young lieutenant to take an early
morning train on the heels of a night of dancing.

"Perhaps you'd better go up there with me," suggested Duncan.

"No, that would embarrass matters. I've been up several times, and I
want you to bring a fresh mind to bear upon the trouble. I'll telegraph
the people there to put everything at your command. I want you to study
the situation and make up your mind, just as if the whole thing belonged
to you. Part of it does, you know, and more of it shall, if you find a
way out. If the thing can be made to go, I'll give you ten more of the
hundred shares, in addition to the five you already own. Good-night, and
good-bye till you're ready to report."

Captain Will Hallam had recently bought this coal mine on a little
branch railroad in the interior of Illinois. He had not wanted to buy
it, but had done so by way of saving a debt. The mine had been badly
constructed at the beginning, and latterly it had been a good deal
neglected. There were other difficulties, as Duncan soon discovered, and
the coal resources of the property had never been half developed. In
recognition of his services in examining titles and other matters
connected with the purchase, Hallam had given the young man five per
cent. of the company's stock. He was thus, for the first time, working
in part for himself, when he was sent to study the situation.

Quietly, but insistently, in face of the surly opposition of the
superintendent, who was also styled chief engineer, Duncan looked into
things. It was true, as the superintendent sullenly said, that this
young man knew nothing of coal mining; but it was also true, as Duncan
answered, that he knew how to learn.

And he did learn. He learned so much that after three or four days, he
sent a telegram to Captain Will Hallam, saying:

Give me a perfectly free hand here or call me home. I must have all
the authority you possess or I can be of no use. Answer by
telegraph.

For response, Will Hallam telegraphed:

Consider yourself the whole thing. I give you complete and absolute
authority. Hire or discharge men at will. Order all improvements
you think best. Draw on the bank here for any sum you need. Only
make the thing go if you can.

Telegraphing was much more expensive in those days--forty years
ago--than it is now. And yet in neither of these dispatches was there
any seeming effort to spare words. That was Captain Will Hallam's rul