Don't I know! I'm a master-man in my business;
nothing defeats me. To me, a forest of wild wood is the future palace of
a Prime Minister. A great river is a pathway to the palace, and all the
thousands of men that work the river are the adventurers that bring the
booty home--"
"That bring 'the palace to Paris,' eh!" interrupted Carnac, laughing.
"Paris be damned--that bring the forest to Quebec. How long did it take
you to make that?" he added with a nod towards the statue.
"Oh, I did it in a day--six hours, I think; and he stood like that for
three hours out of the six. He was great, but he'd no more sense of
civilization than I have of Heaven."
"You don't need to have a sense of Heaven, you need to have a sense of
Hell. That prevents you from spoiling your own show. You're playing
with life's vital things."
"I wonder how much you've got out of it all, father," Carnac remarked
with a smile. He lit a cigarette. "You do your job in style. It's been
a great career, yours. You've made your big business out of nothing."
"I had something to start with. Your grandfather had a business worth
not much, but it was a business, and the fundamental thing is to have
machinery to work with when you start life. I had that. My father was
narrow, contracted and a blunderer, but he made good in a small way.
Pages:
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
62
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79