“I've got to worrying about that Californian venture of our's, and before I go I want to put my affairs in some sort of shape.”
“Then you shall go, after all?” Benson had said.
“I must; there's no help for it. What do you think of the scheme, anyhow?”
“Well, I think better of it now that I know you are going to assume the direction of it.”
“That's odd, with the knowledge you have,” said Landray, with a short laugh.
Benson had not been surprised at what Landray had told him of his intentions; indeed, the whole project, the journey overland, with its hardships and possible danger, the search for the gold when California should be reached, would be but episodes in a speculation for which he felt the Landrays were singularly fitted. They were not business men, no one knew this better than he; they had possessed large means, though the fortune which they had inherited from their father was now much impaired by bad management and the luckless ventures in which they had involved themselves.
He had felt, however, that their lack of ordinary business thrift would not be any special hindrance in such an enterprise as this; where, after all, success would come more as the result of chance, than because of shrewdness or capacity. Even when he was most critical of the brothers, not being able to quite free himself of a secret contempt, since they had started life with such exceptional opportunities, and had made such poor use of them, he admitted that under such conditions as he imagined would be found in California, their strength and courage, their physical readiness and vigour would perhaps more than compensate for the lack of those other qualities in which they had proved themselves so deficient.
“Yes, I think well of the scheme now,” said the lawyer slowly. “Much better than I did before.”
Landray laughed again carelessly.
“One would think I had a long career of success to point to, lucky ventures and the like. But, Jake, we are going to come back rich men, and then, by George! no more risks for me! I'll just potter around out at the farm, keep some trotting stock, and breed fancy cattle, and let it go at that.”