Still he said nothing. After a little he
moved away from my desk to his own, and that was the end of it. He was
afraid to approve what I had done, yet he had not censured me. If it
came out all right, it was all right; if it came out all wrong, the
responsibility was mine. So it stood, but I noticed that he came in
very regularly and in good time for some mornings after that.
Of course I never spoke to any one about it. None of the trainmen knew
that Mr. Scott had not personally given the orders. I had almost made
up my mind that if the like occurred again, I would not repeat my
proceeding of that morning unless I was authorized to do so. I was
feeling rather distressed about what I had done until I heard from Mr.
Franciscus, who was then in charge of the freighting department at
Pittsburgh, that Mr. Scott, the evening after the memorable morning,
had said to him:
"Do you know what that little white-haired Scotch devil of mine did?"
"No."
"I'm blamed if he didn't run every train on the division in my name
without the slightest authority."
"And did he do it all right?" asked Franciscus.
"Oh, yes, all right."
This satisfied me. Of course I had my cue for the next occasion, and
went boldly in. From that date it was very seldom that Mr.
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