“Haven’t I?” exclaimed Potts, in wonder. “I thought it was exaggerated.”
“I could tell you stories far more wonderful than any thing you have heard.”
“Tell me!” cried Potts, breathlessly.
“Well,” said Smithers, confidentially, “I don’t mind telling you something which is known, I’m sorry to say, in certain circles in London, and is already being acted on. One-half of our fortune has been made in California operations.”
“You don’t say so!”
“You see I’ve always been bold,” continued Smithers, with an air of still greater confidence. “I read some time since in one of Humboldt’s books about gold being there. At the first news of the discovery I chartered a ship and went out at once. I took every thing that could be needed. On arriving at San Francisco, where there were already very many people, I sold the cargo at an enormous profit, and hired the ship as a warehouse at enormous prices. I then organized a mining company, and put a first-rate man at the head of it. They found a place on the Sacramento River where the gold really seems inexhaustible. I worked it for some months, and forwarded two millions sterling to London. Then I left, and my company is still working.”
“Why did you leave?” asked Potts, breathlessly.
“Because I could make more money by being in London. My man there is reliable. I have bound him to us by giving him a share in the business. People soon found out that Smithers & Co. had made enormous sums of money in California, but they don’t know exactly how. The immense expansion of our business during the last year has filled them with wonder. For you know every piece of gold that I sent home has been utilized by my Junior.”
Potts was silent, and sat looking in breathless admiration at this millionaire. All his thoughts were seen in his face. His whole heart was laid bare, and the one thing visible was an intense desire to share in that golden enterprise.
“I have organized two companies on the same principle as the last. The shares are selling at a large premium in the London market. I take a leading part in each, and my name gives stability to the enterprise. If I find the thing likely to succeed I continue; if not, why, I can easily sell out. I am on the point of organizing a third company.”