"I have made the venture, Trethick," he said, "and I will not play with it. I look to you to pull me up if it is going to be a losing affair; but it seems to me that to withhold capital would be a miserable policy: so go on. Do you think it can become worse?" "No," said Geoffrey, firmly, "that I do not. The fact is, Mr Penwynn, I am disappointed in the mine." "Disappointed? You don't mean--" "No, no, sir, I'm not beaten," said Geoffrey, laughing. "I mean I am disappointed in the mine, and I have found out two or three things about it." "What sort of things?" said Mr Penwynn, uneasily. "Trickeries--sharpings," said Geoffrey. "It is very evident that to sell that mine, or may be to impress shareholders with its value, the place has been more than once salted, as miners call it." Mr Penwynn nodded. "Tin ore from other mines has been thrown down, and, of course, I saw through that directly; but in several places right at the end of drifts, Pengelly and I have found great pieces of ore fitted into the solid rock in the most artful manner, so that it needed no little care to find out that it was a trick." "But are you sure that it is a trick?" said Mr Penwynn. "Certain, sir. It would have deceived an ordinary miner or owner." "But did not deceive you?" "Well, sir, I take no credit to myself for that. I went through a course of mining study, and it is as simple as A B C." "How so?" "Why, look here, sir. Only yesterday Pengelly called me to show me a rich place he had found." "Yes. Well?" "I had to crush the poor fellow's hopes at once. The thing was most artistically done, a quantity of tin-bearing quartz, evidently _in situ_." "Yes." "But I always carry this with me, Mr Penwynn," said Geoffrey, pulling out a pocket-lens; "and that showed me at once that the quartz was veined with a different mineral from that all around, and also that the granulations of the stone were such as are found in the strata on the other side of the county, and not here." Mr Penwynn said nothing, but looked hard at his manager. "They've spent a good deal of time and money to successfully swindle people, and cleverly too, where the same energy and outlay would have made a poor mine pay." "Then you consider it a poor mine, Mr Trethick?" "Very, sir." "But the report I had said that it was rich." "Then the reporter was either a fool or a knave," replied Geoffrey. "Humph!" ejaculated Mr Penwynn, "and you think then that we had better stop." "Certainly not," said Geoffrey, flushing. "It cannot give a poorer yield, for there are thousands of tons of such ore as we are now sending to grass, and which I can make yield at least five per cent dividend, while at any time we may `strike ile,' as our friends the Yankees call it." "Thank you, Trethick," said Mr Penwynn, quietly; and he drew a long breath. "Go on, I leave myself in your hands."