Then, dealer in millions and the possessor of nothing, Houston went onward toward Boston.
And Ba'tiste was not there to boom enthusiastically regarding the chances of the future, to enlarge upon the opportunities which might arise for the fulfillment of a thing which seemed impossible.
Coldly, dispassionately, now that it was done, that the word of the Empire Lake Mill and Lumber Company had been given to deliver the materials for the making of a great railroad, had guaranteed its resources and furnished the necessary bond for the fulfillment of a promise, Barry Houston could not help but feel that it all had been rash, to say the least.

Where was the machinery to be obtained?
Where the money to keep things going?
True, there would be spot cash awaiting the delivery of every installment of the huge order, enough, in fact, to furnish the necessary running expenses of a mill under ordinary circumstances.

But the circumstances which surrounded the workings of the Empire Lake project were far from ordinary.

No easy skidways to a lake, no flume, no aerials; there was nothing to cut expenses.

Unless a miracle should happen, and Houston reflected that miracles were few and far between, that timber must be brought to the mill by a system that would be disastrous as far as costs were concerned.