I should say."

"About thirty, eh? Strikes me you were about twenty-eight when I threw
ten thousand a year at you in actual cash, and a couple of million
dollars' worth of responsibility."

"Yes sir, but then Andrews has never been tested----"

"Skinner," Cappy interrupted in his most awful voice, "it's a constant
source of amazement to me why I refrain from firing you. You say Andrews
has never been tested. Why hasn't he been tested? Why are we maintaining
untested material in this shop, anyhow? Eh? Answer me that. Tut, tut,
tut! Not a peep out of you, sir. If you had done your Christian duty,
you would have taken a year's vacation when lumber was selling itself in
1919 and 1920, and you would have left Andrews sitting in at your desk
to see the sort of stuff he's made of."

"It's a mighty lucky thing I didn't go away for a year," Skinner
protested respectfully, "because the market broke--like that--and if you
don't think we have to hustle to sell sufficient lumber to keep our own
ships busy freighting it--"

"Skinner, how dare you contradict me? How old was Matt Peasley when I
turned over the Blue Star Navigation Company to him, lock, stock and
barrel? Why, he wasn't twenty-six years old. Skinner, you're a dodo! The
killjoys like you who have straddled the neck of industry and throttled
it with absurd theories that a man's back must be bent like an ox-bow
and his locks snowy white before he can be entrusted with responsibility
and a living wage, have caused all of our wars and strikes. This is a
young man's world, Skinner, and don't you ever forget it. The go-getters
of this world are under thirty years of age. Matt," he concluded,
turning to his son-in-law, "what do you think of Andrews for that
Shanghai job?"

"I think he'll do."

"Why do you think he'll do?"

"Because he ought to do. He's been with us long enough to have acquired
sufficient experience to enable him--"

"Has he acquired the courage to tackle the job, Matt?" Cappy
interrupted. "That's more important than this doggoned experience you
and Skinner prate so much about."

"I know nothing of his courage. I assume that he has force and
initiative. I know he has a pleasing personality."

"Well, before we send him out we ought to know whether or no he has
force and initiative."

"Then," quoth Matt Peasley, rising, "I wash my hands of the job of
selecting Henderson's successor. You've butted in, so I suggest you name
the lucky man."

"Yes, in