price."

"I won't pay it," threatened the young merchant.

"Build your tunnel then," returned Johnny--but pleasantly,
nevertheless. "Don't let's be nervous, Lofty. I might ask you a lot
more, but that's the exact amount the system I'm playing calls for.
I don't want any more and I won't take any less!"

Lofty studied his face contemplatively for a moment and rang for his
treasurer.

"How did you get Ersten?" he was curious to know; and Johnny told
him, to their mutual enjoyment.

At the nearest drug store Johnny called up Constance.

"Heinrich Schnitt is fixing your coat!" he announced.

"Danke!" she cried. "Did you get the lease?"

"Yes, and sold it to Lofty," he enthusiastically informed her. "The
schedule is paid up until four o'clock to-morrow afternoon."

"Oh!" she gasped. "Wait a minute." He held the telephone while she
consulted the score board and did some figuring. "That makes five
hundred thousand of your million! Just half!"

"I'm coming around to see that diagram," he hastily stated.