"Yes, and no," said Anderson. "At least, yes to the first question; no to the second." "What," said Sir William, still speaking lightly, "has the mine come nearer since we first heard of it?" "Yes, practically it has," said Anderson, looking Gore in the face. Then, unrolling the paper which he held in his hand and rolling it the other way that it might remain open, he laid it carefully out on the table before Sir William. "I have brought you the map with all the indications on it, that you may see for yourself." Sir William adjusted an eyeglass and bent over the map, roused to more curiosity than he showed. "This," said the young man, pointing to a large tract in pink, "is British territory; that is Uganda; here is the Congo Free State. There, you see, are the Germans where the map is marked in orange. There is the Equator, and _there_ is the mine. Look, marked in blue." "That is a pretty God-forsaken place, I must say," remarked Sir William. "One moment," said Fred. "That thin, dotted ink line running north and south from the top of Africa to the bottom is the Cape to Cairo Railway, of which the route has now been determined on, and this," with a ringing accent of triumph, bringing his hand down on to the map, "is the place where the railway will pass within a few miles of us." "What?" said Sir William, starting. "Yes, there it is, quite close," Anderson answered. "When once it is there, all our difficulties of transport are over." Sir William recovered himself. "Cape to Cairo!" he said. "You had better wait till you see the line made, my boy." "That won't be so very long, Sir William, I assure you," said the young man. "This cross in ink marks where the line has got to from the northern end, and this one," pointing to another, "from the south, and they have already got telegraph poles a good bit further." "Before the two ends have joined hands," said Sir William, "another Government may be in which won't be so keen on that mad enterprise. As if we hadn't railways enough on our hands already." "Not many railways like this one," said the young man. "Did you see an article in the _Arbiter_ about it this morning? It is going to be the most tremendous thing that ever was done." "Oh, of course, yes," said Sir William with an accent of scorn in his tone. "Just the kind of thing that the _Arbiter_ would have a good flare-up about. I have no doubt that the scheme is magnificent on paper. However, time will show," he added, with a kinder note in his voice. He liked the boy and his faith in achieving the impossible. "It will indeed," said Anderson. "Only, you see, we can't afford to wait till time shows--we must take it by the forelock now, I'm afraid." "Then what do you propose to do next?" said Sir William. "We are going to form a company," said the boy, his colour rising. "We are going to have everything ready, and the moment the railway is finished we are ready to work the mine, and our fortune is made."