“No doubt of it. It is an excellent mine, and between you and me, our friend Wall is going to make a fortune, or he will, if he plays his cards right.”
“Is that so?”
“There’s no doubt of it. Why, he has managed to buy in for himself and friends about all the original shares, at two cents on a dollar, and he controls the whole thing.”
“I shouldn’t have thought they would sell out.”
“Bless you, they knew nothing of the mine; thought it was bu’st up, worth nothing. Most of them were glad to realize anything at all. You see we’ve kept the thing quiet. We knew all the while that the mine was good, but took good care not to find anything of value till we had run down the stock, and bought it for a song. We needed the money of the other stockholders to carry the thing on. Now we’re all ready to go ahead. There is only one cause of delay.”
“What is that?”
“There is a party at the East that owns a thousand shares; we have tried to secure it, offering three thousand dollars; but he fights shy.”
“It’s worth--how much is it worth?”
“We’ll give fifty dollars a share sooner than not get it. But there won’t be any need of that. He don’t know the value of his shares, and will sell out for five thousand sure. We don’t want to be too much in a hurry about it, or it might excite suspicion.”
“Well, you’re in luck,” said the landlord. “I only wish I had some shares myself. You wouldn’t give me the address of that Eastern party, would you?”