CHAPTER XXIII.

THE COMMITTEE OF CONFERENCE.

The committee of conference met at the railroad station in Middleport, and I was invited to be present on the interesting occasion. On the part of the Railroad Company, Tommy Toppleton, Ned Skotchley, and Bob Briscoe appeared. Each was ready to suggest a plan for a union of the two lines. Major Toppleton had assented to the union; but he insisted upon knowing the terms before final action was taken.

“I have a plan for consolidating the two Companies,” said Waddie.

“What, making one Company of the two?” asked Tommy.

“Yes.”

“I don’t know about that. I don’t see how it can be done.”

“Very easily, I think,” answered Waddie. “The capital stock of the Railroad Company is two hundred thousand; of the Steamboat Company one hundred thousand. We make a new corporation, with a capital of three hundred thousand, of which you own two thirds, and we one third.”

“But the Steamboat Company has not a hundred thousand dollars’ worth of property,” suggested Tommy. “The Ucayga did not cost that.”

“No, she did not; but the Company have really the monopoly of the through travel, and the line pays a dividend of twenty per cent. on a hundred thousand dollars. Our side does not gain anything by consolidation. The people of Centreport and Ruoara will not be so well accommodated under the new arrangement as they are now,” responded Waddie.

“But you will have your share of the railroad profits,” suggested Tommy.

“What were your dividends last year?” asked the President of the Steamboat Company, with a smile.

“They will be much larger under the new arrangement.”

“And those of the steamer will be much smaller.”

“We have spent fully two hundred thousand on the railroad,” added Briscoe. “We have just laid down new rails, and built a bridge over the river at the foot of the lake.”

“And we have two steamers,” added Skotchley.

“Let the steamers be sold, if they are not wanted,” said Ben Pinkerton.

“And let the purchaser set up an opposition line,” replied Tommy.

“But Middleport would have two votes in a stockholders’ meeting to one from Centreport.”

“No; one of the conditions is, that the stock may be equalized by the payment of its par value, at the option of the Steamboat Company.”

Each party felt it necessary to be very sharp, and every point and proposition was disputed, for the holders of the mortgage bonds of each company--Colonel Wimpleton and Major Toppleton--were to revise and approve their action. At nine o’clock in the evening no progress had been made, and I was satisfied that there were too many obstacles in the way of consolidation. I thought it very doubtful whether the colonel would allow his property in the steamer to pass into the control of the other side. I suggested, therefore, that the other and more simple method be considered.

“Let each company run its own line on its own hook,” said Waddie. “We will convey the passengers from Hitaca to Middleport, and you to Ucayga. Each party is to have the exclusive right to his own share of the line.”

“But that leaves two steamers on our hands for which we shall then have no use,” objected Tommy.

“They are not worth much,” laughed Ben Pinkerton.

“They are worth too much to be permitted to rot at the wharf,” answered Tommy. “We don’t want steamers if we are to have no use for them.”

“That’s so,” added Briscoe. “It is fair for the Steamboat Company to buy our boats.”

“What do you think, Wolf?”

“I am not one of the high contracting powers, and perhaps I ought not to say anything,” I replied, lightly.

“Don’t stand on any ceremony, Wolf.”

“Well, then, I think Briscoe’s suggestion is a fair one.”

“What do you ask for them?” inquired Waddie.

“They ought to be appraised by three disinterested men,” I added. “Both parties should be bound to their award.”

“I think we ought to have what they cost,” said Tommy. “We paid the par value of the shares for the stock we bought.”

“I don’t think so,” interposed Dick Bayard, catching the point. “They are not worth so much now, when there is no use for them.”

This point was discussed at considerable length; but my proposition was finally adopted.

“Now, how shall the fares be divided?” said Tommy.

“In the ratio of the distance which each line carries the passengers,” replied Pinkerton.

“That’s not fair,” added Briscoe. “It costs more to run a railroad than a steamboat. The ratio of the time ought to be taken into the account.”

“I don’t see it,” interposed Waddie.

“If we shorten the time half or three quarters of an hour by uniting the two lines, the Steamboat Company has the benefit of it, though it is the railroad that does it,” argued Briscoe. “The Ucayga’s best time now is three hours and a half. If I understand Captain Penniman, under the new arrangement the time is to be three hours from Hitaca to Ucayga.”

“Exactly so,” I answered.

“Then it is the railroad that shortens the time, and the Steamboat Company has the benefit of it,” continued Briscoe, triumphantly. “I move you the division be equal. We take the Steamboat Company’s checks, and they take ours. In settlement each party shall pay the other one dollar to redeem its own checks.”

The committee on the part of the steamer yielded this point, after some further discussion.

“Now we want a general agent for both lines,” said Waddie.

“With your permission I will retire while this subject is considered,” I interposed; and, without waiting for a reply, I went out of the room.

I had not been absent five minutes before I was recalled, and informed that I was to be recommended as the general agent, at a salary of fifteen hundred a year, half of which was to be paid by each Company. I returned my thanks for the honor done me, and for the liberality of the salary. Many other details of the proposed union were settled, and it was eleven o’clock before the business was finished. I went with Tommy to his father’s house, and the major carefully read the agreement, as it had been drawn up by the secretary of the railroad committee. Somewhat to my surprise, he took a pen and wrote his approval upon it.

“It’s a fair thing,” said he. “You have done the business well, Tommy. I am afraid Wimpleton will not agree to it.”

“Why not, father?” asked Tommy, anxiously.

“Because there are two things in the agreement which may not seem to be fair on the face of them--the purchase of our two steamers, and the equal division of the fares;” and the major went over about the same arguments that had been used in the committee of conference.

I confess that I went to bed that night not a little worried at the fate of the plan on the other side of the lake. In the morning I went over to take my place on board of the Ucayga. I found Waddie there, and with rather a long face.

“What does your father say?” I asked, though Waddie’s face had already answered the question.

“He said he would not have anything to do with the matter.”

“Will he indorse the agreement?”

“He will give his formal assent to everything we have done, but nothing more.”

“That’s all we want.”

“Not quite. He will not purchase the two old steamers,” added Waddie. “He says they are old tubs, of no use now, and he is not disposed to take them off the major’s hands. Perhaps you can move him, Wolf. Nobody else can.”

Waddie was despondent. He had objected to purchasing the steamers, and had only yielded after consulting me. I was confident that the colonel could be brought over.

“If your father will agree to all the rest, Waddie, I will see that the purchase of the steamers does not break up the arrangement,” I replied.

“What can you do?”

“O, I will buy them myself, and set up an opposition line,” I answered, laughing.

“You are the general agent, Wolf.”

“I can resign.”

“But you would not do that, even if you could buy the steamers.”

“Probably not; but here comes your father. I will talk about the matter with him.”

Colonel Wimpleton came on board. He looked very good-natured.

“I am going down to Ucayga, Wolf.”

“I am glad of it, for I wish to speak with you,” I replied.

“Do you wish to convince me that I ought to throw half our business into the hands of Toppleton, and then compensate myself for the loss by buying those old boats, which are not worth five thousand dollars apiece, though they cost him double that sum?”

“I don’t wish to convince you against your judgment, sir.”

“I can’t buy them. If the Steamboat Company can make an arrangement to run in connection with the railroad, I will offer no objection; but when they ask me to buy two old tubs--that’s quite another thing.”

“Do you think the two boats are worth ten thousand dollars?” I asked.

“Just about that.”

“Then I will buy them, sir,” I replied, as modestly as I could in uttering so grand a proposition.

“You, Wolf!”

“I mean so, sir.”

“What for?” he asked, opening his eyes in amazement.

“I think I could get more than seven per cent. for my money out of them.”

“If you can, then I can.”

“I might set up an opposition line with them,” I replied, laughing.

“An opposition line!”

“Or, if I had not the conscience to do it myself, some one else might. In a word, sir, if you are going to run the Ucayga from Hitaca to Middleport, you ought to control all the passenger steamers on the lake.”

“That’s true, Wolf.”

“If Major Toppleton keeps those boats, he has a hold upon you which you may feel when any misunderstanding occurs.”

“Just so.”

“Besides, you want those boats, sir. If you can buy them cheap, it will pay to run them as ferry boats--one between Centreport and Middleport, and the other between Ruoara and Spangleport.”

“Well, Wolf, I don’t care about bothering with referees. You may offer Toppleton ten thousand dollars for the two,” continued the colonel, who, I was satisfied, did not really object to the terms of the union, but, rather from the force of habit than for any other reason, deemed it necessary to offer some resistance to his old enemy.

I had not expected this easy victory in the argument, and I was convinced that Colonel Wimpleton was an altered man. I doubt whether he had seen a time in three years before when he was entirely free from liquor. He had always been a regular drinker, and for several years an immoderate one. I was forced to attribute his former malignity to the rum in which he had steeped himself.

The colonel went down to Ucayga in the steamer, and went on shore. As he did so I saw the landlord of the hotel at Grass Springs step up to him, and, with an exceedingly supercilious air, present him a paper. I was interested at once, and, while the boat lay at the wharf, I observed them very closely. The colonel appeared to be considerably excited, and looked at the paper the landlord had given him with great apparent interest. As the bell rang for the steamer to start, he came on board, followed by his companion.