Part 21 (1/2)

he scoffed. ”Nonsense, Herman, I'm as fit as possible. A man's got to hustle if he wants to get ahead these days; it won't hurt me; so don't you worry.”

There was a moment's pause; then Gordon glanced keenly at his companion's dissatisfied face. Suddenly he leaned forward, and laid a hand on Vanulm's knee. ”d.a.m.n it, Herman,” he cried good-naturedly, ”why don't you give it to me straight? You never got me out here to tell me I was working too hard. What did you pick out the Konaha.s.sett for? Anything wrong with that?”

Vanulm laughed uneasily. Then suddenly he drew a long breath.

”Confound it, d.i.c.k,” he cried, a note of apology in his tone. ”I hate to interfere this way, but I've known you a long time, and I like you too much to have things seem to begin to go wrong with you now. Since you've asked me, I'll tell you straight out that people are beginning to talk about this Konaha.s.sett scheme. They don't like it, d.i.c.k, and, as far as I can see, you can't really blame them. Your capitalization _is_ big, and beyond that, your methods of getting it before the public--well, they're unusual, d.i.c.k, if we simply let it go at that.

Lamson tried that sort of thing, and you know where he wound up; Prince tried a clumsy imitation of Lamson, with all Lamson's lack of conscience, and none of Lamson's brains to back it up with, and he's where he won't do any more advertising for some time to come. And now you're working along the same lines that they did, and it's costing you your standing around the Federal, and down-town, too. There's not a doubt of it, d.i.c.k; and I can't bear to see it going on this way.

What's the use?”

Gordon grinned somewhat malevolently. ”Meaning the ads?” he queried.

Vanulm nodded. ”Princ.i.p.ally the ads,” he answered. ”They are cheap, d.i.c.k; cheap as the devil, and you know it.”

For answer Gordon pulled from his pocket a sheaf of the evening papers, and at random turned to the financial page of the _Observer_.

There, sure enough, in huge black capitals, his latest bit of advice to investors stared the reader in the face:

COPPERS--COPPERS--COPPERS

ran the big head-lines; then, in smaller type, Gordon's brief pithy argument in favor of the purchase of copper stocks; the future of the metal; the expansion of telegraph and telephone; the electrification of railroads; the vain search for a subst.i.tute; the immense foreign demand; then good words for half a dozen other mines, all well and favorably known, and, lastly, a glowing paragraph devoted to the past, present and future of the Konaha.s.sett, its great area, the wonderful richness of its copper, its boundless possibilities within the next few years. The deduction was as obvious as the type which proclaimed it to the world.

KONAHa.s.sETT--KONAHa.s.sETT

ran the next to last line, and then, for a parting shot at the hesitating speculator, with splendid vigor and decision:

BUY KONAHa.s.sETT--BUY IT OUTRIGHT AND BUY IT NOW

Gordon grinned again. ”And you say they don't care for that at the Federal?” he asked.

Vanulm shook his head. ”They most certainly do not,” he answered. ”In fact, from all I hear, it's going to cost you your place on the House Committee at the next election.”

Gordon's lip curled. ”Well,” he said, composedly enough, ”I'm sorry to hear that, and I'm sorry they don't approve of my taste in advertising, but I don't know what they're going to do about it. I've got hold of too good a thing to let go of it now.”

Vanulm's face showed his disapproval. ”d.a.m.n it, d.i.c.k,” he exclaimed, with unusual profanity and real feeling, ”that's _another_ thing.

You're going to get snowed under one of these fine days. No one can make the success you have, and forge to the front down-town the way you have, without making enemies. And I know, on the best of authority, that you're being gunned for, and right on this very stock we're talking about--the Konaha.s.sett. And the interests that are after you are interests that you can't withstand--that no man in the country, for that matter, could withstand.”

Gordon's eyes narrowed. ”You mean the Combine?” he queried.

Vanulm nodded. ”I mean the Combine,” he answered. ”The argument's perfectly plain, d.i.c.k. You're in too many things; you're cheapening yourself by this advertising business on the Konaha.s.sett, and you're courting ruin, besides. You've made enough, d.i.c.k; pull out, now, and quit while you've got a chance. For Heaven's sake, don't wait till it's too late.”

Gordon's face set obstinately. ”One thing first Herman,” he said, ”I'll tell you frankly that I wouldn't sit here and take all this advice from any man on earth except yourself, but I know the spirit you're offering it in, and I appreciate it, too. Now, to answer your arguments; in the first place, I won't admit that I'm courting ruin, as you put it; in the second place, I'll acknowledge that my methods of getting the Konaha.s.sett before the public are cheap, if you choose to use that word, but they suit the general public, and therefore they suit me; as to my doing too many things at once, that may be an open question; personally I don't think I am, but, of course, I may be wrong. Anyway, I can't stop now; I've got too much to straighten out first. I don't mean to keep up this pace for ever; if things go right a while longer, I shan't have to.”

There was a long silence before Vanulm spoke again. ”All right, d.i.c.k,”

he said slowly; ”I see the force of what you say, and, after all, every man _has_ got to live his own life in his own way. I'll drop the subject, seeing that I look at it one way and you another; I've had my say, and you've been very considerate to take my interfering the way you have; and now, if you'll bear with me, there's just one other thing I want to say, d.i.c.k, before I get through. And that's on the point you spoke of about the number of things you were doing; if you were a single man, I think it might make a difference, but you're not.

You've married a girl who seems to me to be one of the most charming young women I've ever met. Are you treating her quite right, d.i.c.k?

You're very seldom seen with her in public; she's young, and exceedingly attractive; she's bound to receive a lot of attention, and it's common gossip the way this young Ogden's seen around with her.