"I have more business on my hands now, Martin, than I can possibly attend to."
"You don't know what you are declining, Mr. Jasper," urged Martin warmly. "You havn't yet looked at the statements which I am prepared to lay before you."
"I do know one thing," was the feeling answer, "and that is, that I am declining trouble and cost. About that part of the business, there can be little question."
"Then," said Martin, his manner changing, "I am to understand that you do not wish to join me in this matter?"
"Yes. I would like you to understand that distinctly."
"Very well. I am sorry you refuse so advantageous an investment of money; for right sure am I that no other investment you can make will turn out as this would have done. But, as you have declined, I will not offer a share in my good fortune to any one else; but prosecute the work to my own advantage."
"I thought you hadn't the capital to do that," said Jasper, speaking with ill-repressed eagerness.
"Nor have I," coolly answered Martin. "The proposition I was about to make was this—an advance of twenty thousand dollars capital on your part, to constitute you an equal partner in the mine. But this you decline."
"Certainly! certainly! I would not have entertained it for a moment."
"Exactly. So I have already inferred. I will, therefore, as just said, retain this advantage in my own hands. But, Mr. Jasper, I shall need some help."