human
You're just like all the other government men I've ever had to do business with, Brouillard; pig-headed, obstinate, blind as bats to their own interests. I didn't especially want to begin by knocking you into line, but I guess it'll have to be done. In the first place, let me tell you that there are all kinds of big money behind this little sky-rocket of ours here in the Niquoia: ten millions, twenty millions, thirty millions, if they're needed.
gpt
I can't count beyond a hundred, Mr. Hosford.
human
All right; then I'll get you on the other side. Suppose I should tell you that practically all of your bosses are in with us; what then?
gpt
Your stockholders' listings concern me even less than your capitalization. We are miles apart yet.
human
I guess the best way to get you is to send a little wire to Washington, he said reflectively.
gpt
How does that strike you?
human
I haven't the slightest interest in what you may do or fail to do, said Brouillard.
gpt
At the same time, as I have already said, I don't wish to quarrel with you or with your company.
human
Ah! that touched you, didn't it?
gpt
Not in the sense you are imagining; no. Send your wire if you like. You may have the use of the government telegraph. The office is in the second shack north of this.
human
Still you say you don't want to scrap?
gpt
Certainly not. As you have intimated, we shall have to do business together as buyer and seller. I merely wished to make it plain that the Reclamation Service doesn't put its engineering department at the disposal of the Niquoia Improvement Company.
human
But you have made the plans for this power plant, haven't you?
gpt
Yes; and they are the property of the department. If you want them, I'll turn them over to you upon a proper order from headquarters.
human
That's a little more like it. Where did you say I'd find your wire office?
gpt
Glad you got back in time to save my life, he remarked pointedly, with a sly glance at his chief.
human
He's been ploughing furrows up and down my little potato patch all day.
gpt
Humph! Digging for information, I suppose?
human
Just that; and he's been getting it, too. Not out of me, particularly, but out of everybody. Also, he was willing to impart a little. We're in for the time of our lives, Victor.
gpt
I know it,
human
You don't know the tenth part of it, asserted the hydrographer slowly.
gpt
It's a modest name, 'The Niquoia Improvement Company,' but it is going to be like charity--covering a multitude of sins. Do you know what that plank-faced organizer has got up his sleeve? He is going to build us a neat, up-to-date little city right here in the middle of our midst. If I hadn't made him believe that I was only a draughtsman, he would have had me out with a transit, running the lines for the streets.
human
A city?--in this reservoir bottom? I guess not. He was only stringing you to kill time, Grizzy.
gpt
Don't you fool yourself! exclaimed the map-maker.
human
He's got the plans in his grip. We're going to be on a little reservation set apart for us by the grace of God and the kindness of these promoters. The remainder of the valley is laid off into cute little squares and streets, with everything named and numbered, ready to be listed in the brokers' offices. You may not be aware of it, but this palatial office building of ours fronts on Chigringo Avenue.
gpt
Stuff! said Brouillard.
human
What has all this bubble blowing got to do with the building of a temporary power dam and the setting up of a couple of cement kilns?
gpt
Don't you make any easy-going mistake, Victor, he said earnestly.
human
The cement and power proposition is only a side issue. These new people are going to take over the sawmills, open up quarries, build a stub railroad to the Hophra mines, grade a practicable stage road over the range to Quesado, and put on a fast-mule freight line to serve until the railroad builds in. Wouldn't that set your teeth on edge?
gpt
I can't believe it, Murray. It's a leaf out of the book of Bedlam! Take a fair shot at it and see where the bullet lands: this entire crazy fake is built upon one solitary, lonesome fact--the fact that we're here, with a job on our hands big enough to create an active, present-moment market for labor and material. There is absolutely nothing else behind the bubble blowing; if we were not here the Niquoia Improvement Company would never have been heard of!
human
Your arguing that twice two makes four doesn't change the iridescent hue of the bubble, he volunteered.
gpt
If big money has seen a chance to skin somebody, the mere fact that the end of the world is due to come along down the pike some day isn't going to cut any obstructing figure. We'll all be buying and selling corner lots in Hosford's new city before we're a month older. Don't you believe it?
human
I'll believe it when I see it,