half-disappointedly.
"Er—-er—-"
"Out with it, chum!"