"I'm not sure," Porshinger answered. "I think he was to sail this week—I understand that he arranged for the money in New York and started at once."
"The Tuscarora didn't get aboard then?"
"No—we were offered the underwriting but we didn't fancy going so far away. It looked like a good thing, however."
"So Betheson thought!" Devereux smiled.
"He will likely make a pot of money out of it," Burgoyne chimed in.
"If he doesn't spend two pots in the attempt," added Pendleton.
"Which is altogether possible—and has been known to happen!" Porshinger laughed.
And so, the ice being broken, the talk became general.
The men, for courtesy's sake, tried to treat Porshinger as one of them—and succeeded in making him feel reasonably easy. They could not quite make him forget the fact that he was not one of them, but that was something beyond their power. Politeness can do much, but it cannot reach far enough to make one feel an insider, who knows that he is an outsider. However, they did their best, which was very considerable; and Porshinger realized it—which was to his credit.