lege to reorganize the commissariat, which he
did with such success that the college saved five thousand dollars a
year. He had genius, the college people said, and after he had taken
his degree with honours in classics and mathematics they offered him a
professorship at two thousand dollars a year.

He laughed ironically, but yet with satisfaction, when the professorship
was offered. It was all so different from what was in his mind for
the future. As he looked out of the oriel window in the sweet gothic
building, to the green grass and the maples and elms which made the
college grounds like an old-world park, he had a vision of himself
permanently in these surroundings of refinement growing venerable with
years, seeing pass under his influence thousands of young men directed,
developed and inspired by him.

He had, however, shaken himself free of this modest vision. He knew
that such a life would act like a narcotic to his real individuality.
He thirsted for contest, for the control of brain and will; he wanted
to construct; he was filled with the idea of simplifying things, of
economizing strength; he saw how futile was much competition, and how
the big brain could command and control with ease, wasting no force,
saving labour, making the things controlled bigger and better.

So it came that his face was seen no more in the oriel window. With
a mere handful of dollars, and some debts, he left the world of
scholarship and superior pedagogy, and went where the head offices of
railways were. Railways were the symbol of progress in his mind. The
railhead was the advance post of civilization. It was like Cortez and
his Conquistadores overhauling and appropriating the treasures of long
generations. So where should he go if not to the Railway?

His first act, when he got to his feet inside the offices of the
President of a big railway, was to show the great man how two "outside"
proposed lines could be made one, and then further merged into the
company controlled by the millionaire in whose office he sat. He got his
chance by his very audacity--the President liked audacity. In attempting
this merger, however, he had his first failure, but he showed that he
could think for himself, and he was made increasingly responsible. After
a few years of notable service, he was offered the task of building a
branch line of railway from Lebanon and Manitou north, and northwest,
and on to the Coast; and he had accepted it, at the same