"No go. He'd suspect something."
"Suspect, would he? H'm—several expert engineers have failed on that dam. If it can be put through, the project will net me a half-million. Ten per cent of my profits might stimulate you engineers. I offer fifty thousand dollars as reward to the man who solves the problem of the Zariba Dam."
"Say, that's going some!" commented Griffith.
"Plain business proposition. If I can't get it done for wages, it is cheaper to pay a bonus than to have the project fail."
"Good way to put it," admitted Griffith. "Don't just know, though, what
I'll do with all that money."
"You? Thought you said that Blake—"
"D'you suppose he'd take a cent of it? He's working for me."
"But if he does the work?"
"He might accept the credit. The cash would come to me, if he had to cram it down my throat. He won't touch your money."
"Crazy fool!" rasped Mr. Leslie. Again he paused to consider, and again he spoke with quick decision. "The Coville Company takes over the project. I don't believe the dam can be built; I'm tired of the whole thing. So I unload on the Coville Company. You see? The company offers the fifty thousand bonus as a last hope. It hires Blake direct on some of its routine work. You insist that he try for the dam, between times."