“But nothing came of it?” said Ford, hope rising in spite of the negative query.

“No; nothing but a general hand-out of pretty sharp talk.  What was needed right then was a unifier—­somebody who could take command and coax or bully the scrapping factions into line.  Magnus tried it, but he’s too smooth.  Brewster was the man, but he has too many other and bigger irons in the fire to care much about P. S-W.  Connolly could have done it if the scrap had been a political split, but he was out of his element.”

“Humph!” growled Ford.  “It didn’t occur to me that there were any differences of opinion to be reconciled.  The entire board sat on my proposition—­as a unit.”

Adair laughed with imperturbable good-humor.

“The factions were there, just the same.  You see, it’s like this:  Brewster and Magnus and two or three more are pretty well-to-do, and their holdings in P. S-W. don’t cut much of a figure with them, one way or another.  The others have more stock in the company, and fewer millions.  When the jangle came, Brewster and the heavy men said, ’Oh, let it go; it isn’t worth bothering with.’  Naturally, the little fellows, with more to lose and less money-nerve, said, ‘No.’”

“It spells the same word for me, in any event,” Ford commented, and went on pitching things into his steamer trunk.

Adair got upon his feet and strolled away to the window.

When he turned again to face the beaten one he said: 

“If I wasn’t so infernally lazy, Mr. Ford, I more than half believe that I could pull this thing off for you, myself.  But that is the curse of being born with too much money.  I can take a plunge into business now and then—­I’ve done it.  But my best friend couldn’t bet on me two days in succession.”

Ford looked up quickly.

“Then don’t put your hand to this plow, Mr. Adair.  I’ll be frank with you.  I can fit the mechanical parts of this scheme of mine together, so that they will run true and do business.  But I, or any man in my place, would have to have solid backing here in New York; a board that would be as aggressive as a handful of rebels fighting for life, and every man of it determined to win out or smash something.  Mr. Magnus spoke of the opposition we should encounter from our competitors.  He might have said more.  What the Transcontinental, for example, wouldn’t do to obliterate us needn’t be catalogued.  How do you suppose the present P. S-W. board would fare in such a fight?”

The youngest member of the flouted board laughed again.

“You mustn’t say in your wrath that all men are liars—­or cowards.  There is plenty of fight in our crowd; and plenty of money, too, if you could only get it sufficiently scared.”

“I’ve done my best,” said Ford, slamming the lid of the trunk and buckling the straps vigorously.  “The next time I’ll find my market first and build my scheme afterward.”