“In that case,” said I, “the game is up, and the whole scheme exploded.  I would as soon undertake to evoke the ghost of Croesus.”

“Dunshunner,” said Bob, very seriously, “to be a man of information, you are possessed of marvellous few resources.  I am quite ashamed of you.  Now listen to me.  I have thought deeply upon this subject, and am quite convinced that, with some little trouble, we may secure the cooperation of a most wealthy and influential body—­one, too, that is generally supposed to have stood aloof from all speculation of the kind, and whose name would be a tower of strength in the moneyed quarters.  I allude,” continued Bob, reaching across for the kettle, “to the great dissenting interest.”

“The what?” cried I, aghast.

“The great dissenting interest.  You can’t have failed to observe the row they have lately been making about Sunday travelling and education.  Old Sam Sawley, the coffin-maker, is their principal spokesman here; and wherever he goes the rest will follow, like a flock of sheep bounding after a patriarchal ram.  I propose, therefore, to wait upon him to-morrow, and request his cooperation in a scheme which is not only to prove profitable, but to make head against the lax principles of the present age.  Leave me alone to tickle him.  I consider his name, and those of one or two others belonging to the same meeting-house,—­fellows with bank-stock and all sorts of tin,—­as perfectly secure.  These dissenters smell a premium from an almost incredible distance.  We can fill up the rest of the committee with ciphers, and the whole thing is done.”

“But the engineer—­we must announce such an officer as a matter of course.”

“I never thought of that,” said Bob.  “Couldn’t we hire a fellow from one of the steamboats?”

“I fear that might get us into trouble.  You know there are such things as gradients and sections to be prepared.  But there’s Watty Solder, the gas-fitter, who failed the other day.  He’s a sort of civil engineer by trade, and will jump at the proposal like a trout at the tail of a May-fly.”

“Agreed.  Now then, let’s fix the number of shares.  This is our first experiment, and I think we ought to be moderate.  No sound political economist is avaricious.  Let us say twelve thousand, at twenty pounds apiece.”

“So be it.”

“Well then, that’s arranged.  I’ll see Sawley and the rest to-morrow, settle with Solder, and then write out the prospectus.  You look in upon me in the evening, and we’ll revise it together.  Now, by your leave, let’s have a Welsh rabbit and another tumbler to drink success and prosperity to the Glenmutchkin Railway.”