This address was delivered within thirty seconds of the time of our arrival at our old rooms in the Centropolis. The Captain saluted us in a manner extravagantly polite, mysteriously enthusiastic. The air of mystery was deepened when he called again to see Mr. Elkins in the evening and was invited in. "Did you-all notice that distinguished and opulent-looking gentleman who got off the train this evening?" said he in a stage whisper. "Mahk my words, the coming of such men, _his_ coming, is fraught with the deepest significance to us all. All my holdin's ah withdrawn from mahket until fu'the' developments!" "Seems to travel in style," said Jim; "all sorts of good clothes, colored body-servant, closed carriage ordered by wire--it does look juicy, don't it, now?" "He has the entiah second flo' front suite. The niggah has already sent out fo' a bahbah," said the Captain. "Lattimore has at last attracted the notice of adequate capital, and will now assume huh true place in the bright galaxy of American cities. Mr. Barslow, I shall ask puhmission to call upon you in the mo'nin' with reference to a project which will make the fo'tunes of a dozen men, and that within the next ninety days. Good evenin', suh; good evenin', Madam. I feel that you have come among us at a propitious moment!" "The Captain merely hints at the truth which struggles in him for utterance," said Jim. "I prove this by informing you that I couldn't get you a house. This shows, too, that the census returns are a calumny upon Lattimore. You'll have to stay at the Centropolis until something turns up or you can build." "Oh, dear!" said Alice. "Hotel life isn't living at all. I hope it won't be long." "It will have its advantages for Al," said Mr. Elkins. "This financial maelstrom, which will draw everything to Lattimore, will have its core right in this hotel--a mighty good place to be. Things of all kinds have been floating about in the air for months; the precipitation is beginning now. The psychological moment has arrived--you have brought it with you, Mrs. Barslow. The moon-flower of Lattimore's 'gradual, healthy growth' is going to burst, and that right soon." "Has Captain Tolliver infected you?" inquired Alice. "He told us the same thing, with less of tropes and figures." "On any still morning," said Jim, "you can hear the wheels go round in the Captain's head; but his instinct for real-estate conditions is as accurate as a pocket-gopher's. The Captain, in a hysterical sort of way, is right: I consider that a cinch. Good-night, friends, and pleasant dreams. I expect to see you at breakfast; but if I shouldn't, Al, you'll come aboard at nine, won't you, and help run up the Jolly Roger? I think I smell pieces-of-eight in the air! And, by the way, Miss Trescott says for me to assure you that her vertigo, which she had for the first time in her life, is gone, and she never felt better."