"Bravo, Bob!" cried a loud, hearty voice.
"I think," said Robert, in a tone of grave rebuke, "that is not altogether seemly at a public meeting."
Wannop got up with a laugh in which a number of the listeners joined.
"And I am prepared to back my relative, Andrew Allinson, to my last shilling—in which Mrs. Wannop joins me. Between us we hold a good deal of stock."
There was applause mixed with expressions of relief, but some still suspected knavery.
"What is Mr. Allinson's object?" a man blurted out. "What does he expect to gain?"
Andrew flushed, but answered quietly.
"If you close with my offer, I shall undoubtedly benefit; but I do not urge you to do so. Listen to the alternative, and then decide. But I must ask for patience while I tell you the story of another mine."
"As chairman, I must raise a point of order," Leonard objected; but they silenced him with shouts, and he sat down, baffled, knowing that the game was up.
"Go on!" they ordered Andrew, and with a steady voice he began to tell them of Graham's discovery of the lode.