"Exactly!"
He shook his head. "We can't build piers to withstand those heavy bergs which you tell me are always breaking off."
"I'll explain how we can," said O'Neil. "You've hit the bull's-eye—the tender spot in the whole enterprise. While the river is narrow and rapid in front of Jackson—the lower glacier—opposite Garfield there is a kind of lake, formed, I suppose, when the glacier receded from its original position. Now then, here lies the joker, the secret of the whole proposition. This lake is deep, but there is a shallow bar across its outlet which serves to hold back all but the small bergs. This gives us a chance to cross in safety. At first I was puzzled to discover why only the ice from the lower glacier came down-river; then, when I realized the truth, I knew I had the key to Alaska in my hands. We'll cross just below this bar. Understand? Of course it all depends upon Parker's verdict, but I'm so sure his will agree with mine that I've made my preparations, bought Omar and gathered you fellows together. We're going to spring the biggest coup in railroad history."
"Where's the money coming from?" Slater inquired, bluntly.
"I'm putting in my own fortune."
"How much is that? I'm dead to all sense of modesty, you see."
"About a million dollars," said O'Neil.
"Humph! That won't get us started."
"I've raised another million in New York." The chief was smiling and did not seem to resent this inquisitiveness in the least.
"Nothing but a shoe-string!"