"It is bonded for fifty millions first, and twenty millions second mortgage." "Well, seventy millions are worth fighting for: worth a very considerable risk, I should say." "Yes." And after another thoughtful interval: "How did you come to think of it?" "It grew out of a bit of talk with the man who will have to put the apex on our pyramid after we have done our part." "Will he stand by us? If he doesn't, we shall all be no better than dead men the morning after the fact." She clasped her hands tightly over her knee, and said: "That is one of the chances we must take, David; one of the many. But it is the last of the bridges to be crossed, and there are lots of them in between. Are the details possible? That was the part I couldn't go into by myself." He took other minutes for reflection. "I can't tell," he said doubtfully. "If I could only know how much time we have." Her eyes grew luminous. "David, what would you do without me?" she asked. "To-morrow night, in Stephen Hawk's office in Gaston, you will lose your railroad. MacFarlane is there, or if he isn't, he'll be there in the morning. Bucks, Guilford and Hawk will go down from here to-morrow evening; and the Overland people are to come up from Midland City to meet them." There was awe undisguised in the look he gave her, and it had crept into his voice when he said: "Portia, are you really a flesh-and-blood woman?" She smiled. "Meaning that your ancestors would have burned me for a witch? Perhaps they would: I think quite likely they burned women who made better martyrs. But I didn't have to call in Flibbertigibbet. The programme is a carefully guarded secret, to be sure; but it is known--it had to be known--to a number of people outside of our friends the enemy. You've heard the story of the inventor and his secret, haven't you?" "No." "Well, the man had invented something, and he told the secret of it to his son. After a little the son wanted to tell it to a friend. The old man said, 'Hold on; I know it--that's one'--holding up one finger--'you know it--that's eleven'--holding up another finger beside the first; 'and now if you tell this other fellow, that'll be one hundred and eleven'--holding up three fingers. That is the case with this programme. One of the one hundred and eleven--he is a person high up in the management of the Overland Short Line--dropped a few words in my hearing and I picked them up. That's all." "It is fearfully short--the time, I mean," he said after another pause. "We can't count on any help from any one in authority. Guilford's broom has swept the high-salaried official corners clean. But the wage-people are mutinous and ripe for anything. I'll go and find out where we stand." And he groped on the floor of the veranda for his hat. "No, wait a minute," she interposed. "We are not quite ready to adjourn yet. There remains a little matter of compensation--your compensation--to be considered. You are still on the company's payrolls?"