“He calculates,” said Jim, “that if he begins operations, he can have receiverships and things of that kind in his interest, and in that way swipe the salvage. On the other hand, he must know that his loss would be proportioned to ours, and would be great. He’s sore, and that counts for something. I figure that the chances are seven out of ten that he’ll do it—and that’s too strong a game for us to go up against.”
“What would be the worst that could happen if he began proceedings?” said I.
“The worst,” answered Jim laconically. “I don’t say, you know,” he went on after a pause, “that Cornish hasn’t some reason for his position. From a cur’s standpoint he’s entirely right. We didn’t anticipate the big way in which things have worked out here, nor how deep our roots would strike; and we did intend to cash in when the wave came. And a cur can’t understand our position in the light of these developments. He can’t see that in view of the number of people sucked down with her when a great ship like ours sinks, nobody but a murderer would needlessly see her wrecked. What he proposes is to scuttle her. Sell to him! I’d as soon sell Vassar College to Brigham Young!”
This tragic humorousness had the double effect of showing us the dilemma, and taking the edge off the horror of it.
“If it were my case,” said Harper, “I’d call him. I don’t believe he’ll smash things; but you fellows know each other best, and I’m here to give what aid and comfort I can, and not to direct. I accept your judgment as to the danger. Now let’s do business. I’ve got to get back to Chicago by the next train, and I want to go feeling that my stock in the Grain Belt Trust Company is an asset and not a liability. Let’s do business.”
“As for going back on the next train,” said Mr. Elkins, “you’ve got another guess coming: this one was wrong. As for doing business, the first thing in my opinion is to examine the items of this bill of larceny, and see about scaling them down.”
“We might be able,” said I, “to turn over properties instead of cash, for some of it.”
Elkins appointed Harper and Hinckley to do the negotiating with Cornish. It was clear, he said, that neither he nor I was the proper person to act. They soon went out on their mission and left me with Jim.
“Do you see what a snowfall we’ve had?” he asked. “It fell deeper and deeper, until I thought it would never stop. No such sleighing for years. And funny as it may seem, it was that that brought on this crisis. Josie and I went sleighing, and the hound was furious. Next time we met he started this business going.”
I was studying the schedule, and said nothing. After a while he began talking again, in a slow manner, as if the words came lagging behind a labored train of thought.