He made a short speech, calculated to reassure, but containing very little definite information. His audience listened in an apathetic manner, and it struck Andrew that a curious, matter-of-fact dullness characterized the proceedings. Leonard stated that the business of the meeting was to adopt the report and elect new members of the Board in place of those who retired, though they were, he added, eligible for re-election. Then there was a discordant note, for a short man in badly cut clothes, with spectacles and upstanding red hair, rose in the body of the hall. "I take it that our chairman has made an error," he said. "Our business is to consider the report; not necessarily to adopt it." "That is correct," said Leonard, smiling. "We invite your best consideration. I will now ask the secretary to read the document." The secretary did so in a monotonous voice, as if it were a matter which must be got through with out of respect to custom, and Andrew felt that it would be a bold shareholder who ventured to disturb the tranquillity of the meeting. Moreover, he recognized the cleverness of the report. It said a good deal that was not to the point and avoided every loophole for adverse criticism. There was only one weak spot--no dividend was declared, though it was hinted that a satisfactory profit might be anticipated when the Company's property had been further developed. Somebody proposed that it be adopted, a seconder appeared; and then, while Andrew felt that his time to speak had come, the short man with the red hair got up again. "I move as an amendment that the report be held over until we are supplied with more details," he said. "What I want to know is--why there is no dividend, and when we may expect one?" One or two of the directors looked supercilious, the others amused, and Leonard smiled indulgently. He was used to dealing with objectors. "The question," he explained, "is complicated, but I think we have answered it already. I may add that it is unreasonable to expect a dividend on the first year's operations. Preliminary expenses are large, and a mine is not like a factory. The ground must, so to speak, be cleared before you can get to work. Headings must be driven and timbered, pumps and machines of various kinds have to be put up." "Were you ever in a mine?" the red-haired man interrupted amid some laughter. "I hardly think that is to the point," Leonard answered lightly. "Though I must admit that I have not been down a shaft, I have a knowledge of the commercial side of the subject, which is all that concerns me." "So I thought!" exclaimed the other. "You can't know much about your work unless you have put up pitprops and used the pick. Now the chairman of a mining company ought----"