DEFEAT There had been trouble at the Board Meeting, and, now that it was almost over, the directors of the Grenfell Consolidated sat in dejected silence, listening to the animadversions of one of their comrades.

They did not agree with everything he said, but it scarcely seemed worth while to raise minor objections, for they were willing to admit that the situation was desperate.
"We should never have proceeded to allotment," he said.

"I warned you that the applications for our stock were quite insufficient to warrant the flotation of the concern at the time, but you apparently lost your heads over those specimens, and you overruled me.

Now it's unpleasantly evident that we cannot expect to go on much longer, and I venture to predict a voluntary liquidation during the next few months." "It certainly looks like that," said one of the others, gloomily.
"Still, you might give us your reasons for counting on the thing, if you have any." The man laughed--a little harsh laugh that had in it a hint of contempt for the intelligence of his colleagues.
"Will you let me have those estimates again, Mr.Weston ?" he asked.
Weston, who sat with a set face gazing at the papers in front of him, handed several of them across the table.

It was now some time since he had left the mine, and in the meanwhile trouble after trouble had crowded thick upon him.