"And mine in particular. But we are not concerned with her, but with her prophetic revelations.""Oh, dear count! Circumlocutions apart! This Rhine wine evidently carries you to misty Germany. Tell me simply what the matter is.""The matter is simply this: we must institute a society of 'gold miners,' and we must find gold in places where the geological indications are dead against it. That is the problem. The Russian laws, under threat of arrest and punishment, sternly forbid the citizens of the Russian Empire, and likewise the citizens of other lands within the empire, to buy or sell the noble metals in their crude form, that is, in nuggets, ore, or dust. For example, if you bought gold in the rough from me--gold dust, for example--we should both, according to law, have to take a pleasant little trip beyond the Ural Mountains to Siberia, and there we should have to engage in mining the precious metal ourselves. A worthy occupation, no doubt, but not a very profitable one for us.""Our luxuries would be strictly limited," jested Kovroff, with a wry smile.
"There it is! You won't find many volunteers for that occupation, and that is the fulcrum of my whole plan. You must understand that gold dust in the mass is practically indistinguishable in appearance from brass filings. Let us suppose that we secretly sell some perfectly pure brass filings for gold dust, and that they are readily bought of us, because we sell considerably below the market rate. It goes without saying that the purchaser will presently discover that we have done him brown. But, I ask you, will he go and accuse us knowing that, as the penalty for his purchase, he will have to accompany us along the Siberian road?""No man is his own enemy," sententiously replied Kovroff, beginning to take a vivid interest in what his companion was saying. "But how are you going to work it?""You will know at the proper time. The chief thing is, that our problem is solved in the most decisive manner. You and I are pretty fair judges of human nature, so we may be pretty sure that we shall always find purchasers, and I suggest that we make a beginning on young Prince Shadursky. How we shall get him into it is my business. I'll tell you later on. But how do you like the general idea of my plan?""It's clever enough!" cried Kovroff, pressing his hand with the gay enthusiasm of genuine interest.
"For this truth much thanks!" cried Kallash, clinking glasses with him. "It is clever--that is the best praise I could receive from you. Let us drink to the success of my scheme!"XV
THE FISH BITES
Three days after this conversation the younger prince Shadursky dined with Sergei Antonovitch Kovroff.
That morning he received a note from Kovroff, in which the worthy Sergei complained of ill health and begged the prince to come and dine with him and cheer him up.
The prince complied with his request, and appearing at the appointed time found Count Kallash alone with his host.
Among other gossip, the prince announced that he expected shortly to go to Switzerland, as he had bad reports of the health of his mother, who was in Geneva.
At this news Kallash glanced significantly toward Kovroff.
Passing from topic to topic, the conversation finally turned to the financial position of Russia. Sergei Antonovitch, according to his expression, "went to the root of the matter," and indicated the "source of the evil," very frankly attacking the policy of the government, which did everything to discourage gold mining, hedging round this most important industry with all kinds of difficulties, and practically prohibiting the free production of the precious metals by laying on it a dead weight of costly formalities.
"I have facts ready to hand," he went on, summing up his argument.
"I have an acquaintance here, an employee of one of the best-known men in the gold-mining industry." Here Kovroff mentioned a well-known name. "He is now in St. Petersburg. Well, a few days ago he suddenly came to me as if he had something weighing on his mind.
And I have had business relations with him in times past. Well, what do you think? He suddenly made me a proposal, secretly of course; would I not take some gold dust off his hands? You must know that these trusted employees every year bring several hundred pounds of gold from Asia, and of course it stands to reason that they cannot get rid of it in the ordinary way, but smuggle it through private individuals. It is uncommonly profitable for the purchasers, because they buy far below the market rates. So there are plenty of purchasers. Several of the leading jewelers" (and here he named three or four of the best-known firms) "never refuse such a deal, and last year a banking house in Berlin bought a hundred pounds' weight of gold through agents here. Well, this same employee, my acquaintance, is looking for an opportunity to get rid of his wares. And he tells me he managed to bring in about forty pounds of gold, if not more. I introduce this fact to illustrate the difficulties put in the way of enterprise by our intelligent government."Shadursky did not greatly occupy himself with serious questions and he was totally ignorant of all details of financial undertakings.
It was, therefore, perfectly easy for Sergei Antonovitch to assume a tone of solid, practical sense, which imposed completely on the young prince. Young Shadursky, from politeness, and to prove his worldly wisdom, assented to Kovroff's statements with equal decision. All the same, from this conversation, he quite clearly seized on the idea that under certain circumstances it would be possible to buy gold at a much lower price than that demanded by the Imperial Bank. And this was just the thought which Kallash and Kovroff wished to sow in the young prince's mind.
"Of course, I myself do not go in for that kind of business," went on Kovroff carelessly, "and so I could not give my friend any help.
