'
'Well, nobody wants a better percentage on their money. Have you the
figures with you?'
'Yes, here they are.'
'Very well, you had better leave them with me, and I will go over them as
critically as if they were the figures of somebody I was deeply
suspicious of, I hope they will hold water; but if they do not, I will
point out to you where the discrepancies are.'
'But, you see, George, it is more a question of facts than of figures. I
believe the whole mountain is made of the mineral which is so valuable,
but I take only about an eighth of it as being possible to get out, which
seems to me a very moderate estimate.'
'Yes, but how much demand is there for it? That is the real question. The
thing may be valuable enough, but if there is only a limited demand--that
is to say, if we have ten times the material that the world needs--the
other nine parts are comparatively valueless.'
'That is true.'
'Do you know how many establishments there are in the world that use
this mineral?'
'There are a great many in England, and also in the United States.'
'And how about the duty on it in the United States?'
'Ah, that I do not know.'
'Well, we must find that out. Just write down here what it is used for;
then I shall try to get some information about the factories that require
it, and also what quantities they need in a year. We shall have to get
all these facts and figures to lay before the people who are going to
invest, because, as I understand it, the great point we make is not on
the mica, but on the other mineral.
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