"No, no!" interrupted Dickie Marsh. "I have the very thing for him. It is better for me even than for him, for I have a principle that all services ought to be of some use to him that renders them. In that way, if the man you oblige proves ungrateful, you are paid in advance.--This is the affair. Since we were in Genoa we have done a lot of work. We have founded in Marionville--by we I mean myself and three others, the 'big four,' as we are called--a society for working a score of ruined ranches we have bought in North Dakota. We have thus miles and miles of prairies upon which we want to raise not cattle, but horses.--Why horses? For this reason: In the States a horse is worth nothing. My countrymen have done away with them, and with that useless thing, the carriage. Railways, electric tramways, and cable cars are quite sufficient for every need. In Europe, with your standing armies, things are different. In another five years you will not be able to find horses for your cavalry. Now follow me closely. We are going to buy in the horses in America by the thousand for a song. We shall restore them to the prairies. We shall cross them with Syrian stallions. I have just bought five hundred from the Sultan by telegraph." Excited by the huge perspective of his enterprise, he left the "we" to use the more emphatic "I." "I am going to create a new breed, one that will be superb for light cavalry. I will supply a mount for every hussar, uhlan, and chasseur in Europe. I have calculated that. I can deliver the animals in Paris, Berlin, Rome, Vienna at a fourth less than the State pays in France, Germany, Italy, and in your country. But I must have some competent and trustworthy man to look after my breeding stables. I want Chésy to take this place. I will give him $115,000 per year, all his travelling expenses paid, and a percentage upon the profits. You will perhaps say that when you want to make wealth by the plough you must put your hand to it.--That is true. But with the cable I am at hand if only my man does not rob me. Now, Chésy is honest. He understands horses like any jockey. He will save for me what a rascally employee would steal and all that an incompetent one would waste. In ten years he can return to Europe richer than he would ever have been by following Brion's advice and without owing me anything.--But will he accept?" "I can answer for that," replied Ely. "I have an appointment with Yvonne this afternoon. She will write to you."