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 bairns.' An' then I lost my temper. 'Ye can run her into Hell an' out again if ye pay pilotage,' I said, 'but ye run without me.'

"'That 's insolence,' said young Steiner.

"'At your pleasure,' I said, turnin' to go.

"'Ye can consider yourself dismissed. We must preserve discipline among our employés,' said old Holdock, an' he looked round to see that the Board was with him. They knew nothin'—God forgie 'em—an' they nodded me out o' the line after twenty years—after twenty years.

"I went out an' sat down by the hall porter to get my wits again. I 'm thinkin' I swore at the Board. Then auld McRimmon—o' McNaughten & McRimmon—came oot o' his office, that 's on the same floor, an' looked at me, proppin' up one eyelid wi' his forefinger. Ye know they call him the Blind Deevil, forbye he 's onythin' but blind, an' no deevil in his dealin's wi' me—McRimmon o' the Black Bird Line.

"'What 's here, Mister McPhee?' said he.

"I was past prayin' for by then. 'A Chief Engineer sacked after twenty years' service because he 'll not risk the Breslau on the new timin', an' be damned to ye, McRimmon,' I said.

"The auld man sucked in his lips an' whistled. 'Ah,' said he, 'the new timin'. I see!' He doddered into the Board-room I 'd just left, an' the Dandie-dog that is just his blind man's leader stayed wi' me. That was providential. In a minute he was back again. 'Ye 've cast your bread on the watter, McPhee, an' be damned to you,' he says. 'Whaur 's my dog? My word, is he on your knee? There 's more discernment