Oh, this shining light of the schools!
“What do you say to a glass of champagne?” said Peer. “How do you like it? Sweet or dry?”
“Why, is there any difference? I really didn’t know. But when one’s a millionaire, of course . . .”
“I’m not a millionaire,” said Peer with a smile, and beckoned to a waiter.
“Oh! I heard you were. Didn’t you invent a new motor-pump that drove all the other types out of the field? And besides—that Abyssinian railway. Oh well, well!” he sighed, “it’s a good thing somebody’s lucky. The rest of us shouldn’t complain. But how about the other two—Klaus Brock and Ferdinand Holm? What are they doing now?”
“Klaus is looking after the Khedive’s estates at Edfina. Agriculture by steam power; his own railway lines to bring in the produce, and so on. Yes, Klaus has ended up in a nice little place of his own. His district’s bigger than the kingdom of Denmark.”
“Good heavens!” Langberg nearly fell off his chair. “And Ferdinand Holm; what about him?”
“Oh, he’s got bigger things on hand. Went nosing about the Libyan desert, and found that considerable tracts of it have water-veins only a few yards beneath the surface. If so, of course, it’s only a question of proper plant to turn an enormous area into a paradise for corn-growing.”
“Good gracious! What a discovery!” gasped the other, almost breathless now.
Peer looked out over the fjord, and went on: “Last year he managed at last to get the Khedive interested, and they’ve started a joint-stock company now, with a capital of some millions. Ferdinand is chief engineer.”