The worst met him in the office of Parowan Consolidated, and it met him with a soothing pat on the shoulder--which did not soothe--and a deprecatory shake of Walter Rayfield's head. Emmett was in the room, also, standing by the window with his hands in his pockets as if he were out of a job. Which he was, as a matter of fact. "I was going to send for you, Bill," said Walter. "I wasn't sure you came home last night, however." Bill passed the civilities by as of no moment. "What's all this about the mine being on the rocks?" He did not mince matters. He was past that. Walter looked at him reproachfully with his good eye and pursed his lips. "You saw it coming," he said mildly. "I kept preaching retrenchment, you know, when our ore began to pinch out. Hopeful Bill wouldn't listen." He glanced swiftly at the committee of six. "So the result that I warned you of has come to pass. We have no ore, no money, and some debts. The boys haven't had their wages this payday, Bill." His tone was maddeningly reproachful. It implied that Bill was to blame for all this. Bill accepted the challenge. "How do you blame _me_ for that?" Again he was clenching his hands in his pockets, holding his temper rigidly under control. He wanted to get to the bottom of this amazing state of affairs. He _had_ to get to the bottom of it. "Wel-l----" Walter fiddled with a pencil on the desk, "----of course we know it costs money to build fine houses, and dividends must be paid promptly to meet the needs of--the occasion. But one can't go on paying dividends unless there is some income to warrant it. I admit that I erred in my judgment in one respect. I was in hopes that the ore would hold out longer than it did. We might have carried things along until the first of the year, at least. Then, John and I intended to resign and let you take the load on your own shoulders. We have done the best we could but----" he shook his head regretfully "----we couldn't keep the dollars rolling in quite fast enough. Not--quite." Bill stared at him stupidly. He looked at John Emmett, who had turned and was facing them, his hard eyes fixed on Bill. "I should like," said Bill, "to bring in an auditor to go over the books. How you've worked it I don't pretend to know--but I see you've done it. I don't suppose the books will show it either. I reckon you've been too cute for that--since you've been working out a plan from the start. But we'll go through the motions of getting at the bottom of this. And before we go any farther, I'll admit that I know almost exactly how much of a damned fool I've been. But you're slick, you two. It took me so long to figure you out that you got away with it before I was in a position to stop you. There's nothing," he sneered, "like the friendship game to skin a man with. It beats a knife in the dark, any time. John, let's see the cash balance--if there is any; or did you two dig out the corners?"