Wolff, and Mr. Arthurs, because of his friendship for Mr. Quinn,
conducted them through the yard himself.

They stayed so long in the shipyard that there was no time left for the
visit to the linen mill, and so, when they had had tea, they set off to
the Great Northern Railway station where Marsh was to catch his train to
Dublin.

Mr. Arthurs' immense energy and his devotion to his work and his
extraordinary pride not only in the shipyard but in the men who worked
in it had made a deep impression on Marsh and Henry. He seemed to know
the most minute details of the vast complication of functions that
operated throughout the works. While they were passing through one of
the shops, a horn had blown, and instantly a great crowd of men and lads
had poured out of the yard on their way to their dinner, and Mr.
Arthurs, standing aside to watch them, and greeting here one and there
another, turned to Marsh and said, "Those are my pals!" Thousands of
men, grimy from their work, each of them possessed of some peculiar
skill or great strength, thousands of them, "pals" of this one man whose
active brain conceived ships of great magnitude and endurance! Mr.
Arthurs had passed through the shipyard from apprenticeship to
directorship: he had worked in this shop and in that, just as the men
worked, and had learned more about shipbuilding than it seemed possible
for any man to learn. "He knows how many rivets there are in the
_Oceanic_," one of the foremen in the yard said to Marsh when they were
being shown round. "He's the great boy for buildin' boats!"

Marsh, until then, had never met a man like Mr. Arthurs. His life had
been passed in Dublin, among people who thought and talked and
speculated, but seldom did; and he had been habituated to scoffing talk
at Belfast men ... "money-grubbers" ... mitigated, now and then, by a
grudging tribute to their grit and great energy and resource. Mr.
Arthurs had none of the money-grubbing spirit in him; his devotion to
his work of shipbuilding was as pure as the devotion of a Samurai to the
honour of Japan; and Marsh, who was instantly sensitive to the presence
of a noble man, felt strongly drawn to him.

"I wish we could get him on our side, Henry!" he said, as they sat in
the station, waiting for the train to draw up to the platform. "I'd give
all the lawyers we've got for that one man!"

"Father thinks Tom Arthurs is the greatest shipbuilder that's ever
lived," Henry answered.

"He migh