“That’s right,” grunted Browning, “but you haven’t told the story quite straight, Merry. It was Barney Mulloy the ruffians were after. I sailed in to give him a hand, and then you folks chipped in just in time to help us both out. By George, Merry, I thought you’d dropped right down from the skies! Say, that’s a great country down there. Mulloy is down there now, running our mine. He’s a dandy, that Irishman! He’s the whitest, squarest, most reliable fellow I ever saw—present company excepted. We’ve not had your luck, Merriwell; but I believe we have a valuable claim down there, and we’ll make a dollar out of it some day. You and Hodge were mighty fortunate.” “There’s no question about that,” agreed Frank instantly. “Still, we’ve had to fight for our rights. It was a hard old fight to hold the Phantom Mine, but we held it. Hodge seemed anxious to sell in case we could get the price. That’s what brought us to Chicago. The syndicate that had made us the offer balked, and the deal seemed to be as good as off. I saw the people in the syndicate fancied we were very anxious to sell. Then I let Hodge come on here, while I remained in the city and worked the wires a little. We agreed before Bart left that we would take a smaller sum than our original price, but after he departed I made up my mind that the way to work the thing was to go up on the price, instead of making a drop. Then I struck a lofty pose and let the syndicate run after me. I gave them the impression that I was on the verge of pulling out for New York to talk with other parties. They came round and attempted to do some dickering. They were willing at last to split the difference, but then I commenced to rub it in. I told them that I had decided that our original price was altogether too low. We had a hundred and fifty thousand dollars’ worth of ore on the dump. It was in plain sight. In our shaft any man could see prospects that proved the lode one of the richest in Arizona. We had decided to advance our original price just fifty thousand dollars. They could take it or leave it. We were utterly indifferent.” Frank laughed a little over the remembrance of that transaction. “And they took it?”