“Mr. Chairman, there's business to be done, and we are here to do it, and we're not going to be rushed through in this way.”
“Exactly, Mr. Hayes, exactly,” said Mr. Pilley. “We must give these matters the fullest consideration.”
Then followed a silence.
“Perhaps Mr. Hayes—” continued the chairman, looking appealingly at that gentleman.
“Well, Mr. Chairman,” said Mr. Hayes, with an appeased but slightly injured air, “it is not my place to set forth the cause of this meeting being called. If the chairman of the board would do his duty”—here he glared at the unconscious Mr. Innes—“he would set before it the things that have made this meeting necessary, and that call for drastic action.”
“Hear! Hear!” cried Mr. Boggs.
“Exactly so,” acquiesced the chairman. “Please continue, Mr. Hayes.”
Mr. Hayes continued: “The situation briefly is this: We are almost hopelessly in debt, and—”
“How much?” enquired Neil Fraser, briskly interrupting.
“Seven hundred dollars,” replied Mr. Hayes, “and further—”