olders were frankly moved by fear, distrust, and greed. Men
got up, asking angry questions and shouting implications, but for a few
minutes Cartwright sat like a rock and let them rage. When they stopped
and there was an awkward pause, Mortimer Hyslop got up. He looked
languid and his voice was soft, but Cartwright admitted his speech was
clever.

He and Mrs. Cartwright, whom he represented, owned shares in the line,
and he had not risen before because the chairman was his relation. Now,
when attacks, perhaps not altogether justified, had been made on the
Board, he was forced to state his conviction that nobody else could have
steered the company past the dangers that threatened. One must admit the
situation was bad; and for a minute or two Mortimer cleverly indicated
its drawbacks. For all that, he argued, it was rash to change pilot and
officers in the middle of a storm. The officers they knew and had
trusted must be left control until the gale blew over.

Mortimer sat down and Cartwright knitted his brows. On the surface, his
step-son had taken the proper line. Mortimer meant to support the Board,
but he had indicated that he did so because it was his duty. His remarks
about the dangers by which the company was surrounded had made things
look worse. All the same, he had calmed the meeting, but Cartwright did
not know if this was an advantage. Criticism was harder to meet when the
critics were cool.

Another man got up and began to talk in a quiet voice.

"Mr. Hyslop has an object for trusting the chairman that we have not
got. We won't grumble about his staunchness, but we are entitled to
weigh his arguments, which are not altogether sound. He owns the
situation is awkward and the outlook dark, but he urges us to trust the
officers who got the ship in danger. One feels this is not remarkably
logical. Then he declares nobody else could have kept the fleet running.
I think the claim is rash. In this city we are conservative and names
long known in business circles carry an exaggerated weight; we expect a
man to work wonders because his father started a prosperous line, and
another because he long since made a lucky plunge. Men like these are
often satisfied with former triumphs while times and methods change. We
want fresh thought and modern methods. It's obvious the old have brought
us near the rocks!"

Cartwright saw the shareholders were moved and the time for him to speak
had come. He got up and fronted a doub