ting and antagonistic audience.
His face was inscrutable, but he looked dignified.

"We have heard angry criticism and hints about slackness," he began.
"Some of you have suggested rejecting the report, a committee of
inquiry, and new members for the Board, but no substantive motion has
been put. Well, before this is done, I claim your patience for a few
minutes. If you are not satisfied, I and your directors are jointly
accountable. We stand together; if you get rid of one, you get rid of
all. This is a drastic but risky cure--"

He paused and one or two of the gentlemen at the table looked surprised.
It was plain they felt the chairman had gone farther than he ought. The
red-faced man, however, smiled as if he approved and Cartwright resumed:

"Times are bad, the markets are flat, and goods are not moved about the
world. I venture to state no steamship company is free from
embarrassments. You can, no doubt, find men with business talent equal
to ours and give them control; but you cannot give them the knowledge,
gained by long experience, one needs to grapple with the particular
difficulties the Cartwright line must meet. The personal touch is
needed; your manager must be known by the company's friends, and its
antagonists, who would not hesitate to snatch our trade from a stranger.
They know me and the others, and are cautious about attacking us. In all
that's important, until times get better, _I am the company_--"

Cartwright stopped and drank some water. He saw he had struck the right
note and began again:

"I will not labor the argument; the thing is obvious! If I go, the line
will stop running before the new men learn their job. Well, I'm old and
tired, but it would hurt to see the house-flag hauled down; it was
carried by famous oak clippers in my grandfather's time. You hesitate to
risk your money? I risk mine and much that money cannot buy; the honor
of a house whose ships have sailed from Liverpool for a hundred years!"

The shareholders were moved and one heard murmurs of sympathy. Boldness
paid, and Cartwright saw he was recovering his shaken power, but it was
not all good acting. To some extent, he was sincere. He got his breath
and resumed:

"I don't urge you with a selfish object to let me keep my post; I'd be
relieved to let it go. Counted in money, the reward for my labor is not
large. I want to save the Cartwright line, to pilot it into port, and,
if there is no rash meddling, I believe I can.