Philip dropped back into his chair. The face that he turned to
Gregson was damp with perspiration, though the room was chilly.

"You stayed in," said Gregson.

"I had to. There wasn't a loophole left open to me. There wasn't a
single point at which I could bring attack against Brokaw and the
others. They were six veritable Bismarcks of deviltry and
shrewdness. They hadn't over-stepped the law. They had sold a
million and a quarter of stock on a hundred-thousand-dollar
investment, but Brokaw only laughed when I raged at this. 'Why,
Philip,' he said, 'we value our license alone at over a million!'
And there was no law which could prevent them from placing that
value upon it, or more. There was one thing that I could do--and
only one. I could resign, decline to accept my stock and the
hundred thousand, and publicly announce why I had broken off my
connections with the company. I was about to do this when cooler
judgment prevailed. It occurred to me that there would have to be
an accounting. The company might sell a million and a quarter of
stock--but in the end there would have to be an accounting. If I
was out of the game it would be easily made. If I was in--well, do
you see, Greggy? There was still a chance of making the company
win out as a legitimate enterprise, even though it began under the
black flag of piratical finance and fraud. Brokaw and the others
were astonished at the stand I took. It was like throwing a big,
ripe plum into the fire Brokaw was the first to hedge. He came
over to my side in a private interview which we had, and for the
first time I convinced him completely of the tremendous
possibilities before us. To my surprise he began to show actual