'Very well, you had better leave them with me, and I will go over them as critically as if they were the figures of somebody I was deeply suspicious of, I hope they will hold water; but if they do not, I will point out to you where the discrepancies are.' 'But, you see, George, it is more a question of facts than of figures. I believe the whole mountain is made of the mineral which is so valuable, but I take only about an eighth of it as being possible to get out, which seems to me a very moderate estimate.' 'Yes, but how much demand is there for it? That is the real question. The thing may be valuable enough, but if there is only a limited demand--that is to say, if we have ten times the material that the world needs--the other nine parts are comparatively valueless.' 'That is true.' 'Do you know how many establishments there are in the world that use this mineral?' 'There are a great many in England, and also in the United States.' 'And how about the duty on it in the United States?' 'Ah, that I do not know.' 'Well, we must find that out. Just write down here what it is used for; then I shall try to get some information about the factories that require it, and also what quantities they need in a year. We shall have to get all these facts and figures to lay before the people who are going to invest, because, as I understand it, the great point we make is not on the mica, but on the other mineral.' 'Exactly.' 'Very well, then, you leave me what you know already about it, and I will try to supplement your information. In fact, we shall have to supplement it, before we can go before anybody with it. Now, I advise you to see the Longworths--both old and young Longworth--and you may find that talking with them in the City of London is very different from talking with them on the _Caloric_. By the way, I wonder why Longworth was not at the directors' meeting to-day.' 'I do not know. I noticed he was absent.' 'He very likely intends to have nothing more to do with the other mines, and so there may be a possibility of his investing in ours. Do you know his address?' 'Yes, I have it with me.' 'Then, if I were you, I would jump into a hansom and go there at once. Meanwhile, I will try to get your figures into shipshape order, and supplement them as far as it is possible to do so. This is going to be no easy matter, John. There are a great many properties now being offered to the public--the papers are full of them--and each of them appears to be the most money-making scheme in existence; so if we are going to float this mine without knowing any particular capitalist, we have our work cut out for us.' 'Then, you would be willing to put the price up to two hundred thousand pounds?' 'Yes, if you say the mine will stand it. That we can tell better after we have gone over the figures together. We ought to be sure of our facts first.' 'Very well. Good-bye; I will go and see Mr. Longworth.' CHAPTER XVI.