"I'm going whether any one else does or not," persisted the Very Young Man. "You can't stop me, either," he added doggedly. "That letter said----"
The Doctor smiled at the youth's earnestness. Then abruptly he held out his hand.
"There is no use my holding back my own decision. I am going to attempt the trip. And since, as you say, I cannot stop you from going," he added with a twinkle, "that makes two of us."
They shook hands. The Very Young Man lighted a cigarette, and began pacing up and down the room, staring hard at the floor.
"I can remember trying to imagine how I would feel," began the Big Business Man slowly, "if Rogers had asked me to go with him when he first went into the ring. It is not a new idea to me, for I have thought about it many times in the abstract, during the past five years. But now that I am face to face with it in reality, it sort of----" He broke off, and smiled helplessly around at his companions.
The Very Young Man stopped in his walk. "Aw, come on in," he began, "the----"
"Shut up," growled the Banker, speaking for the first time in many minutes.
"I'm sure we would all like to go," said the Doctor. "The point is, which of us are best fitted for the trip."
"None of us are married," put in the Very Young Man.
"I've been thinking----" began the Banker. "Suppose we get into the ring--how long would we be gone, do you suppose?"
"Who can say?" answered the Doctor smiling. "Perhaps a month--a year--many years possibly. That is one of the hazards of the venture."
The Banker went on thoughtfully. "Do you remember that argument we had with Rogers about time? Time goes twice as fast, didn't he say, in that other world?"
"Two and a half times faster, if I remember rightly, he estimated," replied the Doctor.
The Banker looked at his skinny hands a moment. "I owned up to sixty-four once," he said quizzically. "Two years and a half in one year. No, I guess I'll let you young fellows tackle that; I'll stay here in this world where things don't move so fast."
"Somebody's got to stay," said the Very Young Man. "By golly, you know if we're all going into that ring it would be pretty sad to have anything happen to it while we were gone."
"That's so," said the Banker, looking relieved. "I never thought of that."