Page:Barr--Stranleighs millions.djvu/85

Rh engine, and listened with visible impatience to the prolific observations offered by Mr. Sarsfield-Mitcham. All the while the daughter was studying the Railway King, and"

"Now, Peter, switch on to the main line, please, and keep to the rails. What did Flannigan say and do?"

"Flannigan said: 'This seems to work all right in miniature, but the apparatus may be too delicate or too intricate to be serviceable in actual practice. How much money do you need to attach your apparatus to a full-sized locomotive and to carry out an exhaustive series of actual trials on the road?'

Will you supply a couple of locomotives and a piece of disused track along the line of any of your railways, Mr. Flannigan?' asked Sarsfield-Mitcham.

You mean supply them free?'

Yes, sir.'

No, I cannot do that. If I go into this thing it will be with my own money. I cannot risk shareholders' funds in a speculation which may turn out to be wild-cat. One of my railways will furnish you with a piece of disused track and two old-fashioned locomotives, but you must pay for them.'

In that case I should need fifteen thousand dollars.' Very well; I will venture thirty thousand on these reports, and on what I have seen. You