“In conclusion, the projectors of this Railway beg to state that they have determined, as a principle, to set their face AGAINST ALL SUNDAY TRAVELLING WHATSOEVER, and to oppose EVERY BILL which may hereafter be brought into Parliament, unless it shall contain a clause to that effect.  It is also their intention to take up the cause of the poor and neglected STOKER, for whose accommodation, and social, moral, religious, and intellectual improvement, a large stock of evangelical tracts will speedily be required.  Tenders of these, in quantities of not less than 12,000, may be sent in to the Interim Secretary.  Shares must be applied for within ten days from the present date.

“By order of the Provisional Committee,

“ROBERT M’CORKINDALE, Secretary.”

“There!” said Bob, slapping down the prospectus on the table with as much triumph as if it had been the original of Magna Charta, “what do you think of that?  If it doesn’t do the business effectually, I shall submit to be called a Dutchman.  That last touch about the stoker will bring us in the subscriptions of the old ladies by the score.”

“Very masterly indeed,” said I.  “But who the deuce is
Mhic-Mhac-vich-Induibh?”

“A bona-fide chief, I assure you, though a little reduced.  I picked him up upon the Broomielaw.  His grandfather had an island somewhere to the west of the Hebrides; but it is not laid down in the maps.”

“And the Captain of M’Alcohol?”

“A crack distiller.”

“And the Factor for Glentumblers?”

“His principal customer.  But, bless you, my dear St. Mirrens!  Don’t bother yourself any more about the committee.  They are as respectable a set—­on paper at least—­as you would wish to see of a summer’s morning, and the beauty of it is that they will give us no manner of trouble.  Now about the allocation.  You and I must restrict ourselves to a couple of thousand shares apiece.  That’s only a third of the whole, but it won’t do to be greedy.”

“But, Bob, consider!  Where on earth are we to find the money to pay up the deposits?”

“Can you, the principal director of the Glenmutchkin Railway, ask me, the secretary, such a question?  Don’t you know that any of the banks will give us tick to the amount ‘of half the deposits.’  All that is settled already, and you can get your two thousand pounds whenever you please merely for the signing of a bill.  Sawley must get a thousand according to stipulation; Jobson, Heckles, and Grabbie, at least five hundred apiece; and another five hundred, I should think, will exhaust the remaining means of the committee.  So that, out of our whole stock, there remain just five thousand shares to be allocated to the speculative and evangelical public.  My eyes!  Won’t there be a scramble for them!”

Next day our prospectus appeared in the newspapers.  It was read, canvassed, and generally approved of.  During the afternoon I took an opportunity of looking into the Tontine, and, while under shelter of the Glasgow “Herald,” my ears were solaced with such ejaculations as the following: