His only defense, he decided, was to be perfectly natural, and in this he was judicious, as the assumption of any knowledge or qualities he did not possess would in all probability have been promptly detected.

He said nothing, which is a very excellent rule when one does not know what to say, and Stirling changed the subject when he spoke again.
"So you have found the mine and come here to sell it," he observed.

"I guess you have had the usual experience ?" "I don't quite know what is usual," said Weston, with a smile.

"Still, I've been round this city with a bag of what people admit are rather promising specimens of milling ore, and I certainly haven't succeeded in selling the mine yet." "The trouble is that the specimens might have been obtained from anywhere," said Stirling, dryly.
"There's one concern anyway in whose case the objection does not apply.

I got a telegram from my partner, the storekeeper, to the effect that the Hogarth Combine had sent up Van Staten from Vancouver to inspect the lode.