human
Hello! Is that Boyer--Niquoia National?... This is Brouillard. Can you give me my present figure?... Not more than that?... Oh, yes; you say the Hillman check is in; I had overlooked it. All right, thank you.
gpt
Mr. Massingale, I'm going to ask you to tell me frankly what kind of a deal it was you made with Cortwright and the bank people.
human
It was the biggest tom-fool razzle that any livin' live man out of a lunatic 'sylum ever went into, confessed the prisoner of fate.
gpt
I was to stock the 'Susan' for half a million--oh, she's worth it, every dollar of it; you might say the ore's in sight for it right now --this in deference to Brouillard's brow-lifting of surprise.
human
They was to put in a hundred thousand cash, and I was to put in the mine and the ore on the dump, just as she stood.
gpt
I was to have two thirds of the stock and they was to have one third. The hundred thousand for development we'd get at the bank, on my notes, because I was president and the biggest stockholder, with John Wes. as indorser. Then, to protect the bank accordin' to law, they said, we'd put the whole bunch o' stock--mine and their'n--into escrow in the hands of Judge Williams. When the notes was paid, the judge'd hand the stock back to us.
human
Just a moment, interrupted Brouillard.
gpt
Did you sign those notes personally, or as president of the new company?
human
That's where they laid for me, said the old man shamefacedly.
gpt
We made the money turn before we _was_ a company--while we was waitin' for the charter.
human
Of course, commented Brouillard.
gpt
And they rushed you into it on the plea of saving time. But you say the stock was to be released when the notes were paid--what was to happen if they were not paid?
human
Right there is where John Wes.'s ten-dollar-a-bottle sody-pop stuff we was soppin' up must 'a' foolished me plumb silly; I don't just rightly recollect _what_ the judge was to do with the stock if I fell down. I know it was talked all 'round Robin Hood's barn, up one side and down the other, and they made it look like I couldn't slip up if I tried to. And they made the borray at the bank look fair enough, too.
gpt
Well, why wasn't it fair?
human
Why, sufferin' Moses! don't you see? It hadn't ort to 've been needed. _They_ was to put in a hundred thousand, and they wasn't doin' it. It figgered out this-a-way in the talk: they said, what's the use o' takin' the money out o' one pocket and puttin' it into the other? Let the bank carry the development loan and let the mine pay it. Then we could even up when it come to the dividends.
gpt
So it amounts to this: you have given them a clean third of the 'Susan' for the mere privilege of borrowing one hundred thousand dollars on your own paper. And if you don't pay, you lose the remaining two thirds as well.
human
That's about the way it stacks up to a sober man. Looks like I needed a janitor to look after my upper story, don't it? And I reckon mebby I do.
gpt
One thing more, pressed the relentless querist.
human
Did you really handle the hundred-thousand-dollar development fund yourself, Mr. Massingale?
gpt
Well, no; not exactly. Ten thousand dollars of what they called a 'contingent fund' was put in my name; but the treasurer handled most of it--nachurly, we bein' a stock company.
human
Who is your treasurer?
gpt
Feller with just one share o' stock--Parker Jackson.
human
Humph! Cortwright's private secretary. And he has spent ninety thousand dollars on the 'Little Susan' in sixty days? Not much! What has your pay-roll been?
gpt
That is to say between three and four thousand dollars for the two months--call it five thousand. Now, let's see-- Brouillard took out his pencil and began to make figures on the back of the _menu_ card. He knew the equipment of the
human
Little Susan,
gpt
Thirty thousand dollars will amply cover your new equipment: power drills, electric transfers, and the cheap telpherage plant. Have you ever seen any vouchers for the money spent?
human
No. Had I ort to?
gpt
Well, rather--as president of the company.
human
I been tellin' you I need a mule-driver to knock a little sense into me,
gpt
It's a bad business any way you attack it, said Brouillard after a reflective pause.
human
What you have really got for yourself out of the deal is the ten-thousand-dollar deposit to your personal account, and nothing more; and they'll probably try to make you a debtor for that. Taking that amount and a fair estimate of the company's expenditures to date--say thirty-five thousand in round numbers, which is fairly chargeable to the company's assets as a whole--they still owe you about fifty-five thousand of the original hundred thousand they were to put in. If there were time--but you say this is the last day?
gpt
The last half o' the last day,
human
I was going to say, if there were time, this thing wouldn't stand the light of day for a minute, Mr. Massingale. They wouldn't go within a hundred miles of a court of law with it. Can't you get an extension on the notes?--but of course you can't; that is just the one thing Cortwright doesn't want you to have--more time.
gpt
No; you bet he don't.
human
That being the case, there is no help for it; you'll have to take your medicine and pay the notes. Do that, take an iron-clad receipt from the bank--I'll write it out for you--and get the stock released. After that, we'll give them a whirl for the thirty-three and a third per cent they have practically stolen from you.
gpt
I reckon you're forgettin' that I hain't got money enough to lift one edge o' them notes,
human
No, I hadn't forgotten. I have something over a hundred thousand dollars lying idle in the bank. You'll take it and pay the notes.