“If I don’t,” exclaimed Lake, “there is insurance for twenty thousand in my wife’s favor, and duly assigned to you,” and he banged the policy down on the desk in front of the astonished Belden. “You can trust me to take care of the premiums, can’t you?” “Your integrity I never doubted,” replied Belden, “and that obligation should be within your means.” “My rule of life shall be: the premiums first, the payments on the note next,” declared Lake. “If I fall behind in the latter, the security will still be good. I only ask that anything in excess of what may be due you, in case of my death, shall go to my wife, and she, of course, becomes the sole beneficiary the moment you are paid. But, for the love of heaven, hurry!” Instead of hurrying, Belden leaned back in his chair and looked at the young man with bewildered admiration. “Such ingenuity,” he said at last, “ought not to go unrewarded. As a strict business proposition, your plan would hardly find favor with a conservative banker, but, as a matter of friendship and confidence—” He reached for his check-book. “Such a head as yours is worth a risk,” he added a moment later. Lake reached the office of the Bington road at 11:30 on the day his option expired. The colonel was already there, waiting. So were some of the majority stock-holders. The colonel was confident and unusually loquacious. “Now that the matter is practically settled,” he remarked with the cheerful frankness of a man who has won, “I may admit that the young man had us up a tree. He succeeded in putting the other route through Bington practically beyond our reach, and forced us to take the risk of doing business with the minority stock-holders at a possible dead loss. But we knew he didn’t have the money, so we went ahead with our plans and our work without delay. A little ready cash—” It was then that Lake entered and deposited a small satchel on the long table. “I will take the stock under my option,” he announced briefly to such of the majority stock-holders as were present. “I think I have got all I need, with the exception of what is represented by you gentlemen. It has been a pretty busy morning for me.” He emptied the stock certificates already acquired and some bundles of bank-notes on the table. “Colonel,” he said with a joyous and triumphant laugh, “you’d better sit up and begin to take notice.” The colonel’s attitude and air of easy confidence already had changed, and his look of amazement and dismay was almost laughable. “Quick, gentlemen,” cautioned Lake, with a glance at the clock. “I’ve tendered the money in time, but I’ll feel a little more comfortable when I have the rest of the needed stock.” Like one in a dream the colonel leaned over the table and watched the transaction. “Do—do you want to sell some of that stock?” he asked at last. “No,” replied Lake; “I don’t want to sell some of it; I want to sell all of it.” “We don’t need all of it,” said the colonel.