II.
When he was little, this boy was very fond of playing at building bridges. After he was grown up, he became a builder of real bridges.
At first, he built only small bridges over the brooks and little streams, but one day an order was given him to build an important bridge over a large river.
Just as you might guess, this pleased the man very much, and he was glad to begin the work at once.
Soon his men were busy, putting in the piers for the new bridge, and he was hurrying them as fast as he could, in order to get the bridge built on time.
Every day he sat in a rowboat calling to his men. They were about to begin work on the middle pier when the foreman of the workers came to him.
“Mr. Builder,” he said, “I think we shall have to wait for more material if we go down to the right depth for this pier.”
“Nonsense, man,” said the builder, “we have no time to wait. There is a pretty good bottom under that place. Don’t go so deep. Get along with the material you have.”
“But, sir,—” began the man.
“Do as I tell you,” ordered the builder.
“All right, sir,” replied the foreman; “you may order that done, but one of the other men will have to do the job.”
“Very well,” was the angry reply of the builder, “Jim Nevermind will take your place.”
The foreman slowly drew on his jacket. “Somebody will pay for such carelessness,” he muttered. “I hope it will not be—” but the rest of the sentence was drowned by the orders of the new foreman.