mouth to afford him an opportunity to answer your questions, will look

you coolly in the face and tell you his little property is worth forty

or fifty thousand dollars! But you can easily fix him. You tell him that

you'll build a quartz mill on his property, and make him a fourth or a

third, or half owner in said mill in consideration of the privilege of

using said property--and that will bring him to his milk in a jiffy. So

he spits on his hands, and goes in again with his axe, until the mill is

finished, when lo! out pops the quondam wood-chopper, arrayed in purple

and fine linen, and prepared to deal in bank-stock, or bet on the races,

or take government loans, with an air, as to the amount, of the most

don't care a-d---dest unconcern that you can conceive of. By George,

if I just had a thousand dollars--I'd be all right! Now there's the

"Horatio," for instance. There are five or six shareholders in it, and I

know I could buy half of their interests at, say $20 per foot, now that

flour is worth $50 per barrel and they are pressed for money. But I am

hard up myself, and can't buy--and in June they'll strike the ledge and

then "good-bye canary." I can't get it for love or money. Twenty dollars

a foot! Think of it. For ground that is proven to be rich. Twenty

dollars, Madam--and we wouldn't part with a foot of our 75 for five

times the sum. So it will be in Humboldt next summer. The boys will get

pushed and sell ground for a song that is worth a fortune. But I am at

the helm, now. I have convinced Orion that he hasn't business talent

enough to carry on a peanut stand, and he has solemnly promised me that

he will meddle no more with mining, or other matters not connected with

the Secretary's office. So, you see, if mines are to be bought or sold,

or tunnels run, or shafts sunk, parties have to come to me--and me only.

The Letters Of Mark Twain, Complete