For the Allinson Honor Part 57

The meeting raged confusedly until Leonard got up. He looked shaken by the storm of indignation.

"Order, gentlemen! There is a motion before you."

"The amendment first!" somebody shouted.

"The amendment," said Leonard. "A show of hands will serve. 'That the report be held over, pending the furnis.h.i.+ng of further details.'"

The audience appeared to be unanimous as the hands went up, and Leonard sought to turn the matter to his advantage.

"Carried," he said. "We will now adjourn the meeting until the information which is asked for can be supplied."

"That," Andrew stated firmly, "is not needful. I can give now an accurate outline of the Company's position."

The secretary protested that this was informal and one of the directors requested Leonard to rule it out of order; but the meeting had got beyond the chairman's control. There were poor men present who thought they had lost their all, as well as rich men who believed they had been deceived, and Leonard's words were greeted with angry clamor.

Murray jumped to his feet.

"I suggest that we hear Mr. Allinson. We will learn the truth from him!" he said.

"Let him speak!" shouted some one.

Andrew, standing very still and intent of face, raised his hand and the turmoil ceased.

"I ask your attention. First, I must show you the worst of things, as I learned it on the spot in Canada. The mine is threatened with inundation, which can be prevented only by the use of powerful pumping machinery; the rock is unusually broken up and faulty, which necessitates expensive timbering and impedes the work. These difficulties, however, need not be enlarged upon, because, if the quality of the ore justified it, they could be overcome. Instead, I will tell you roughly how much capital we have expended, the quant.i.ty of ore raised, the cost of its extraction, and the value of the yield in refined metal."

He quoted from his notebook, and there was a strange quietness as he proceeded:

"Though the figures might be challenged and slightly modified by experts, the conclusion is inevitable--the ore turned out at the Rain Bluff can pay only a small interest on the cost of labor. The capital spent in acquiring the mine has irretrievably gone."

Then the storm broke. Questions, reproaches and insulting epithets were hurled at the directors, some of whom tried to smile forbearingly, while others grew red, and Leonard sat grim and silent with his hand clenched. Andrew waited unmoved, and seized on a pause to continue:

"There is every reason to believe that your directors acted, as they thought, in your interests, but they have been misled."

"So have we!" exclaimed a furious investor.

"I'm afraid that's true," Andrew agreed. "It's an important point, but I must ask you to consider the remedies. In the first place, I will, if necessary, redeem every Rain Bluff share which has been allotted; that is, my brokers will buy up all that are brought to them."

He was heard with astonishment. Some of those present knew a good deal about commercial companies, but that a director of one should make such an offer was unprecedented in their experience. On the surface, it was surprisingly fair, but they suspected a trick.

"At what price?" cried one. "The shares will fall to a few s.h.i.+llings as soon as the truth about the mine is known."

"At par," said Andrew. "You will be returned every penny you have paid in."

It was obvious that the greater part of his audience did not know what to make of this. That he should be in earnest scarcely seemed possible, as his offer seemed the extremity of rashness. No one spoke for a moment or two; and then Robert Allinson rose.

"If any guarantee is needed, I shall be glad to supply it, so far as my means allow. My name is Allinson, a member of the family controlling the firm which promoted this Company. I may perhaps remark without undue pride that it is a point of honor with Allinson's to keep its promises."

"Bravo, Bob!" cried a loud, hearty voice.

"I think," said Robert, in a tone of grave rebuke, "that is not altogether seemly at a public meeting."

Wannop got up with a laugh in which a number of the listeners joined.

"And I am prepared to back my relative, Andrew Allinson, to my last s.h.i.+lling--in which Mrs. Wannop joins me. Between us we hold a good deal of stock."

There was applause mixed with expressions of relief, but some still suspected knavery.

"What is Mr. Allinson's object?" a man blurted out. "What does he expect to gain?"

Andrew flushed, but answered quietly.

"If you close with my offer, I shall undoubtedly benefit; but I do not urge you to do so. Listen to the alternative, and then decide. But I must ask for patience while I tell you the story of another mine."

"As chairman, I must raise a point of order," Leonard objected; but they silenced him with shouts, and he sat down, baffled, knowing that the game was up.

"Go on!" they ordered Andrew, and with a steady voice he began to tell them of Graham's discovery of the lode.

He paused once or twice, but they encouraged him, and as he proceeded n.o.body felt that the narrative was out of place. A few, indeed, forgot what they had come for and listened with a sense of romance and high adventure, while he told them of the sawmill clerk's steadfast, long-deferred purpose. Here and there women who had been keenly anxious a few minutes earlier watched him with fixed, sympathizing eyes, and Andrew, cheered by the close attention, was conscious of a new power. He could hold these people, and take them with him into the frozen wilds.

They followed the march of the starving men across the Northern snow, saw them blasting icy rocks, and searching with desperate eagerness for the food caches. Then, as he told of the hard-won triumph, when the vein was at last disclosed, a hoa.r.s.e murmur that had something of a cheer in it filled the room. It was forced upon those who had doubted him that they were listening to an exceptional man, who had borne and done things that needed the staunchest courage, for honor and not for gain.

"Now," he said with an abrupt change of tone, "I have told you how we found the Graham Lode, on which three of the richest claims have been contracted to me. Let me read you the reports of different a.s.sayers to whom I submitted specimens." He did so, and added: "The original doc.u.ments are here; you may examine and pa.s.s them round. But I must get on. These claims are mine, though my right to them might be contested by the directors of this Company--the cost of finding and proving them has been borne by myself--but, if you agree to their development and the abandoning of the Rain Bluff, I propose to hand them over as your property."

There was confused applause, in the midst of which Leonard rose.

"In face of the want of confidence you have shown in us and the extraordinary course Mr. Allinson has taken, my colleagues and I feel compelled to resign in a body."

"Let them go! We're well rid of them!" exclaimed the shopkeeper. "You don't join them?" he said anxiously to Andrew.

"I had better do so and offer myself for re-election."

"Then I have much pleasure in proposing Mr. Allinson," said Murray. "I should like to mention that I remained a shareholder in this Company because I preferred his bare word to the strong recommendations of experienced stockjobbing friends."

Several men rose to second him, and when every hand went up amidst a burst of applause, Andrew said with some emotion:

"Thank you for this mark of trust. My first offer stands--anybody anxious to have his shares redeemed at par need only apply to my brokers, whose address is here." He laid an envelope on the table in sight of all.

"We'll go on with the election," resumed the shopkeeper. "With the permission of the meeting, I'll ask Mr. Allinson whom he'd like to have on the Board."

Andrew smiled.

"You're giving up your rights and offering me a very unusual privilege."

"Never mind that," rejoined a stockjobber dryly. "These proceedings have been remarkably unusual from the start. In fact, I imagine we have reached the limit of irregularity for a company meeting. For all that, I support our spokesman's plucky offer."

"Very well," said Andrew. "I would suggest the nomination of three of your previous directors. I believe they would serve you well, and their appointment might act as a judicious check on me."

The gentlemen he named looked irresolute and somewhat embarra.s.sed, but after a word or two with him they expressed their willingness to serve. They were elected without dissent, and then Robert Allinson stood up.