Part 45 (1/2)
Olaf obeyed, though reluctantly, and presently he was deep amongst the problems of the inventor. Lars Larssen watched the boy with a tenderness that few would have given him credit for.
”I've got it! Look, Dad!” cried the boy excitedly, and began to explain his idea and his tangled drawing.
”Good! That's what I want from you. Now, don't you feel better at having worked out the idea all on your own?”
”Yes, Dad. I'll go to Mr Chips at once and get it made. In which part of the s.h.i.+p does he live?”
”You must find that out yourself.”
”How much shall I offer him?”
”Don't offer him anything. Make friends with him, and he'll do it for you for nothing.”
”But I always give people money to do things for me.”
”That's a bad habit. Drop it. Get things done for you for nothing.”
”Why?”
”Because I want you to be a business man when you grow up, and not merely a spender of money.”
”What does a business man mean exactly?”
”A ruler of men.”
The boy looked troubled again. His confusion of thoughts sorted themselves into his declaration: ”I don't want to be a ruler of men; I want people to like me.”
”That's a poor ambition.”
”Why?”
”Mostly anyone wants that. It's a sign of weakness. Drop it.”
”What ought I to want?”
”People to fear you.”
”Why should they be afraid of me, Dad?”
”For one thing, because some day you'll have all my money and all my power. Just how big that is you can't realise yet. That's one reason.
The other reason must lie with yourself--you must make yourself strong and afraid of nothing. How many fights did you have this term, before you got ill?”
”Only one.”
It was clear from the boy's downcast eyes that he had been beaten in his fight.
”That's bad. That's disobeying my orders. Didn't I tell you to fight every boy in the school until they acknowledged you master?”
”I'm not strong enough.”
”You must make yourself strong enough. It's not a question of muscle, but will-power. When you're properly over this illness, I'll pick you out a school in England with about thirty or forty boys of your own age.