street. He had a heavy jaw and
a forehead-crinkling way of looking at a man. And--although Thompson
knew nothing of the fact and at the moment would not have cared a
whoop--John P. was just about the biggest toad in San Francisco's
automobile puddle. He had started in business on little but his nerve
and made himself a fortune. It was being whispered along the Row that
John P. was organizing to manufacture cars as well as sell them--and
that was a long look ahead for the Pacific coast.

He nodded to Thompson, bade him be seated. And Thompson sank into a
chair, facing John P. across the desk. He wanted nothing, expected
nothing. He was simply smitten with a human curiosity to know what this
stout, successful man of affairs had to propose to him.

"My name is Thompson," he stated cheerfully. "It is ten o'clock. I have
called--as you suggested."

Henderson smiled.

"I have been accused of hastiness in my judgment of men, but it is
admitted that I seldom make mistakes," he said complacently. "In this
organization there is always a place for able, aggressive young men.
Some men have ability without any force. Some men are aggressive with no
ability whatever. How about you? Think you could sell motor-cars?"

"How the deuce do I know?" Thompson replied frankly. "I have never
tried. I'm handicapped to begin. I know nothing about either cars or
salesmanship."

"Would you like to try?"

Thompson considered a minute.

"Yes," he declared. "I've tried several things. I'm willing to try
anything once. Only I do not see how I can qualify."

"We'll see about that," John P.'s eyes kept boring into him. "D'ye mind
a personal question or two?"

Thompson shook his head.

He did not quite know how it came about, but he passed under Henderson's
deft touch from reply to narration, and within twenty minutes had
sketched briefly his whole career.

Henderson sat tapping the blotter on his desk with a pencil for a silent
minute.

"You have nothing to unlearn," he announced abruptly. "All big
commercial organizations must to a certain extent train their own men. A
man who appears to possess fundamental qualifications is worth his
training. I have done it repeatedly. I am going to proceed on the
assumption that you will become a useful member of my staff, ultimately
with much profit to yourself. I propose that you apply yourself
diligently to mastering the sale of motor cars to individual purchasers.
I shall pay you twenty-five do