“You may be able to make up a party here,” said Stephen.
“If you are wise, you will take your brother home, Bush!” said Gibbs.
Stephen turned to him: “Don't you see it would not be necessary for me to go to California to share in a speculation of this sort?”
“No, I can't see it Landray.”
“A company could be organized. Whoever wished to, could take shares in the venture; there would be little or no difficulty in finding men to go and do the actual work of digging for the gold.”
“Have you any scheme to propose that would guarantee a fair division of the profits in the event of there being any?” asked the captain.
Landray smiled slightly. “There would be no trouble about that,” he said hastily. “For, of course, we would only send men in whom we had the fullest confidence; and the returns could be made regularly by ship, by way of the Horn—”
“The small end of it,” suggested Gibbs, lightly.
Mr. Tucker laughed boistrously at this sally, but neither of the Landrays smiled.
Gibbs yawned. “I think we had all better go home and sleep on it,” he said.