"But I had hard luck, sir," he expostulated. "She'll go all right
now, I think."

Thorpe turned and looked at him.

"Herrick," he said, not unkindly, "this is the second time this
summer the mill has had to close early on account of that engine.
We have supplied you with everything you asked for. If you can't
do it, we shall have to get a man who can."

"But I had---" began the man once more.

"I ask every man to succeed in what I give him to do," interrupted
Thorpe. "If he has a headache, he must brace up or quit. If his
Babbit doesn't act just right he must doctor it up; or get some more,
even if he has to steal it. If he has hard luck, he must sit up
nights to better it. It's none of my concern how hard or how easy
a time a man has in doing what I tell him to. I EXPECT HIM TO DO IT.
If I have to do all a man's thinking for him, I may as well hire
Swedes and be done with it. I have too many details to attend to
already without bothering about excuses."

The man stood puzzling over this logic.

"I ain't got any other job," he ventured.

"You can go to piling on the docks," replied Thorpe, "if you want to."

Thorpe was thus explicit because he rather liked Herrick. It was
hard for him to discharge the man peremptorily, and he proved the