human
Why, my dear Brouillard! what in Sam Hill do you take us for? was the genial retort when the young engineer had made his deprecatory protest.
gpt
Did you think we were going to cut the melon and hand you out a piece of the rind? Not so, my dear boy; we are not built on any such narrow-gauge lines. But seriously, we're getting you at a bargain-counter price. One of the things we're up against is the building of another dam higher in the canyon for an auxiliary plant. In taking you in, we've retained the best dam builder in the country to tell us where and how to build it.
human
That won't go, Mr. Cortwright, laughed Brouillard, finding the great man's humor pleasantly infectious.
gpt
You know you can hire engineers by the dozen at the usual rates.
human
All right, blot that out; say that I wanted to do the right thing by the son of good old Judge Antoine; just imagine, for the sake of argument, that I wanted to pose as the long-lost uncle of the fairy-stories to a fine young fellow who hasn't been able to draw a full breath since his father died. You can do it now, Victor, my boy. Any old time the trusteeship debt your father didn't really owe gets too heavy, you can unload on me and wipe it out. Isn't it worth something to realize that?
gpt
I guess it will be, if I am ever able to get down to the solid fact of realizing it. But I can't earn a hundred thousand dollars of the company's stock, Mr. Cortwright.
human
Of course you can. That's what we are willing to pay for a good, reliable government brake. It's going to be your business to see to it that the Reclamation Service gets exactly what its contract calls for, kilowatt for kilowatt.
gpt
I'd do that, anyhow, as chief of construction on the dam.
human
You mean you would try to do it. As an officer of the power company, you can do it; as an official kicker on the outside, you couldn't feaze us a particle. What? You'd put us out of business? Not much, you wouldn't; we'd play politics with you and get a man for your job who wouldn't kick.
gpt
Well, said the inheritor of sudden wealth, still matching the promoter's mood,
human
On _our_ dam, you mean. Oh, any time soon; say to-morrow or Friday--or Saturday if that hurries you too much. We sha'n't want to go to work on it before Monday.