"No, you're not," retorted Mr. Farnum. "My correspondent is pretty near
right in referring to you as young experts."

"If we're going to get that reputation," muttered Benson, more than half
seriously, "we'll have a heap to do in 'making good.'"

"Just look here, Farnum, at what these boys have been at work on," begged
the inventor, calling attention to the partly-finished model.

In an instant the boatbuilder became absorbed in the idea as shown by
model and drawings.

"Can this be made perfect, Dave?" he asked, eagerly, turning to the
inventor.

"I think it can," answered Mr. Pollard. "The boys have been good enough
to ask me to try."

"Then I hope you'll start, this minute," exclaimed the yard's owner. "It
means more to us, Dave--more to us, boys--than any of you suppose at
this moment! Let me tell you something. This letter holds the key to
the secret. Trying to interest people in our work, I've been writing
right and left trying to raise more capital on terms that would be fair
to us. Now, here's a letter from Broughton Emerson, a man worth
millions. He admits that my letter has interested him. He'll come here,
soon, and he states that, if we can show him a good enough chance to
make money he will put in the needed capital, taking satisfactory
security, and yet leave the business under its present control. In
other words, he's likely to do just what we wanted George Melville to