"

I wish I could describe the effect on Nort. It was as though some light
air blew across him. He had looked heavy and depressed when he came in:
now his shoulders straightened, his chin lifted, and the old, reckless
smile came into his face. He swept us all with a look of amused
astonishment, and then, slipping back into his coat, said:

"Well, good-bye, Mr. Smith," and turned and went out of the office.

Ed jumped from his chair.

"Here's your cash," he said.

But Nort had gone out.

"Well, I'll be hanged!" observed Ed, quickly putting the money back in
his pocket.

I am slow, slow! I have always wished since then that I had been quick
enough to do what Fergus did. It was not that I did not love Nort----

When I looked around Fergus was gone. He had slipped out of the back
door. He caught Nort at the gate, and grasped his hand so hard that Nort
said it hurt him for a week afterward. He tried to say something, but
his face worked so that he couldn't. Then he was suddenly ashamed of
himself, and came running back into the office, his hair flying wildly.
Tom, the cat, at that moment rising from his favourite spot near the
stove, Fergus kicked at him vigorously--without hitting him.

Ed now began to stride about the office, head a little lifted, a bold
look in the eye. He saw neither Fergus nor me. He was in a grand mood. I
always imagined he must have felt at that moment something like
Fitz-James when he met Roderick Dhu:

Come one, come all! this rock shall fly
From its firm base as soon as I.

He did not have long to wait. We heard the old Captain on the steps,
thumping his cane, clearing his throat. I shall never forget how he
looked when he came in at the door, his tall, soldierly figure, the
long, shabby black coat, the thick silvery hair under the broad-brimmed
hat, the beaming eye of him. Ever since the publication of his editorial
on William J. Bryan, the Captain had been in great spirits.

"Nort!" he called, as he set down his cane.

No answer.

"Where's Nort?" he boomed. "Fergus, where's Nort? I want to show him my
editorial on Theodore Roosevelt."

Ominous silence.

The old Captain looked up and about him. Fergus was busy at the cases.

"Where's Nort?" asked the old Captain sharply, this time directing his
question at Ed Smith.

"I've fired him," said Ed. "Got to cut down expenses."

"You--fired--Nort?"

The old Captain's voice sounded as though it came from the bottom of a
well