"My dear fellow, as yet it is in its babyhood: it has only been launched a few weeks. That it will prove a very prosperous thing, I never for one moment doubted; otherwise I should not have allowed my name to appear to it, nor should I have invested in it so much of my spare capital." "Colorado seems a long way to send one's spare capital to," remarked Philip. "A long way in this era of telegraphy? Pooh! There's no such thing as distance nowadays. Besides, the board has its own expert out there--a very clever young mining engineer--and his reports may be thoroughly relied upon. We know pretty well what we are about." Philip was of opinion that the Captain knew pretty well what he was about in most of the concerns of life. "I suppose that every now and then one of these silver mines really does turn out to be a gold mine in one sense of the phrase," he observed. "Now and then!" said Lennox, with a lifting of his eyebrows, "All I know is that there are two mines within a little distance of ours which are paying their lucky proprietors between thirty and forty per cent., and I know of no reason why the Hermandad should be poorer than its neighbours. All we want is more capital for its proper working; and that we are now about to raise. There will be no difficulty in doing _that!_" Mrs. Ducie came in, and nothing more was said. But Philip's dreams that night were all about the Hermandad mine; and it ran far more in his thoughts next day at the office than did his duties. Two days later Philip saw Lennox again. "By-the-bye, about those Hermandad shares?" he said. "What are they each? I don't see them quoted in the Money Article." Captain Lennox smiled. "No, you don't see them in the market--at least so far as the general public is concerned; they are too choice a commodity to be there. We--I and my co-directors--intend to keep them for ourselves and our friends." "What are they?" repeated Philip. "Twenty pounds each. Five pounds payable on allotment, and another five pounds in two months' time." "Leaving ten pounds to be called up later on." "There will be no further calls: the first and second will amply suffice for all expenses. Our profits will begin almost from the very day the machinery gets into working order." Metaphorically speaking, Philip's mouth was watering. Thirty per cent.! The words had rung like sweet music in his memory ever since he heard them. "I suppose that even if an outsider were desirous of investing a little spare cash in your precious shares, there would be no chance of his being able to do so?" he said. "Um--well--I dare say there are still a few left. Are you speaking for yourself?" "I've got that two hundred by me that I won on Patchwork," answered Philip. "I might venture to speculate with that."