The auditor went through the papers carefully, shifting his cigar slowly
from one corner of his mouth to the other as he read and examined. When
he handed them back he was shaking his head, almost mournfully.

"It's a big thing, Ford; the biggest kind of a thing. And it is
beautifully worked out. But I know our people, here and in New York.
They will simply give you the cold stare and say that you are crazy."

"Because it can't be financed?"

"Because it doesn't come from Hill or Harriman or Morgan, or some other
one of the big captains. You'll never be able to stand it upon its feet
by your single-handed lonesome."

Ford set his teeth, and his clean-cut face seemed to grow suddenly older
and harder as the man in him came to the fore.

"By heavens! if I put my back under it, it's got to stand upon its feet!
I'm not going into it with the idea that there is any such thing in the
book as failure."

The auditor looked darkly into the cool gray eyes of the man facing him.

"Then let me give you a word of advice before you start in. Skip North,
absolutely; don't breathe a word of it to him. Don't ask me why; but do
as I say. And another thing: drop into my office to-morrow before you
leave. I'll show you some figures that may help you to stir things up
properly at the New York end. Do you go direct from here?"