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158

1

LAW 21

they

hadtoreturntoSanFrancisco.The

jewels

that

Tiffany

had

examined

they

leftwith

Harpending

for

safekeeping.

Severalweeks

later,

a

mannamedLouis

Janin,

the

best

miningexpert

in

the

country,

metthe

prospectors

inSanFrancisco.

_]ani.n

wasaborn

skeptic

whowasdeterminedtomakesurethattheminewasnotafraud.

Accompanyingjanin

were

Harpending,

and severalotherinterestedfi~

nanciers.Aswiththe

previousexpert,

the

prospectors

ledtheteam

through

a

complex

seriesof

canyons,completelyconfusing

themastotheirwhere

abouts.

Arriving

atthe

site,

thefinancierswatchedinamazementas

janin

dug

thearea

up,leveling

anthills,

turning

over

boulders,

and

finding

emer-

alds,rubies,

sapphires,

andmostofalldiamonds.The

dig

lasted

eightdays,

and

by

the

end,

wasconvinced:Hetoldtheinvestorsthat

they

now

possessed

therichestfieldin

mininghistory.

“Withahundredmenand

propermachinery,"

he

told

them,

“I

would

guarantee

to

send

outone

mil

liondollarsindiamonds

everythirtydays."

Returning

toSanFranciscoafew

days

later,

Ralston,

Harpending,

and

company

actedfasttoforma

$10

million

corporation

of

private

investors.

First,however,

they

hadto

get

ridofArnoldandSlack.Thatmeant

hiding

their

excitement—theycertainly

didnotwant

torevealthefield’s

real

value.So

theyplayed

possum.

Whoknowsif

_]anin

is

right,they

toldthe

prospectors,

themine

may

notbeasrichaswethink.This

just

madethe

prospectorsangry.Trying

adifferent

tactic,

thefinancierstoldthe

two

men

thatif

they

insistedon

having

sharesinthe

mine,

they

wouldend

upbeing

fleeced

by

the

unscrupuloustycoons

andinvestors

who

wouldrunthecor-

poration;

better,

they

said,

totakethe

$700,000

already

offerecl—anenor»

moussumatthetime—and

put

their

greed

aside.Thisthe

prospectors

seemedto

understand,

and

theyfinallyagreed

totakethe

money,

inreturn

signing

the

rights

tothesiteover

to

the

financiers,

and

leavingmaps

to

it.

News

of

themine

spread

like

wildfire.

Prospectors

fanned

out

across

Wyoming.

Meanwhile

Harpending

and

groupbegan

spending

themillions

they

hadcollectedfromtheir

investors,

buyingequipment,hiring

thebest

meninthe

business,

and

furnishing

luxuriousofficesinNewYorkandSan

0

Francisco.

Afewweeks

later,

ontheirfirst

trip

backtothe

site,

they

learnedthe

hardtruth:Nota

single

diamondor

ruby

wastobefound.Itwasallafake.

They

weremined.

Harpending

had

unwittingly

luredtherichestmenin

theworldintothe

biggest

scamofthe

century.

Interpretation

ArnoldandSlack

pulled

offtheir

stupendous

connot

byusing

a

fake

engi-

neeror

bribing

Tiffany:

Allofthe

experts

hadbeenreal.Allofthemhon-

estly

believedintheexistenceofthemineandinthevalueofthe

gems.

Whathadfooledthemallwas

nothing

elsethanArnoldandSlackthem-

selves.Thetwomenseemedtobesuch

rubes,

such

hayseeds,

so

naive,

that

no

oneforaninstanthadbelievedthem

capable

ofanaudaciousscam.

The

prospectors

had

simply

observedthelawof

appearing

more

stupid

thanthemark-—thedeceiver’sFirstCommandment.