“Bring your papers to my cabin, and I’ll show you, young man—”
A strange thing happened. The voice of the master business man, the head of a great corporation, broke and for a moment he could not speak.
“Young man,” he began again, “I’ve been a fool.”
“I’ll go tell the captain to alter his course,” said Johnny.
“There’s one other favor I wish to ask.”
Johnny was seated in the Unwilling Guest’s cabin. Perhaps by this time he might have been called a “willing guest.”
“What is that, Johnny?”
“It’s like this,” said Johnny. “I hope I can make you understand. It must be wonderful to develop a business on a large scale, to see it grow and grow and grow, as you have been able to do. To add one ship after another, one plantation, one narrow-gauge railroad after another until the ships are a fleet, railroads a system and the plantations a little world all their own. I’ve dreamed of living such a life myself. It’s a grand and glorious dream.
“But sometimes,” his tone was slow and thoughtful, “it’s hard on the little fellow. Sometimes the great promoter, dreaming his great dream, forgets the little fellow, the man with a few acres of bananas, a few cocoanuts or grapefruit trees.
“The elephant enjoys himself as he goes thrashing his way through the jungle. But what of the small creatures he tramples beneath his feet? What about the butterflies he crushes with his swinging trunk? The butterflies appear to enjoy life as they flit in the sunshine. What of them?”