Equal to even this emergency, Mr. Dumphy had sat in his office all the morning, resisting with the full strength of his aggressive nature any disposition on the part of his his customers to succumb financially to the unusual weather. Mr. Dumphy's shirt-collar was off; with it seemed to have departed some of his respectability, and he was perhaps, on the whole, a trifle less imposing than he had been. Nevertheless, he was still dominant, in the suggestion of his short bull neck, and two visitors who entered, observing the _déshabillé_ of this great man, felt that it was the proper thing for them to instantly unbutton their own waistcoats and loosen their cravats.
"It's hot," said Mr. Pilcher, an eminent contractor.
"You bet!" responded Mr. Dumphy. "Must be awful on the Atlantic coast! People dying by hundreds of sun-stroke; that's the style out there. Here there's nothing of the kind! A man stands things here that he couldn't there."
Having thus re-established the supremacy of the California climate, Mr. Dumphy came directly to business. "Bad news from One Horse Gulch!" he said, quickly.
As that was the subject his visitors came to speak about--a fact of which Mr. Dumphy was fully aware--he added, sharply, "What do you propose?"
Mr. Pilcher, who was a large stockholder in the Conroy mine, responded, hesitatingly, "We've heard that the lead opens badly."
"D----n bad!" interrupted Dumphy. "What do you propose?"
"I suppose," continued Mr. Pilcher, "the only thing to do is to get out of it before the news becomes known."
"No!" said Dumphy, promptly. The two men stared at each other. "No!" he continued, with a quick, short laugh, which was more like a logical expression than a mirthful emotion. "No, we must hold on, sir! Look yer! there's a dozen men as you and me know, that we could unload to to-morrow. Suppose we did? Well, what happens? They go in on four hundred thousand--that's about the figures we represent. Well. They begin to examine and look around; them men, Pilcher"--(in Mr. Dumphy's more inspired moods he rose above considerations of the English grammar)--"them men want to know what that four hundred thousand's invested in; they ain't goin' to take our word after we've got their money--that's human nature--and in twenty-four hours they find they're sold! That don't look well for me nor you--does it?"