"Pitt!--Pitt dead?" he gasped, losing thought of the one fear in another. "Have you not heard?" I asked, astonished. "It is months since his death--midwinter." "But--but--that puts another face on the plans! Without Pitt--without the British ships--" "British ships!" I exclaimed. He started, and sought to gather together his scattered wits, hastily pouring out and drinking half a glass of raw whiskey before again speaking. I waved aside the bottle and a second glass which he thrust toward me, and pointed to the other letter. "Your Excellency, may I ask you to read what Colonel Burr has written with regard to myself?" He caught up the letter, and after a hasty glance about the room from door to window, began to read. I could see by the quickness with which his eyes followed the lines that, unlike the first, it was written in a legible hand. At the end he went back and re-read the latter part. Coming again to the end, he laid the letter down, and addressed me with a most bombastic assumption of dignity: "Sir, Colonel Burr takes too much upon himself--far too much! The granting of your request, sir, is impossible--impossible!" Away puffed my aircastles at a word, and left me stunned and heartsick. I had not looked for so sudden a blow. Yet I managed to protest: "Your Excellency, I have ventured to imagine that I am not altogether lacking in the qualities needed by the leader of such an expedition." He unbent a trifle. "Sir, I do not question your qualifications." "Then what prevents my appointment, Your Excellency? Is it that you wish further recommendations? If only my friend Lieutenant Pike were here to speak for me!" "That, sir, is the point. I cannot give you the place, because Lieutenant Pike has already been assigned to it." "He!" I cried. "But he is at the sources of the Mississippi!" "He was, sir, and the Government shall hear of it, to his just credit. He has explored the headwaters of the river; entered into treaties with the powerful tribes of the Sioux and Chippewas; hauled down the British flags at the fur-trading posts, and compelled an agreement of the Northwest Company to pay us our import duties at Michilmackinac." "And he has returned!" I muttered. "In April. By now he is fitting out this present expedition." I rose and bowed. "Such being the case, Your Excellency, permit me to wish you good-day." "One moment," he said, leaning toward me, with a leer which doubtless he meant for an ingratiating glance. "Has your ambition so narrow a range, doctor?" "My ambition?" I inquired. "Your ambition and your interest in the projects of one who shall at present go unnamed. I must read and consider what the gentleman has written to me. Whatever my decision as to--those matters, I cannot give you what you have asked; but--you will understand--there may be possibilities--vast possibilities!--a vast Empire, stretching westward from the Alleghanies--" "Alleghanies!" I cried, astounded.