IN THE RUE DES BORGNES.
The Banque Sangsue Prêtense occupied the chief part of its own
cut-sandstone building on the Rue des Borgnes, the remainder,
conspicuous in brass and plate glass, being the offices of Ralph
Herkimer and Son, general operators, who were "in" railways, in
minerals, in finance, in whatever promised to turn an honest penny. A
smart man was that Ralph Herkimer, his neighbours said, who tried
everything, and made everything pay. Always early in the field, and
getting the cream of the speculation, while other men were pondering
its prospects, and then putting off on them the closely skimmed milk
which must always be got rid of--the shells, which the oyster-eater
must make somebody carry away if he would not be smothered in the
ruins of his former banquets.
The bank was an enterprise originated by Ralph himself--evolved by him
when his ambition had found the local share list too narrow a field.
Why should he labour, he thought, to pull strings, and not always
efficient ones, to make established stocks jump up and down as he
desired, when he was now strong enough to build an automaton of his
own, which should obey his wishes without fail, and without outside
interference? His friends wondered at his choice of a name so little
calculated to invite business; but he was of opinion that that was of
little moment. Wherever there is money to lend, the borrowers will
scent it out, as flies discover a honey-pot, by instinct. It was small
investors whom he wished to attract, those who, having little money,
are eager to get much interest. In the general increase of wealth, and
the fall in rates of interest, these worthy people find their expenses
increasing while their incomes are falling off, and the image of a
lending bloodsucker, while unattractive to the borrower, who
nevertheless submits to the lancet, is pleasing rather than otherwise
to those who would share the spoils.
Ralph was president and manager of the institution, "filling two
offices for one salary," as he sometimes said, "in his desire that the
bank should do well;" and benefiting largely in many ways, as he did
_not_ say, by the unsupervised control which thus fell into his hands.
The bank parlour and his own private office were only divided by a
wall, and they were connected by a very private door between the
dressing rooms pertaining to the two apartments, so that the clerks
and the business of both establishments were at all times under the
master's eye, the master was virtually in both places at the same
time, and he could at any time be in the other if an undesirable
visitor was to be evaded.
Ralph was in his office. He had been presiding at a meeting of the St.
Laurence, Gattineau and Hudson's Bay Railway, consisting of himself
and a couple of others, at which they had granted a contract to
construct another fifty miles running north. They had also arranged to
hold a demonstration on the occasion, with speeches and champagne, to
be followed on the morrow by placing a quantity of the stock on the
market. As soon as he was left alone he took from a drawer some
specimens of plumbago brought from lands of his which the road he had
been assisting to place under construction would open up. Lumps of
lustrous purple blackness, like a raven's plumage, which he lingered
admiringly, muttering to himself, "They will bring value soon now, but
we must wait till the road is nearly built. If they were brought out
now they would be half forgot before we could take people up to look
at them. Revivals generally fall flat, people just remember enough of
what they heard before to make it harder to interest them with it
again. We must wait till just before the road is going to open, and
then spring tracts A and B upon the public. Rich deposit, rare
mineral, joint stock company, limited liability, unlimited profit, and
so forth. When these are disposed of, and the company is just going to
work upon them, tracts C and D can be discovered to be as rich as the
others, and offered likewise. That will be enough to attempt for some
years. By the time C and D are in working order, the owners of A and B
will be doing something foolish, and having discouragement, and then
it will be no use to offer E and F for ever so long. Yet it would not
improve prospects to offer all at once, it would only bring down the
value and send other people prospecting. We can then fall back on the
phosphate beds," and he glanced at some other specimens in his drawer.
"By that time the second fifty miles of rail will be built, and we
will be able to issue debentures. Our stockholders will have had no
dividends, so they will be sure to take the bonds and new preference
shares to get something out of the old enterprise--no operation so
popular as throwing good money after bad--and then, to secure traffic
for the far-away end of the line, they will buy my phosphate beds, and
work them. That will answer well enough. I shall have unloaded the
last of my railway shares ere then. I wonder why the contractors
agreed to take so much stock in payment? They must have more faith in
our enterprise than I have, or can they have got hold of tracts G, K,
L, and Q? But they have never named plumbago once. Can that be
slyness? In any case they want watching. I'll keep my eyes peeled."
A card was brought in by a clerk with a timid--"Would like to see you,
sir."
"I told you, Stinson, to say I was engaged, whoever called."
"The gentleman was so positive you would see him, I was afraid he
might have reason for what he said."
"Who is it?--Rouget--Hm--Who wants to be bothered with Rouget in
business hours? Say I shall be pleased to see him at half-past three.
I am occupied till then. Let no one in, now, but Mattock the builder,
and Calcimine the architect, and bring over that roll of plans, and
the maps marked 'proposed St. Hypolite suburb,' and spread them out
upon the table. Ha! Bank bell? What do they want in there? Who can it
be? Bid those men wait, Stinson, if they arrive before I get back from
the bank. Tell them you expect me every moment. At the same time, if
any cheques have to be signed, send them into the bank; I do not know
how long I may be detained. Any one in the outer office besides
Rouget? You go first; send him away and then tell me. I like going
into the bank by the front door."
"The Bishop of Anticosti is waiting, and two sisters of charity with a
subscription list, waiting till you are disengaged."
"They can wait, then. I shall go the other way," and so saying he
disappeared by way of the dressing-room.
It was half-past four instead of half-past three when Rouget was at
last admitted to the presence. His consequence was a good deal ruffled
at being kept waiting, and he gave Stinson to understand that he did
not like it; whereupon the clerk suggested that he should call another
day, and was altogether so callous and unimpressed, that, after
failing to get him to carry in another card with messages scrawled
across, Mr. Rouget desisted, submitted, and sat down in a chair like
any humble person awaiting an audience.
"Ha! Mr. Rouget!" was his reception when at last the moment of
admission arrived. "So sorry that you should have had to wait; but
business--you know. How do things go on at St. Euphrase? I have been
meaning to drive over there, some day, now the ice and the sleighing
are so good; but have been so busy."
"We have been making discoveries at St. Euphrase, Misterre
Herkimaire--discoveries of mines and metals. Wat do you tink of dat,
for instance, Misterre Herkimaire?" and he laid some lumps of nearly
pure copper, each about the size of an egg, and a piece of rock, green
with exposure to the weather, and veined with metallic bands upon the
table. The window, as it happened, faced the west, catching the last
of the daylight from the radiant sky. A gleam, grown ruddy, and
struggling with the gathering shadows, seemed drawn to the polished
faces of the ore, and made them shine with enhancing lustre.
"What?" cried Ralph, thrown off his guard at the unexpected sight,
which made him forget the cool and critical attitude of a business
mind. "Copper! Virgin copper, or I'm a Dutchman! Specimens sent in by
his explorers to the Minister of Irrigation? Kind of you to bring them
to me, Mr. Rouget, and give me a chance to bid for the lands. Many
thanks. I have been turning my attention to minerals lately, I doubt
not but with the minister's goodwill we may arrange something to our
mutual advantage--yours and mine. Where do they come from? Up the
Ottawa? Or, perhaps the Gattineau? Yes! that must be it, the
Gattineau. I am interested in Gattineau lands already, and we have
indications of copper; but I am free to confess I did not dream of
anything so fine as this. If the government wants a company formed to
develop minerals on the Gattineau, I'm their man. It will help us to
build our railway at once. I did not calculate on extending so far out
for a year or two, but the mines will require an outlet, and they will
bring the road into notice, and enable us to make an increased issue
of stock. The government will have to increase our land-grant,
however."
Rouget stood regarding the "promoter" with a smile. How he did run on,
to be sure!
"W'ere you say dey come from?"
"The Gattineau, I have no doubt. I never saw a Lake Superior specimen
half as rich."
"Eet ees not Lake Superior, you aire right. W'at you say eef I tell
you it come from sout' of de Saint Laurence?"
"It will be a fortune for the owner if it does. Freight and expenses
there will be so light in comparison with Fond du Lae."
"Dese specimens aire from La Hache."
"You don't----"
"Fact. Here is Professor Hammerstone's report."
"Hammerstone? I see him constantly, but he has never mentioned it. He
spent a week with me at St. Euphrase last summer. My son Gerald reads
with him several times a week, but he has heard nothing of this or he
would have told me."
"Hammerstone was employed by me--a private survey--confidential
affair."
"Ah?" said Ralph, looking at his friend the personage and man of
pleasure with newborn respect. Who could have supposed it? A man he
had always looked on as a fool--spending his days in losing money on
race-courses, his nights in poker!--to think that such a one should
have taken up with science, economies, and the intelligent development
of his property!
"You see it arrived to me all unexpected to make the discovery. The
young Richaud, of the Crown Lands Department, is of the relatives of
madame the most intimate. He made a _séjour_ wid us the last
Septembre, and one day we go for the _chasse aux oiseaux_, and we stop
to repose ourselves in the svamp by the river not far from Saint
Euphrase--the svamp is dried up as you may know in Septembre--and
Richaud, he cry out, and he say, 'M. Rouget,' he say, 'how you aire
_riche!_--more _riche_ as the dreams of avarice.' 'Behold!' he cry,
and frappe wid a large stone ze rock laid bare by the uprooting of a
fallen tree, w'ere I myself had seated. And truly the fragment broken
off did shine wid a lustre as of the metals. Richaud has information
of such tings in the department, and he advised me to consult the
Professeur Hammerstone, w'ich, by-and-by, w'en the frosts have
wizzered the herbage, I do, and you behold his report rendered."
Ralph took the report and read it through, while recovering at the
same time his self-possession. It was an injudicious display of
eagerness which he had been betrayed into, and he felt heartily
ashamed as well as sorry that his nerves should have relaxed from that
critical calm which becomes a proposing buyer while the bargain is
incomplete. How many thousands, he wondered, would his lack of
circumspection cost him? Yet who could have associated the ass Rouget
with anything to sell? It was most provoking.
He sniffed a depreciating sniff as he read through the report, raised
his eyebrows and pursed his lips; and in concluding read aloud the
saving clause in which the worthy scientist guarded his reputation for
infallibility by reminding his readers of the impossibility of
ascertaining the depth to which the outcropping lodes extended, by
mere surface observations, and without sinking an experimental shaft,
and the chances of faults, breaks, and interruptions in the vein at
any depth below that to which his examination had extended.
"You want to sell this, then, Mr. Rouget? this parcel of, say a
thousand acres, with its metalliferous indications? What value do you
put upon it?"
Had Rouget come there the day before, ere he had had speech with
Jordan, or had slept and dreamed upon the encouraging visions which
that conversation had bred, and which had been expanding themselves
ever since, as is the way with visions, there is no doubt he would
have jumped at once, named a sum, and been thankful to take half of
it; but he had spent the night in building castles, and storing them
with the uncounted riches which other men were to dig out of his land
and pay over to him, and the idea of a fixed sum even if far larger
than he had yet named, was now cold and unattractive.
"I vish not to compromise my interests in zis land. I vill not sell."
"Then what do you come to me for?"
"I vish to inaugurate a company to develop ze mines."
"But the mines, if there are any, are yours, Mr. Rouget. It is for the
proprietor to develop his property."
"I have hoped since three months to do so. Money is ze difficulty; I
need money."
"Then sell! Those who have the money are likely to give a good price.
It will be pure gain to you, for this thousand acres, I dare assert,
has never yielded you one cent. Sell to wealthy men who can afford to
develop the property, it will bring in population, perhaps originate a
town, and in any case create a new market for your tenants, and
increase the value of all your lands."
"If it vould be good for dose vealthy men to buy, it vill be my affair
not to sell. I shall keep my interests in ze mines."
"How much good will they do you if you have no capital to work them?"
"I have come to you to get ze capital."
"And how would you purpose to pay for the accommodation?"
"Your bank lends, does it not? I would borrow!"
"What security?"
"My own. Is that not enough? And now there will be dis mine also."
"You would mortgage it then to get an advance? Can you give a first
mortgage?--No?--mortgaged already, eh? Then sell, Mr. Rouget. Sell to
a company. If your ideas are reasonable I may be able to help you; but
a large outlay will be required to start the enterprise, and getting
up a company is an expensive process. However, I think I am safe in
saying you can sell your unproductive swamp for the price of the best
agricultural land in the province, or double what any cleared land
round St. Euphrase would bring. Yes! I will even risk giving you fifty
dollars the _arpent_ myself, and take all the risk and expense, while
you will have the prospective advantage when population comes
streaming in to work the mines."
"You are kind, Mr. Herkimaire. I thank you. But either you are not
serious, or you believe me more fool than is the case. Messieurs
Pyrites and Sulphuret may be willing to put me in the way to develop
my property. I am told they do large business in metals. I shall wish
you a good evening, Mr. Herkimaire."
"No, no! Mr. Rouget. Stop a moment! Just tell me plainly what it is
you want, and I shall be pleased to promote your views if I can. I
have asked you how much you would take for your property, or what you
wish to do with it. You have made no answer. I then made you an offer
for the land, which of course you were quite at liberty to refuse; but
surely your refusing to take my price does not necessitate your taking
offence, especially seeing that you have not yet said what value you
put on the property yourself--and I am sure there is no arrangement
which Pyrites and Sulphuret would make with you which I am not quite
as able to carry out. Since you have been good enough to give me the
first chance, pray do not go before we have had time to understand
each other. What is your own idea in the matter?"
"Mr. Jordain, he say----"
"Jordan is in it, then, is he?" muttered Ralph. "Worse luck."
"He says I should place myself in the hands of some capitalist, who
would form a company, paying me some in money and the rest in stock.
Is not that the fashion to speak of in the language of commerce."
"Quite so, Mr. Rouget. That is the usual way of fixing things. And
your figures?"
And here there arose much altercation and argument, as was inevitable
where each wanted to get as much and give as little as possible. The
dialogue need not be recorded. Its like can be heard in any market
place, between hucksters and old women, chaffering and wrangling over
a copper cent as if their lives depended on having it, though the one
must sell and the other will buy, in any wise, and they both know it.
It was settled at last. Ralph was to arrange and bring out the
company, with all perquisites thereto accruing, Rouget got a fifth
part of the stock as his price, and a few thousand dollars, wherewith
he hurried to New York in a fever of restlessness until he should have
dropped them all into the same abyss which had swallowed so much
already, in obedience to the infallible _système_. Jordan being first
mortgagee, with power to become troublesome, was made solicitor of the
concern, with a handsome block of stock allotted, the calls on which,
it was understood, were not to be pressed. Ralph, as promoter, kept
still, acquiesced, and said not much while the other two preferred
their extravagant demands. It was he who was to issue the stock and
handle the funds, and as the venture progressed he was sure of
abundant profit. Meanwhile, it was best that his mates should have
their way, be kept sanguine and in good humour, if only that they
might innoculate the public mind with their brilliant anticipations.
The prospectus was a work of art, and it was fortified by certificates
from the greatest authorities. True, these authorities had not seen
the metalliferous deposits--indeed no one could see them just then,
buried as they were under drifts of frozen snow--but they were allowed
to see Hammerstone's survey, and Hammerstone was a man of knowledge
and character, whom even the most distinguished felt safe in
endorsing, if the fee were sufficient. As the mind of practical
science puts it--practical science is the science of making as much
money out of as little knowledge as possible--to express another man's
observations in finer and more taking language, is surely the highest
compliment one can pay him, and the most emphatic manner of granting
him our valuable indorsation. Hammerstone was immensely gratified to
read in the prospectus the opinions of Professor Sesquioxide, of
Boston, and other luminaries, his bigger brothers among the sons of
knowledge, so minutely confirmatory of his own; but he wondered much
as to when they had been called in, and he felt a little hurt that
they should have been so near to him and Montreal without visiting
him.
The public mind was judiciously educated up to the receptive point by
a series of graduated rumours and paragraphs of ascending interest.
One may come to believe anything if it seems in sequence with what
went before; therefore, when an assertion seems corroborated by others
already accepted, and which yet appear to be in no way connected with
it, the natural man accepts it at once. The newspapers swarmed with
clippings from the latest mining sensations in Colorado, and following
them would appear rumours of important mineralogical discoveries
"nearer home." By-and-by there were descriptions of California
bonanzas, followed by more rumours of vast metallic wealth at the very
doors. Then an imaginative reporter received confidential information
which he was not at liberty to divulge, but which he felt it a duty to
his beloved public to hint at in various picturesque ways. He
described gigantic masses of virgin copper quarried from their beds
with pre-historic wedges which still lay beside them in witness, and
discussed the civilization of the ancient Mound-builders in the
popular archæological manner, still ringing the changes on the wealth
of copper so near at hand. Finally, when people's minds were ready to
believe, the prospectus of the Mining Association of St. Euphrase
appeared.
After the association's subscription lists had remained open only a
few days they were suddenly closed, and it was announced that the
capital was all subscribed. Then all the dilatory who had contemplated
investing in a general sort of way, but had not done it, grew eager to
hold shares, which they hurried to buy at a premium. It was afterwards
said that in every instance it was Ralph Herkimer who was the seller,
and that he only subscribed for the shares which he sold, after he had
touched the premiums. But people are uncharitable, and if a man ever
ceases to be rich, they are sure to recollect naughty things which
they say he did in his time of prosperity.
Before the snow was gone, material and machinery had been collected on
the ground, and there was a rise in the price of the stock.
When the snow went, operations began, and the stock rose higher, with
inquiries for it from distant places, which sent the price bounding
still higher and higher still.