“I don’t know,” I confessed, frankly. “It’s all new to me. I paid ten cents a share. When a gold-mine gets to paying I don’t know how much it pays.”
“It depends on the mine,” stated the engineer. “We can do a pretty good job of guessing in our line, but we can’t see all that’s underground.”
I pulled out my packet of stock.
“I tell you honestly, gentlemen, this seems more or less like a joke to me—and that being the case I’ll sell cheap.”
“It’s really worth par—or it will be in time, I’m sure,” stated the mayor, in honest fashion. “We are under great obligations to you, sir, and we don’t want to take advantage of you in any way.”
“And I feel just that same way toward you, gentlemen,” I assured them. “There’s always the element of a gamble in mining, I’m sure, though I don’t know much about it. Your mine may flush out. I’ll tell you what I’ll do—I’ll meet you on a half-way basis. I’ll sell for half price—fifty cents on a dollar. Give me ten thousand dollars and you own the stock.”
They stepped aside and conferred.
“I suppose you’ll be in town a few days longer!” suggested the mayor.
“If I can get out of here to-night I want to go. I must go.”
“I say again, we don’t want to take any advantage of you because you are obliged to leave in such a hurry. This may seem like queer talk for business men to make—to offer more than the price asked. But we want you to remember that Breed City is grateful.”