“It’s up to a hundred and fifty!” he exploded.  “What did you pay for your shares, Mr. Ford?”

“Twenty,” said Ford coolly.

“Good Heavens!  I—­I hope you hold a safe majority?”

“No; we broke even, Grigsby and I. I have fifty per cent.”

The president groaned.

“I—­I’ll excuse you, Mr. Ford.  Get down there at once and buy that other necessary share!”

Ford shook his head with predetermined gloom.  “No, Mr. Colbrith, I’m not buying any more mining stock.  What I did buy seems to have cost me my job.”

“But, my dear young man!  This is a crisis.  You are likely to lose control of your property!  Or, at least, it is soaring to a point at which you will never be able to secure the control.”

Ford came up smiling.  “You forget that this is mere mad excitement, Mr. Colbrith,” he said, handing back the President’s own phrase.  “To-morrow, I dare say, I shall be able to buy at twenty again.”

The president came away from the window and sat down.  His face was twitching and the thin white hands were tremulous.

“There may be more in this gold discovery than I have been willing to admit,” he said abstractedly, “and in that case ...  Mr. Ford, upon what terms will you consent to go on and whip this line of ours into shape?”

Ford came out of the fog of discouragement with a bound.

“A complete change in the management of the Pacific Southwestern, Mr. Colbrith.  North and his grafters must go.”

The President did not fly into wrathful shards, as Ford fully expected.  On the contrary, he was fingering the white goat’s-beard with one nervous hand, and apparently listening half-absently to the clamor in the street.

“Don’t be unreasonable, Mr. Ford,” he said quite mildly.  “You know we can’t consider anything like that at the present moment.”

“It must be considered,” Ford persisted.  “Ever since I quit being a division superintendent, North has obstructed, lied about me, fought me.  The time has come when, if I stay, I must have a free hand.  I can’t have it while he is out of jail.”

“That is strong language to apply to our first vice-president, Mr. Ford.  And I can only believe that you are prejudiced—­unduly prejudiced.  But all this may be taken up later.  As you suggest, we may be losing very precious time.”

Ford got to his feet.

“Promise me that you will give the Denver management as thorough an investigation as you have given me, Mr. Colbrith; do that, and give me absolute authority over the MacMorroghs and their men for one week; and before the week’s end we’ll be hauling passengers and freight into Copah over our own rails.”

For a moment the president seemed to be on the point of yielding.  Then his habitual caution thrust out its foot and tripped him.

“I can’t be pushed, Mr. Ford,” he complained, with a return of the irritated tone.  “Let the matter rest for the present.  And—­and you may consider yourself relieved from duty until I have gone a little deeper into these charges against you.  Mr. North accuses you, and you accuse Mr. North.  I must have time to approach those matters deliberately.  I don’t know which of you to trust.”