He considered his business prospects. When he had served his time as volunteer he would have a large piece of land given him, and the Mashonas and Matabeles would have all their land taken away from them in time, and the Chartered Company would pass a law that they had to work for the white men; and he, Peter Halket, would make them work for him. He would make money. Then he reflected on what he should do with the land if it were no good and he could not make anything out of it. Then, he should have to start a syndicate; called the Peter Halket Gold, or the Peter Halket Iron-mining, or some such name, Syndicate. Peter Halket was not very clear as to how it ought to be started; but he felt certain that he and some other men would have to take shares. They would not have to pay for them. And then they would get some big man in London to take shares. He need not pay for them; they would give them to him; and then the company would be floated. No one would have to pay anything; it was just the name--“The Peter Halket Gold Mining Company, Limited.” It would float in London; and people there who didn’t know the country would buy the shares; THEY would have to give ready money for them, of course; perhaps fifteen pounds a share when they were up!--Peter Halket’s eyes blinked as he looked into the fire.--And then, when the market was up, he, Peter Halket, would sell out all his shares. If he gave himself only six thousand and sold them each for ten pounds, then he, Peter Halket, would have sixty thousand pounds! And then he would start another company, and another. Peter Halket struck his knee softly with his hand. That was the great thing--“Always sell out at the right time.” That point Peter Halket was very clear on. He had heard it so often discussed. Give some shares to men with big names, and sell out: they can sell out too at the right time. Peter Halket stroked his knee thoughtfully. And then the other people, that bought the shares for cash! Well, they could sell out too; they could all sell out! Then Peter Halket’s mind got a little hazy. The matter was getting too difficult for him, like a rule of three sum at school when he could not see the relation between the two first terms and the third. Well, if they didn’t like to sell out at the right time, it was their own faults. Why didn’t they? He, Peter Halket, did not feel responsible for them. Everyone knew that you had to sell out at the right time. If they didn’t choose to sell out at the right time, well, they didn’t. “It’s the shares that you sell, not the shares you keep, that make the money.” But if they couldn’t sell them?