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diff --git a/5738.txt b/5738.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..4529271 --- /dev/null +++ b/5738.txt @@ -0,0 +1,11041 @@ +The Project Gutenberg EBook of Cappy Ricks, by Peter B. Kyne + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Cappy Ricks + +Author: Peter B. Kyne + +Release Date: May, 2004 [EBook #5738] +Postiing Date: March 26, 2009 + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ASCII + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK CAPPY RICKS *** + + + + +Produced by Paul J. Hollander + + + + + + + + +CAPPY RICKS + +or The Subjugation of Matt Peasley + +by Peter B. Kyne + + + + +TO THE IDEAL AMERICAN SAILOR + +As exemplified in the persons of my good friends, + +Captain Ralph E. Peasley, of Jonesport, Maine, + +Who skippered the first five-masted schooner ever built, brought her, +on that first voyage, through the worst typhoon that ever blew, and +upon arriving at the Yang Tse Kiang River for the first time in his +adventurous career, decided he could not trust a Chinese pilot and +established a record by sailing her up himself! + + +Captain I. N. Hibberd, of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, + +Sometime master of the American clipper ship, Cyrus Wakefield, who, at +the age of twenty-five, broke three world's records in one voyage: San +Francisco to Liverpool and back, eight months and two days; Liverpool +to San Francisco, one hundred days; from the equator to San Francisco, +eleven days. The clipper ship is gone but the skipper remains, an +undefeated champion. + + +Captain William P. Cantey, of San Francisco, California, + +Sometime mate of the brig Galilee, who, with his naked hands, +convinced in thirty-five minutes nine larger men than himself of the +incontrovertible fact that you cannot keep a good man down. + + + +TO THE AMERICAN SHIPOWNER + +As exemplified in the persons of my good friends, + +John H. Rossiter, Manager of W. R. Grace & Co., of San Francisco. + +Edwin A. Christenson, President of the Sudden & Christenson S.S. Line, +of San Francisco. + +John R. Hanify, President of the John R. Hanify Company, of San +Francisco. + + + +TO THE PACIFIC COAST LUMBERMAN + +As exemplified in the person of my good friend, + +Augustus J. ("Gus") Russell, California Manager for the Portland +Lumber Company, and my personal representative, without salary, in the +wholesale lumber trade, ever since I abandoned lumber for literature. + + + +TO FREIGHT, SHIP, AND MARINE INSURANCE BROKERS + +As exemplified in the persons of my good friends, + +Messrs. E. B. Smith, Oscar J. Beyfuss, and Allan Hayes. + + +This volume is dedicated, without charge for the advertising but with +profound appreciation of the part they have made in making this book +possible. With the author they must bear an equal burden of whatever of +praise or censure shall entail. + + + +CONTENTS + +I. Master of Many Ships and Skipper of None +II. The Man from Blue Water +III. Under the Blue Star Flag +IV. Bad News from Cape Town +V. Matt Peasley Assumes Office +VI. Wordy War at a Dollar a Word +VII. Cappy Ricks Makes Bad Medicine +VIII. All Hands and Feet to the Rescue +IX. Mr. Murphy Advises Preparedness +X. The Battle of Table Bay +XI. Mr. Skinner Receives a Telegram +XII. The Campaign Opens +XIII. An Old Friend Returns and Cappy Leads Another Ace +XIV. Insult Added to Injury +XV. Rumors of War +XVI. War! +XVII. Cappy Forces an Armistice +XVIII. The War is Renewed +XIX. Capp Seeks Peace +XX. Peace at Last! +XXI. Matt Peasley Meets a Talkative Stranger +XXII. Face to Face +XXIII. Business and-- +XXIV. The Clean Up +XXV. Cappy Proves Himself a Despot +XXVI. Matt Peasley in Exile +XXVII. Promotion +XXVIII. Cappy Has a Heart +XXIX. Nature Takes Her Course +XXX. Mr. Skinner Hears a Lecture +XXXI. Internal Combustion +XXXII. Skinner Proposes--and Cappy Ricks Disposes +XXXIII. Cappy's Plans Demolished +XXXIV. A Gift From the Gods +XXXV. A Dirty Yankee Trick +XXXVI. Cappy Forbids the Bans--Yet +XXXVII. Matt Peasley Becomes a Shipowner +XXXVIII. Working Capital +XXXIX. Easy Money +XL. The Cataclysm +XLI. When Pain and Anguish Wring the Brow +XLII. Unexpected Developments +XLIII. Cappy Plans a Knock-out +XLIV. Skinner Develops into a Human Being +XLV. Cappy Pulls Off a Wedding +XLVI. A Ship Forgotten +XLVII. The Tail Goes with the Hide +XLVIII. Victory + + + + +CHAPTER I. MASTER OF MANY SHIPS AND SKIPPER OF NONE + + +A psychologist would have termed Alden P. Ricks an individualist, but +his associates in the wholesale lumber and shipping trade of the Pacific +Coast proclaimed him a character. + +In his youth he had made one voyage round Cape Horn as a cabin boy, his +subsequent nautical experience having been confined to the presidency of +the Blue Star Navigation Company and occasional voyages as a first-cabin +passenger. Notwithstanding this apparent lack of salt-water wisdom, +however, his intimate knowledge of ships and the men who go down to the +sea in them, together with his very distinct personality, had conduced +to provide him with a courtesy title in his old age. + +It is more than probable that, had Alden P. Ricks been a large, +commanding person possessed of the dignity the average citizen +associates with men of equal financial rating, the Street would have +called him Captain Ricks. Had he lacked these characteristics, but borne +nevertheless even a remote resemblance to a retired mariner, his world +would have hailed him as Old Cap Ricks; but since he was what he was--a +dapper, precise, shrewd, lovable little old man with mild, paternal +blue eyes, a keen sense of humor and a Henry Clay collar, which latter, +together with a silk top hat, had distinguished him on 'Change for forty +years--it was inevitable that along the Embarcadero and up California +Street he should bear the distinguishing appellation of Cappy. In any +other line of human endeavor he would have been called Pappy--he was +that type of man. + +Cappy Ricks had so much money, amassed in the wholesale lumber and +shipping business, that he had to engage some very expensive men to +take care of it for him. He owned the majority of the stock of the Ricks +Lumber and Logging Company, with sawmills and timberlands in California, +Oregon and Washington; his young men had to sell a million feet of +lumber daily in order to keep pace with the output, while the vessels +of the Blue Star Navigation Company, also controlled by Cappy, freighted +it. There were thirty-odd vessels in the Blue Star fleet--windjammers +and steam schooners; and Cappy was registered as managing owner of every +one. + +Following that point in his career when the young fellows on the Street, +discovering that he was a true-blue sport, had commenced to fraternize +with him and call him Cappy, the old gentleman ceased to devote his +attention to the details of his business. He was just beginning to enjoy +life; so he shifted the real work of his multifarious interests to the +capable shoulders of a Mr. John P. Skinner, who fitted into his niche +in the business as naturally as the kernel of a healthy walnut fits its +shell. Mr. Skinner was a man still on the sunny side of middle life, +smart, capable, cold-blooded, a little bumptious, and, like the late +Julius Caesar, ambitious. + +No sooner had Cappy commenced to take life easy than Skinner commenced +to dominate the business. He attended an efficiency congress and came +home with a collection of newfangled ideas that eliminated from the +office all the joy and contentment old Cappy Ricks had been a life-time +installing. He inaugurated card systems and short cuts in bookkeeping +that drove Cappy to the verge of insanity, because he could never go to +the books himself and find out anything about his own business. He had +to ask Mr. Skinner--which made Skinner an important individual. + +With the passage of five years the general manager was high and low +justice in Cappy's offices, and had mastered the not-too-difficult art +of dominating his employer, for Cappy seldom seriously disagreed with +those he trusted. He saved all his fighting force for his competitors. + +However, Cappy's interest in the Blue Star Navigation Company did not +wane with the cessation of his activities as chief kicker. Ordinarily, +Mr. Skinner bossed the navigation company as he bossed the lumber +business, for Cappy's private office was merely headquarters for +receiving mail, reading the newspapers, receiving visitors, smoking an +after-luncheon cigar, and having a little nap from three o'clock until +four, at which hour Cappy laid aside the cares of business and put in +two hours at bridge in his club. + +Despite this apparent indifference to business, however, Mr. Skinner +handled the navigation company with gloves; for, if Cappy dozed in his +office, he had a habit of keeping one eye open, so to speak, and every +little while he would wake up and veto an order of Skinner's, of which +the latter would have been willing to take an oath Cappy had never +heard. In the matter of engaging new skippers or discharging old ones +Mr. Skinner had to be very careful. Cappy always declared that any +clerk can negotiate successfully a charter at the going rates in a +stiff market, but skippers are, in the final analysis, the Genii of the +Dividends. And Cappy knew skippers. He could get more loyalty out +of them with a mere pat on the back and a kindly word than could Mr. +Skinner, with all his threats, nagging and driving, yet he was an +employer who demanded a full measure of service, and never permitted +sentiment to plead for an incompetent. And his ships were his pets; in +his affections they occupied a position but one degree removed from +that occupied by his only child, in consequence of which he was mighty +particular who hung up his master's ticket in the cabin of a Blue +Star ship. Some idea of the scrupulous care with which he examined all +applicants for a skipper's berth may be gleaned from the fact that any +man discharged from a Blue Star ship stood as much chance of obtaining a +berth with one of Cappy Ricks' competitors as a celluloid dog chasing an +asbestos cat through Hades. + +The reader will readily appreciate, therefore, the apprehensions which +assailed Cappy Ricks when the Blue Star Navigation Company discovered it +had on its payroll one Matthew Peasley, a Nobody from Nowhere, who not +only had the insufferable impudence to apply for a job skippering the +finest windjammer in the fleet, but when rebuffed in no uncertain terms, +refused to withdraw his application, and defied his owners to fire him. +Such a preposterous state of affairs borders so closely on the realm of +fancy as to require explanation; hence, for the nonce let us leave Cappy +Ricks and Mr. Skinner to their sordid task of squeezing dividends out +of the Blue Star Navigation Company and turn the searchlight of inquiry +upon the amazing Matthew. + + + +CHAPTER II. THE MAN FROM BLUE WATER + + +If, instead of advancing the theory that man sprang from a monkey, +Darwin had elected to nominate the duck for that dubious honor, there +is no doubt but that he would have pointed to the Peasley family, +of Thomaston, Maine, as evidence of the correctness of his theory of +evolution. The most casual student of natural history knows that the +instant a duckling chips its shell it toddles straightway to the nearest +water. The instant a male Peasley could cut his mother's apron strings, +he, also, made for the nearest water, for the Peasleys had always been +sailors, a statement which a perusal of the tombstones in Thomaston +cemetery will amply justify. Indeed, a Peasley who had not acquired +his master's ticket prior to his twenty-fifth birthday was one of two +things--a disgrace to the family or a corpse. Consequently, since the +traditions of his tribe were very strong in Matthew Peasley VI, it +occasioned no comment in Thomaston when, having acquired a grammar +school education, he answered the call of his destiny and fared forth to +blue water and his first taste of dog's body and salt horse. + +When he was fourteen years old and very large for his age, Matt +commenced his apprenticeship in a codfisher on the Grand Banks, which, +when all is said and done, constitutes the finest training school in the +world for sailors. By the time he was seventeen he had made one voyage +to Rio de Janeiro in a big square-rigger out of Portland; and so smart +and capable an A.B. was he for his years that the Old Man took a shine +to him. Confidentially he informed young Matt that if the latter would +stay by the ship, in due course a billet as third mate should be the +reward of his fealty. The Old Man didn't need a third mate any more than +he needed a tail, but Matt Peasley looked like a comer to him and he +wanted an excuse to encourage the boy by berthing him aft; also it +sounds far better to be known as a third mate instead of a mate's bosun, +which was, in reality, the position the Old Man had promised Matt. The +latter promptly agreed to this program and the skipper loaned him his +copy of Bowditch. + +Upon his return from his first voyage as third mate Matt went up for his +second mate's certificate and passed very handily. Naturally he expected +prompt promotion, but the Old Man knew the value of experience in a +second mate--also the value of years and physical weight; so he informed +young Matt he was entirely too precocious and that to sail as second +mate before he was nineteen might tend to swell his ego. Consequently +Matt made a voyage to Liverpool and back as third mate before the Old +Man promoted him. + +For a year, Matt Peasley did nicely; then, in a gale off the Orinoco +River, with the captain too ill to appear on deck, the first mate went +by the board, leaving the command of the ship to young Matt. She was +dismasted at the time, but the lad brought her into Rio on the stumps, +thus attracting some little attention to himself from his owners, who +paid his passage back to Portland by steamer and found a second mate's +berth for him in one of their clipper ships bound round the Horn. + +Of course Matt was too young to know they had their eyes on him for +future skipper material and were sending him around Cape Horn for +the invaluable experience he would encounter on such a voyage. All he +realized was that he was going round the Horn, as became one of the +House of Peasley, no member of which would ever regard him as a real +sailor until he could point to a Cape Horn diploma as evidence that he +had graduated from the school for amateurs. + +Matt Peasley lacked two months of his twentieth birthday when he +stepped onto a San Francisco dock, in his pocket a highly complimentary +discharge as second mate from the master of the clipper ship--for Matt +had elected to quit. In fact, he had to, for on the way round the mate +had picked on him and called him Sonny and Mother's Darling Boy; and +Matt, having, in the terminology of the forecastle, come aboard through +the hawse pipes, knew himself for a man and a sailor, despite the +paucity of whiskers on his big, square boyish chin. + +Accordingly he had advised the mate to address him only in the line of +duty, on which occasions he desired to be referred to as Mr. Peasley, +and, the mate demurring from this program, the customary maritime +fracas had ensued. Consequently, somebody had to quit on arrival at San +Francisco; and since, Matt was the last to come, he was the first to go. +On the strength of his two previous discharges he shipped as second mate +on the bark Andrew Welch, for a voyage to Honolulu and back; then, his +services as second mate being all in, he went before the inspectors for +his first mate's ticket and was awarded an unlimited license. + +Matt was now past twenty; and, though not fully filled out, he was big +enough to be a chief kicker anywhere. Six feet three in his bare feet; +two hundred pounds in the buff; lean, lithe and supple as a panther, the +mere sight of his big lumpy shoulders would have been sufficient to have +quelled an incipient mutiny. Nevertheless, graduate that he was of +a hard, hard school, his face was that of an innocent, trusting, +good-natured, immature boy, proclaiming him exactly what he knew his +men called him--a big, over-grown kid. He hated himself for his glorious +youth. + +"You're pretty much of a child to have an unlimited ticket, my son," the +supervising inspector informed him. "However, you've had the experience +and your record is far above the average, so we're going to issue the +license; but if you'll take a bit of advice from an old sailor you'll +be content to go as second mate for a year or two more, until your jowls +blacken up a bit and you get a trifle thicker in the middle." + +With the impudence and irreverence of his tender years, however, Matt +Peasley scorned this well-meant advice, notwithstanding the fact that he +knew it to be sound, for by shipping as second mate and remaining in the +same ship, sooner or later his chance would come. The first mate would +quit, or be promoted or drowned, or get drunk; and then his shoes would +be waiting for Matt tried and true, and the holder of a first mate's +ticket. + +However, there is an old saw to the effect that youth must be served, +and young Matt desired a helping totally disproportionate to his years, +if not to his experience; hence he elected to ignore the fact that +shipmasters are wary of chief mates until they have first tried them out +as second mates and learned their strength and their weaknesses. Being +very human, Matt thought he should prove the exception to a fairly +hard-and-fast rule. + +He had slept one night on a covered dock and skipped three meals before +it occurred to him that he had pursued the wrong tactics. He was too far +from Thomaston, Maine, where the majority of sailors have gone to school +with their captains. Back home there were a dozen masters who knew his +people, who knew him and his proved ability; but out here on the Pacific +Coast the skippers were nearly all Scandinavians, and Matt had to show +them something besides his documents. + +He had failed signally to procure a single opportunity to demonstrate +his fitness for an executive position. After abandoning his plan to ship +as chief mate he had sought a second mate's berth, but failing to +find one, and with each idle day making deeper inroads into his scant +savings, he had at length descended to the ignominy of considering a job +as bosun. Even that was not forthcoming, and now his money was entirely +dissipated. + +Now, when a big overgrown kid finds himself penniless three thousand +miles from a friend and minus three meals in succession, the fourth +omission of the daily bread is not likely to pass without violent +protest. Matt was still a growing boy, with a growing boy's appetite; +consequently on the morning of his second day of fasting he came to +the conclusion that, with so much of his life before him, a few months +wasted would, after all, have no material bearing on his future; so +he accepted a two months advance from a crimp and shipped aboard the +American barkentine Retriever as a common A.B.--a most disgraceful +action on the part of a boy, who, since eighteenth birthday, had been +used to having old sailors touch their foretop to him and address him as +"Mr. Peasley, sir." + + + +CHAPTER III. UNDER THE BLUE STAR FLAG + + +Matt had been attracted to the barkentine Retriever for two very potent +reasons--the first was a delicious odor of stew emanating from her +galley; the second was her house flag, a single large, five-pointed blue +star on a field of white with scarlet trimming. Garnished left and right +with a golden wreath and below with the word Captain, Matt Peasley knew +that house flag, in miniature, would look exceedingly well on the front +of a uniform cap; for he now made up his mind to enter one service and +stick to it until his abilities should receive their inevitable reward. +To ship as a foremast hand and rise to captain would be a proud record; +so Matt throttled his pride and faced the future with confidence, and a +stomach quite filled with very good beef stew. + +From the cook he learned that the Retriever carried a million feet of +lumber; that she was owned by Cappy Ricks; that Cappy Ricks was the +president of the Blue Star Navigation Company, and the most contemptible +old scoundrel in all the world; that the skipper was a blue-nose and +a devil and a fine man rolled into one; that the barkentine could sail +like a yacht; and that presently they would up-hook and off to Grays +Harbor, Washington, there to load a cargo of fir lumber for Cape Town. +And would Matt mind slipping ashore and buying the cook a bottle of +whiskey, for which the latter would settle very minute he could get an +advance out of the Old Man. No? Disgusted, the cook rattled his pans and +dismissed Matt as one unworthy of further confidence. + +Just before the tug came alongside to snake her outside the Heads, the +mate came aboard with his lee rail pretty well under and was indiscreet +enough to toss a piece of his lip at the Old Man. Five minutes later he +was paid and off and kicked out on the dock, while the cook packed his +sea bag and tossed it overside after him. The captain, thereupon, bawled +for the second mate, who came running. Matt noticed this and decided +that should the Old Man ever bawl for him he would come running too. + +"Mr. Swenson, you have a chief mate's license, have you not?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"Very well. You're the first mate. Mr. Lindstrom"--turning to the +bosun--"you've waited a year for your chance, and here it is. You're +the second mate. Bosun!" He was looking straight at Matt Peasley as he +spoke. Matt did not stir. "Hey, there," the skipper roared, "you big +mountain of meat, step lively!" + +Matt stepped lively. + +"I am not the bosun, sir," he explained. "I'm just A.B." + +"How dare you contradict me?" the Old Man growled. "I tell you, you +don't know what you are yet, barring the fact that you're an American, +and the only one, with the exception of myself, in the whole damned +Scowegian crew. Do you think you could get away with a bosun's job?" + +"I could get away with your job if I had the chance, sir," Matt +declared, almost impudently. + +"There she blows!" the Old Man declared. "Bless me, if you're not a +Native Son! Nobody but a Native Son would be that fresh. I suppose this +is your second voyage, you puling baby?" + +Matt Peasley's dander was up instantly. + +"I'm sailor enough to know my way alow or aloft in any weather, sir," he +retorted. + +The captain saw his opening and struck. + +"What's the ring-tail?" he demanded. + +"It's a studdin'-s'l on the gaff of a fore-an'-aft, sail, sir. You +haven't got one on the Retriever, sir." + +"Huh! You've been reading W. Clark Russell's sea yarns," the skipper +charged. "He was quite a pen-an'-paper sailor when it came to +square-rigged ships, but he didn't have much to say about six-masted +schooners. You see, they didn't build them in his day. Now then, son, +name the sticks on a six-legged schooner, and be sure and name 'em +right." + +"Fore, main, mizzen, spanker, jigger and driver, sir," Matt fired back +at him. + +"Bully for you, my son. You're the third mate. Cappy Ricks allows me the +luxury of a third mate whenever I run across a young fellow that appears +to be worth a whoop in hell, so grab your duds, and go aft, and +don't bring any cockroaches with you. I'll dig up a bosun among the +squareheads." + +"Thank you, sir." + +"Name?" + +"Mr. Peasley, sir." + +Since he was no longer an A B., young Matt concluded he might as well +accord himself the respect due him as a ship's officer; so he tacked on +the Mister, just to show the Old Man he knew his place. The master noted +that; also, the slurring of the sir as only a sailor can slur it. + +"I shouldn't wonder if you'd do," he remarked as Matt passed him on his +way to the forecastle for his dunnage. + +On his way back he carried his bag over his shoulder and his framed +license in his left hand. Two savages were following with his sea chest. + +"I do declare!" the skipper cried. "If that lubberly boy hasn't got some +sort of a ticket! Let me see it, Mr. Peasley." And he snatched it out of +his grasp. + +"So, you're a first mate of sail, for any ocean and any tonnage, eh?" +he said presently. "Are you sure this ticket doesn't belong to your +father?" + +"Sir," declared the exasperated Matt, "I never asked you for this job +of third mate; and if I've got to stomach your insults to hold it down +I don't want it. That's my ticket and I'm fully capable of living up to +it." + +"I'm glad to hear that, Mr. Peasley, because if you're not I'll be the +first one to find it out--and don't you forget it! I'll have no marine +impostors aboard my ship. Where do they ship little boys before the +mast, Mr. Peasley?" + +"On the Grand Banks, sir." + +"I beg your pardon," said the skipper; "but really I thought you were a +Native Son. My father was drowned there thirty years ago." + +"The Peasleys have all died on the Banks sir," Matt replied, much +mollified. + +"We'll go down into my cabin and drink a toast to their memory, Mr. +Peasley. It isn't often we skippers out here meet one of our own." + +It is hard for a Down-Easter, even though he may have lost the speech of +his people, not to be, partial to his own; and Captain Noah Kendall, of +the barkentine Retriever, was all the cook had declared him to be. He +scolded his Norsk mates so bitterly while the vessel was taking on cargo +at Grays Harbor that both came and asked for their time an hour before +the vessel sailed. However, the old man was aware they would do this, +for he had handled that breed too long not to know that the Scandinavian +sailor on the Pacific Coast quits his job on the slightest pretext, but +never dreams of leaving until he knows that by so doing he can embarrass +the master or owners. Even if the mates had not quit, Kendall would have +discharged them, for it had been in his mind to try Matt Peasley out as +chief mate, and acquire a second mate with a sweeter disposition than +that possessed by the late incumbent. + +No sooner had the Norsk mates departed than Captain Noah Kendall paid a +visit to Captain McBride in command of the schooner Nokomis (also a +Blue Star vessel), which had arrived that day and was waiting for the +Retriever's berth at the mill dock, in order to commence loading. + +"Mac," quoth Captain Noah, "what kind of a second mate have you got?" + +"A no-good Irish hound named Murphy," McBride replied promptly, for +he had heard rumors of war aboard the Retriever and something told him +Kendall had come to borrow his second mate, in order that the Retriever +might tow out immediately. A canny, cunning lad was McBride, but for all +his Scotch blood he was no match for Captain Noah Kendall. + +"I heard he wasn't worth two squirts of bilge water," Captain Noah lied +glibly. "However, I'll take him off your hands and reimburse you for +the expense of bringing his successor down from Seattle or up from San +Francisco. My two mates have just asked to be paid off, and despite the +fact that they have signed articles, I've let them go. No use going to +sea with a pair of sulky mates, you know. Fortunately, I had a young +Down-Easter aboard and I've put him in as first mate--" + +"Noah," urged McBride. "I wouldn't advise you to take this man Murphy." + +"Beggars can't be choosers," Captain Noah replied mournfully. "The tide +serves in half an hour and the tug is alongside the Retriever now. If +I have to wire to Seattle for a second mate I may not be able to get +one--and if I am forced to wire to San Francisco I may be stuck here a +week. I've shipped my crew and paid them all in advance, and if I don't +get to sea in an hour I'll lose every man Jack of them, and have it all +to do over again." + +"Well, I'll speak to the fellow for you, Noah," McBride suggested, and +darted out of the cabin to interview the said Murphy. Two minutes later +he was back. + +"Sorry, Noah, but Murphy says he wouldn't sign up for a trip to Cape +Town at chief mate's wages." + +"I'm sorry, too, Mac," Captain Noah answered resignedly. "I'm sorry +you're such a liar. My grief is only compensated by the knowledge that +Murphy is not aboard the Nokomis at this minute, and, if you did any +talking while you were out on deck a minute ago you must have talked +to yourself. Do I get this man, Murphy and thus save the Blue Star +Navigation Company five hundred dollars or must I wire Cappy Ricks to +wire you to do your duty by the company?" + +"You infernal thief," shouted McBride, "you're taking the best second +mate I've had in years." + +"Never mind that. Do I get Mike Murphy peaceably or--" + +"You've got him already" McBride charged. + +"You're better at telling the truth than you are at lying, Angus +McBride. You'll have plenty of time to get a second mate while the +Nokomis is loading, and you can send the bill for his railroad fare to +Cappy Ricks and tell him to charge it to the Retriever." + +McBride tried to appear aggrieved, but failed. He burst out laughing, +and reached for the locker in which he kept the schooner's supply of +grog. + +"Would it was prussic acid," he growled. + +"Don't say I went behind your back and stole your mate," Kendall +retorted. "And if your second mate is as poor as your whiskey," he +added, piling insult on to injury, "you can have him back when I return +from Cape Town." + +Matt Peasley felt that he was going to like Michael J. Murphy. The +latter was Irish, but he had left Ireland at a very tender age and was, +to all intents and purposes, a breezy American citizen, and while he +wore a slight cauliflower in one ear, his broad, kindly humorous face +and alert, bustling manner was assurance that he would be an easy man to +get along with. When the Old Man introduced him to Matt, he extended a +horny right hand that closed on Matt's like the jaws of a dredger, the +while he ran an equally horny left hand up and down the chief mate's +arm. + +"I'm sure we'll get along famously together, Mr. Murphy," Matt +suggested. + +Again Mr. Murphy ran his hand over that great arm. + +"You know it!" he declared with conviction. + +Captain Noah laughed aloud, and as Matt scampered forward over the +deckload, herding his savages before him, to receive the tug's breast +line and make it fast on the bitts the skipper turned to Mr. Murphy. + +"There's a lad for you," he declared. + +"He has manners and muscle, and those are two things that seldom go +together," Mr. Murphy rejoined. "He's Down-Easter, I see. Did Cappy +Ricks send him to you, sir?" + +"No--not that he wouldn't, however, if he'd ever met the boy. The crimp +brought him aboard with the sweepings and scrapings of San Francisco." + +"I hope he wasn't drunk--like the rest," Mr. Murphy answered anxiously. +"'Twould be a sin to desecrate that lovely body with whiskey." + +"He was bung up and bilge free--and that's why he's chief kicker now. +The hawser's fast for'd, Mr. Murphy. Cast off your stern line." + +"All clear for'd, sir," Matt Peasley's shout came ranging down the wind, +and the tug snatched the big barkentine out from the mill dock into the +stream where she cast her off, put her big towing hawser aboard, paid it +out and started for Grays Harbor bar. + + + +CHAPTER IV. BAD NEWS FROM CAPE TOWN + + +On a certain day in February Mr. Skinner, coming into Cappy Ricks' +office with a cablegram in his hand, found his employer doubled up at +his desk and laughing in senile glee. + +"I have a cablegram--" Mr. Skinner began. + +"I have a good story," Cappy interrupted. "Let me tell it to you, +Skinner. Oh, dear! I believe this is about going to kill the boys up on +'Change when I tell them." He wiped his eyes, controlled his mirth and +turned to the general manager. "Skinner," he said, "did you know I had +gotten back into the harness while you were up at the Astoria mill? Well +I did, Skinner. I had to, you know. If it was the last act of my life I +had to square accounts with that man Hudner, of the Black Butte Lumber +Company." + +Mr. Skinner nodded. He was aware of the feud that existed between Cappy +and Hudner, and the reasons therefor. The latter had stolen from Cappy a +stenographer, who had grown to spinsterhood in his employ--one of those +rare stenographers who do half a man's thinking for him. Cappy always +paid a little more than the top of the market for clever service; and +whenever, a competitor stole one of his favorite employees, sooner or +later that competitor paid for his sins, "through the nose." + +"While you were away," Cappy went on, "I met Hudner a luncheon. +'Hudner,' I said, 'It's been my experience that nobody gets anything +good in this world without paying for it--and you stole the finest +stenographer I ever had. So I'm going to make you pay for her. See if I +don't.' Well, sir, Skinner, he laughed at me and told me to go as far as +I liked; and, a number of my youthful friends being present, they each +bet Hudner a five-dollar hat I'd hang his hide on my fence within sixty +days. + +"Well, Skinner, you know me. Any time it's raining duck soup you'll +never catch me out with a fork; and, of course, when the boys showed +such faith in my ability to trim Hudner I had to make good. I have a +letter from Hudner to prove it; and to-day at luncheon, when we're all +gathered at the Round Table, I'm going to read that letter and my reply +to the same; and Hudner will have fifty dollars' worth of hat bills to +pay!" + +"How did you tan his pelt?" Skinner queried. + +"Easy! While you were away I chartered his steamer Chehalis for a load +of redwood lumber from Humboldt Bay to San Francisco at three dollars +and a half a thousand feet. Of course, you know a boat like the +Chehalis, with a big pay-roll, will break just even on such a low +freight rate; but inasmuch as he was going to lay the Chehalis up in +Oakland Creek, owing to lack of business, when I offered him a load of +redwood he concluded to take it, just to keep the vessel moving and pay +expenses. I stipulated discharge in San Francisco Bay. + +"Well, sir, when the Chehalis got to our mill, Skinner, I ordered them +to load her with sinkers--oh! oh, this will be the death of me yet, +Skinner. And we gave her poor dispatch in loading. Then she had to lay +behind the bar two days longer before she could cross out; and when she +got here I ordered her to discharge into the British bark Glengarry--and +discharging from one vessel in to another is the slowest work in the +world. And Hudner--he's--written--me, Skinner, declaring he'll never +charter a boat to me again; says the Chehalis lost two thousand dollars +on the voyage." And Cappy went off into a gale of laughter, and handed +Skinner the letter to read. + +For the benefit of the reader, who may desire a closer insight into +Cappy's Machiavellian nature, be it known that a sinker is a heavy, +close-grained clear redwood butt-log, which, if cut in the spring, +when the tree is alive with sap, is so heavy it will not float in the +millpond; hence the term sinker. A vessel laden with lumber sawed from +sinkers, therefore, will carry just fifty per cent. of her customary +cargo; and unless the freight rate be extremely high, she cannot make +money. + +"Do you know, Skinner," Cappy announced presently, "I think you'd better +hunt up a steady job for me! Dadding it, boy, I never knew there was so +much fun in business until I had practically retired! Really, Skinner, I +must take more interest in my affairs." + +"Here's something to sharpen your teeth on, Mr. Ricks," the general +manager replied, and presented the cablegram he had been holding for +five minutes. + +Cappy took it and read, thereby becoming aware for the first time, that +he had in his employ an individual by the name of Matthew Peasley. + + Cape Town, February 15, --. + + Bluestar, San Francisco: + + Captain knifed Kru boy argument boat fare. Instruct consignees + honor my drafts as captain. + + Matthew Peasley, Mate. + +"The murdering black hound!" Cappy murmured in an awed voice. "If he +hasn't gone and killed the best skipper I ever had! Poor Kendall! Why, +Noah and I were good friends, Skinner. Every time the Retriever touched +in at her home port I always had Noah Kendall up to the house for +dinner, and we went to the theatre together afterward. Thank God! It +isn't a week since his life insurance premium fell due and I had the +cashier pay it." + +Cappy sat gazing dejectedly at the carpet. + +"Poor old Cap'n Noah!" he soliloquized aloud. "Twenty-five years you +sailed under the Blue Star, and in all that time there was never once +when I had to jack up and tell you to 'tend to business. And, Noah, you +could make a suit of sails last longer than any man I ever knew; but you +did have a hell of a temper." And having delivered this touching eulogy +on the late Captain Kendall, Cappy roused himself and faced Skinner. + +"I should say I have a job on my hands," he announced, "with the finest +sailing ship in the fleet down in South Africa without a skipper! +Skinner, I'll tell you what you do, my boy: You dictate the nicest +letter you know how to dictate to Noah's widow, up in Port Townsend. +Tell her how much we thought of Noah and extend our sympathy, and a +check for his next three months' salary. Put her on my private pension +list, Skinner, and send her Cap'n Noah's salary every quarter-day as +long as she lives. Tell her we'll attend to the collection of the life +insurance and will bring Noah's body home to Port Townsend at our own +expense. It's the least we can do, Skinner. He was the only skipper I +ever had who did not, at one time or another, manage to embroil me in a +lawsuit. Who are our consignees at Cape Town?" + +"The Harlow & Benton Company, Limited." + +"Cable them for confirmation of the mate's message, and request them +to have Cap'n Noah's body embalmed and shipped to Port Townsend, +Washington, prepaid, deducting charges from our invoice." + + + +CHAPTER V. MATT PEASLEY ASSUMES OFFICE + + +The death of Captain Noah Kendall, while profoundly deplored by his next +in command, first mate Matthew Peasley, had not been permitted by that +brisk young man to interfere in the least with the task of getting +the cargo out of the Retriever, for sailoring, like soldiering, is a +profession in which sentiment is a secondary consideration. Each day +of demurrage to a ship like the Retriever, even at the prevailing low +freight rate, meant a loss of at least a hundred dollars to the owners, +and since navigating a ship safely and expeditiously is the least of a +good skipper's duties, and since, further, Matt Peasley was determined +to be a skipper in the not very distant future, he concluded to give +his owners evidence of the fact that he was, in addition to being a +navigator, also a first-class "hustler." If the Retriever made a loss on +that voyage he was resolved that no blame should attach to him. + +"Skipper's dead, Mike," he announced to Mr. Murphy, the second mate. +"Policeman in a small boat alongside says the old man got into a row +with the Kru boy that rowed him ashore and the black scoundrel skewered +him. I'm going ashore to look after his body and order a tug to kick +us into our berth. I guess the old man didn't get time to attend to the +business that brought him ashore, poor fellow." + +"Very well, Sir," Mr. Murphy replied, and murmured some commonplace +expression of regret. He was not particularly shocked for he had lost +shipmates in a hurry before now. + +Matt Peasley proceeded to the beach, attended to the necessary details +incident to the skipper's untimely removal, was informed by the Harlow +& Benton Company, Limited, of the location of the berth he was to +discharge, ordered a tug for that afternoon, went to the cable office, +registered his cable address, sent a cablegram to the owners and +returned to the ship. + +"Well, Mike," he announced to the second mate, "I guess I'm the skipper; +following the same line of deduction, I guess you're the chief mate, so +I'll move my dunnage into the old man's cabin and you move into mine. +I'll pick up a second mate in Cape Town before we leave." + +Mr. Murphy eyed his youthful superior with mild curiosity, not +untempered with amusement. "Thank you for the promotion, Captain Matt," +he replied. "However, if you'll excuse my apparent impudence on the +grounds that I'm about fifteen years older than you and have been longer +in the Blue Star employ, I'd like to make a suggestion." + +"Fire away, Mike." + +Mr. Murphy hitched his belt, walked to the rail, spat tobacco juice from +between his fingers and came back. "You're the youngest chief mate I've +ever seen, and this is your first berth in that capacity," he began. +"Suppose you hang on to it and don't be so infernally generous." + +"But you have a first mate's license, haven't you?" + +"Certainly. But--" + +"No ifs or buts, Mike. The skipper's dead; I was first mate; +consequently I take command of the ship, and by virtue of my authority +I appoint you first mate. That goes. You'll do one of two things, Mike. +You'll be first mate or get out of the ship." + +Michael J. Murphy grinned. "You mean that?" + +"Naturally." + +"If you stick by that determination you'll find yourself on the beach +in Cape Town, unless you conclude to take my recently vacated berth as +second mate. And I'd hate like the devil to have you do that. There's +neither sense nor profit for you in swapping jobs with me." + +"But I tell you I'm going to be skipper." + +"I know--until old Cappy Ricks sends down a relief captain. If you +promote me now, the relief captain may conclude to retain me as first +mate and then you'd have to take my job or quit the ship; and of course +I wouldn't care to have that happen. I'd have to quit the ship, too. I +wouldn't care to do that. I've made up my mind to sail under the Blue +Star flag for the rest of my natural life and I'd hate to have to change +my mind." + +"I've made up my mind to the same thing, Mike, and I know I'm not going +to change my mind." + +"Well, then, Matt, you stick in your first mate's berth and I'll be +satisfied with my second mate's berth." + +"I suppose you'll say next that the relief skipper will be happy in +poor old Captain Noah's berth, eh?" Matt interrupted. He grinned at Mr. +Murphy. + +"Mike, listen to me. There isn't going to be any relief skipper. You're +going back to Hoquiam, Grays Harbor, Washington, U. S. A., as chief +kicker of the barkentine Retriever, and you're going to take orders from +me all the way. In fact, you might as well begin right now. Take your +duds and move into my cabin." + +"Matt," Mr. Murphy pleaded earnestly, "you don't know Cappy Ricks, do +you?" + +"No, but I'll get acquainted with him in due course. Don't let that +worry you Mike." + +"All right, I won't. But what does worry me is the fact that Cappy Ricks +doesn't know you. + +"Does he know you?" + +"No." + +"Do you know him?" + +"Yes, by proxy. I've heard a lot about him, and that's why I'm in his +employ and resolved to stay there. If a man sails under the Blue +Star flag long enough and behaves himself and displays a little human +intelligence from time to time sooner or later he gets his chance. Cappy +Ricks does all the hiring and firing for the fleet, and whenever he has +a good job to fill, he never goes outside his own employ to fill it. He +always promotes the deserving. You cabled him, of course, that Captain +Kendall has been killed." + +"Yes, I did. And I cabled him also to cable me authority to draw drafts, +as skipper, in order to disburse the vessel." + +"Just like a kid! Just like a kid!" Mr. Murphy groaned. "That finishes +you, Matt. Cappy'll think you're fresh and you'll be ten years proving +to him you are not." + +"It proves I'm on the job," Matt protested doggedly. + +"No matter, Matt. Cappy Ricks will go over the list of his skippers +due for promotion into a larger ship and more pay, and right away he'll +start Captain Noah's successor for Cape Town to bring the ship home." + +"If he does, Mike, he's crazy." + +"Oh, he's crazy enough, Matt, like a fox--so blamed crazy he will not +consider handing over this Retriever to an untried and unknown man who +has been in his employ for less than a voyage. Why, I wouldn't myself." + +"Maybe you think he'll hand her over to you?" Matt asked, with the +suspicion and impetuosity of youth. + +"Boy," said Mr. Murphy patiently, "you're getting into deep water close +to the shore. Starboard your helm and put her on the other tack. If he +gives her to me--which he will not--I'll take her. I've been three years +in his employ. I'm capable--" + +"Mike," Matt interrupted. "I like you fine, but I want to tell you that +if Cappy Ricks cabled you to take charge, I wouldn't let you. I'm next +in command, and it's only etiquette that I should have my chance." + +"Then," Mr. Murphy murmured sententiously, "there'd be a fight with skin +gloves and I'm afraid you'd get licked, son. I wasted a good many years +in the navy, Matt, and there I learned two things--how to obey and how +to fight with my fists. I was the champion amateur light-heavy-weight of +the Atlantic fleet, and every once in a while something happens to prove +to me that I'm far from being a slouch even at this late date." + +"No offense, Mike. We're crossing our bridges before we come to them, +and besides, I didn't intend to be offensive." + +"I understand. Our conversation was entirely academic," Murphy admitted +graciously. + +"You said you learned to obey in the navy," Matt suggested. "What's the +matter with obeying my last order?" + +"All right, Matt. I'll obey. But remember, I have given you fair +warning. If I move into your cabin to-day, I'll not move out when the +relief skipper comes." + +"I'll take a chance," said Matt Peasley. + + + +CHAPTER VI. WORDY WAR AT A DOLLAR A WORD + + +While the capable Mr. Skinner was preparing the reply to Matt Peasley's +cablegram, and dictating for Cappy Ricks' signature a letter to Noah +Kendall's widow, Cappy was busy at the telephone. First he retailed the +news to the Merchants' Exchange, to be bulletined on the blackboard and +read by Captain Noah's friends; next he called up the secretary of the +American Shipmasters' Association, of which the deceased had been a +member, and lastly he communicated the sad tidings to the water-front +reporters of all the daily papers. This detail attended to, Cappy's +active mind returned to more practical and profitable affairs, and he +took up Matt Peasley's cablegram. He was deep in a study of it when Mr. +Skinner entered with the letter to Mrs. Kendall. + +"'Captain knifed, killed, Kru boy argument boat fare,'" Cappy read +aloud. "Skinner, my dear boy, what is the cable rate per word to Cape +Town?" + +"Ninety-eight cents per word," replied Mr. Skinner, who had just looked +it up. + +"We will if you please, Skinner, confine ourselves to round numbers. +There is such a thing as being too exact. Call it a dollar. Figuring on +that basis, I see this garrulous mate has squandered five dollars of our +money to no purpose--yes, by jingo, more than that. He might have used +the code book! Hum-m-m! Ahem! Harump-h-h-h! Skinner, this fellow will +not do. He is too windy. Skinner, he tells the story in eight words, and +forgets to use his code book. Give me a skipper, Skinner, my boy, who +always has his owner's interest at heart and displays a commendable +discretion in limiting the depredations practiced by the cable company. +For instance, the man Peasley might have omitted the word knifed; also +the explanatory words, argument boat fare, and the word mate. Though +regretting Noah's demise most keenly, as business men we are not +cable-gramically interested in the means employed to accomplish his +removal. Neither do the causes leading up to the tragedy interest us. +The man Peasley should merely have said "Captain murdered." Also, he +might have trusted to us to realize that when the captain dies the first +mate takes charge. He need not have identified himself--the infernal +chatter-box!" + +Cappy read the next sentence. "Instruct consignees honor my drafts as +captain." + +"H'm! Harum-ph! He might have said 'please,' Skinner! Sounds devilishly +like an order, the way he puts it. Though he is temporarily in command +I challenge his right to handle our money until I know more about him. +Harum-ph! Reading between the lines, Skinner, I see he says: 'If you +send a skipper to Cape Town to bring the Retriever home while I'm on the +job, you're crazy.' Look over the vouchers in Cap'n Noah's last report +and let us ascertain how long this forceful mate has been in our +employ." + +Now, the ordinary form of receipt to which a seaman puts his signature +when signing clear bears upon its reverse side a series of blank spaces, +which the captain must fill in. These blanks provide for mention of +the date of signing on, date of discharge, station held on vessel +and remarks. On none of the vouchers of the Retriever's last voyage, +however, did the name of Matthew Peasley appear. + +"Must have shipped in San Francisco just before the vessel sailed for +her loading port," Cappy announced. "Send in a boy." + +One of Cappy's young men was summoned. + +"Son," said Cappy, "you run down, like a good boy, to the office of the +Deputy United States Shipping Commissioner and tell him Mr. Ricks +would like to see the duplicate copy of the crew list of the barkentine +Retriever." + +When an American vessel clears for a foreign port the law required +that her crew shall be signed on before a Deputy United States Shipping +Commissioner, who furnishes a certified copy of the crew list to the +captain and retains a duplicate for his own files. + +The Blue Star youth returned presently with his duplicate list, on +consulting which, to his unspeakable amazement, Cappy Ricks discovered +that Matthew Peasley had shipped aboard the Retriever as an able seaman, +and that the first mate was one William Olson--which goes to prove that +in the heat of passion a skipper will often discharge a mate on the eve +of sailing for a foreign port and forget to tell the Deputy Shipping +Commissioner anything about it. + +"Remarkable," Cappy declared. "Ree-markable!" + +"Dirty work here," Mr. Skinner announced. "Captain dead and a common +A.B. cabling us for authority to draw drafts as captain, while posing as +first mate. Nigger in the woodpile somewhere, Mr. Ricks." + +"I'll smoke him out in five minutes, Skinner. Ring up the local +inspectors and inquire if, by any chance, they have ever issued a +captain's license to one Matthew Peasley." + +Skinner obeyed. After a brief wait he was informed that the said Peasley +had an unlimited license as first mate of sail, and was entitled to act +as second mate of steam vessels up to five hundred tons net register. + +"Nothing doing!" Cappy piped. "Skinner, when a mate with an unlimited +license ships before the mast, THERE'S A REASON!" + +"Drunkard!" Mr. Skinner suggested without an instant's hesitation. + +"Eggs-actly, Skinner. Good seaman, I daresay, but worthless and +unreliable in an executive capacity, and I can't trust a ripping fine +barkentine like the Retriever with that kind of man. I suppose he feels +the hankering for a spree coming on right now. Skinner, if we gave the +man Peasley permission to draw drafts he'd paint Cape Town red. I feel +it in my bones." + +"So do I, sir." + +"What vessels have we in port at this moment, Skinner?" + +"McBride is discharging the Nokomis at Oakland Long Wharf." + +"The ideal man." Cappy smote his desk. "I've been wanting to promote Mac +into a larger vessel and pay him twenty-five dollars a month more for +the past two years. He's too good for a little hooker like the Nokomis, +and he's got a steady-going Norwegian mate that's been with him in the +Nokomis for three years. Time to take care of that mate. Skinner, I have +an idea. See that it is carried through. McBride's mate shall buy out +Mac's interest in the Nokomis. If he hasn't the money, tell him I'll +lend it to him, secured by the insurance, provided he and McBride can +come to terms. See that they do. Tell Mac he's to have the Retriever, +and I'll arrange to get Cap'n Noah's interest for him from the estate at +a fair figure. Give him expense money and his credentials and tell him +to start for Cape Town tomorrow night; and cable the man Peasley to +retain charge of the vessel at captain's pay until McBride arrives to +relieve him." + +Mr. Skinner retired to his office and got down his code book. The +general manager knew what he desired to say and hoped he might find +something in the code book to help him say it at cut rates, but +despairing after a diligent search he finally evolved and dispatched +this cablegram to Matt Peasley, addressing it to the cable address of +the Retriever. + + San Francisco, Feb. 16th, 19--. + + Rickstar, + Cape Town. + + Peasley, your meager maritime experience renders prohibitive + compliance request. Retain charge master's pay pending arrival + successor. + + Bluestar. + +Having dispatched his message to Matt Peasley, Mr. Skinner, as he +thought, had dismissed Peasley from his thoughts forever. It would +appear, however, that in this particular the general manager was +counting Mother Carey s chickens before they were hatched. He little +suspected, in his desire to be fair, even at considerable expense, to +inform Matt Peasley just why the Blue Star Navigation Company couldn't +possibly hand over its fine barkentine to a stranger, that he had only +reopened the controversy; that his unfortunate reference to "meager +maritime experience" had flicked Matt Peasley on a raw spot and been +provocative of this reply, received the same day: + + Cape Town, Feb. 16, 19--. + + Bluestar, + San Francisco. + + Skipper dying sea foreign port unwritten maritime law + stipulates mate succeeds. Yankee can sail anything afloat. + This my chance. Grant it or insure successor's life. Will + throw him overboard on arrival. + + Peasley. + +Mr. Skinner promptly carried this defi to Cappy Ricks. + +"He's a sea-lawyer," Cappy piped angrily. "The scoundrel! The +un-mi-ti-ga-ted--scoundrel! Cable him instantly, Skinner, that if he +spends another cent of our money in unnecessary cablegrams I'll fire +him." He snapped his fingers. "Attend to it, Skinner, attend to it." + +Mr. Skinner attended to it, and the following morning he found this +reply on his desk when he came down to work: + + Cape Town, Feb. 17, 19--. + + Bluestar, + San Francisco. + + Holler when you're hit. Paid for it myself. Am I to bring + Retriever home? + + Peasley. + +"I dare say the fellow did," Mr. Skinner informed Cappy. "He has four +months' wages coming to him at sixty dollars a month--and if he didn't, +why, I'll instruct McBride to deduct the cable charges from his wages +when he pays him off." + +"I think your reference to his meager maritime experience annoyed him, +Skinner," Cappy suggested thoughtfully. "It may be that he is a most +excellent sailor. At least, he spends his money like one." + +Cappy had no further comment to make, and the reply to this impudent +communication was accordingly left to Mr. Skinner, who cabled: + + San Francisco, Feb. 17th, 19--. + + Rickstar, + Cape Town. + + No! + + Bluestar. + +"I think that will settle the upstart," Mr. Skinner declared confidently +as he rang for a messenger boy. + +It did not. Four hours later he received this: + + Cape Town, Feb. 17, 19--. + + Bluestar, + San Francisco. + + Why? + + Peasley. + +Now it was a custom of Mr. Skinner's, when a subordinate laid claim +to an inalienable right which the general manager was not willing to +concede, to regard with very grave suspicion that subordinate's loyalty +to the company. If the subordinate protested Mr. Skinner would warn him, +kindly, quietly, but none the less forcefully; and if he persisted Mr. +Skinner would dispense with the services of that subordinate so fast the +offender, nine times out of ten, would be left standing in a sort of +fog and blinking at the suddenness with which the metaphorical can had, +metaphorically speaking, been tied to his caudal appendage. Every +large business office has its Skinner--a queer combination of decency, +honesty, brains and brutality, a worshiper at the shrine of Mammon +in the temple of the great god Business, a reactionary Republican, +treasurer of his church and eventually a total loss from diabetes, +brought on by lack of exercise and worry over trifles. + +However, to return to our particular Mr. Skinner and Matt Peasley, the +rebellious. In all justice to Skinner it must be admitted that his first +impulse with reference to Matt Peasley was eminently fair. He really +desired to convey to this persistent person an intimation to the effect +that the latter was, colloquially speaking, monkeying with the buzz-saw +and in imminent danger of having his head lopped off; and he would have +given it, too, provided the delivery of the ultimatum should not +have cost the Blue Star Navigation Company ninety-eight cents a word, +including the address. Consequently, Skinner, always efficient and +realizing that McBride would doubtless be enabled to pick up another +mate in Cape Town, or in a pinch, could dispense with a first mate +altogether, made answer to Matt Peasley as follows: + + San Francisco, Feb. 17th, 19--. + + Rickstar, + Cape Town. + + Peasley, you are hereby discharged. Turn over command second + mate, call consignees your wages immediately. + + Bluestar. + +Having dispatched this cablegram and ended it all, as it were, Mr. +Skinner next cast his cold gray glance adown the duplicate crew list +borrowed from the deputy shipping commissioner, and discovered that the +second mate shipped at San Francisco was one Christian Swenson. + +"I do hope he's not a drinking man," Skinner sighed. "The Retriever is +quite a responsibility to entrust to a man we have never seen or +heard of before, but the man Swenson can scarcely be as vicious and +insubordinate as this fellow Peasley, and under the circumstances we'll +have to run the risk." + +And having wotted the which, Mr. Skinner cabled Christian Swenson to +take charge of the Retriever, at master's wages, until the arrival of +his successor. Next he cabled The Harlow and Benton Company, Limited, +requesting them to pay off Matt Peasley and, if necessary, invoke the +authorities to remove him from the vessel. + +"That fellow is a tough one to handle," he remarked to Cappy Ricks, to +whom he showed all the cablegrams, "but I guess this will about cut off +his wind." + +"A sea lawyer is the curse of the Seven Seas!" Cappy declared waspishly. +He was very bitter against Matt Peasley, whom he now regarded as an ally +of the piratical cable company. + + + +CHAPTER VII. CAPPY RICKS MAKES BAD MEDICINE + + +That afternoon Mr. Skinner herded Captain McBride of the Nokomis and +his Norwegian mate into Cappy Ricks' office. Cappy brought them to terms +very promptly, and the captain started for New York on the Overland the +same night. From New York he was to take passage to Liverpool, thence +via the A. D. line to Cape Town. Cappy almost had a bloody sweat when +he reflected on the expense for provisions and wages for the crew +during the weeks of idleness while McBride was on the way to join the +Retriever. Both he and Mr. Skinner had decided that nothing could be +gained by informing McBride, who was a little, mild-mannered gentleman +with gold eyeglasses, of the potential ducking that awaited him at the +hands of Matt Peasley; for just before McBride said good-bye and started +for the train Cappy and Mr. Skinner discovered that their apple cart +again had been upset. The following cablegram received from Matt Peasley +knocked into a cocked hat all their high hopes of ridding themselves of +the incubus. + + Cape Town, Feb. 17, 19--. + + Bluestar, + San Francisco. + + Swenson fired before leaving San Francisco. Second mate Murphy + declines take your orders, claiming me superior officer; I + decline also, claiming captain en route my superior officer. + Owner can fire captain but only captain can fire or disrate + ship's officers. Besides I shipped for the round trip. + + Peasley. + +"Well," said Cappy, "what do you know about that? He clings to us like +a barnacle or a poor relation--and the worst of it is the damned sea +lawyer is absolutely right. We have no authority to fire him, Skinner. +Just think of a government that will permit such a ridiculous state of +affairs as that to exist! Think of it, Skinner! We hire the man Peasley +but we can't fire him--and in the meantime he'll roost in Cap'n Noah's +cabin and run up bills on us and consume our groceries and draw master's +pay until McBride arrives and discharges him." + +For geographical and financial reasons Cappy Ricks was barred from +quarreling with Matt Peasley. However, he was as cross as a setting hen +and just naturally had to vent his displeasure on somebody, and as +he paid Mr. Skinner a very large salary to be his general manager, he +figured he could afford to quarrel with Skinner. So he said: + +"Well, Skinner, if you hadn't butted in on the shipping end of the +business the man Peasley would not have been given this opening to +swat us. It's nuts for a sailor any time he can trip up a landsman, and +particularly his owners--" + +"You O.K.'d the cablegrams, Mr. Ricks," Skinner reminded him coldly. + +"Don't talk back to me!" Cappy piped. "Not another peep out of you, +sir! Not another word of discussion about this matter under any +circumstances! I don't want to talk about it further--understand? It's +driving me insane. Now, then, Skinner, tell me: If the man Peasley +should decline to recognize McBride's authority, what course would you +advise pursuing?" + +"I do not think he will be that arbitrary, Mr. Ricks. In the first +place--" + +"Skinner, please do not argue with me. The man Peasley would do +anything--" + +"Well, in that event, McBride can call in the civil authorities of Cape +Town, to remove Peasley by force from the ship." + +"Skinner, you'll drive me to drink! I ask you, has a British official +any authority over an American vessel lying in the roadstead? Will a +foreign official dare to set foot on an American deck when an American +skipper orders him not to do so?" + +"I am not a sea lawyer," Mr. Skinner retorted, "I do not know." + +"The Retriever will have discharged her cargo weeks before McBride +arrives. Then suppose Peasley takes a notion to warp his vessel outside +the three-mile limit. What authority has McBride got then?" + +"I repeat, I am not a sea lawyer, Mr. Ricks." + +"Don't equivocate with me, Skinner! Let's argue this question calmly, +coolly and deliberately. Don't lose your temper. Now then. Peasley said +he'd throw his successor overboard, didn't he?" + +"Oh, merely a threat, Mr. Ricks." + +"Skinner, you're a fine, wise manager! A threat, eh?" Cappy laughed--a +short, scornful laugh. "Huh! Threat! Joke!" + +"You do not think it is a threat?" + +"No, sir. It's a promise. McBride is a splendid little man and game to +the core; but no good, game little man will ever stay on a deck if a +good, game big man takes a notion to throw him overboard, and the man +Peasley is both big and game, otherwise he would not defy us. Why, +Skinner, that fellow wouldn't pause at anything. Hasn't he spent over +a hundred dollars arguing with us by cable? Why, he's a desperate +character! Also, he would not threaten to throw his successor overboard +if he didn't know that he was fully capable of so doing. Paste that +in your hat, Skinner. It isn't done." Skinner inclined his head +respectfully. Cappy continued: "What I should have done was to have sent +a good, game, big man--" + +He paused, and his glance met Skinner's wonderingly as a bright idea +leaped into his cunning brain and crystallized into definite purpose. He +sprang up, waved his skinny old arms, and kicked the waste-basket into a +corner of the room. + +"I have it, Skinner! I've solved the problem. Go back and 'tend to your +lumber business and leave the man Peasley to me. I'll tan that fellow's +hide and hang it on my fence, just as sure as George Washington crossed +the Delaware River." + +Mr. Skinner, glad to be excused, promptly made his escape. When Cappy +Ricks stripped for action, Mr. Skinner knew from long experience that +there was going to be a fight or a foot race; that whenever the old +gentleman set out to confound an enemy, the inevitable result was +wailing and weeping and gnashing of teeth, in which doleful form of +exercise Cappy Ricks had never been known to participate. + +"Send in a boy!" Cappy ordered as the general manager withdrew. + +The boy appeared. "Sonny," said Cappy Ricks, "do you know All Hands And +Feet?" The boy nodded and Cappy continued: "Well, you go down on the +Embarcadero, like a good boy, and cruise from Folsom Street to Broadway +Wharf Number Two until you find All Hands and Feet. Look in front of +cigar stands and in the shipchandlery stores; and if you don't find +him in those places run over to the assembly rooms of Harbor Fifteen, +Masters' and Pilots' Association, and see if he's there, playing +checkers. When you find him tell him Mr. Ricks wants to see him at +once." + + + +CHAPTER VIII. ALL HANDS AND FEET TO THE RESCUE + + +Captain Ole Peterson was known to the coastwise trade as All Hands And +Feet. He was a giant Swede whose feet resembled twin scow models and +whose clenched fists, properly smoked and cured, might have passed +anywhere for picnic hams. He was intelligent, competent and belligerent, +with a broad face, slightly dished and plentifully scarred, while his +wide flat nose had been stove in and shifted hard a-starboard. Cappy +Ricks liked him, respected his ability and found him amusing as one +finds an educated bear amusing. He had a reputation for being the +undefeated rough and tumble champion of Sweden and the United States. + +"You ban vant to see me, sir?" he rumbled as, hat in hand, he stood +beside Cappy Ricks' desk half an hour later. Compared with the huge +Swede, Cappy looked like a watch charm. + +"Sit down, captain," Cappy replied amiably. "I hear you're out of a job. +Why?" + +Briefly All Hands And Feet explained what Cappy already knew; that his +last command, being old and rotten and over-loaded, had worked apart +in a seaway and fallen to pieces under him. The inspectors had held him +blameless. + +"I have a job for you, Ole," Cappy announced. "But there's a string +attached to it." + +"Aye ban able to pull strings, sir," Ole reminded him. + +Cappy smiled, and outlined to the Swede the conditions surrounding the +barkentine Retriever. "I'm going to give you command of the Retriever," +he continued confidentially. "You are to bring her home from Cape Town, +and when you get back I'll have a staunch four-masted schooner waiting +for you. I was going to send McBride of the Nokomis on this job, but +thought better of it, for the reason that Mac may not be physically +equipped to perform the additional task I have in mind and I believe +you are. Peterson, if you want a steady job skippering for the Blue Star +Navigation Company you've got to earn it, and to earn it you've got +to give this fellow Peasley a good sound thrashing for the good of his +immortal soul. The very moment you step aboard the Retriever let him +know you're the master." + +"Do you tank he ban villin' to fight?" Ole demanded. + +"Something tells me he will. However, in case he doesn't, don't let that +embarrass you. Man-handle him until he does. Let me impress upon you, +captain, the fact that I want the man Peasley summarily chastised for +impudence and insubordination." + +"All right, sir," said Ole. "Aye ban work him over." To be asked to +fight for a job was to this descendant of the Vikings the ne plus ultra +of sportsmanship. "Aye never ban licked yet," he added reminiscently. + +"When we cabled we were sending a man to relieve him," Cappy complained, +"he replied, telling us to insure his successor's life, because he was +going to throw him overboard the minute he arrived." + +All Hands And Feet swept away any lingering fears Cappy might chance +to be entertaining. "Aye ban weigh two hundret an' saxty pounds," he +announced. + +"Which being the case," Cappy warned him, "should he succeed in throwing +YOU overboard I should consider you unfit for a job in my employ." (The +old fox had not the slightest idea such a contretemps was possible, but +in order to play safe he considered it good policy to hearten Ole for +the fray.) "Should he defeat you, captain, I have no hesitancy in saying +to you now that such a misfortune would have a most disastrous effect on +your future in my employ. You know me. When I order a job done, I want +it done, and I want it done well. Understand! I don't want you to +maim or kill the man, but just give him a good sound--er--commercial +thrashing; and after you've tamed him I want you to--" + +All Hands And Feet nodded his comprehension. + +"An'," he interrupted, "after aye ban slap him once or twice aye +ban give good kick under de coattail an' fire dis fresh guy--eh?" he +suggested. + +"Fire nothing!" shrilled Cappy. "You follow instructions, Ole, or I'll +fire you! No, sir. After you've thrashed him I want you to bend a rope +round him amidships and souse him overside to bring him to! Remember, we +fired him once and he would not be fired. The damned sea lawyer quoted +the salt-water code to us and said he'd shipped for the round trip; so +we'll take him at his word. He's your first mate, captain. Bring him +back to Grays Harbor with you; and then, if you feel so inclined, you +may apply the tip of your number twenty-four sea boot where it will do +the most good; in fact, I should prefer it. But by all means see to it +that he completes his contract with the barkentine Retriever." + +"Aye skoll see to it," Ole promised fervently. + +"I thank you, captain. Come out in the general office now and I'll +introduce you to the cashier, who will furnish you with expense money. +Meantime, I'll have Skinner fill out a certificate of change of masters +and have it registered at the custom-house. Can't send you down there +without your credentials, you know." + +All Hands And Feet mumbled his thanks; for, indeed, he was grateful +for this chance to prove his metal. Calm in the knowledge of his +past performances, he took no thought of the personal issue with Matt +Peasley, for never had he met a mate he could not thrash. He followed +Cappy out to the cashier's desk; and while the latter equipped All Hands +And Feet for his journey to South Africa, and Mr. Skinner departed +for the custom-house to have the certificate registered, Cappy wired +McBride, aboard the Overland speeding east, instructing him to come back +to San Francisco. + +When Skinner returned to the office he found Cappy clawing nervously at +his whiskers. + +"The man Peasley has completely disrupted our organization," he +complained bitterly. "Here I go to work and promote McBride to the +Retriever to make room for his mate in the Nokomis, and now I have to +recall Mac and give the Retriever to All Hands And Feet until she gets +back to Grays Harbor; in consequence of which Mac hasn't a thing to do +for four months and draws full pay for doing it, and later I've got +to provide a permanent place for All Hands And Feet! Skinner, if this +continues, I shall yet fill a pauper's grave." He was silent for several +seconds; then: "By the way, Skinner, have you replied to that last +cablegram from the man Peasley?" + +"No, sir. I didn't think it required an answer." + +"You mean you didn't know what answer to give him," Cappy snarled. +"Well, neither do I; but since the cuss has got us into the spending +habit, I'm going to be reckless for once and send him a cable myself, +just to let him know I'm calling his bluff." + +And, with that remark, Cappy squared round to his desk and wrote, in a +trembling hand: "Special messenger big as horse carries reply your last +cablegram." + +"There," he said, turning to his general manager; "send that to the man +Peasley, and sign my name to it." + + + +CHAPTER IX. MR. MURPHY ADVISES PREPAREDNESS + + +Matt Peasley said nothing to Mr. Murphy when Cappy Ricks' cryptic +cablegram was received. Insofar as Matt was concerned, that cablegram +closed the argument, for even had it seemed to demand a reply the +master of the Retriever would not--nay could not, have answered, for the +controversy had already ruined him financially. So he went on briskly +with his task of discharging the Retriever and when the A. D. liner +pulled out for Liverpool with Captain Noah's body on board, he laid off +work merely long enough to dip the ensign and run it to half mast again +until the steamer was out of sight; then he furled the flag, stored it +in the locker in Captain Noah's stateroom, into which he had now moved, +and went on superintending the discharging. When the vessel was empty he +had a tug tow him out into the roadstead, where he cast anchor and set +himself patiently to await the arrival of the special messenger "as big +as a horse." + +Somehow Matt didn't relish that little dash of descriptive writing. In +conjunction with the noun horse Cappy Ricks had employed the indefinite +article a, and while a horse was a horse and Cappy might have had a +Shetland pony in mind when he coined the simile, nevertheless, a still +small voice whispered to Matt Peasley that at the time Cappy was really +thinking of a Percheron. The longer Matt chewed the cud of anticipation +the more acute grew his regret that he had threatened to throw his +successor overboard. He traced a certain analogy between that threat and +Cappy Ricks' simple declarative sentence, and finally he decided to take +Mr. Murphy into his confidence. + +"Mike," he said, "did you ever hear any gossip to the effect that Cappy +Ricks will swallow a bluff?" + +"No, I never have," Mr. Murphy replied. "Why do you ask? You been trying +to bluff him, Matt?" + +"No, I really meant it when I said it, and if I'm crowded I'll make +good, but somehow I wish I hadn't said it. It wasn't dignified." + +"What did you say, Matt?" + +"I cabled the owners that if they sent a skipper down here to relieve +me they had better insure his life, because I'd throw him overboard upon +arrival." + +"Why, that's war talk," Mr. Murphy declared, highly scandalized. +"I don't think Cappy Ricks will stand for that. I know blame well I +wouldn't." + +"What would you do, Mike, if you stood in Cappy's shoes and I sent you +that cablegram?" + +"Well," Mr. Murphy mused, "of course I'd be a little old man weighing +about a hundred and thirty pounds ring-side, and I wouldn't be able to +thrash you myself, but if it took my last dollar I'd send somebody down +here to do the job for me. + +"Well, I guess that's just about what Cappy has done," Matt admitted, +and handed his mate Cappy's cablegram. + +"Hah-hah!" Mr. Murphy commented. "That threat got past the general +manager, right up to headquarters. Why, the old man signed this +cablegram and they do say that when Cappy takes personal charge the +fur begins to fly. Matt, if I was a drinking man I'd offer to bet you a +scuttle of grog it's a case of die dog, or eat the meat-axe. Your bluff +has been called, my son." + +"Then," Matt averred impudently, "the only thing for me to do is to call +Cappy's." + +"How?" + +"Why, give his messenger a good trouncing, of course. You don't suppose +I'm going to stand by and take a thrashing or let the other fellow heave +me overboard, do you? I should say not!" + +Mr. Murphy puffed at his pipe, in silence for several minutes, the while +he pondered the situation. Presently he arrived at a solution. + +"He wouldn't send a prize-fighter down here, just to lick you," he +announced. "The old man is the wildest spendthrift on earth when you +get him started, but as a general rule his middle name is Tight Wad. He +would select a combination of scrapper and skipper, and there are any +number of such combinations on the beach of 'Frisco town. I could name +you a dozen off-hand, and any one of the dozen would make you mind your +P's and Q's, big as you are. Still, they all fight alike--rough and +tumble, catch-as-catch-can. They come wading in, swinging both arms +and you could sail the Retriever through the openings they leave. Know +anything about boxing, Matt?" + +"Not a thing, Mike. I've always had to climb the big fellows." + +"Then I'll teach you," Mr. Murphy announced with conviction. "You're +in fine shape now--as right as a fox and fit to tackle the finest, but +there isn't any sense in getting mauled up when you don't have to. I'll +go ashore and buy a set of six-ounce gloves, a set of two-ounce gloves +and a punching bag. For the next three weeks you won't have anything +to do except prepare for the battle, and I can teach you a lot of good +stuff in three weeks. To be fore-warned is to be fore-armed, Matt, and +if Cappy has sent a Holy Terror to clean you, give him a regular fight, +even if he licks you." + +Matt Peasley nodded. He entertained a profound respect for Mr. Murphy's +judgment. + + + +CHAPTER X. THE BATTLE OF TABLE BAY + + +In due course Captain Ole Peterson arrived at Cape Town. As the steamer +which bore him slipped up Table Bay to her pier All Hands And Feet saw +a big barkentine, flying the American flag, at anchor just inside the +breakwater and rightly conjectured she was his future command. Three +hours ashore proved ample time to consummate all of the Retriever's +neglected business. He discovered that the man to whom he was to +administer a good, sound, commercial thrashing, as per Cappy Ricks' +instructions, had already purchased and gotten aboard stores and water +for the voyage back to Grays Harbor, so All Hands And Feet drew some +money from the consignees, to be deducted from the freight money, paid +off all the vessel's bills, O.K.'d the consignees' statement of account +to be forwarded to the owners, received a ninety-day draft on London, +in payment of the freight, mailed it to his owners, cleared his vessel, +procured a reliable man to witness the formal transfer of authority from +Matt Peasley to himself, engaged a launch and set out for the Retriever. +All Hands And Feet had had ample time to plan his campaign, and he +had planned it well. Immediately upon setting foot on the deck of the +Retriever he planned to attack; then, this duty accomplished, he would +send his witness ashore, up hook and away. The attack having taken place +in British waters All Hands And Feet hoped Matt Peasley would have no +redress in American waters; and if he took the complainant to sea with +him the man Peasley would, of a certainty, have no legal redress in +British waters! + +Mr. Murphy was the first to sight All Hands And Feet. The worthy fellow +had observed the arrival of the steamer and it had occurred to him that +possibly Cappy Ricks' messenger might be aboard her. He had been on +the lookout for two hours, accordingly, and the instant he saw a launch +coming toward the Retriever his suspicions were fully aroused. He ran +below and returned with the two ounce gloves and Captain Kendall's +powerful marine glasses, which latter he leveled at the approaching +launch, and while the new skipper was still a couple of cable lengths +distant, Mr. Murphy recognized him. Instantly he secured the two ounce +gloves and ran aft to where Matt Peasley, dressed in slippers, duck +trousers and undershirt, sat under an awning reading Sinful Peck. + +"Matt," he declared, "the special messenger will be aboard in about +three shakes of a lamb's tail. I recognize him." + +"Who is he?" Matt demanded coolly. + +"All Hands And Feet--and believe me, he's there! He isn't a man, Matt, +he's a bear--he's a devil, and if he ever gets his hands on you it's +Kitty bar the door! Get into the gloves, boy, get into the gloves. You +could smash that big Swede to your heart's content, but you wouldn't +even stagger him with the first few punches. You'd just break your hands +on him before you could knock him out and then he'd walk over you. Into +the gloves, Matt, and save your knuckles." + +"All right, Mike. Don't be in such a hurry. Call a couple of hands and +let down the companion ladder so the special messenger can bring his +dunnage aboard. I'll fight him after I've finished this chapter--that +is, if he insists on being accommodated." + +"He'll insist," Mr. Murphy declared. "He likes it, and the reason he +likes it is because he does it well, and that's the reason he's here. He +won't waste any ceremony on you, Matt. He's always up and doing." + +Matt finished his chapter of Sinful Peck just as All Hands And Feet, +followed by a Cape Town gentleman and two Kru boys, bearing respectively +a brown canvas telescope basket and a sea chest, bore down upon him, +convoyed by Mr. Murphy. + +"A big Swede skipper," Matt Peasley soliloquized, as he eyed the +stranger with alert interest. "Thunder, but he's big. He's the biggest +thing I ever saw walking on two legs, with the exception of a trick +elephant." He rose, put down his book and advanced to greet his +visitors. While All Hands And Feet was still fully thirty feet from him +he bawled aloud: + +"You ban Mr. Peasley?" + +"Captain Peasley," young Matt corrected him. "Since the death of Captain +Kendall I have been in charge of the vessel; hence, for the present, I +am known as Captain Peasley. What can I do for you, gentlemen?" + +All Hands And Feet glanced appraisingly at Matt Peasley and did him the +honor to remove his coat and vest. + +"Yes; it's pretty hot down in these latitudes," Matt remarked, by way of +being pleasant and making conversation. + +All Hands And Feet removed an envelope from his coat pocket and handed +it to Matt; and while the latter perused it the big Swede strode to the +scuttle butt and helped himself to a drink of water. Matt opened the +envelope and read this communication from Cappy Ricks: + + San Francisco, California. + February 20, 19--. + + Mr. Matthew Peasley, + Chief Mate Barkentine Retriever, + Cape Town, South Africa. + + My Dear Mr. Peasley: + + Cast your eye along the lines of the bearer of this note, Captain + Ole Peterson, who comes to Cape Town to take command of the + Retriever. Within five minutes he will, acting under + instructions from me and without the slightest personal animus + toward yourself, proceed to administer to you the beating of a + lifetime. By the time he gets through wiping the deck with you + perhaps you will realize the necessity, in the future, of obeying + orders from your owners. + + In your cablegram received to-day, you take occasion to remind us + that no manager or owner has authority to disrate a ship's + officer. This is quite true. Such authority is vested only in + the master of the ship. You need have no fear for your job, + however. We believe you to be a clever first mate, otherwise + Captain Kendall would not have dug you up out of the forecastle; + and believing this, naturally we dislike the thought of disrating + you. We have, therefore, instructed Captain Peterson to retain + you in your berth as first mate. + + However, in view of the fact that we have informed him of your + amiable intentions of throwing him overboard, he will first + inculcate in you that spirit of respect to your superiors which + you so manifestly lack. He will then dip you into the drink, to + bring you to, and after that you will kindly go forward and break + out the anchor. You signed for the round trip and you're going + to complete your contract. Remember that. + + Cordially and sincerely yours, + Blue Star Navigation Company, + By Alden P. Ricks, + President. + +Matt Peasley read this extraordinary communication twice, then folded it +and calmly placed it in his pocket. + +"May I inquire, sir," he said, facing the gentleman who had accompanied +All Hands And Feet aboard the Retriever, "who you are and the nature of +your business?" + +"I am the American consul, Mr. Peasley, and I am here at the invitation +of Captain Peterson, the master of this ship, to witness the formal +transfer of authority from you to him. I was given to understand by +Captain Peterson that you might offer some slight objection to this +arrangement." + +"Slight objection!" Matt Peasley replied with a rising inflection, and +grinned maliciously. + +The consul had his Yankee sense of humor with him and chuckled as Matt +lifted his big body on his toes and stretched both arms lazily. Then +Matthew Peasley turned toward All Hands And Feet. + +"I have a letter from the owners of the Retriever," he said +respectfully, "which leads me to presume that you are to supersede me +in command of the vessel." All Hands And Feet nodded. "Which being the +case," Matt Peasley continued, "as a mere matter of formality, you will +of course present your credentials as master." + +"Sure!" Ole replied pleasantly, and sidled toward Matt Peasley with +outstretched arms. Could Cappy Ricks have seen his skipper then, he +would have reminded the Old Man more than ever of a bear. + +Matt Peasley needed no blueprint of the big Swede's plans. All Hands +And Feet, depending on his sheer horse power and superior weight, always +fought in mass formation, as it were. His modus operandi was to embrace +his enemy in those terrible arms, squeeze the breath out of him with +one bearlike hug, then lay him on the deck, straddle him, and pummel him +into insensibility at his leisure. Matt gave ground rapidly and held up +a warning hand. + +"One moment, my friend," he requested. "Before you get familiar on brief +acquaintance, don't you think you had better present your credentials?" + +All Hands And Feet shook his two great fists and grinned good-naturedly. + +"How dese ban suit you for credentials?" he queried. + +"Fine," Matt Peasley answered; "only, before you present them, our first +duty is to the ship. I take it that you have cleared the vessel and that +after trimming me you intend to put to sea." + +"You ban guess it," the Swede rumbled. "Put up de dooks. Anyhow, I ban't +have to fight little feller. Dat ban one comfort." + +"You cleared the ship, eh? Well, Swede, I'm glad to hear that. I +should have cleared her myself and sailed long ago if I had only had +a skipper's ticket; but these British custom-house officials are great +sticklers for red tape and they wouldn't clear me. And, of course, a man +can't sail without his papers. When he does they send a gunboat +after him. However," he added brightly "the ship is cleared and the +skipper--so I am unofficially informed--is aboard. By the way, Swede, I +left a lot of O.K.'d bills for stores and provision up at the office of +the Harlow & Benton Company, Limited. Did you square up for them?" + +"Yah; everything ban shipshape," All Hands And Feet assured him. + +"And you insist on presenting your credentials in bunches of fives, eh?" + +All Hands And Feet nodded and once more commenced sidling toward Matt +Peasley, who backed away again, meantime addressing himself to the +United States consul: + +"You heard what he said, Mr. Consul. He may be my superior officer, but +I have not been informed of that fact officially; and meantime, so far +as I am concerned, he is merely a fine, big squarehead who has climbed +aboard my ship uninvited and attacked me. Did you ever see a sea bully +licked, Mr. Consul?" + +"I have never had that pleasure, Mr. Peasley." + +All the time Matt Peasley was circling around the deck, with All Hands +And Feet sidling after him. + +"Then you've got something coming, sir," Matt replied. "Help yourself to +a reserved seat on the rail and watch the joyous procedure. Mr. Murphy?" + +"Here, sir," Mr. Murphy replied promptly. + +"I'm going to thrash the big fellow, Mr. Murphy. Stand by to see fair +play and keep the crew off him. I observe you have equipped yourself +with a belaying-pin. Thank you, Mr. Murphy. You anticipate the +situation." + +He turned to All Hands And Feet, who was still crowding him as they +circled the deck. "Stop where you are, my friend; otherwise, Mr. Murphy +will crack you on the head with the belaying-pin." + +All Hands And Feet grinned patronizingly and paused. + +"Vell?" he queried. + +"On my ship," Matt continued, "all fights are pulled off under my rules. +Kicking, choking, biting, gouging and deadly weapons are prohibited. +If you get me down you can use your fists on me, but anything else +will necessitate the interference of the referee with his trusty +belaying-pin." + +"Vell?" All Hands And Feet queried again. He was very eager for the +fray. + +"We have procured a set of two-ounce gloves in anticipation of this +physical culture exhibition," Matt replied. "Unfortunately, however, I +fear your hands will not fit them. Would you care to try them on?" + +"Cut it oud! Cut it oud!" the enemy rumbled contemptuously, and again +commenced his advance. + +"One minute, then, my friend, until I put on--" + +"Fight mit your bare hands like a man!" the big Swede bellowed +scathingly. + +"You forget. I told you all fights on my ship are pulled off under my +rules. I always fight with two-ounce gloves." + +"All righd. Suit yourself." All Hands And Feet felt he could afford to +give the enemy a trifle the better of the argument without the slightest +prejudice to his own chances for success. + +Accordingly, Mr. Murphy skillfully bandaged Matt Peasley's hands, drew +on the gloves and gently shoved his young champion toward the center of +the deck. "Let 'er go!" he announced. + +"Come Swede! Present your credentials!" Matt taunted. His long left +flashed out and cuffed All Hands And Feet on the nose. + +It was a mere love-tap! All Hands And Feet grinned pityingly, and with +his left arm guarding his face, rushed. + +"Lower deck!" Mr. Murphy warned, and laughed as Matt planted left and +right in the midriff and danced away from the Swede's swinging right. +All Hands And Feet grunted--a most unwarriorlike grunt--and dropped both +hands--whereupon a fog suddenly descended upon his vision. Faintly he +made out a blur that was Matt Peasley; bellowing wrathfully he rushed. +Matt gave ground and the Swede's vision cleared and he paused to +consider the situation. + +"No rest for the wicked," Mr. Murphy declared. "At him, boy, at him!" + +All Hands And Feet realized he faced a desperate situation, and as Matt +stepped in he ducked and leaped upon his antagonist. + +"By yiminy," he yelled. "I got you now!" and his great hands closed +around Matt Peasley's neck. + +"Lower deck!" Mr. Murphy yelled shrilly, and a volley of short arm +blows commenced to rattle on the big Swede's stomach. For at least seven +seconds Matt worked like a pneumatic riveter; then-- + +"Swing your partner for the grand right and left," Mr. Murphy counseled, +and Matt closed with All Hands And Feet, and managed to shake the badly +winded champion off. + +"All off," Mr. Murphy declared to the American consul and dropped his +marline-spike, as Matt Peasley ripped left and right, right and left +into Ole Peterson's dish face. "Watch the skipper--our skipper, I mean. +Regular young human pile-driver." He raised his voice and called to Matt +Peasley. "He's rocking on his legs now, sir; but keep away from those +arms. He's dangerous and you're givin' him fifty pounds the best of it +in the weights. Try the short ribs with your left and feel for his chin +with the right, sir. Very nicely done, sir! Now--once more!" + +Mr. Murphy nodded politely to the American consul. + +"Excuse me," he said. "The bigger they are the harder they fall, and +the Retriever's deck ain't no nice place to bump a man's head. I'll just +skip round in back and catch him in my arms." + +Which being done, Mr. Murphy laid All Hands And Feet gently on deck, +walked to the scuttle butt, procured a dipperful of water and threw it +into the gory, battered face. Matt Peasley had simply walked round him +and, with the advantage of a superior reach, had systematically cut +Captain Ole Peterson to strings and ribbons. + +He held up the blood-soaked gloves for Mr. Murphy to untie the strings, +the while he sniffed a little afternoon breeze that had just sprung up, +blowing straight for the open sea. + +"When he comes to, Mr. Murphy," he ordered calmly, "escort him to your +old room. Have one of the men stow his dunnage there also; and tell him +if he shows his nose on deck until I give him permission, he shall have +another taste of the same. Mr. Consul, I should be highly honored if you +would step into my cabin and hoist one to our own dear native land." + +"With pleasure," the consul replied. "Though I cannot, in my capacity as +a citizen of the United States, endorse your--er--mutiny, nevertheless, +as a United States consul at Cape Town I shall take pleasure in +certifying to the fact that the fallen gladiator was the aggressor, +that he did not present his credentials, and that you had no official +knowledge of his identity." + +"I wish you would make an affidavit to that effect, under the seal of +the Consulate, and mail it to me at Hoquiam, Washington, U. S. A.," +Matt pleaded, as they reached his cabin. He reached into poor old Cap'n +Noah's little private locker. "I've a suspicion, sir, I'm going to need +your affidavit very badly." + +"I shall do so, Mr. Peasley. May I inquire what you purpose doing with +Captain Peterson?" + +"Captain Peasley--if you please, Mr. Consul." Matt looked up and +grinned. "I think," he continued, as he inserted the corkscrew, "I shall +ship that boy as second mate if he's willing to work. If he's sullen, of +course he'll have to remain in his room--and I shall not permit him to +present his credentials now." + +"Captain Peasley," the consul warned seriously. "I'm afraid you're in +very, very Dutch." + +"I wouldn't be surprised. However, it will be about three months before +I commence to suffer, and in the meantime I'm going to be supremely +happy skippering the barkentine Retriever back to Grays Harbor, if they +hang me for it when I get there. Say when!" + +"When!" + +"Here's success to crime, Mr. Consul." + +"Good luck to you, you youthful prodigy; good luck and bon voyage, +Mr.--I mean Captain Peasley." + +"Thank you, Mr. Consul. I hate to hurry you away; fact is, I'd like to +have you stay aboard and have dinner with us, but if this breeze holds +good I can save my owners an outward towage bill, and I'll have to +hustle. So I'll bid you good-bye, Mr. Consul. Glad to have had you for +the little exhibition. Here is my name and address--and please don't +forget that affidavit." + +When the American consul left the ship Matt Peasley was on the poop +bawling orders; up on the topgallant forecastle the capable Mr. Murphy +and his bully boys were walking around the windlass to the bellowing +chorus of Roll A Man Down! while the boatswain, promoted by Matt Peasley +to second mate, was laying aloft forward shaking out the topsails and +hoisting her head-sails. When the consul looked again, the American +barkentine Retriever had turned her tail on Cape Town and was scampering +down Table Bay with a bone in her teeth; heeling gently to the +freshening breeze, she was rolling home in command of the boy who had +joined her five months before as an able seaman. + +Matt Peasley rounded the Cape of Good Hope nicely, but he had added +materially to his stock of seamanship before he won through the +tide-rips off Point Aghulas and squared away across the Indian Ocean. +Coming up along the coast of Australia he had the sou'east trades and +he crowded her until Mr. Murphy forgot the traditions of the sea, forgot +that Matt Peasley was the skipper and hence not to be questioned, and +remembered that the madman was only a boy. + +"Captain Matt," he pleaded, "take some clothes off the old girl, for the +love of life! She's making steamer time now, and if the breeze freshens +you'll lift the sticks out of her." + +"Lift nothing, Mike. I know her. Cap'n Noah told me all about her. You +can drive the Retriever until she develops a certain little squeak up +forward--and then it's time to shorten sail. She isn't squeaking yet, +Mike. Don't worry. She'll let us know," and his beaming glance +wandered aloft to the straining cordage and bellying canvas. "Into it, +sweetheart," he crooned, "into it, girl, and we'll show this Cappy +Ricks what we know about sailing a ship that can sail! Meager maritime +experience, eh? I'll show him!" + + Oh, Sally Brown, I love your daughter, + I love your daughter, indeed I do, + +he caroled, and buck-and-winged his way back to the poop, for he was +only a boy, life was good, he was fighting a fight and as Mr. Murphy +remarked a minute later when Matt ordered him to bend the fore-staysail +on her; "What the hell!" + +Day and night Matt Peasley drove her into it. He stood far off shore +until he ran out of the sou'east trades, fiddled around two days in +light airs and then picked up the nor'east trades; drove her well +into the north, hauled round and came romping up to Grays Harbor bar +seventy-nine days from Cape Town. A bar tug, ranging down the coast, +hooked on to him and snaked him in. + + + +CHAPTER XI. MR. SKINNER RECEIVES A TELEGRAM + + +Cappy Ricks was having his customary mid-afternoon nap in his big swivel +chair and his feet on his desk, when Mr. Skinner came in and woke him +up. + +"I just couldn't help it, sir," he announced apologetically, as Cappy +opened one eye and glared at him, "I had to wake you up and tell you the +news." + +"Tell it!" Cappy snapped. + +"The Retriever arrived at Grays Harbor this morning, Mr. Ricks. She's +broken the record for a fast passage," and he handed Cappy Ricks a +telegram. + +"Bless my withered heart!" Cappy declared, and opened his other eye. +"You don't tell me? Well, well, well! All Hands And Feet is making good +right off the bat, isn't he?" Cappy chuckled. "Skinner, my dear boy," +he bragged, "did you ever see me start out to pick a skipper and hand +myself the worst of it?" + +"No, sir," Mr. Skinner maintained dutifully, and turned away to hide a +wicked little smile, which under the circumstances Skinner was entitled +to. + +"And you never will, Skinner. Paste that in your hat, boy. That big +Swede, Peterson, can handle a ship as well as he can handle a refractory +mate--and that's going some, Skinner--going some! I'm not surprised at +his fast passage. Not at all, Skinner. Come to think of it, I'm going +to fire that Scotchman in the Fortuna and give All Hands And Feet his +berth. He has earned it." + +He adjusted his spectacles and read: + + Hoquiam, Washington, + June 27, 19--. + + Blue Star Navigation Company, + 258 California St., + San Francisco. + + Arrived this morning, seventy-nine days from bar to bar, all + hands well, including your special messenger. Offered him job + as second mate, just to show I had no hard feelings, but he + would not work, so I brought him home under hatches. Permitted + him present his formal credentials this morning and turned over + command of ship to him. Declined responsibility and left, + saying you had promised him command four-masted schooner. + Seemed trifle hurt, although it is seventy-nine days since I + thrashed him. Consequently I am still in command and awaiting + your instructions. + + Peasley. + +For a long time Cappy Ricks kept looking sternly at Mr. Skinner over +the tops of his spectacles. There was blood on the moon again, and the +silence was terrible. He kept rocking gently backward and forward in his +swivel chair, for all the world as though preparing for a panther-like +spring at Mr. Skinner's throat. Suddenly he exploded. + +"I won't have another thing to do with the man Peasley!" he shrilled. +"The fellow is a thorn in my side and I want peace! Understand, Skinner? +I--want--peace! What in blue blazes do I pay you ten thousand a year for +if it isn't to give me peace? Answer me that, Skinner." + +"Well you said you wanted to attend to the shipping--" + +"That'll do, Skinner--that'll do! You're an honorary member of the +I-told-you-so Club and I'm thoroughly disgusted with you. Rid me of this +man--immediately. If I ever get another telegram from the scoundrel I +shall hold you personally responsible." + +Forthwith Mr. Skinner acted. He went up to the office of the United +States District Attorney and swore out a Federal warrant for the arrest +of Matthew Peasley on a charge of mutiny and insubordination, assault +and battery on the high seas, and everything else he could think of. The +authorities promptly wired north to send a United States marshal down +to Grays Harbor to arrest the culprit; and the following afternoon, +when Cappy Ricks got back to his office after luncheon and picked up the +paper, the very first thing his glance rested on was the headline: + + MATE CHARGED WITH MUTINY! + +Mutiny and sundry other crimes on the high seas are out of the ordinary; +hence the United Press correspondent at Hoquiam had considered the story +of Matt Peasley's arrest worthy of dissemination over the Pacific Coast. + +Cappy Ricks read it, the principal item of interest in it being a +purported interview with Matt Peasley, who, in choice newspaperese, had +entered a vigorous denial of the charge. The story concluded with the +statement that Peasley was a native of Thomaston, Maine, where he had +always borne a most excellent reputation for steadiness and sobriety. + +Cappy Ricks laid the paper aside. + +Thomaston, Maine! So the man Peasley was a Down-Easter! That explained +it. + +"Well, I hope my teeth may fall into the ocean!" Cappy murmured. +"Thomaston, Maine! Why, he's one of our own town boys--one of my own +people! Dear, dear, dear! Well now, it's strange I didn't know that +name. I must be getting old to forget it." + +He sat in his swivel chair, rocking gently backward and forward for +several minutes, after a fashion he had when perturbed. Suddenly his +old hand shot out and pressed the push button on his desk, and his +stenographer answered. + +"Send Mr. Skinner in!" he commanded. + +Presently Mr. Skinner came, and again Cappy eyed him over the tops of +his spectacles; again the terrible silence. Skinner commenced to fidget. + +"Skinner," began Cappy impressively, "how often have I got to tell you +not to interfere with the shipping? Tut, tut! Not a peep out of you, +sir--not a peep! You had the audacity, sir, to swear to a Federal +warrant against the man Peasley. How dare you, sir? Do you know who the +man Peasley is? You don't. Well, sir, I'll tell you. He's a Down-East +boy and I went to school with his people. I'll bet Ethan Peasley was +a relative of this boy Matt, because Ethan had a cousin by the name of +Matthew; and Ethan and Matt and I used to hell around together until +they went to sea. + +"Lord bless you, Skinner, I can remember yet the day the Martha Peasley +came up the harbor, with her flag at half-mast--and poor old Ethan was +gone--whipped off the end of her main yard when she rolled! + +"We were great chums, Ethan and I, Skinner; and I cried. Why--why, damn +it, sir, this boy Matt's people and mine are all buried in the same +cemetery back home. Yes, sir! And nearly all of 'em have the same +epitaph--'Lost at Sea'--and--you idiot, Skinner! What do you mean, sir, +by standing there with your infernal little smile on your smug face? Out +of my office, you jackanapes, and call the dogs off this boy Matt. Why, +there was never one of his breed that wasn't a man and a seaman, every +inch of him. + +"All Hands And Feet thrash a Peasley! Huh! A joke! Why, Ethan was six +foot six at twenty, with an arm like a fathom of towing cable. Catch me +turning down one of our own boys! No, sir! Not by a damned sight!" + +In all his life Mr. Skinner had never seen Cappy Ricks so wrought up. +He fled at once to call off the dogs, while Cappy turned to his desk and +wrote this telegram: + + San Francisco, California. + June 28, 19--. + + Matt Peasley, + Care United States Marshal, + Hoquiam, Washington. + + Congratulations on splendid voyage. You busted record. + Lindquist, in the John A. Logan, did it in eighty-four days in + the spring of ninety-four. Draw draft and pay off crew, render + report of voyage, place second mate in charge, and proceed + immediately to Seattle to get your master's ticket. Will + telegraph Seattle inspectors requesting waive further probation + as first mate and issue license if you pass examination in + order that you may accept captaincy of Retriever. Skinner, my + manager, had you arrested. Would never have done it myself. I + come from Thomaston, Maine, and I knew your people. Would + never have sent the Swede had I known which tribe of Peasley + you belonged to--though, if he had licked you, no more than you + deserved. I want no more of your impudence, Matt. + + Alden P. Ricks. + + * * * * * * + +For a week business droned along in Cappy Ricks' office as usual, +interrupted at last by the receipt of a telegram from Matt Peasley to +Cappy. It was sent from Seattle and read: + + "Have now legal right to be called captain. Rejoin ship + tomorrow. Wire orders. Thank you." + +"God bless the lad!" Cappy murmured happily. "I'll bet he's going to +make me a skookum skipper. Still, I think he's pretty young and sadly in +need of training; so I'll have to take some of the conceit out of him. +I'm going to proceed to break his young heart; and if he yells murder +I'll fire him! On the contrary, if he's one of Ethan's tribe--well, the +Peasleys always did their duty; I'll say that for them. I hope he stands +the acid." + +Whereupon Cappy Ricks squared round to his desk and wrote: + + San Francisco, July 5, 19--. + + Captain Matthew Peasley, + Master Barkentine Retriever, + Hoquiam, Washington. + + Glad you have legal right to be called captain. Sorry I have + not. Proceed to Weatherby's mill, at Cosmopolis, and load for + Antofagasta, Chile. Remember speed synonymous with dividends + in shipping business. + + Blue Star Navigation Company. + +When Cappy signed his telegrams with the company name it was always a +sure indication he had discharged his cargo of sentiment and gotten down +to business once more. + +"A little creosoted piling now and then is bully for the best of men," +he cackled. "For a month of Sundays that man Peasley will curse me as +far as he can smell the Retriever. Oh, well! Every dog must have his +day--and I'm a wise old dog. I'll teach that Matt boy some respect for +his owners before I'm through with him!" + + + +CHAPTER XII. THE CAMPAIGN OPENS + + +When Matt Peasley's Yankee combativeness, coupled with the accident of +birth in the old home town of Cappy Ricks, gained for him command of +the Blue Star Navigation Company's big barkentine, Retriever, he lacked +eight days of his twenty-first birthday. He had slightly less beard than +the average youth of his years; and, despite the fact that he had been +exposed almost constantly to salty gales since his fourteenth birthday, +he did not look his age. And of all the ridiculous sights ashore or +afloat the most ridiculous is a sea captain with the body of a Hercules +and the immature features of an eighteen-year-old boy. + +Indeed, such a great, soft, innocent baby type was Matt Peasley that +even the limited sense of humor possessed by his motley crew forbade +their reference to him, after custom immemorial, as the Old Man. The +formal title of captain seemed equally absurd; so they compromised by +dubbing him Mother's Darling. + +"If," quoth Mr. Michael Murphy, chief kicker of the Retriever, over a +quiet pipe with Mr. Angus MacLean, the second mate, as the vessel lay at +anchor in Grays Harbor, "Cappy Ricks had laid eyes on Mother's Darling +before ordering him to Seattle to go up for his master's ticket, the old +fox would have scuttled the ship sooner than trust that baby with her." + +"Ye'll nae be denying the lad kens his business," Mr. MacLean declared. + +"Aye! True enough, Mac; but 'twould be hard to convince Cappy Ricks o' +that. Every skipper in his employ is a graybeard." + +"Mayhap," the canny MacLean retorted. "That's because t'owd boy's +skippers have held their berths ower long." + +But Mr. Murphy shook his head. He had come up from before the mast +in the ships of the Blue Star Navigation Company, and since he had +ambitions he had been at some pains to acquaint himself with the +peculiarities of the president of that corporation. + +"Give Cappy Ricks one look into Matt Peasley's face and I'll be +skippering the Retriever," he declared. + +And in this he was more than half right, for Cappy Ricks had never met +Matt Peasley, and when the Old Man made up his mind that he wanted the +boy to skipper his barkentine, the Retriever, he was acting entirely on +instinct. He only knew that in Matt Peasley he had a man who had shipped +out before the mast and returned from the voyage in command of the ship, +and naturally such an exploit challenged recognition of the most signal +nature--particularly when, in its performance, the object of Cappy's +admiration had demonstrated that he was possessed of certain sterling +attributes which are commonly supposed to make for success in any walk +of life. + +Since Matt Peasley had accomplished a man's work it never occurred to +Cappy Ricks to consider that the object of his interest might be a boy. +Young he knew him to be--that is to say, Cappy figured the rascal to be +somewhere between thirty and thirty-five. + +Had he known, however, that his prospective captain had but recently +attained his majority the Old Man would have ascribed Matt Peasley's +record-breaking voyage from Cape Town to Grays Harbor as sheer luck, +and forthwith would have set Master Matthew down for a five-year +apprenticeship as first mate; for Cappy was the product of an older day, +and held that gray hairs and experience are the prime requisites for a +berth as master. + +Any young upstart can run coastwise, put in his service sailing a +ship from headland to headland, and then take a course in a navigation +school, where in six weeks he can cram sufficient navigation into his +thick head to pass the inspectors and get a master's ticket; but for +offshore cruising Cappy Ricks demanded a real sailor and a thorough +business man rolled into one. + +Mother's Darling had returned to Grays Harbor from a flying visit to +Seattle, where two grizzled old ex-salts, the local inspectors, had put +him through a severe examination to ascertain what he knew of Bowditch +on Navigation and Nichols on Seamanship. Naturally he did not know as +much as they thought he should; but, out of sheer salt-water pride in +the exploit of a stripling and in deference to a letter from Cappy Ricks +requesting them to waive further probation as chief mate and issue Mr. +Peasley his master's license if they found him at all competent--this +in order that the said Peasley might take command of his barkentine, the +Retriever, forthwith--the inspectors concluded to override the rules of +the Department of Commerce, and gave Matt Peasley his master's license. + +Upon his return from Seattle, Matt called at the telegraph office in +Hoquiam and received his loading instructions from the owners. His heart +beat high with youthful importance and the joy of victory as he almost +ran to the water front and engaged a big gasoline launch to take him +aboard the Retriever and then kick her into the mill dock at Cosmopolis. +His ship was not where he had left her, however, and after an hour's +search he discovered her several miles up the Chehalis river. Murphy +was on deck, gazing wistfully at the house and wishing he had some white +paint, when Matt Peasley came aboard. Even before the latter leaped to +the deck Mr. Murphy knew the glad tidings--knew them, in fact, the +very instant the boy's shining countenance appeared above the rail. The +skipper was grinning fatuously and Mr. Murphy grinned back at him. + +"Well, sir," he greeted young Matt, "I see you're the permanent skipper. +I congratulate you." + +"Thank you, Mike. And I hope you will have no objection to continuing in +your berth as first mate. I realize I'm pretty young for an old sailor +like you to be taking orders from--" + +"Bless your soul, sir," Mr. Murphy protested; "of course I'll stick with +you! Didn't you whale the big Swede Cappy Ricks sent to Cape Town +to kick you out of your just due?" He reaffirmed his loyalty with a +contemptuous grunt. + +"What are you doing way up the river?" the captain demanded. + +"Oh, that's a little liberty I took," the mate declared. "You're new to +this coast; and, of course, when they ordered us to Grays Harbor I knew +we weren't going to be able to go on dry dock, because there isn't any +dry dock here. So, while you were in Seattle, I had a gasoline tug tow +us up-river. We've been lying in fresh water four days, sir, and that'll +kill most of the worms on her bottom." + +"Hereafter," said Matt Peasley, "you get ten dollars a month above the +scale. Thank you." + +Mr. Murphy acknowledged his appreciation. + +"Any orders, sir?" he continued. + +Matt Peasley showed him Cappy Ricks' telegram and Mr. Murphy nodded +his approval. He had been in port nearly a week and the whine of the +sawmills and the reek of river water had begun to get on his nerves. He +was ready for the dark blue again. + +"There's something wrong about our cargo, I think," Matt remarked +presently. + +"Why, sir?" + +"Why, down at the telegraph office this morning I met the master of the +schooner, Carrier Dove, and when I told him my orders he snickered." + +"Huh! Well, he ought to know what he snickered about, sir. The Carrier +Dove just finished loading at Weatherby's mill," Mr. Murphy replied. +"She's a Blue Star craft and bound for Antofagasta also. Her skipper's +Salvation Pete Hansen, and it would be just like that squarehead to +dodge a deckload of piling and leave it for us." + +"Well, whatever it was it amused him greatly. It must be worse than a +deckload of piling." + +"There's nothing worse in the timber line, unless it's a load underdeck, +sir. You take a sixty-foot pile with a fourteen-inch butt and try to +shove it down through the hatch, and you've got a job on your hands. +And after the hold is half filled you've got to quit loading through the +hatch, cut ports in your bows, and shove the sticks in that way. It's +the slowest loading and discharging in the world; and unless you drive +her between ports and make up for the lost time you don't make a good +showing with your owners--and then your job's in danger. Ship owners +never consider anything except results." + +"Well," the captain answered, "in order not to waste any more time than +is absolutely necessary, call Mr. MacLean and the cook, and we'll go +for'd and break out the anchor." + +Immediately on his arrival from Cape Town, Matt Peasley had paid off +all his foremast hands, leaving the two mates and the cook the only men +aboard the vessel. He joined them now in a walk around the capstan; +the launch hooked on and the Retriever was snaked across the harbor to +Weatherby's mill. And, while they were still three cables' length +from the mill dock, Mr. Murphy, who had taken up his position on the +topgallant forecastle, to be ready with a heaving line, suddenly raised +his head and sniffed upwind. + +The captain had the wheel and Mr. MacLean was standing aft waiting to +do his duty by the stern line. Presently he, too, raised his head and +sniffed. + +"I see you got it too, Mac," Mr. Murphy bawled. + +"Aw, weel," Mr. MacLean replied; "Why worrit aboot a bridge till ye hae +to cross it? D'ye ken 'tis oors?" + +"What are you two fellows talking about and why are you sniffing?" Matt +Peasley demanded. + +"I'm sniffing at the same thing Salvation Pete Hansen laughed about," +the mate answered. "I'll bet you a uniform cap we're stuck with a cargo +of creosoted piling--and hell hath no fury like a creosoted pile." + +When the vessel had been made fast to the mill dock Matt Peasley walked +forward to meet his mate. + +"What about this cargo of ours?" he demanded. "Remember, I'm new to the +lumber trade on this coast. I have never handled any kind of piling." + +"Then, sir, you're going to get your education like the boa constrictor +that swallowed the nigger--all in one long, slimy bite." + +He gazed at his boyish skipper appraisingly. + +"No," he murmured to himself; "I can't do it. I like you for the way you +whaled that big Swede in Cape Town, but this is too much." + +"Why, I don't find the odor so very unpleasant," the master declared; +"in fact, I rather like it, and I know it's healthy, because I remember, +when my brother Ezra had pneumonia, they burned creosote in the room." + +"Oh, nobody objects to the smell particularly, sir, though it's been my +experience that anybody can cheapen a good thing by overuse--and we have +three months of that smell ahead of us. It's the taste that busts my +bobstay." + +"Why, what do you mean?" + +"Well, you see, sir, the odor of creosote is so heavy it won't float in +the air, but just settles down over everything, like mildew on a pair +of boots. So it gets in the stores and you taste it. You can store flour +below deck aft and creosoted piling on deck for'd--and you won't be out +two weeks before that flour is spoiled. Same way with the tea, coffee, +sugar, mush, salt-horse--everything. It all tastes of creosote; and then +the damned stuff rubs off on the ship and ruins the paintwork. And if +the crew happen to have any cuts or abrasions on their hands they're +almost certain to get infected with the awful stuff, and you'll be +kept busy doctoring them. Then, the first thing, along comes a gale and +you're shorthanded, and there's the devil to pay." + +"Aye!" Mr. MacLean interrupted solemnly. "I dinna care for creosote +mysel', sir; so, wi' your kind permission, I'll hae ma time--an' I'll +hae it noo." + +Matt Peasley bent upon the recalcitrant Scotchman a withering glare. +"Very well, Mr. MacLean," he said presently, "I never could sail in the +same ship with a quitter; so you might as well go now, when we can part +good friends." He turned to Mr. Murphy. "How about you, Mike? Are you +going to run out on me, too?" + +Now, as between the Irish and the Scotch, history records no +preponderance of courage in either, for both are Gaels and a comparison +is difficult. + +However, Scotchmen are a conservative race and will walk round a fight +rather than be forced into it, while all that is necessary to make an +Irishman fight is to impugn his courage. + +Mr. Murphy had seen the fight ahead of the Retriever and he did not +blame Mr. MacLean for side-stepping it. Indeed, he had intended pursuing +the same course; but Matt Peasley, by his latest remark, had rendered +that impossible. To desert now would savor of dishonor; and, moreover, +Matt Peasley, though master, had called him by his Christian name. Mr. +Murphy touched his forelock respectfully. + +"I am not Scotch," he announced, with a slight emphasis on the pronoun. +"Shame on you, Angus MacLean--ditching the skipper like that!" + +"Sticks an' stones may break ma bones, but names'll never hur-rt +me," Mr. MacLean retorted. "I tell ye I dinna care for creosote in ma +porridge." And he followed Matt Peasley aft, where the latter paid him +off and gave him five minutes to pack and get off the ship. Immediately +after supper the cook followed the second mate; but, since the former +was a Jap and probably the worst marine cook in the world, his departure +occasioned no heartache. + +"We'll board at the mill cook-house until we're loaded, Mike," Matt +Peasley informed the mate. "They have a good Chink up there." + +Mr. Murphy sighed as he loaded his pipe and struck a match for it. + +"It does look to me, sir," he replied, with that touch of conscious +superiority so noticeable in the Celt, "as though Cappy Ricks might have +slipped this cargo to a Dutchman." + +The Retriever commenced taking on cargo at seven o'clock the following +morning, with Mr. Murphy on shipboard and Matt Peasley on the dock +superintending the gang of stevedores. Ordinarily the masters of lumber +freighters ship their crews before commencing to load, in order that +sailors at forty dollars a month may obviate the employment of an equal +number of stevedores at forty cents an hour; but Mr. Murphy, out of his +profound experience, advised against this course, as tending to spread +the news of the Retriever's misfortune and militate against securing a +crew when the vessel should be loaded and lying in the stream ready for +sea. Men employed now, he explained, would only desert. The thing to +do was to let a Seattle crimp furnish the crew, sign them on before the +shipping commissioner in Seattle, bring them aboard drunk, tow to sea, +and let the rascals make the best of a bad bargain. + +The hold was about half filled, and the ship carpenters were at work +cutting ports in the Retriever's bows, when Matt Peasley discovered that +the mill did not have in hand any order for lumber to be used as stowage +to snug up the cumbersome cargo below decks and keep it from rolling and +working in a seaway. Accordingly he wired his owners as follows: + + Cosmopolis, Washington, July 7, 19--. + + Blue Star Navigation Company, + 258 California St., + San Francisco, California. + + No stowage. + + Peasley. + +Cappy Ricks having deliberately conspired to hang a series of dirty +cargoes on his newest skipper, for the dual purpose of teaching Matt +Peasley his place and discovering whether he was worthy of it, grinned +evilly when he received that two-word message; and, not to be out-done +in brevity, he dictated this answer: + + San Francisco, California, July 7, 19--. + + Captain Matthew Peasley, + Master Barkentine Retriever, + Care Weatherby's mill, Cosmopolis, Wash. + + Know it. + + Blue Star Navigation Company. + +Matt Peasley's cheeks burned when he read that message. Indeed, could +Cappy Ricks have been privileged to hear the terse remarks his telegram +elicited, there is no doubt he would have sent Mr. Skinner up to the +custom-house immediately to file a certificate of change of master. + +"Ha!" Mr. Murphy snorted when Matt showed him the message. "I get the +old sinner now. This is to be a grudge fight, Captain Matt. You wished +yourself onto him in Cape Town against his will, and now he's made up +his mind that so long as you wanted the job it's yours--only he'll +make you curse the day you ever moved your sea chest into the skipper's +cabin. He's going to send us into dogholes to load and open roadsteads +to discharge; and if he can find a dirty cargo anywhere we'll get it. +But it's carrying a grudge too far not to give us stowage." + +"Well, it's his ship," Matt Peabody declared passionately. "If the +old thief can gamble on good weather I guess I can gamble on my +seamanship--and yours." + +The mate inclined his head at the delicate compliment; and Matt, +observing this, decided that a few more of the same from time to time +would do much to alleviate a diet of creosote. + + + +CHAPTER XIII. AN OLD FRIEND RETURNS AND CAPPY LEADS ANOTHER ACE + + +Three days before the Retriever finished loading, the captain wired a +trustworthy Seattle crimp recommended by Mr. Murphy, instructing him to +send down a second mate, eight seamen and a good cook--and to bring them +drunk, because the vessel was laden with creosoted piling. Captain Noah +Kendall, Matt's predecessor on the Retriever, had been raised on clipper +ships and as he grew old had allowed himself the luxury of a third mate, +to which arrangement Cappy Ricks, having a certain affection for Captain +Noah, had never made any objection; but something whispered to Matt +Peasley that the quickest route to Cappy's heart would be via a short +payroll, so he concluded to dispense with a third mate and tack ten +dollars a month extra on the pay-check of the excellent Murphy. + +The Retriever was lying in the stream fully loaded when the crew +arrived, convoyed by the crimp's runner. In accordance with instructions +they were drunk, the crimp having furnished his runner with a two-gallon +jug of home-made firewater upon leaving Seattle. One man--the second +mate--was fairly sober, however, and while the launch that bore him to +the Retriever was still half a mile from the vessel the breezes brought +him an aroma which could not, by any possibility, be confused with the +concentrated fragrance of the eight alcoholic breaths being exhaled +around him. Muttering deep curses at his betrayal, he promptly leaped +overboard and essayed to swim ashore. The runner pursued him in the +launch, however, and gaffed him by the collar with a boat-hook; the +launch-man, for a consideration, aided the runner, and the unwilling +wretch was carried struggling to purgatory. + +"Oh, look who's here!" Mr. Murphy yelled to the skipper, as +the bedraggled second mate was propelled forcibly up the ship's +companion-ladder to the waiting arms of the first mate. "Welcome home, +Angus, my lad." + +It was Mr. MacLean, their quondam second mate, cast back on the deckload +of the Retriever by the resurgent tide of maritime misfortune. Mr. +Murphy sat down and held himself by the middle and laughed until the +tears ran down his ruddy cheeks, while Matt Peasley joined heartily in +the mirth. The unfortunate Mr. MacLean also wept--but from other causes, +to wit--grief and rage. + +"I'm happy to have you with us again, Mr. MacLean," Matt saluted the +second mate. "While your courage and loyalty might be questioned, your +ability may not. So the crimp swindled you, eh? Told you he wanted you +for another ship and then switched the papers on you, eh?" + +"You should never trust a crimp, Angus," Mr. Murphy warned him. "And you +should never do business with them unless you're cold sober. Let this be +a lesson to you, my lad. Never be a drinking man and you'll never have +to go to a crimp for a snug berth. Run along to your old room, now, +Angus, and shift into some dry clothes, if you expect to finish the +voyage." + +"I'll gie ye ma worrd I'll desert in th' discharrgin' port!" Mr. MacLean +burred furiously. "Ye hae me noo, body an' bones--" + +"Aye, and we'll keep you, Angus. Have no fear of that. And you'll not +desert in the discharging port. I'll see to that," Matt Peasley assured +him. + +When the last man had been assisted aboard Matt signaled for the tug he +had engaged. By the time she had hooked on and towed them over the bar +three of the seamen were sober enough to assist the skipper and the +mates in getting all plain sail, with the exception of the square sails, +on her, and, with a spanking nor'west breeze on her quarter she rolled +away into the horizon. + +Despite the fact that the Retriever's bottom was rather foul with marine +growth, and the further fact that her master had to lay her head under +her wing in a blow which, with an ordinary cargo, he would have bucked +right into, the run to Antofagasta was made in average time. And when +Matt Peasley went ashore to report by cable to his owners he discovered +that Cappy Ricks had provided him with a cargo of nitrate for Makaweli. + +"What did I tell you, sir?" Mr. Murphy growled when the captain informed +him of the owners' orders. "I tell you, sir, the dirtiest cargo Cappy +Ricks can find is too good for us. Praise be, the worst we can get at +Makaweli is a sugar cargo." + +Mr. Murphy's grudge against nitrate lay in the annoyance incident to +taking on the cargo properly. Nitrate is very heavy and cannot, like +sugar, be loaded flush with the hatches, thus rendering shifting of the +cargo impossible. In loading nitrate a stout platform must be erected +athwart ship, above the keelsons, in order that the foundation of the +cargo may be laid level; for, as the sacked nitrate is piled, the pile +must be drawn in gradually until the sides meet in a peak like a roof. +It must then be braced and battened securely with heavy timbers from +each side of the ship, in order that the dead weight may be held in the +center of the ship and keep her in trim. Woe to the ship that shifts a +cargo of nitrate in a heavy gale; for it is a tradition of the sea that, +once a vessel rolls her main yard under, she will not roll it back, and +ultimately is posted at Lloyd's as missing. + +When the cargo was out Mr. Murphy went ashore and purchased a lot of +Chinese punk, which he burned in the hold, with the hatches battened +down, while Mr. MacLean, who had once been a druggist's clerk, and who, +by the way, had concluded to stay by the ship, sloshed down the decks +with an aromatic concoction mixed by a local apothecary. The remnant of +their spoiled stores Matt Peasley, like a true Yankee, sawed off to good +advantage on a trustful citizen of Antofagasta, and credited the ship +with the proceeds; after which he got his nitrate aboard and squared +away for the Hawaiian Islands. + +The run to Makaweli was very slow, for the ship was logy with the grass +and barnacles on her bottom. At Makaweli he found a sugar cargo awaiting +him for discharge at Seattle; and, thanks to the northwest trades at her +quarter, the Retriever wallowed home reasonably fast. + + + +CHAPTER XIV. INSULT ADDED TO INJURY + + +When Matt Peasley's report of that long voyage reached the Blue Star +Navigation Company it was opened by Mr. Skinner, who, finding no letter +enclosed, had a clerk check and verify it, and then pass it on to old +Cappy Ricks. + +"Where's the letter that came with this report, Skinner?" Cappy piped. + +"He didn't enclose one, Mr. Ricks." + +"Im-possible!" + +"All of Captain Peasley's communications with this office since he +entered our employ have been by wire." + +"But--dad-burn the fellow, Skinner--why doesn't he write and tell us +something?" + +"About what?" + +"Why, about his ship, his voyage--any old thing. An owner likes to have +a report on his property once in a while, doesn't he? Unless we happen +to charter the Retriever for a cargo to her home port, you know very +well, Skinner, we may not see her for years. Besides, I've never seen +the man Peasley, and if he'd only write now and then I could get a +line on him from his letters. I can always tell a fool by the letter he +writes, Skinner." + +"Well, then," Skinner replied. "Peasley must be a wise man, because he +never writes at all. The only specimen of that fellow's handwriting I've +ever seen is his signature on the drafts he draws against us. You will +notice that he has even engaged a stenographer--at his own expense, so +the clerk informs me--to typewrite his statement of account." + +"Then that explains it, Skinner. The big-fisted brute can't write a hand +that anybody could read. But, still, he should have dictated a letter, +Skinner. The least he might have done was to say: 'Enclosed herewith +find my report of disbursements for last voyage.' And then he could have +slipped in some mild complaint about the creosote, the trouble he had in +getting a crew, and so on. + +"I don't see why you complain about a lack of correspondence, sir," Mr. +Skinner protested. "For my part, I think it a profound relief to have a +captain that isn't writing or wiring in complaints about slow dispatch +in loading or discharging, his private feuds with marine cooks and +walking delegates from the Sailors' Union. Confound these fellows that +are always unloading a cargo of woe on their owners! It strikes me that +they're trying to square themselves for incompetence." + +"I agree with you, Skinner. But then, all the Thomaston Peasleys were +quick-tempered and wouldn't be imposed on; and I hate to think I've +picked the only one of the tribe who will dog it and never let a peep +out of him." + +"Oh!" said Mr. Skinner. "I see! You want him to start something with +you, eh?" + +Cappy evaded this blunt query, however, and turned his attention to the +report. + +"Hello!" he said. "I'm blessed if he hasn't anticipated the very +question I should have asked. Here's a footnote in red ink: 'Decided +not to carry third mate. Two mates ample.' And so two mates are ample, +Skinner, though I used to humor Cap'n Noah with three. This confirms me +in the belief that Peasley must be a young man, Skinner, and not afraid +to stand a watch himself if necessary. And here's another footnote: +'Chief Mate Michael J. Murphy very gallantly declined to leave when +he smelled the creosote, and was a tower of strength when it came to +stowing the nitrate. He holds an unlimited mate's license, is sober, +intelligent, courageous, honest and a hard worker. He goes up for his +master's license this week!" + +"Ah-h-h!" Cappy Ricks looked up, smiling. "Skinner," he declared, "it +is as hard to keep a good man down as it is for a camel to enter the +Kingdom of Heaven--I mean for a rich man to enter a camel--bother! I +mean you can't keep a good man down, Skinner. And this is the reason: +The first mate, Murphy, wanted to leave, but his loyalty would not +permit it. Hence the man Peasley must be a good, fair, decent man, to +inspire such loyalty. He is, and this report proves it. His action in +bringing Murphy to our attention indicates appreciation and a sense of +justice. Good! Skinner, make a note of the qualifications of Michael J. +Murphy for a master's berth and give him the first opening." + +He returned to a perusal of the report. + +"Huh! Harump-h-h-h! 'Credit by skipper's rake-off on stores, and so on, +$57.03.' Skinner, that proves the man Peasley is too decent and honest +to accept a commission from the thieves who supply his vessel, because +he knows that if they give him a commission they'll only tack it on to +the bill, where he can't see it. Well! All the Thomaston Peasleys were +honest, Skinner. No thanks to him. Still, it's a shame to give him +another rough deal, for apparently he has--er--many--er--commendable +qualities. Still--er--Skinner, I've just got to have a letter from the +man Peasley, if it is only a letter of resignation. Get him another +dirty cargo, Skinner, the dirtier the better." + +The dirtiest cargo Mr. Skinner could think of, with the exception of a +load of creosoted piling, was another cargo of the same. So he scoured +the market and finally he found one on Puget Sound, whereupon he sent +Matt Peasley a telegram ordering him to tow to the Ranier Mill and +Lumber Company's dock at Tacoma, and load for Callao. At the same time +he wired the Ranier people requesting them to be ready to furnish cargo +to the Retriever the following day--this on the strength of a telegram +from Matt Peasley received the previous day informing his owners that he +was discharged and awaiting orders. + + + +CHAPTER XV. RUMORS OF WAR + + +When four days had elapsed the manager of the Ranier mill wired the Blue +Star Navigation Company that the Retriever had not yet appeared at their +dock. + +Now four days wasted means something to a big barkentine like the +Retriever; and in the absence of any excuse for the delay Cappy Ricks +promptly came to the conclusion that Matt Peasley was ashore in Seattle, +disporting himself after the time-honored custom of deep-sea sailors +home from a long cruise. There could be no other reason for such +flagrant inattention to orders; for, had the man Peasley been ill, the +mate, Murphy, whom the captain vouched for as sober and intelligent, +would have had his superior sent to a hospital and wired the office for +orders. + +"Skinner," said Cappy, "send in a stenographer." + +When the girl appeared Cappy Ricks dictated this wire: + + Captain Matthew Peasley, + Master Barkentine Retriever, + Colman Dock, Seattle, Washington. + + Are you drunk, dead or asleep? You have your orders. Obey + them P.D.Q. or turn over command to Chief Mate Murphy. + + Alden P. Ricks. + +"There!" he shrilled. "I've signed my name to it. Sign a telegram Blue +Star Navigation Company and these infernal skippers think a clerk sent +it; but when they know the boss is on to them they'll jump lively. Bring +me the answer to that as soon as it comes, Skinner." + +However, the answer did not come that day. Indeed, the next day +had almost dragged to a close before Mr. Skinner appeared with this +telegraphic bomb: + + Alden P. Ricks, + 258 California St., + San Francisco. + + Neither! Been waiting my turn to go on dry dock. On now. + Didn't reply yesterday because too busy driving toothpicks in + vessel's bottom to plug up wormholes. If Murphy hadn't hauled + into fresh water last time on Grays Harbor while I was in + Seattle getting my ticket, her bottom would look like a + colander now. Sixteen months in the water. You ought to be + ashamed to treat a good staunch ship like that. Off dock day + after to-morrow; will tow to Tacoma immediately thereafter. + Meantime expect apology for insulting telegram. + + Peasley. + +Sixteen months without dry-docking! Why, her bottom must look like the +devil! Cappy Ricks gazed long and earnestly at his general manager. + +"Skinner," he said, "you're an ass! Why was not this vessel dry-docked +before you sent her to Antofagasta?" + +Mr. Skinner lost his temper. + +"Because I didn't send her to Antofagasta," he replied sharply. "You +did! And the reason she wasn't docked is because there isn't a dock on +Grays Harbor. If you wouldn't interfere in the shipping, Mr. Ricks, and +spoil my plans to satisfy your personal whims, the vessel would never +have gone on that long voyage without being cleaned and painted." + +"Enough!" Cappy half screamed. "It's a disgrace! Not another word, sir! +Not another peep out of you. Why didn't you order the man Peasley to +dock her? Why did you leave the decision to him? He knew his vessel was +foul--he thought we ought to know it, also; and naturally he expected +that when we ordered him to Seattle we would have made arrangements to +put him on dry dock. Instead of which he had to make them himself; and +I'm shown up as a regular, infernal--er--er--baboon! Yes, sir! Regular +baboon! Nice spectacle you've made of me, getting me into a scrape where +I have to apologize to my own captain! Baboon! Huh! Baboon! Yes; you're +the baboon!" + +"Well, I can't think of everything, Mr. Ricks--" + +"Everything! Good Lord, man, if you'd only think of something! Send in a +stenographer." + +Mr. Skinner rang for the girl and retired in high dudgeon, while Cappy +Ricks smote his corrugated brow and brought forth the following: + + Captain Matthew Peasley, + Master Barkentine Retriever, + Hall's Dry Dock, Eagle Harbor, Wash. + + "Yes; that was a grave oversight sending you to Antofagasta + without docking you first. Express my appreciation of Murphy's + forethought in killing some of the worms. Am not kind of owner + that lets a ship go to glory to make dividends. Keep your + vessel in top-notch shape at all times, though I realize this + instruction unnecessary to you. Give the old girl all that is + coming to her, including two coats X. & Y. copper paint. + Replace all planking that looks suspicious. + + Alden P. Ricks. + +"I guess that's friendly enough," he soliloquized. "I think he'll +understand. I don't have to crawl in the dirt to let him know I'm +sorry." + +Cappy had recovered his composure by the following morning and was +addressing Mr. Skinner as "Skinner, my dear boy," when another telegram +from Matt Peasley created a very distinct variation in his mental +compass. It ran as follows: + + Alden P. Ricks, + 258 California St. + San Francisco. + + X. & Y. copper paint no good. That brand used last time; hence + worms got to her quickly. Giving her two coats O. & Z. Costs + more, but does the business. Renewed about a dozen planks. + Repair bill about offsets profit on that infernal nitrate. + Your apology accepted, but do not say that again! + + Peasley. + +"'Your apology is accepted!'" Cappy's voice rose, shrill with anger. +"Why, the infernal--er--er--porpoise! Me apologize to a man I employ! +By jingo, I'd fire him first! Yes, sir--fire him like that!" The old man +snapped his fingers. + +"Really, Skinner, I don't know what I'm going to do about the man +Peasley. I want to befriend him, because he's one of my own people, so +to speak; but I greatly fear, Skinner, I shall have to rough him. Here +he is, disputing with me--with me, Skinner--the relative merits of +copper paint. And not only disputing, sir, but disobeying my specific +instructions. Also, he permits himself the luxury of criticism. +Well! I'll not fire him this time; but, by the gods, I'll give him a +blowing-up he'll remember. Skinner, send in a stenographer." + +"Take letter," the old man ordered presently, and proceeded to dictate: + + Captain Matthew Peasley, + Master Barkentine Retriever, + Care Rainier M. & L. Co., + Tacoma, Washington. + + Sir:--Your night letter of the fifth is before me and treasured + for its unparalleled effrontery. + + Please be advised that in future, when an extraordinary outlay + of cash for your vessel's accounts is contemplated, this office + should first be consulted. When, in your judgment, your vessel + requires docking, repairs, new spars, canvas, and so on, you + will apprise us before proceeding to run up a bill of expense + on your owners. Your business is to navigate your vessel. + Spending money judiciously is a fine art which no sailor, to my + knowledge, has ever acquired. + + Though admitting that the vessel needed docking, I maintain you + should have wired us of that fact, whereupon we would have + ordered you to the dry dock patronized by this company. It is + customary for owners to express a preference for dry docks and + copper paint; and in presuming to go counter to my specific + instructions in the matter of paint you are prejudicing your + future prospects with this company. + + Another exhibition of your arrogance, impudence, general bad + manners and lack of knowledge of the ethics of your profession + will result in prompt dismissal from the service of the Blue + Star Navigation Company. + + Yours, and so on, + Alden P. Ricks, President + + + +CHAPTER XVI. WAR! + + +The receipt of Cappy Ricks' letter actually frightened Matt Peasley for +about thirty seconds. Then he reread the last paragraph. Like a dutiful +servant he forgave Cappy the letter's reference to arrogance, impudence +and general bad manners; but the reference to his lack of knowledge of +the ethics of his profession made him fighting mad. + +Cappy Ricks might just as well have passed him the supreme insult of the +seas: "Aw, go buy a farm!" He showed the letter to Mr. Murphy. + +"Why, that's adding insult to injury!" the mate declared +sympathetically. + +The youthful master threw up both hamlike hands in token of complete +surrender and profound disgust. + +"There's the gratitude of an owner!" he raved. "He wires me my loading +orders and never says a word about docking--though as managing owner +it's up to him to know when the vessel needs docking. I can't plan her +comings and goings so that at the proper time she'll find herself at +a port with a dry dock. Of course when he wired me my loading orders +I realized he wasn't going to dock me; so I took matters into my own +hands. Why, Mike, I wouldn't skipper a ship so foul she can hardly +answer her helm. How could I know he'd forgotten she needed docking? I'm +not a mind reader." + +"I suppose he's been so busy hunting another dirty cargo for us he +hadn't time to think of the vessel," Mr. Murphy sneered, and added: "The +dirty old skin-flint!" + +"Well, I'll just tell Cappy Ricks where to head in!" Matt stormed. "Let +him fire me if he wants to. I don't care to sail a ship--particularly a +dirty ship--for any man who thinks I don't know my business. Mike, I'm +going to send him a telegram that'll burn his meddling old fingers." + +"Give him hell for me!" pleaded Mr. Murphy. "If he fires you I'll quit, +too." + +The result of this colloquy was that Cappy Ricks received this night +letter the following morning: + + Alden P. Ricks, + 258 California St., + San Francisco. + + Referring your letter. Men that taught me nautical ethics + expected things done without orders, minus thanks for doing + them well, plus abuse for doing them poorly. Regard your + criticism as out of place. Am not the seventh son of a seventh + son. How could I know you had overlooked fact that vessel + needed docking? Your business to plan my voyages to get me to + dry-dock port at least once a year. When you wired loading + orders, concluded you were cheap owner; hence decided dock her + without orders. Expect to be fired sooner or later, but will + leave good ship behind me so my successor cannot say, "Peasley + let her run down." Had I waited orders, vessel would have been + ruined. Yet you have not sufficient grace to express your + thanks. Had I not acted in this emergency, you would have + fired me later for incompetence, and blacklisted me for not + telling you what you know you ought to know without being told. + + Referring copper paint, I know from practical experience which + brand is best; you know only what paint dealer tells you. Will + not stand abuse for knowing my business and attending to it + without instructions from landlubber! When you appointed me + you said remember speed synonymous with dividends in shipping + business. How can I make fast passages with whiskers two feet + long on my keel? Send new flying jib and spanker next loading + port. Send new skipper, too, if you feel that way about it. + + Peasley. + +"Well, Skinner," Cappy Ricks declared, "this is the first time a skipper +in my employ ever talked back--and it'll be the last. I've had enough +of this fellow's impudence, Skinner. He's right at that--blast him--but +he's too much of a sea lawyer; and I won't have any employee of mine +telling me how to run my business. Send in a stenographer." + +When the stenographer entered Cappy Ricks said: + +"Ahem-m! Harump-h-h-h! Take telegram: 'Captain Matthew Peasley, care +Rainier Mill and Lumber Company, Tacoma, Washington. You're fired! +Ricks.' Ahem! Huh! Har-ump! Take 'nother telegram: 'Mr. Michael +J. Murphy, First Mate Barkentine Retriever'--same address as +Peasley--'Accept this telegram as your formal appointment to command of +our barkentine, Retriever, vice Matthew Peasley, discharged this day; +forwarding to-morrow certificate of change of master.' Sign that: 'Blue +Star Navigation Company, per Alden P. Ricks,' and get both telegrams on +the wire right away." + +Cappy turned to Mr. Skinner and chuckled sardonically. + +"I'll bet that will gravel the man Peasley," he declared. "There's +nothing harder on a captain than being fired, and succeeded by his +own mate--particularly after he has so recently recommended that mate! +Peasley will be wild--the pup!" + +"Well," Mr. Skinner replied, "appointing Mr. Murphy certainly has this +advantage,--he's there on the ground and we are thus spared the expense +of sending a man from here." + +"That's one of the reasons why I appointed him--one of three very +excellent reasons, in fact. Now we'll wait and see what the man Peasley +has to say to that telegram." + +They had to wait about two hours, and this was what Matt Peasley had to +say: + + "Many thanks. The second mate and the cook quit the minute + they discovered it was to be another cargo of creosoted piling; + and now that I am fired Mr. Murphy has concluded that he might + as well quit also. Will stick by ship, however, until you send + my successor; meantime loading continues as usual." + +"Well, that's what the man Peasley says!" Cappy snapped. "Murphy's quit, +eh? Well, I guess Mr. Murphy hadn't received my telegram when Peasley +sent this message. It'll take more than a cargo of creosoted piling to +keep Murphy out of the master's cabin when he hears from me." + +The stenographer entered with another telegram. + +"Ah!" Cappy remarked, and rubbed his hands together in pleased +anticipation. "I dare say this is from Mr. Murphy." + +It was; and this is what the loyal Murphy had to say: + + "I thank you for the consideration. Very sweet of you; but I + wouldn't work for you again on a bet. You couldn't hand me a + ripe peach! Master or mate, creosote tastes the same to me. + At Captain Peasley's request am staying by vessel until new + master arrives and hires new mate. Would have stuck by vessel + for Old Man's sake if you'd slipped us cargo of uncrated + rattlesnakes; but since I encouraged him to tell you things for + good of your soul and you fired him for it I must decline to + profit by his misfortune." + +Silently Cappy Ricks folded that telegram and laid it on his desk; his +head sagged forward on his breast and he fell to meditating deeply. +Finally he looked up and eyed Mr. Skinner over the rims of his +spectacles. + +"Skinner," he said solemnly, "do you realize, my boy, that we have two +extremely remarkable men on the barkentine Retriever?" + +"They are certainly most remarkably deficient in respect to their +superiors, though in all probability exceedingly capable seamen," Mr. +Skinner answered sympathetically, for he had great veneration for the +creator of the pay roll. + +"I know," Cappy replied sadly; "but then, you know, Skinner, the good +Lord must certainly hate a bootlicker! Skinner, I simply cannot afford +to lose those two damned scoundrels in the Retriever. They're good men! +And a good man who knows he's good will not take any slack from man or +devil; so I cannot afford to lose those two. Skinner, I've got myself +into an awful mess. Here I've been running by dead reckoning and now I'm +on the rocks! What'll I do, Skinner? I'm licked; but, dang it all, sir, +I can't admit it, can I? Isn't there some way to referee this scrap and +call it a draw?" + +"I see no way out of it now except to send another captain to Tacoma." + +"Skinner," he declared, "you're absolutely no use to me in an emergency. +When I made you my general manager, on a bank president's salary, I +thought I'd be able to take it easy for the rest of my life." He +wagged his head sadly. "And what's the result? I work harder than ever. +Skinner, if I hadn't any more imagination than you possess I'd be out +there on the corner of California and Market Streets peddling lead +pencils this minute. Leave this problem to me, Skinner. I suppose I'll +find a way out of it, with entire honor to all concerned. Holy sailor!" +he added. "But that man Murphy is loyal--and loyalty is a pretty scarce +commodity these days, let me tell you!" + + + +CHAPTER XVII. CAPPY FORCES AN ARMISTICE + + +During the week that succeeded, Cappy Ricks did not once mention the +subject of the Retriever and her recalcitrant skipper and mate; and Mr. +Skinner argued from this that all was well. Finally one day Cappy came +into the office and paused beside the general manager's desk. He was +grinning like a boy. + +"Well, Skinner," he piped. "I've just come from the Merchants' Exchange +and I see by the blackboard that our Retriever cleared for Antofagasta +yesterday." + +"Indeed!" Mr. Skinner replied politely. "So you found a captain for her. +Whom did you send?" + +"Nobody," the old man cackled. "Matt Peasley took her out, and the +manager of the Rainier mill wires me that Murphy went with him as chief +kicker. What do you think of that?" + +"Why, I'm--er--satisfied if you are, sir." + +"Well, you can bet I'm satisfied. If I wasn't I'd have a revenue cutter +out after the man Peasley and his mate right now. By golly, Skinner," he +piped, and slapped his wizened flank, "I tell you I've worked this deal +pretty slick, if I do say it myself. And all on dead reckoning--dead +reckoning, and not a single day of demurrage!" + +"Oh! So you wired Peasley and the mate and asked them to go back to work +and forget they were discharged?" Mr. Skinner suggested witheringly. + +"Skinner, on my word, you grow worse every day. You've been with me, man +and boy, twenty-odd years, and in all that time you never saw anybody +cover me with blood, did you?" + +"No, sir." + +"And you never will. Why, I managed this affair by simply forgetting all +about it! When you're in a jam, Skinner, always let the other fellow +do the talking. I just sat tight until I had a telegram from the man +Peasley, informing me that the vessel would be loaded in two days and +that his successor had not appeared as yet. I threw that telegram in my +wastebasket; and when the vessel was loaded I had another telegram from +Peasley, saying that the vessel was loaded, that his successor was still +missing, and the mill manager was kicking and insisting that the ship be +hauled away from the dock to make room for a steam schooner which wanted +to load. So I filed that telegram in the wastebasket also. It was a +night letter, delivered in the morning. + +"When Peasley didn't get an answer by noon he wired again, saying that, +as a favor to me, he would haul the Retriever into the stream, but would +accept no responsibility for delay thereafter. He said further that, as +a courtesy to me and his successor, he was shipping a crew that day +in order that there might be no delay in sailing when the new captain +arrived; so I thought I had better reply to that telegram, Skinner--and +I did!" + +"What did you say, Mr. Ricks?" + +"I said: 'Please do not annoy me with your telegrams. You were fired +a week ago, but it seems difficult for you to realize that fact. If +demurrage results through my failure to get new skipper there in time, +that is no skin off your nose. Your pay goes on until you are relieved, +and you will be relieved when I get good and ready.' That telegram +did the business, Skinner. He received it the day before yesterday and +yesterday he towed out!" + +Cappy Ricks burst into a shrill senile cackle that was really good to +hear. As they grow old most men lose that capacity for a hearty laugh, +but Cappy's perversity had kept him young at heart. The tears of mirth +cascaded down his seamed old countenance now, and he had to sit down and +have his laugh out. + +"Oh, thunder!" he panted. "Really, Skinner--there's so much fun in +business I wonder why a man can retire--just because he's made his pile! +Skinner, I had it on the man Peasley a thousand miles--and he never +guessed it! Dear, dear me! You see, Skinner, when he wired me he would +not accept responsibility for demurrage to the vessel after she was +loaded and hauled into the stream, he forgot that he had to accept +responsibility for the vessel himself until his successor should arrive! + +"Of course, the man Murphy could quit any time he desired; but if the +skipper deserted the ship before being properly relieved, and then +something happened to the vessel and I preferred charges against him, +the inspectors might be induced to revoke his license--and he realized +that. The knowledge made him hopping mad, Skinner; and when he got my +telegram I knew he would begin to figure out some plan to make me +mad! And, of course, I knew Murphy would help him out--the Irish are +imaginative and vindictive; and--oh, dear me, Skinner--read that!" And +Cappy handed his general manager the following telegram: + + You are right. I will be relieved when I get good and ready, + and I will not be ready until I get back from Antofagasta. + Shipped crew yesterday afternoon. All arrived drunk. Next + morning all hands sober. Realizing predicament, riot resulted. + Fearing lose crew, Murphy and I manhandled and locked in + fo'castle. When your telegram arrived it found Murphy minus + front tooth, myself black eye. Can stand injury, but not + insult. Hence you are stuck with us for another voyage, + whether you want us or not. Will have towed out by time you + receive this. Go to Halifax! + + Peasley. + +Mr. Skinner's face was cold and austere as he handed this telegram back +to Cappy. + +"So you made peace with honor, eh?" he sneered. + +"Peace your grandmother!" Cappy chirped. "This war goes on until I get +a letter from the man Peasley. Skinner, he and Murphy think they've done +something wonderfully brilliant. When I wired him he would be relieved +when I got good and ready it did him an awful lot of good to throw the +words back in my face. Sure, Skinner! They think they're giving Cappy +Ricks the merry ha-ha!" + +"Well, of course, sir,"' said Mr. Skinner, "if this sort of horseplay +is your fun--if it's your notion of business--I have no comment. You own +fifteen-sixteenths of the Retriever, and you can afford to pay for your +fancies; but if it was the last act of my life I'd fire that man Peasley +in Callao and let him get home as best he could." + +"Yes; I know," Cappy replied bitterly. "You fired him in Cape Town +once--and how did he come home? He came home in the cabin of the +Retriever--that's how he came home; and the Terrible Swede I sent to +thrash him and fire him came home under hatches. Yes; you'd do a lot of +things, Skinner--in your mind." + +Mr. Skinner pounded his desk savagely. Cappy's retort made him boiling +mad. + +"Well, I'll bet I'd do something," he rasped. "I'd make that bucko +suffer or I'd know the reason why." + +"Skinner, that's just what we're going to do--just what we're doing, in +fact. One of my ancestors sailed with the late John Paul Jones and ever +since the Ricks' family motto has been: 'I have not yet begun to fight.' +Now listen to reason, Skinner. The Retriever just came off dry-dock, +didn't she? Well, it stands to reason she was dirty after that last +cargo of creosoted piling; and it stands to reason, also, that the man +Peasley slicked her up with white paint until she looked like an Easter +bride. A Scandinavian doesn't give a hoot if his vessel is tight, well +found and ready for sea; but a Yankee takes a tremendous pride in +his ship and likes to keep her looking like a yacht. And just think, +Skinner, how the man Peasley must have felt when he came off dry dock, +all clean and nice, and then had to slop her up with another cargo of +creosoted piling? Just think of that, Skinner!" and again he commenced +his insane cackle. + +"I have other, and more important things to think about," Mr. Skinner +retorted icily. As a business man he was opposed to levity in the +office. "What are your plans with reference to the Retriever? Do you +wish to bring her back from Antofagasta in ballast?" + +"Why, certainly not. Hunt a cargo for her, Skinner. We might just as +well let the man Peasley know that though he's gone he's not forgotten. +Use the cable freely and see if you can't pick up something for the +return trip that will make those two firebrands sick at the stomach." + +A month later Mr. Skinner stepped into Cappy's sanctum. + +"Well," he announced. "I've got a return cargo for the Retriever." + +"What have you got?" Cappy demanded anxiously; and Mr. Skinner told him. + +"No?" said Cappy incredulously. + +"Yes!" Mr. Skinner assured him. + +Cappy's laughter testified to his hearty approval. + +"Skinner, my dear boy," he cried. "I don't know what I'd do without +you." + +And then he laid his wicked old head on his desk and laughed until he +wept. Indeed, Mr. Skinner so far forgot his code as to laugh with him. + +"We'll stink those two vagabonds--those maritime outlaws--out of the +ship," he declared. + + + +CHAPTER XVIII. THE WAR IS RENEWED + + +The belief that they had come off victorious in their skirmish with +Cappy Ricks cheered Matt Peasley and his mate for the first two weeks +out from Puget Sound; after which the creosote commenced to season their +food, and then the victory began to take on the general appearance of +a vacuum. However, thanks to a clean keel and fair winds, they made a +smashing passage and their sufferings were not unduly prolonged. + +Immediately on his arrival at Antofagasta the young skipper reported by +cable to his owners, thereby eliciting the following reply from Cappy +Ricks: + + "You stole ship. If you value your ticket bring her back with + cargo agent provides." + +Naturally this somewhat cryptic cablegram roused Matt Peasley's +curiosity. He could not rest until he had interviewed the agent--and +after that sop to his inquisitiveness he returned to the Retriever +a broken man. The loyal and disgusted Murphy read the trouble in the +master's face. + +"What new deviltry's afoot now, Matt?" he demanded, in his eagerness and +sympathy forgetting the respect due his superior. + +"Green hides, Mike!" the skipper answered, in his distress failing to +notice the mate's faux pas and making one himself. "Green hides, old +pal; and they stink something horrible. Back to Seattle with the dirty +mess, and then another cargo of creosoted--" + +"King's X!" yelled Mr. Murphy. "I crossed my fingers the minute your +face appeared over the rail. I quit--and I quit as soon as this piling +is out. I tell you I won't keep company with green hides. No, sir; I +won't. I tell you I will--not--do it! Why, we might as well have a dead +hog in the hold! Captain Matt, I hate to throw you down in a foreign +port; but this--is absolutely--the finish!" + +"Do you value your ticket, Mike?" the captain queried ominously. + +"What's a ticket when a man's lost his self-respect?" Mr. Murphy raved. + +Matt handed him Cappy's cablegram and the mate read it. + +"I think that bet goes double, Mike," the skipper warned him. "You +signed for the round trip. I've got to go through--and there's strength +in numbers." + +"Well," said Mr. Murphy reluctantly, "I suppose I do attach a +certain--er--sentimental value to my ticket." + +"I thought you would. Cappy's got us by the short hair, Mike; and the +only thing to do is to fly to it, with all sails set. We must never let +on he's given us anything out of the ordinary." + +Mr. Murphy shivered; for, as Cappy had remarked to Mr. Skinner, the mate +was Irish, hence imaginative. He imagined he smelled the green hides +already, and quite suddenly he gagged and sprang for the rail. Poor +fellow! He had stood much of late and his stomach was a trifle sensitive +from a diet of creosote straight. + +Somehow they got the awful cargo aboard, though, at that, there were +not sufficient hides to half load her; in consequence of which all hands +realized that Cappy had merely given them this dab of freight to sicken +them. They cursed him all the way back to Seattle, where the crew quit +the minute the vessel was made fast to the dock. + + + +CHAPTER XIX. CAPPY SEEKS PEACE + + +"Here's a telegram for you, sir," Mr. Murphy remarked when Matt Peasley +came aboard after cashing a draft on the Blue Star Navigation Company to +pay off his crew. It proved to be from Cappy Ricks and said merely: + +"Discharge that cargo of hides or take the consequences!" + +"The old sinner thought I'd dog it, I suppose," Matt sneered, as he +passed the message to Mr. Murphy, who shivered as he read it. "I guess +you're elected, Mike," the skipper continued. "The second mate has quit. +However, it isn't going to be very hard on you this time. I was speaking +to the skipper of that schooner in the berth ahead of us, and he gave me +a recipe for killing the perfume of a cargo of green hides." + +"If he'd given it to us in Antofagasta, I'd name a ship after him some +day," Mr. Murphy mourned. + +"Well, we've gotten it in time to be of some use," Matt declared. "You +don't suppose I'm going to let this old snoozer Ricks get away with the +notion that he put one over on us, do you? Shall we haul Old Glory down? +No! Never! I'll just switch off the laughing gas on Cappy Ricks," and +the young skipper went ashore and wired his managing owner as follows: + + "Green hides are the essence of horror if you do not know how + to handle them. Fortunately I do. Pour water on a green hide + and you muzzle the stink. I judge from your last telegram you + thought you handed me something." + +When Cappy Ricks got that telegram he flew into a rage and refused to +believe Matt Peasley's statement until he had first called up a dealer +in hides and confirmed it. The entire office staff wondered all that day +what made Cappy so savage. + +By the following day, however, Cappy's naturally optimistic nature had +reasserted itself. He admitted to himself that he had fanned out, but +still the knowledge brought him some comfort. + +"He's walloped me so," Cappy soliloquized, "he just can't help writing +and crowing about it. If I didn't do anything else I bet I've pried +a letter out of him. It certainly will be a comfort to see something +except a telegram and a statement of account from that fellow." + +However, when the report of the voyage arrived, Mr. Skinner reported +that it contained no letter. Cappy's face reflected his disappointment. + +"I guess you'll have to go stronger than green hides to get a yelp out +of that fellow," Mr. Skinner predicted. + +"Why, there isn't anything stronger than a cargo of green hides, +Skinner," Cappy declared thoughtfully. He clawed his whiskers a moment. +Then: "What have you got for her on the Sound, Skinner?" + +"Nothing nasty, sir. We'll have to give him a regular cargo this +time--that is, unless he quits. I've got a cargo for Sydney, ready at +our own mill at Port Hadlock." + +"Well, he hasn't resigned yet," Cappy declared; "so we might as well +beat him to it. Wire him, Skinner, to tow to our mill at Port Hadlock +and load for Sydney. If he believes we're willing to call this thing +a dead heat he may conclude to stick. Tell him this is a nice cargo." +Again Cappy clawed his whiskers. "Sydney, eh?" he said musingly. "That's +nice! We can send him over to Newcastle from there to pick up a cargo +of coal, and maybe he'll come home afire! If we can't hand him a stink, +Skinner, we'll put a few gray hairs in his head." + +These instructions Mr. Skinner grudgingly complied with; and Matt +Peasley, with his hatches wide open and buckets of punk burning in the +hold to dispel the lingering fragrance of his recent cargo--concluding +that, on the whole, he and Mr. Murphy had come through the entire affair +very handsomely indeed--towed down to Hadlock and commenced to take on +cargo. If Cappy Ricks was willing to declare a truce then Matt Peasley +would declare one too. + +Matt's peaceful acquiescence in his owner's program merely served to +arouse Cappy Ricks' abnormal curiosity. The more he thought of Matt +Peasley the greater grew his desire for a closer scrutiny. The most +amazing man in the world had been in his employ a year and a half, and +as yet they had never met; unless the Retriever should happen to be +loaded for San Francisco years might elapse before they should see each +other; and now that he had attained to his allotted three score years +and ten Cappy decided that he could no longer gamble on the future. + +He summoned Mr. Skinner. + +"Skinner, my dear boy," he announced with the naive simplicity that +made him so lovable. "I suppose it's very childish of me, but I have a +tremendous desire to see this extraordinary fellow Peasley." + +"You can afford to satisfy your slightest whim, Mr. Ricks," he replied. +"I'll load her for San Francisco after she returns from Australia. I +daresay if he ever gets through the Golden Gate he'll call up at the +office." + +"Skinner, I can't wait that long. Many things may happen. Ahem! +Harump-h-h-h! Wire the man Peasley, Skinner, to have his photograph +taken and forwarded to me immediately charging expense." + +"Very well, sir," Mr. Skinner responded. + +"Well, I'll be keel-hauled and skull-dragged," Matt Peasley declared to +Mr. Murphy. "Here's a telegram from the owners demanding my photograph." + +Mr. Murphy read the amazing message, scratched his raven poll, and +declared his entire willingness to be damned. + +"It's a trap," he announced presently. "Don't send it. Matt, you look +about twenty years old and for the next few years, if you expect to +work under the Blue Star flag, you must remember your face isn't your +fortune. You've got to be pickled in salt for twenty years to please +Cappy Ricks. If he sees your photograph he'll fire you, Matt. I know +that old crocodile. All he wants is an excuse to give you the foot, +anyhow." + +"But he's ordered me to send it, Mike. How am I going to get out of it?" + +As has been stated earlier in this tale, Mr. Murphy had an imagination. + +"Go over into the town, sir," he said, "and in any photograph gallery +you can pick up a picture of some old man. Write your name across it and +send it to Cappy. He'll be just as happy, then, as though he had good +sense." + +"By George, I'll just do that!" Matt declared, and forthwith went +ashore. + +He sought the only photographer in Port Hadlock. At the entrance to the +shop he found a glass case containing samples of the man's art, and was +singularly attracted to the photograph of a spruce little old gentleman +in a Henry Clay collar, long mutton-chop whiskers, and spectacles. + +Moreover, to Matt's practiced eye, this individual seemed to savor of +a Down-Easter. He was just the sort of man one might expect to bear the +name of Matthew Peasley; so the captain mounted the stairs and sought +the proprietor, from whom he purchased the picture in question for the +trifling sum of fifty cents. Then he bore it away to the Retriever, +scrawled his autograph across the old gentleman's hip and mailed the +picture to Cappy Ricks. + + + +CHAPTER XX. PEACE AT LAST! + + +Mr. Skinner entered Cappy Ricks' office bearing an envelope marked +"Photo. Do not crush or bend!" From the announcement in the upper +right-hand corner the general manager deduced that the photograph was +from Matt Peasley. + +"Well, here's Captain Peasley's picture, Mr. Ricks," he announced. + +"Ah! Splendid. Prompt, isn't he?" Cappy tore open the envelope, drew +forth the photograph, scrutinized it carefully and then laid it +face down on his desk, while he got out his spectacles, cleaned them +carefully, adjusted them and gazed at the photograph once more. + +"Ahem! Hu-m-m-m! Harump-h-h-h! Well, Skinner, life is certainly full of +glad surprises," he announced presently, and added--"particularly where +that man Peasley is concerned. I never did see the beat of that fellow." + +"May I see his photograph, sir?" Mr. Skinner pleaded. + +"Certainly," and Cappy passed it to the general manager, who glanced +once at it and smiled down whimsically at Cappy. + +"Yes, I agree with you, Mr. Ricks," he said. "Of all the surprises that +man Peasley has handed us, this is the greatest." + +Cappy nodded and smiled a little prescient smile. "Skinner," he said, +"send in a stenographer. I'm going to send him a telegram." + +He did. Matt Peasley blinked when he got it, and for the first time +since he had commenced exchanging telegrams and cablegrams with the +peculiar Mr. Ricks he was thoroughly non-plussed--so much so, in fact, +that he called his right bower, Michael J. Murphy, into consultation. + +"Mike," he said, and handed the mate the telegram, "what in the world do +you suppose the old duffer means by that?" + +Mr. Murphy read: + + "Matt, I always knew you were young, but I had no suspicion you + were a child in arms until I received your photograph." + +"Serves you right," the mate declared. "I told you to send the photo of +an OLD man." + +"But I did, Mike. I sent him a picture of an old pappy-guy sort of man, +with long, mutton-chop whiskers, glasses and an old-fashioned collar as +tall as the taffrail." + +"It beats my time then what he's driving at, Captain Matt. But then one +can never tell what Cappy Ricks is up to. I've heard he's a great +hand to have his little joke, so I daresay that telegram is meant for +sarcasm." + +Matt had a horrifying inspiration. "I know what's wrong," he cried +bitterly. "He thinks I'm so old I ought to be retired, and that telegram +is in the nature of a hint that a letter, asking for my resignation, is +on the way now." + +"Why--why--why?" Mr. Murphy stuttered, "did you send him the picture of +Methuselah himself? Heaven's sake, skipper, there's a happy medium, you +know. I meant for you to pick yourself out a man of about fifty-five, +and here you've slipped him a patriarch of ninety. Sarcasm! I should say +so." + +They stared at each other a few seconds; then Mr. Murphy had an equally +disturbing inspiration. + +"By Neptune!" he suggested, "maybe you sent him the picture of somebody +he knows!" + +"Well, in that case, Mike, I'm not going to hang on the hook of +suspicion. Maybe I can find out whose picture I sent," and away Matt +went up town to the photograph gallery. When he returned ten minutes +later Mr. Murphy, sighting him a block in the offing, knew the skipper +of the barkentine Retriever for a broken man! Beyond doubt he had +shipped a full cargo of grief. + +"Well?" he queried as Matt hove alongside. "Did you find out?" + +Matt nodded gloomily. + +"Who?" Mr. Murphy demanded peremptorily. + +"Cappy Ricks!" Matt almost wailed. + +"NO!" Mr. Murphy roared. + +"Yes! The old scoundrel was up here three years ago, visiting this +mill--you know, Mike, he owns it--and the Retriever was here loading at +the time. He and Captain Kendall were close friends, and they went over +to that photograph shop, had their pictures taken and swapped--and like +a poor, helpless, luckless boob I had to come along and buy the sample +picture the photographer hung in his case. It never occurred to me to +ask questions--and I might have known nobody but a prominent citizen +ever gets into a show-case--" + +"Glory, glory, hallelujah," Mr. Murphy crooned in a deep, chain-locker +voice, and fled from the skipper's wrath. + +An hour later, in the privacy of his cabin, Matt Peasley took his pen in +hand and wrote to Cappy Ricks: + + Mr. Alden P. Ricks, + Dear Sir:-- + + I herewith tender my resignation as master of the barkentine + Retriever, same to take effect on my return from Sydney--or + before I sail, if you desire. If I do not hear from you before + I sail I shall assume that it will be all right to quit when I + get back from Australia. + + I will not be twenty-three years old until the Fourth of July. + I was afraid you wouldn't trust me with a big ship like the + Retriever if you knew; so I sent you a photograph I purchased + for fifty cents from the local photographer. I guess that's + all--except that you couldn't find a better man to take my + place than Mr. Murphy. He has had the experience. + + Yours truly, + Matt Peasley. + +There were tears in his eyes as he dropped that letter into the +mail box. The Blue Star Navigation Company owned the Retriever, +but--but--well she was Matt Peasley's ship and he loved her as men learn +to love their homes. It broke his heart to think of giving her up. + +"Skinner," said Cappy Ricks, "I've got a letter from the man Peasley +at last; and now, by golly, I can quit and take a vacation. Send in +a stenographer." The stenographer entered. "Take telegram--direct +message," he ordered, and commenced to dictate: + + Captain Matthew Peasley, + + Your resignation accepted. You are too almighty good for a + windjammer, Matthew. You need more room for the development of + your talent. Give Murphy the ship, with my compliments, and + tell him I've enjoyed the fight because it went to a knock-out. + Report to me at this office as soon as possible. You belong + in steam. A second mate's berth waiting for you. In a year + you will be first mate of steam; a year later you will be + master of steam, at two-fifty a month, and I will have a + four-million-foot freighter waiting for you if you make good. + The picture was a bully joke; but I could not laugh, Matt. It + is so long since I was a boy. + + Cappy. + +"Send that right away, like a good girl," he ordered. "He's about loaded +and he may have towed out before the telegram reaches him. Or, better +still, send the message in duplicate--one copy to the mill and the other +in care of the custom-house at Port Townsend. He'll have to touch in +there to clear the ship." + +He walked into Mr. Skinner's office. + +"Skinner," he said, "Murphy has the Retriever, and you're in charge of +the shipping. Attend to the transfer of authority before she gets out of +the Sound." + + + +CHAPTER XXI. MATT PEASLEY MEETS A TALKATIVE STRANGER + + +Cappy Ricks' telegram to Matt, in care of the mill at Port Hadlock, +arrived several hours after the Retriever, fully loaded with fir lumber, +had been snatched away from the mill dock by a tug and started on her +long tow to Dungeness, where the hawser would be cast off. It was +not until the vessel came to a brief anchorage in the strait off Port +Townsend, the port of entry to Puget Sound, and Matt went ashore +to clear his ship, that the duplicate telegram sent in care of the +Collector of the Port, was handed to him. + +He read and reread it. The news it contained seemed too good to be true. + +"I guess I won't clear her after all," he announced to the deputy +collector. + +The official nodded. "I didn't think you would," he replied. "I have +a telegram from the custom-house at San Francisco, apprising me that +Michael J. Murphy has been appointed master of the Retriever, so if +she's to be cleared Captain Murphy will have to do the job." + +"He's my mate, and if you'll wait about half an hour I'll go get the old +Siwash," Matt replied happily, and started back to the Retriever in a +hurry. He had been gone less than twenty minutes, a fact noted by the +astute Murphy, who met his superior at the rail as the latter climbed up +the Jacob's ladder. + +"Why, you haven't cleared the old girl so soon, have you, sir?" he +queried. + +"Read that," Matt announced dramatically. + +Mr. Murphy read the telegram. "Bust my bob-stay!" he murmured. "The +dirty old assassin! The slimy old pile-worm! The blessed old duffer! +After treating us like dogs for a year and a half he gives me the ship, +sets you down for a two year apprenticeship in steam and says he's +going to build you a four-million-foot freighter! The scoundrelly old +renegade! Why, say, Matt, Cappy's been spilling the acid all over us and +we never knew it. Somehow, I have a notion that if we had yelled murder +when he was beating us he'd have had us both out of his employ while +you'd be saying Jack Robinson." + +"I believe you, Mike. But he needn't think he's going to grab two years +of my precious young life before he'll trust me with a steamer. I have +an unlimited license for sail, and if I can pass the examination for +steam before the inspectors--and I can--I'll get my license immediately. +Just consider the old boy's inconsistency, Mike. If a man can handle a +square-rigged ship he ought to be trusted with anything; yet, when +he gives me a steamer you'd think he was giving me a man's job! Fair +weather or foul, you stand on the bridge and control your vessel with +the engine room telegraph. Shucks! I wonder if that crotchety old joker +thinks it will take me two years to learn how to dock a steam schooner?" + +Mr. Murphy hitched his trousers, stuck his thumbs in his belt and glared +at Matt Peasley. "See here, you," he declared, "you're a child wonder, +all right, but the trouble with you is, you hate yourself too much. +Listen to me, kid. I'm the skipper of the Retriever now and you're my +friend, young Matt Peasley, so I can talk to you as a friend. You're a +pretty skookum youth and I'd hate like everything to mix it with you, +but if you start to veto the old man's orders you may look for a fine +thrashing from me when I get back from Australia! I won't have you +making a damned fool of yourself, Matt. If you are in command of a +four-million-foot freighter by the time you're twenty-seven, you'll be +the youngest skipper of steam afloat, and you ought to be down on your +marrow bones giving thanks to the good Lord who has done so much for +you, instead of planning insurrection against Cappy Ricks. The idea!" + +"But what sense is there in waiting--" + +"When I refereed the scrap between you and All Hands And Feet you took +my advice, didn't you? You didn't say to me then: 'What sense is there +in waiting? Let me go in and finish the job and have done with it,' did +you?" + +"But this is business, Mike. For a year and a half Cappy has been having +a whole lot of fun out of me--" + +"It might have been fun for him, but it came pretty near being the +death of me," Mr. Murphy contradicted. "If that jag of green hides from +Antofagasta was a joke, beware of Cappy Ricks when he's serious. He's +serious about you, Matt. He's picked on you sight unseen, and he's going +to do something for you. He's an old man, Matt. Let him have his way and +you'll profit by it." + +"Well, I'll see what he has to say, at any rate," Matt compromised, and +they went below, Matt to pack his sea chest and Mr. Murphy to shave and +array himself in a manner befitting the master of a big barkentine about +to present himself at the custom-house for the first time to clear his +ship. + +An hour later Matt Peasley found himself sitting on his sea chest on the +cap of the wharf, watching the Retriever slipping down the strait under +command of Captain Michael J. Murphy, while a new chief mate, shipped in +Port Townsend, counted off the watches. Presently she turned a bend and +was gone; and immediately he felt like a homeless wanderer. The thought +of the doughty Murphy in that snug little cabin so long sacred to Matt +Peasley brought a pang of near jealousy to the late commander of the +Retriever; as he reflected on the two years of toil ahead of him before +men would again address him as Captain Peasley, he wondered whether the +game really would be worth the candle; for he had all of a Down-Easter's +love for a sailing ship. + +He recalled to mind Mr. Murphy's favorite story of the old sailing +skipper who went into steam and who, during his very first watch on the +steamship's bridge, ordered the man at the wheel to starboard his helm, +and then forgot to tell him to steady it--the consequence being that +the helmsman held hard-a-starboard and the ship commenced to describe +a circle; whereupon the old sailing skipper got excited and screamed: +"Back that main yard!" Matt felt that should anything like that happen +to him in steam and the news should ever leak out, he would have to go +back to the Atlantic Coast rather than face the gibes of his shipmates +on the Pacific. + +The passenger boat from Victoria picked him up and set him down in +Seattle that night, and the following morning he boarded a train for San +Francisco to report to Cappy Ricks. + +At luncheon in the dining car that day Matt Peasley found himself seated +opposite a man who had boarded the train with him at Seattle. As the +young captain plied his knife and fork he was aware that this +person's gaze rested with something more than casual interest on +his--Matt's--left forearm; whereupon the latter realized that his +vis-a-vis yearned to see more of a little decoration which, in the pride +of his first voyage, Matt had seen fit to have tattooed on the aforesaid +forearm by the negro cook. So, since he was the best-natured young man +imaginable, Matt decided presently to satiate his neighbor's curiosity. + +"It's a lady climbing a ladder," he announced composedly and drew back +his sleeve to reveal this sample of black art. "I have a shield and an +eagle on my breast and a bleeding heart, with a dagger stuck through it, +on my right forearm." + +"I didn't mean to be rude," the other answered, flushing a little. "I +couldn't help noticing the chorus lady's shapely calves when you speared +that last pickle; so I knew you were a sailor. I concluded you were an +American sailor before I learned that you advertise the fact on your +breast, and I was wondering whether you belong in the navy or the +merchant marine." + +"I'm from blue water," Matt replied pleasantly. "You're in the shipping +business, I take it." + +"Almost--I'm a ship, freight and marine insurance broker." And the +stranger handed over a calling card bearing the name of Mr. Allan Hayes. +"I'm from Seattle." + +"Peasley is my name, Mr. Hayes," Matt answered heartily, glad of this +chance acquaintance with a man with whom he could converse on a subject +of mutual interest. "I haven't any post-office address," he added +whimsically. + +"Going over to Columbia River to join your ship, I daresay," Mr. Hayes +suggested. + +"No, sir. I'm bound for San Francisco, to get a job in steam and work up +to a captaincy." + +"Wherein you show commendable wisdom, Mr. Peasley," the broker answered. +"A man can get so far in a windjammer--a hundred a month in the little +coasting schooners and a hundred and twenty-five in the big vessels +running foreign--and there he sticks. In steam schooners a good man can +command two hundred dollars a month, with a chance for promotion into a +big freighter, for the reason that in steam one has more opportunity to +show the stuff that's in one." + +"How far are you going?" Matt demanded. + +"I'm bound for San Francisco too." + +"Good!" Matt replied, for, like most boys, he was a gregarious animal, +and Mr. Hayes seemed to be a pleasant, affable gentleman. "I suppose you +know most of the steam vessels on this coast?" he continued, anxious +to turn the conversation into channels that might be productive of +information valuable to him in his new line of endeavor. + +Mr. Hayes nodded. "I have to," he said, "if I'm to do any business +negotiating charters; in fact, I'm bound to San Francisco now to charter +two steamers." + +"Freight or passenger?" + +"Freight. There's nothing for a broker in a passenger vessel. I'm +scouting for two boats for the Mannheim people. You've heard of them, of +course. They own tremendous copper mines in Alaska, but they can't seem +to get the right kind of flux to smelt their ore up there; so they're +going to freight it down to their smelter in Tacoma." + +"I see. But how do you work the game to pay your office rent?" + +"Why, that's very simple, Mr. Peasley. Their traffic manager merely +calls me up and tells me to find two ore freighters for him. He doesn't +know where to look for them, but he knows I do, and that it will not +cost him anything to engage me to find them for him. Well, I locate the +vessels and when I come to terms with the owners, and those terms are +satisfactory to my clients, I close the charter and the vessel owners +pay me a commission of two and a half per cent. on all the freight money +earned under the charter. A shipowner generally is glad to pay a broker +a commission for digging him up business for his ships--particularly +when freights are dull." + +Matt Peasley nodded his comprehension and did some quick mental +arithmetic. + +"Why, you'll make a nice little fee on those ore boats," he said. "I +suppose it's a time charter." + +"Four years," Mr. Hayes replied, and smiled fatly at the thought of his +income. "Of course I'd make a larger commission if the freight rate was +figured on a tonnage basis; but on long charters, like these I mention, +the ships are rented at a flat rate a day or month. Say, for instance, +I negotiate these charters at the rate of four hundred dollars a day, or +eight hundred dollars a day for the two boats. Two and a half per cent. +of eight hundred dollars is twenty dollars a day, which I will earn as +commission every day for the next four years that the vessels are not in +dry dock or laid up for repairs." + +"And you probably will earn that by one day of labor," Matt Peasley +murmured admiringly--"perhaps one hour of actual labor!" + +Mr. Hayes smiled again his fat smile. He shrugged. + +"That's business," he said carelessly. "An ounce of promotion is worth a +ton of horse power." + +"Well, I should say so, Mr. Hayes! But you'll have quite a search to +find an ore boat on the Pacific Coast. There are some coal boats running +to Coos Bay, but they're hardly big enough; and then I suppose they're +kept pretty busy in the coal trade, aren't they? It seems to me that +what you need for your business would be two of those big steel ore +vessels, with their engines astern--the kind they use on the Great +Lakes." + +"That is exactly why I am going to San Francisco, Mr. Peasley. There are +on this Coast two ships such as you describe--sister ships and just what +the doctor ordered." + +"What are their names?" + +"The Lion and the Unicorn." + +Matt Peasley paused, with a forkful of provender halfway to his mouth. +The S.S. Lion, eh? Why, that was one of Cappy Ricks' vessels! He +remembered passing her off Cape Flattery once and seeing the Blue Star +house flag fluttering at the fore. + +"Were they Lake boats originally?" he queried. + +Mr. Hayes nodded. + +"What are they doing out here?" + +"Right after the San Francisco fire, when fir lumber jumped from a +twelve-dollar base to twenty-five, lumber freights soared accordingly," +Hayes explained. "Vessels that had been making a little money at +four dollars a thousand feet, from Oregon and Washington ports to San +Francisco, were enabled to get ten dollars; and anything that would +float was hauled out of the bone yard and put to work. Old Man Ricks, of +the Blue Star Navigation Company, was the first to see the handwriting +on the wall; so he sneaked East and bought the Lion and the Unicorn. +It was just the old cuss's luck to have a lot of cash on hand; and he +bought them cheap, loaded them with general cargo in New York, and paid +a nice dividend on them on their very first voyage under the Blue Star +flag. When he got them on the Coast he put them into the lumber trade +and they paid for themselves within a year. + +"Then, just before the panic of 1907, old Ricks unloaded the Unicorn on +the Black Butte Company for ten thousand dollars more than he paid +for her--the old scamp! He's the shrewdest trader on the whole Pacific +Coast. He had no sooner sawed the Unicorn off on the Black Butte people +than the freight market collapsed in the general crash, and ever since +then the owners of the Lion and the Unicorn have been stuck with their +vessels. They're so big it's next to impossible to keep them running +coastwise in the lumber trade during a dull period, and they're not +big enough for the foreign trade. About the only thing they could do +profitably was to freight coal, coal freights have dropped until the +margin of profit is very meager; competition is keen and for the last +six months the Lion and the Unicorn have been laid up." + +Matt Peasley smiled. + +"They'll be hungry for the business," he said, "and I'm sailor enough to +see you'll be able to drive a bargain without much trouble." + +"I ought to get them pretty cheap," Mr. Hayes admitted. "As you perhaps +know, a vessel deteriorates faster when laid up than she does in active +service; and an owner will do almost anything to keep her at sea, +provided he can make a modest rate of interest on her cost price or +present market value." + +"Naturally," Matt Peasley observed as they rose from the table. + +He purchased a cigar for Mr. Hayes, and as they retired to the buffet +car to continue their acquaintance something whispered to Matt not to +divulge to this somewhat garrulous stranger the news that he was a sea +captain lately in the employ of the Blue Star Navigation Company and +soon to enter that employ again. He had learned enough to realize that +Cappy's bank roll was threatened by this man from Seattle; that with +his defenses leveled, as it were, the old gentleman would prove an easy +victim unless warned of the impending attack. + +Therefore, since Matt had not sought Mr. Hayes' confidence nor accepted +it under a pledge of secrecy, he decided that there could be nothing +unethical in taking advantage of it. Plainly the broker had jumped to +the conclusion that Matt was a common sailor--above the average in point +of intelligence, but so young and unsophisticated that one need +not bother to be reserved or cautious in his presence. Some vague +understanding of this had come to Matt Peasley; hence throughout the +remainder of the journey his conversations with the broker bore on every +other subject under heaven except ships and shipowners. + + + +CHAPTER XXII. FACE TO FACE + + +In his private office Cappy Ricks sat on his spine, with his old legs on +his desk and his head sunk forward on his breast. His eyes were closed; +to the casual observer he would have appeared to be dozing. Any one of +his employees, however, would have known Cappy was merely thinking. It +was his habit to close his eyes and sit very still whenever he faced a +tussle with a tough proposition. + +Presently an unmistakably feminine kiss, surreptitiously delivered, +roused Cappy from his meditations. He opened his eyes and beheld his +daughter Florence, a radiant debutante of twenty, and the sole prop of +her eccentric parent's declining years. + +"Daddy dear," she announced, "there's something wrong with my bank +account. I've just come from the Marine National Bank and they wouldn't +cash my check." + +"Of course not," Cappy replied, beaming affectionately. "They telephoned +about five minutes ago that you're into the red again; so I've +instructed Skinner to deposit five thousand to your credit." + +"Oh, but I want ten thousand!" she protested. + +"Can't have it, Florry!" he declared. "The old limousine will have to +do. Go slow, my dear--go slow! Why, they're offering random cargoes +freely along the street for nine dollars. Logs cost six dollars, with a +dollar and a half to manufacture--that's seven and a half; and three and +a half water freight added--that's eleven dollars. Eleven-dollar lumber +selling for nine dollars, and no business at that! I haven't had a +vessel dividend in six months--" + +Mr. Skinner entered. + +"Mr. Ricks," he announced, "Captain Peasley, late of the Retriever, is +in the outer office. Shall I tell him to wait?" + +"No. Haven't we been itching to see each other the past eighteen months? +Show him in immediately, Skinner." Cappy turned to his daughter. "I want +to show you something my dear," he said; "something you're not likely +to meet very often in your set--and that's a he-man. Do you remember +hearing me tell the story of the mate that thrashed the big Swede +skipper I sent to Cape Town to thrash him and bring the vessel home?" + +"Do you mean the captain that never writes letters?" + +"That's the man. The fellow I've been having so much fun with--the Nervy +Matt that tried to hornswoggle me with my own photograph. Passed it +off as his own, Florry! He hails from my old home town, and he's a mere +boy--Come in!" + +The door opened to admit Matt Peasley; and as he paused just inside +the entrance, slightly embarrassed at finding himself under the cool +scrutiny of the trimmest, most dashing little craft he had ever seen, +Miss Florry decided that her father was right. Here, indeed, was a +specimen of the genus Homo she had not hitherto seen. Six feet three he +was, straight from shoulder to hip, broad-chested and singularly well +formed and graceful for such a big man. + +He wore stout shoes, without toe caps--rather old-fashioned footgear, +Florry thought; but they were polished brightly. A tailor-made, +double-breasted blue serge suit, close-hauled and demoded; a soft white +silk shirt, with non-detachable collar; a plain black silk four-in-hand +tie, and a uniform cap, set a little back and to one side on thick, +black, glossy, wavy hair, completed his attire. He had his right hand in +his trousers pocket; his left was on the doorknob. He glanced from her +to her father. + +"He's handsome," thought Florry. "What a beautiful tan on his throat! He +looks anything but the brute he is. But he hasn't any manners. Oh, dear! +He stands there like a graven image." + +Matt Peasley's hand came out of his pocket; off came his cap and he +bowed slightly. + +"I am Captain Peasley," he said. + +Cappy Ricks, leaning forward on the edge of his swivel chair, with head +slightly bent, made a long appraisal of the young man over the rims of +his spectacles. + +"Ahem!" he said. "Huh! Harumph!" Ensued another terrible silence. Then: +"Young scoundrel!" Cappy cried. "Infernal young scoundrel!" + +"I accept the nomination," said Matt dryly. "You'd never know me from +my photograph, would you, sir? I'd know you from yours, though--in a +minute!" + +Miss Florry tittered audibly, thus drawing on herself the attention of +the skipper, who was audacious enough to favor her with a solemn wink. + +"None of your jokes with me, sir!" said Cappy severely. + +"That's just what I say, sir; none of your jokes on me! Those green +hides were absolutely indecent." + +"Matt, you're a fresh young fellow," Cappy charged, struggling to +suppress a smile. + +"And I was raised on salt water too," Matt added seriously. + +Cappy laughed. + +"You're a Thomaston Peasley," he declared, and shook hands. "Ever hear +of Ethan Peasley back there?" + +"He was my uncle, sir. He was drowned at sea." + +"He was a boyhood chum of mine, Matt. Permit me to present my daughter, +Miss Florence." + +Miss Florence favored the captain with her most bewitching smile and +nodded perkily. Matt held out his great hand, not realizing that a +bow and a conventional "Delighted, I'm sure!" was the correct thing +in Florry's set. Florry was about to accept his great paw when Cappy +yelled: + +"Don't take it, Florry! He'll squeeze your hand to jelly." + +"I won't," Matt declared, embarrassed. "I might press it a little--" + +"I know. You pressed mine a little, and if I live to be a thousand years +old I'll never shake hands with you again." + +"I'll give her my finger then," Matt declared, and forthwith held out +his index finger, which Florry shook gravely. + +"Well, well, boy; sit down, sit down," Cappy commanded briskly, "while +I tell you the plans I have for your future. I ought to have fired you +long ago--" + +"I shall always be happy to testify that you tried hard enough," Matt +interrupted, and Florry's silvery laugh filled the room. Cappy winced, +but had to join with her in the laugh on himself. + +"For the sake of your Uncle Ethan, and the fact that you're one of our +own boys, Matt," he continued, "I'll retain you if you behave yourself. +As I believe I wired you, I'm going to put you in steam." + +"You didn't consult me about it, sir; but, to please you, I'll tackle +steam. I'm very grateful for your interest in me, Mr. Ricks." + +"Huh! That's not true, Matt. You're not grateful; and if you are you +have no business to be. I paid you a hundred and twenty-five dollars a +month to skipper the Retriever; you earned every cent of it and I made +you fight for the job; so, no thanks to me. And I know for a fact that +you and Mr. Murphy cursed me up hill and down dale--" + +"Oh, Captain Peasley!" Miss Ricks interrupted. "Did you curse my +father?" + +"She's trying to fluster me," Matt thought. "She thinks I'm a farmer." +Aloud he said: "Well, you see, Miss Ricks, I had to work for him. +However, Mr. Murphy and I have forgiven him. We're both willing to let +bygones be bygones." + +"Young scoundrel!" piped Cappy, delighted beyond measure, for he was +used to unimaginative, rather dull skippers, who revered their berths +and stood before him, hat in hand, plainly uncomfortable in the presence +of the creator of the payroll. "Dashed young scoundrel! Well, we had +some fun anyhow, didn't we, Matt? And, as the young fellows say, I got +your Capricorn. Very well, then. We'll make a new start, Matthew; and +if you pay attention to business it's barely possible you may amount to +something yet. + +"I'm going to provide a berth for you, my boy, as second mate on the +dirtiest, leakiest little bumboat you ever saw--our steam schooner +Gualala. She's a nautical disgrace and carries three hundred thousand +feet of lumber--runs into the dogholes on the Mendocino Coast and takes +in cargo on a trolley running from the top of the cliff to the masthead. +It'll be your job to get out in a small boat to pick up the moorings; +and that'll be no picnic in the wintertime, because you lie just outside +the edge of the breakers. But you'll learn how to pick up moorings, +Matt, and you'll learn how to turn a steamer round on her heels also." + +"I never did that kind of work before," Matt protested. "I stand a good +chance of getting drowned, don't I?" + +"Of course! But better men than you do it; so don't kick. In the spring +I'll shift you to a larger boat; but I want you to have one winter along +the Mendocino Coast. It'll about break your heart, but it will do you +an awful lot of good, Matt. When you finish in the Gualala, you'll go +in the Florence Ricks and run from Grays Harbor to San Pedro. Then, when +you get your first mate's license, I'll put you in our Tillicum, where +you'll learn how to handle a big vessel; and by the time you get your +master's license for steam you'll be ready to start for Philadelphia +to bring out the finest freighter on this Coast. How does that prospect +strike you?" + +Matt's eyes glowed. He forgot the two years' apprenticeship and thought +only of the prize Cappy was dangling before him. + +"If faithful service will be a guaranty of my appreciation--" he began; +but Cappy interrupted. + +"Nonsense! Not another peep out of you. You'd better take a little rest +now for a couple of weeks and get your stomach in order after all that +creosote. Meantime, if you should need any money, Skinner will fix you +up." + +"I'll not need any, thank you. I saved sixteen hundred dollars while I +was in the Retriever--" + +"Fine! Good boy!" exclaimed Cappy, delighted beyond measure at this +proof of Matt's Yankee thrift and sobriety. "But don't save it, Matt. +Invest it. Put it in a mortgage for three years. I know a captain now +that wants to borrow a thousand dollars at eight per cent. to buy an +interest in one of our vessels. You shall loan it to him, Matt, and +he'll secure you with the insurance. Perfectly safe. Guarantee it +myself. Bring your thousand dollars round in the morning, Matt. +Understand? No fooling now! Make your money work for you. You bet! If +I'm not here tomorrow leave the money with Skinner." + +"Mr. Skinner is the general manager, isn't he?" + +"Yes, and a mighty clever one, too. Don't you monkey with Skinner, young +man. He doesn't like you and he doesn't bluff worth a cent; and if you +ever have a run-in with him while I'm away and he fires you--well, I +guess I'd have to stand by Skinner, Matt. I can't afford to lose him. +Cold-blooded dog--no sense of humor; but honest--a pig for work, and +capable." + +"I'll be very careful, sir," Matt assured him. "Thank you for the +vacation, the promised job, and the chance to invest my thousand dollars +at eight per cent. And, now that my affairs are out of the way, let's +talk about yours. I think I can get you a four-year charter for your +steamer Lion--" + +"Matt," said Cappy Ricks impressively, "if you can get that brute of a +boat off my hands for four years, and at a figure that will pay me +ten per cent. on her cost price, I'll tell you what--I'll pay you a +commission." + +"I don't want any commission, sir, for working for the interests of my +employer. What do you reckon it costs a day to operate the Lion?" + +Cappy drew a scratch pad toward him and commenced to figure. + +"She'll burn a hundred and seventy barrels of crude oil a day, at +sixty-five cents a barrel. That's about a hundred and ten dollars. Her +wages will average seventy-five dollars a day; it costs twenty dollars a +day to feed her crew; incidentals, say twenty dollars a day; +insurance, say, four dollars a day; wireless, three and a half dollars; +depreciation, say, two dollars and seventy-five cents a day; total in +round figures two hundred and thirty-five dollars a day. I ought to get +four hundred dollars a day for her; but in a pinch like the present I'd +be glad to get her off my hands at three hundred and fifty dollars. But, +no matter what the price may be, Matt, I'm afraid we can't charter her." + +"Why?" + +"Because the Black Butte Lumber Company owns her sister, the Unicorn; +she's a burden on their back, as the Lion is on mine, there's war to the +finish between Hudner, the Black Butte manager, and myself, and he'll +get the business. He's a dog, Matt--always cutting prices below the +profit point and raising hob in the market. Infernal marplot! He stole +the best stenographer in the United States from me here about three +years ago." + +"Where is Hudner's office?" Matt queried. + +"In this building--sixth floor." Matt rose and started for the door. +"Where are you going now, Matt?" Cappy piped. + +"Why, you say the Unicorn will compete against the Lion for this charter +I have in mind. That is true enough. I know the Black Butte Lumber +Company will be approached for the Unicorn; so I'm going to get the +Unicorn out of the way and give you a clear field with the Lion. I +figured it all out coming down on the train." And, without waiting to +listen to Cappy's protestations, Matt left the office. + + + +CHAPTER XXIII. BUSINESS AND-- + + +Three minutes later he was closeted with Hudner, of the Black Butte +Lumber Company. + +"My name is Peasley, Mr. Hudner," he began truthfully. "I arrived from +Seattle this morning. I am looking for a steam freighter for some very +responsible people and your Unicorn appears to be about the vessel +they're looking for. They would want her to run coastwise, and prefer +to charter at a flat rate a day, owners to pay all expenses of operating +the ship. Would you be willing to charter for sixty days, with an option +on the vessel for an extension of the charter on the same terms for four +years, provided she proves satisfactory for my clients' purposes?" + +Mr. Hudner started slightly. Four years! It seemed almost too good to be +true. He was certain of this the next instant when he thought of Cappy +Ricks' Lion, also laid up and as hungry for business as the Unicorn. +He wondered whether this young broker from Seattle had called on Cappy +Ricks as yet; and, wondering, he decided to name a price low enough +to prove interesting and, by closing promptly, eliminate his hated +competitor from all consideration. + +"I should be very glad to consider your proposition, Mr. Peasley," he +said. "You say your clients are entirely responsible?" + +"They will post a bond if you're not satisfied on that point, Mr. +Hudner. What will you charter the Unicorn for, a day?" + +Mr. Hudner pretended to do a deal of figuring. At the end of five +minutes he said: "Three hundred and fifty dollars a day, net to the +vessel." + +Matt nodded, rose and reached for his hat. + +"I guess you don't want to charter your vessel, sir," he said. "I'm +not working for my health, either; so I guess I'll look for some other +vessel. I hear the Lion is on the market." And without further ado he +walked out. + +Mr. Hudner let him go; then ran after him and cornered him in the hall. + +"I'll let you have her at three hundred and thirty," he said +desperately; "and that's bedrock. And if your clients elect to take her +for four years, I'll pay you a thousand dollars commission on the deal. +The vessel simply cannot afford to pay more." + +After his conversation with Cappy Ricks, Matt realized that Hudner had, +indeed, named a very low price on the Unicorn. But Matt was a Yankee. He +knew he had Hudner where the hair was short; so he said: + +"I'll give you three twenty-five and accept a thousand dollars +commission in case my clients take her for four years. That's my final +offer, Mr. Hudner. Take it or leave it." + +"I'll take it," said poor Hudner. "It's better than letting the vessel +fall to pieces in Rotten Row. How soon will you hear definitely from +your principals?" + +"I'll hear to-day; but meantime you might give me a three-day option +on the vessel, in case of unavoidable delays--though I'll do my best to +close the matter up at once." + +Hudner considered. The Unicorn had paid his company but two dividends +since her purchase from Cappy Ricks, while it was common talk on +'Change that the Lion had paid for herself prior to the 1907 panic. In +consideration of the fact, therefore, that the Lion did not owe Cappy +Ricks a cent, Hudner shrewdly judged that Cappy would be less eager than +he for business, and that hence it would be safe to give a three-day +option. He led Matt back to his office, where he dictated and signed the +option. Matt gave him a dollar and the trap was set. + +From Hudner's office Matt returned to that of Cappy Ricks. The heir to +the Ricks millions was still there, as Matt noted with a sudden, strange +thrill of satisfaction. + +"I've waited until your return, Captain Peasley," she said, "to see +whether you could dispose of dad's competitor as handily as you disposed +of your own that time in Cape Town." + +Matt blushed and Cappy chuckled. + +"I've bet Florry five thousand dollars you'll dispose of Hudner and the +Unicorn, Matt," he said. + +"I'm glad of that, sir, because if you hope to win the bet you'll have +to help me. I've gone as far as I can, sir. I've got an option on the +Unicorn for three days on a sixty-day charter, running coastwise with +general cargo, with the privilege of renewing for four years at the same +rate. The rate, by the way, is three hundred and twenty-five dollars. I +want you to charter her from Hudner; and then--" + +"Bless your soul, boy, I don't want her! Haven't I got a boat of my own +I'd almost be willing to charter at the same figure to Hudner?" + +"You don't understand, sir. The Mannheim people, with copper mines in +Alaska, want two boats to freight ore--and their agent came down on the +train with me. Don't you see, sir, that you have to control both boats +to get a price? If you don't that agent will play you against Hudner and +Hudner against you, until he succeeds in tying up both boats at a low +price. He wouldn't tell you he wants two boats, but he was fool enough +to tell me--" + +"God bless my mildewed soul!" said Cappy excitedly, and smashed his old +fist down on his desk. "For the man to do things, give me the lad who +keeps his ears open and his mouth shut! Of course we'll charter her; +and, what's more, we'll give her business ourselves for sixty days just +to keep her off the market!" + +"Then you'd better hurry and close the deal, sir," Matt warned him. "I +only arrived in town this morning; and I checked my baggage at the depot +and came up here immediately. The Seattle broker went up to his hotel. +He said he had to have a bath and a shave and some clean linen first +thing," he added scornfully: "Me, I'd swim Channel Creek at low tide in +a dress suit if I had important business on the other side." + +"Matt," said Cappy gratefully, "you're a boy after my own heart. Really, +I think you ought to get something out of this if we put it through." + +"Well, as I stated, I wouldn't take anything out of the Lion charter, +because it's my duty to save you when somebody has a gun at your head; +but on the Unicorn charter I thought--well, if you can recharter at +a profit I thought you might agree to split the profit with me. I'm a +skipper, you know, and this sort of thing is out of my regular line; and +besides, I'm not on your pay roll at present. I've promoted the deal, so +to speak. I supply the ship and the brains and the valuable information, +and you supply business for the ship." + +"Yes; and, in spite of the hard times, I'll supply it at a profit if I +have to," Cappy declared happily. "Of course I'll split the profit with +you, Matt. As you say, this Unicorn deal is outside your regular line. +It's a private deal; and as the promoter of it you're entitled to your +legitimate profit." He rang for Mr. Skinner. + +"Skinner, my boy," he said when that functionary entered, "Matt and I +are going to unload that white elephant of a Lion and get her off +our hands for four years at a fancy figure; but to do it we've got +to charter another white elephant--the Black Butte Lumber Company's +Unicorn. Here's an option Captain Peasley has just secured on her. Have +the charter parties made out immediately in conformity with this option +and bring them here for my signature." + +Mr. Skinner read the option and began to protest. + +"Mr. Ricks, I tell you we cannot possibly use the Unicorn for sixty +days, if you are forced to keep her off the market that long. If this +thing develops into a waiting game--" + +"I'll wear the other side out," Cappy finished for him. "Listen to me, +Skinner! How's the shingle market in the Southwest?" + +"The market is steady at three dollars and fifty cents, f.o.b. Missouri +River common points." + +Cappy scratched his ear and cogitated. + +"The Unicorn will carry eighteen million shingles," he murmured. "The +going water freight from Grays Harbor to San Francisco is how much?" + +"Thirty-five cents a thousand," Mr. Skinner replied promptly. + +"Therefore, if we used one of our own vessels to freight eighteen +million shingles it would cost us--" + +"Six thousand three hundred dollars," prompted Mr. Skinner. + +"Fortunately for us, however, we do not use one of our own vessels. +We use that fellow Hudner's and we get her for three hundred and +twenty-five dollars a day. She can sail from here to Grays Harbor, take +on her cargo, get back to San Francisco and discharge it in twelve days. +What's twelve times three hundred and twenty-five?" + +"Thirty-nine hundred dollars," flashed Skinner, to the tremendous +admiration of Matt Peasley, who now considered the manager an +intellectual marvel. + +"Being a saving of how much?" Cappy droned on. + +"Twenty-four hundred dollars," answered the efficient human machine +without seeming to think for an instant. + +"Being a saving of how many cents on a thousand shingles?" + +Mr. Skinner closed one eye, cocked the other at the ceiling an instant +and said: + +"Thirteen and one-third cents a thousand." + +"Very well, then, Skinner. Now listen to my instructions: Wire all the +best shingle mills on Grays Harbor for quotations on Extra Star A Stars +in one to five million lots, delivery fifteen, thirty and forty-five +days from date; and if the price is right buy 'em all. We have about +ten millions on hand at our own mill. To-night send out a flock of night +letters to all the wholesale jobbers and brokers in Kansas, Missouri, +Oklahoma, Texas, and all points taking a sixty-cent tariff, and quote +'em ten cents under the market subject to prior acceptance." + +He turned to Matt Peasley. + +"That clause--'subject to prior acceptance'--saves our faces in case we +find ourselves unable to deliver the goods," he explained, and turned +again to Skinner. + +"We can freight the shingles from Grays Harbor to San Francisco in +the Unicorn; re-ship on cars from Long Wharf and beat the direct car +shipments from the mills ten cents, and still make our regular profit. +Besides, the cut in price will bring us in a raft of orders we could not +get otherwise. We can thus keep the Unicorn busy for sixty days without +losing a cent on her, and if we haven't come to terms with the Mannheim +people at the end of that time we'll find something else for her. +And, of course, if we succeed meantime in chartering the Lion at a +satisfactory price, we can throw the Unicorn back on Hudner at the end +of the sixty days." And Cappy snickered malevolently as he pictured his +enemy's discomfiture under these circumstances. + +Mr. Skinner nodded his comprehension and hastened away to prepare the +charter parties. + + + +CHAPTER XXIV. THE CLEAN UP + + +Hudner, manager of the Black Butte Lumber Company, arched his eyebrows +as Matt Peasley entered his office half an hour after he had left it and +presented for Hudner's signature a formal charter party, in duplicate, +wherein the Blue Star Navigation Company chartered from J. B. Hudner, +managing owner of record, the American Steamer Unicorn for sixty days +from date, at the rate of three hundred and twenty-five dollars a day, +said managing owner to pay all expenses of operating said Unicorn. + +"Huh!" Mr. Hudner snorted. "I'd like to know what the devil Cappy Ricks +wants of my Unicorn when he's got her infernal sister squatting in the +mud of Oakland Creek? There's something rotten in Denmark, Mr. Peasley. +There always is when that old scoundrel Ricks does incomprehensible +things." + +"Very likely he's up to some skullduggery, sir," Matt opined. + +"I wish you had informed me of the identity of your client, Mr. +Peasley," Hudner complained. "I don't like to sign this charter." + +"I cannot help that now, sir," Matt retorted. "You have agreed in +writing to charter the vessel to any responsible person I might bring +to you, and I guess the Blue Star Navigation Company comes under that +head." + +Mr. Hudner sighed and gritted his teeth. Instinct told him there was +deviltry afoot, but in an evil moment he had sewed himself up and he had +no alternative now save to complete the contract or stand suit. So he +signed the charter party and retained the original, while Matt Peasley, +with the duplicate in his pocket, hastened back to Cappy Ricks' office. + +"Matt," said Cappy approvingly, "you're a born business man, and it will +be strange indeed if you don't pick up a nice little piece of money +on this Unicorn deal." He glanced at his watch and then turned to his +daughter. + +"Florry, my dear," he said, "would you like to go up-town with your +daddy and Captain Peasley for luncheon?" + +Matt Peasley grinned like a Jack-o'-lantern, all lit up for Hallowe'en. + +"Fine!" he said enthusiastically. + +Florence withered him with one impersonal glance, saw that she had +destroyed him utterly, relented, and graciously acquiesced. When they +left the office Matt Peasley was stepping high, like a ten-time winner, +for he had suddenly made the discovery that life ashore was a wonderful, +wonderful thing. There was such a lilt in his young heart that, for the +life of him, he could not forbear doing a little double shuffle as he +waited at the elevator with Cappy and his daughter. He sang: + + "The first mate's boat was the first away; + But the whale gave a flip of his tail, + And down to the bottom went five brave boys, + Never again to sail-- + Brave boys, + Never again to sail! + + When the captain heard of the loss of his whale, + Right loud-lee then he swore. + When he heard of the loss of his five brave boys, + 'Oh,' he said, 'we can ship some more brave boys-- + 'Oh,' he said, 'we can ship some more.'" + +Cappy winked slyly at his daughter, but she did not see the wink. She +had eyes for nobody but Matt Peasley, for he was a brand-new note in her +life. They were half through luncheon before Florry discovered the exact +nature of this fascinating new note. Matt Peasley was real. There was +not an artificial thought or action in his scheme of things; he bubbled +with homely Yankee wit; he was intensely democratic and ramping with +youth and health and strength and the joy of living; he could sing funny +little songs and tell funny little stories about funny little adventures +that had befallen him. She liked him. + +After luncheon Cappy declared that Matt should return to the office with +him, while Florry instructed the waiter to ring for a taxicab for +her. Later, when Matt gallantly handed her into the taxi, he asked +innocently: + +"Where are you going, Miss Florry?" + +"Home," she said. + +He looked at her so wistfully that she could not mistake the hidden +meaning in his words when he asked, with a deprecatory grin: + +"Where do you live?" + +"With my father," she said, and closed the door. + +When Cappy and Matt returned to the Blue Star offices they were informed +that Mr. Allan Hayes was patiently awaiting the arrival of the managing +owner of the Lion. Matt concluded, therefore, to remain secluded while +Cappy went into his own office and met Mr. Hayes. + +Two hours later Cappy summoned Skinner and Matt to his sanctum. + +"Skinner," he said briskly, "have you bought any shingles?" + +"I have not," said Mr. Skinner. + +"Have you sent out those telegrams to the dealers?" + +"Not yet, Mr. Ricks. I was going to have them filed just before we close +the office." + +"Well," said Cappy smilingly, "don't accept any quotations until +to-morrow and don't send out those telegrams until further advice from +me. I locked horns with that man Hayes, and I think I gored him, Matt. +It appeared he called on me first; and when I quoted him four hundred +dollars a day on the Lion, he favored me with a sweet smile and said he +could get the Unicorn for three-fifty. So, of course, I had to explain +to him that he couldn't, because I wouldn't charter her at any such +ridiculous figure! That took the ginger out of him and we got down to +business, with the result that I've given him a forty-eight-hour option +on both boats at four hundred dollars a day each, with a commission of +two thousand dollars cash in full to him." + +"Why, he told me he would get two and a half per cent. commission!" Matt +declared. "He figured he'd have an income of twenty dollars a day for +the next four years." + +"I daresay he did, Matt," Cappy replied dryly; "but then, in the very +best business circles you never pay a broker two and a half commission +when you know who his principals are! If he insists, you eliminate him +entirely and do business direct. Of course, my boy, if he had put the +proposition up to me, and I had agreed to pay him the regular commission +while ignorant of the identity of his principals, and he had then +reposed confidence in my business honor and told me whom he represented, +he would have been perfectly safe. Remember, Matt, that the business man +without a code of business honor never stays in business very long. From +the office to the penitentiary or the cemetery is a quick jump for birds +of that feather." + +"Then, why did you offer him two thousand dollars?"' + +"Because it never pays to be a hog, my son, and besides I want to close +this deal and close it quickly. Naturally Hayes isn't fool enough to +toss away two thousand dollars, and something seems to tell me he'll +urge his principals to take the boats at our figure, Matthew!" And the +graceless old villain chuckled and dug his youngest skipper in the short +ribs. "Let this be a lesson to you, my boy," he warned him. "Remember +the old Persian proverb: 'A shut mouth catches no flies.'" + +Cappy's prediction proved to be correct, for the following morning Hayes +telephoned that the Mannheim people desired the steamers at Cappy's +figures, the charter parties, signed by Cappy, were forwarded to +Seattle, and in due course were returned signed by the charterers; +whereupon Cappy exercised his option, procured by Matt from Hudner, to +charter the Unicorn for four years additional. + +"What did Hudner have to say for himself?" Cappy queried when Matt +returned from the latter's office, after finally completing the deal. + +"Not a word! He looked volumes, though, sir." + +"Serves him right. That man, sir, is a thorn in the side of the market. +However, since we're making a daily profit on him we can afford to speak +kindly of the unfortunate fellow, Matt; so sit down and we'll figure out +where we stand on the Unicorn. She costs us three-twenty-five and we've +chartered her at four hundred--a daily profit of seventy-five dollars, +of which you receive thirty-seven dollars and fifty cents. That makes +eleven hundred and twenty-five dollars monthly income for you, my boy; +and, believe me, it isn't to be sneezed at. Meantime you and I, as +partners, owe me a thousand dollars commission to that Seattle broker; +so I'll have Skinner make a journal entry and charge your account five +hundred dollars. There's no need to pay it now, Matt. Wait until the +vessel earns it." + +"The vessel might sink on her first voyage and that would cancel the +charter," Matt replied; "so I guess I'll be a sport and hold up my end. +You paid out the hard cash and took a chance, and so will I." And, with +the words, Matt drew from his pocket the Black Butte Lumber Company's +check for a thousand dollars, indorsed it and passed it over to Cappy +Ricks. "We're equal partners, sir," he said, "and I pried that thousand +out of Hudner on the side as a commission for chartering the Unicorn +to you. Half of it is yours and I owe you the other half; so there you +are." + +Cappy Ricks threw up his hands in token of complete surrender. + +"Scoundrel!" he cried. "Damned young scoundrel! You Yankee thief, +haven't you any conscience?" And he laid his old head on his desk and +laughed his shrill, senile laugh, while tears of joy rolled down his +rosy old cheeks. "Oh-h-h-h, my!" he cackled. "But wait until I get +Hudner among my young friends at the Round Table up at the Commercial +Club to-morrow! To think of a young pup like you coming in and chasing +an old dog like Hudner round the lot and taking his bone away from him!" + +He turned to the general manager: + +"Oh, Skinner! Skinner, my dear boy, this will be the death of me yet! +Remember that old maid stenographer Hudner stole away from us, Skinner? +Remember? Oh, but isn't he paying for her through the nose? Isn't he, +Skinner? Oh, dear! Oh, dear, what a lot of fun there is in just living +and raising hell with your neighbor--particularly, Skinner, when he +happens to be a competitor." + +When Cappy could control his mirth he handed the money back to Matt. + +"Oh, Matt, my dear young bandit," he informed that amazed young man, +"I'm human. I can't take this money. It's been worth a thousand dollars +to have had this laugh and to know I've got a lad like you growing up +in my employ. You're worth a bonus, Matt; I'll stand all the commission. +Soak Hudner's thousand away in the bank, Matt; or, better still--Here! +Here; let's figure, Matt: You had sixteen hundred saved up and you've +loaned a thousand on that mortgage. Now you've made a thousand more. +Better buy a good thousand-dollar municipal bond, Matt. That's better +than savings-bank interest, and you can always realize on the bond. I'll +buy the bond for you." + +"Thank you, sir," Matt replied. + + + +CHAPTER XXV. CAPPY PROVES HIMSELF A DESPOT + + +Cappy Ricks lay back in his swivel chair, his feet on his desk and +his eyes closed. He was thinking deeply, for he had something to think +about. Coming in from his club the night before he had observed that +Florry was entertaining company in the billiard room, as the crash of +pool balls testified. He had scarcely reached his room on the second +floor, however, when the pool game came to an end and he heard voices +in the drawing room, followed presently by a few random chords struck on +the piano, and a resonant baritone was raised in the strangest song ever +heard in that drawing room--a deep-sea chantey. + +Cappy was no great shakes on music, but before he had listened to the +first verse of Rolling Home he knew Captain Matt Peasley for the singer +and suspected his daughter of faking the accompaniment. He listened at +the head of the stairs and presently was treated to a rendition of a +lilting little Swedish ballad, followed by one or two selections from +the Grand Banks and the doleful song of the Ferocious Whale and the Five +Brave Boys. Then he heard Florry laugh happily. + +Cappy was thinking of the curious inflection in that laugh now. Once +before he had heard it--when he courted Florry's dead mother; and +his old heart swelled a little with pain at the remembrance. He was +wondering just what to do about that laugh when Matt was announced. + +"Show him in," said Cappy; and Matt Peasley entered. + +"Sit down, Matt," said Cappy kindly. "Yes, I sent for you. The Gualala +will be in to-morrow and you've had a fine two-weeks' vacation. What's +more, I think you've enjoyed it, Matt, and I'm glad you did; but now +it's time to get down to business again. I wanted to tell you that the +skipper of the Gualala will expect you to be aboard at seven o'clock +to-morrow morning." + +Matt studied the pattern of the office rug a minute and then faced Cappy +bravely. + +"I'm obliged to you, Mr. Ricks, more than I can say; but the fact of the +matter is I've changed my mind about going to sea again. It's a dog's +life, sir, and I'm tired of it." + +"Tired at twenty-three?" said Cappy gently. + +Matt flushed a little. + +"Well, it does appear to me kind of foolish for a man with an income of +more than eleven hundred dollars a month to be going to sea as second +mate of a dirty little steam schooner at seventy-five dollars a month." + +"Well, I can hardly blame you," said Cappy gently. "I suppose I'd feel +the same way about it myself if I stood in your shoes." + +"I'm sure you would," Matt replied. + +Fell a silence, broken presently by Cappy's: + +"Huh! Ahem! Harump!" Then: "When I came in from my club last night, +Matt, I believe Florry had a caller." + +"Yes, sir," said Matt; "I was there." + +"Huh! I got a squint at you. Am I mistaken in assuming that you were +wearing a dress suit?" + +"No, sir." + +"Whadja mean by wasting your savings on a dress suit?" Cappy exploded. +"Whadja mean by courting my Florry, eh? Tell me that! Give you an inch +and you'll take an ell! Infernal young scoundrel!" + +"Well," said Matt humbly, "I intended to speak to you about Miss Florry. +Of course now that I'm going to live ashore--" + +"What can a big lubber like you do ashore?" Cappy shrilled. + +"Why, I might get a job with some shipping firm--" + +"You needn't count on a job ashore with the Blue Star Navigation +Company," Cappy railed. "You needn't think--" + +"Have I your permission to call on Miss Florry again?" Matt asked +humbly. + +"No!" thundered Cappy. "You're as nervy as they make 'em! No, sir! +You'll go to sea in the Gualala to-morrow morning--d'ye hear? That's +what you'll do!" + +But Matt Peasley shook his head. + +"I'm through with the sea," he said firmly. "I have an income of eleven +hundred dollars a month--" + +"Oh, is that so?" Cappy sneered. "Well, for the sake of argument, we'll +admit you have the income. We don't know how long you'll have it; but +we'll credit your account on the books while we're able to collect it +from the charterers, and I guess we'll collect it while the Unicorn is +afloat. But having an income and being able to spend it, my boy, are two +different things; so in order to set your mind at ease, let me tell you +something: I'm not going to give you a cent out of that charter deal--" + +Matt Peasley sprang up, his big body aquiver with rage. + +"You'd double-cross me!" he roared. "Mr. Ricks, if you weren't--" He +paused. + +"Shut up!" snapped Cappy, undaunted. "I know what you're going to say. +If I wasn't an old man I'd let you make a jolly jackanapes of yourself. +Now listen to me! I said I wasn't going to let you have a cent out of +that charter deal--and I mean it. If you couldn't say Boo! from now +until the day you finger a dollar of that income you'd be as dumb as an +oyster by the time I hand you the check. What do you know about money?" +he piped shrilly. "You big, overgrown baby! Yah! You've had a little +taste of business and turned a neat deal, and now you think you're a +wonder, don't you? Like everybody else, you'll keep on thinking it until +some smart fellow takes it all away from you again; so, in order to cure +you, I'm not going to let you have it!" + +"I'll sue you--" + +"You can sue your head off, young man, and see how much good it will +do you. You surrendered to me your option that Hudner gave you on the +Unicorn, and you failed to procure from me in writing an understanding +of the agreement between us regarding this split. You haven't a leg to +stand on!" + +Matt Peasley hung his head. + +"I didn't think I had to take business precautions with you, sir," he +said. + +"You should take business precautions with anybody and everybody." + +"I thought I was dealing with a man of honor. Everybody has always told +me that Cappy Ricks'--" + +"How dare you call me Cappy?" + +"--word was as good as his bond." + +"And so it is, my boy. You'll get your money, but you'll wait for it; +and meantime I'll invest it for you. As I said before, you've had a +taste of business and found it pretty sweet--so sweet, in fact, that +you think you're a business man. Well, hereafter you'll remember, when +you're making a contract with anybody, to get it down in black and +white; and then you'll have something to fight about if you're not +satisfied. Now, by the time you're skipper of steam you'll be worth a +nice little pile of money; you can buy a piece of the big freighter +I'm going to build for you and it'll pay you thirty per cent. Remember, +Matt, I always make my skippers own a piece of the vessel they command. +That gives 'em an interest in their job and they don't waste their +owner's money." + +"I won't be dictated to!" Matt cried desperately. "I'm free, white +and--" + +"Twenty-three!" jeered Cappy. "You big, awkward pup! How dare you growl +at me! I know what's good for you. You go to sea on the Gualala." + +"I must decline--" + +"Oh, all right! Have it your own way," said Cappy. "But, at the rate +you've been blowing your money in on Florry for the past two weeks, I'll +bet your wad has dwindled since you struck town. I've put that thousand +dollars out on mortgage for you, and Skinner has the mortgage in the +company safe, where you can't get at it to hock it when your last dollar +is gone. And he has the bond there too; so it does appear to me, Matt, +that if you want any money to spend you'll have to get a job and earn +it. I have the bulge on you, young fellow, and don't you forget it!" + +Matt Peasley rose, walked to the window and stood looking down into +California Street. He was so mad there were tears in his eyes, and he +longed to say things to Cappy Ricks--only, for the sake of Miss Florence +Ricks, he could not abuse her sire. Once he half turned, only to meet +Cappy's glittering eyes fixed on him with a steadiness of purpose that +argued only too well the fact that the old man could not be bluffed, +cajoled, bribed or impressed. + +Presently Matt Peasley turned from the window. + +"Where does the Gualala lie, sir?" he asked gruffly. + +"Howard Street Wharf, Number One, Matt," Cappy replied cheerfully. "I +think she had bedbugs in her cabin, but I'm not sure. I wouldn't go +within a block of her myself." + +Matt gazed sorrowfully at the rug. Too well he realized that Cappy had +the whip hand and was fully capable of cracking the whip; so presently +he said: + +"Well, I've met bedbugs before, Mr. Ricks. I'll go aboard in the +morning." + +"I'm glad to hear it, Matt. And another thing: I like you, Matt, but not +well enough for a son-in-law. Remember, my boy, you're only a sailor on +a steam schooner now--so it won't be necessary for you to look aloft. +You understand, do you not? You want to remember your position, my boy." + +Matt turned and bent upon Cappy a slow, smoldering gaze. Cappy almost +quivered. Then slowly the rage died out in Matt Peasley's fine eyes and +a lilting, boyish grin spread over his face, for he was one of those +rare human beings who can smile, no matter what the prospect, once he +has definitely committed himself to a definite course of action. Only +the years of discipline and his innate respect for gray hairs kept him +from bluntly informing Cappy Ricks that he might forthwith proceed to +chase himself! Instead he said quietly: + +"Very well, sir. Good afternoon." + +"Good afternoon, sir," snapped Cappy. + +At the door Matt paused an instant, for he was young and he could not +retire without firing a shot. He fired it now with his eyes--a glance +of cool disdain and defiance that would have been worth a dollar of +anybody's money to see. Cappy had to do something to keep from laughing. + +"Out, you rebel!" he yelled. The door closed with a crash, and Cappy +Ricks took down the telephone receiver and called up his daughter. + +"Florry," he said gently, "I want to tell you something." + +"Fire away, Pop!" she challenged. + +"It's about that fellow Peasley," Cappy replied coldly. "I wish you +wouldn't have that big, awkward dub calling at the house, Florry. He'll +fall over the furniture the first thing you know, and do some damage. I +think a lot of him as a sailor, but that's about as far as my affection +extends; and if you insist on having him call at the house, my dear, my +authority over him as an employee will suffer and I'll be forced to fire +the fellow. Of course I realize what a pleasant boy he is; but then you +don't know sailors like I do. They're a low lot at heart, Florry, and +this fellow Peasley is no exception to the general rule." + +Cappy paused to test the effect of this broadside. There was a little +gasp from the other end of the wire; then a click as his daughter hung +up, too outraged to reply. + +Cappy's kindly eyes twinkled merrily as he replaced the receiver on the +hook. + +"What a skookum son-in-law to take up the business when I let go!" he +murmured happily. "Oh, Matt, I'm so blamed sorry for you; but it's just +got to be done. If you're going to build up the Blue Star Navigation +Company after the Panama Canal is opened for business, you've got to +know shipping; and to know it from center to circumference. It isn't +sufficient that you be master of sail and steam, any ocean, any tonnage. +You've got to learn the business from the rules as promulgated by little +old Alden P. Ricks, the slave driver. There's hope for you, sonny. You +have already learned to obey." + +Mr. Skinner bustled in with the mail. + +"Skinner," said Cappy plaintively, "what's the best way to drive +obstinate people south?" + +"Head them north," said Mr. Skinner. + +"I'm doing it," said Cappy dreamily. + + + +CHAPTER XXVI. MATT PEASLEY IN EXILE + + +From Cappy Ricks' office Matt Peasley went to the rooms of the American +Shipmaster's Association, entered the telephone booth and called up +Florence Ricks. From the instant he first laid eyes on her, Miss Florry +had occupied practically all of Matt's thoughts during every waking +hour. He had assayed her and appraised her a hundred times and from +every possible angle, and each time he decided that Florry was possessed +of more than sufficient charm, good looks, sweetness and intelligence to +suit the most exacting. Matt wasn't ultra-exacting and she suited him, +and the fact that she was the sole heir to millions was the least of the +sailor's considerations as he dropped his nickel down the slot. Neither +did the identity of the young lady's paternal ancestor constitute a +problem, despite the recent interview with that variable individual. +Matt regarded Cappy somewhat in the light of a mixed blessing; while he +respected him he was a little bit afraid of him, and just at present he +disliked him exceedingly. And lastly, his own social and economic status +as second mate of the most wretched little steam schooner in the Blue +Star Navigation Company's fleet, failed to enter even remotely into +Matt's scheme of things. + +The reason for this mental stand on his part was a perfectly simple and +natural one. To begin, he was a stranger to caste other than that of +decent manhood. The only rank he had ever known was that of a ship's +officer, and that was merely a condition of servitude. When ashore he +regarded himself as the equal of any monarch under heaven and treated +all men accordingly. Since he had never known any of the restrictions of +polite conventions behind which society entrenches itself in the world +occupied by such pampered pets of fortune as Miss Florence Ricks, Matt +Peasley failed to see a single sound reason why he should not indulge +a very natural desire for Cappy's ewe lamb--for a singularly direct and +forceful individual was Matthew. It was his creed to take what he could +get away with, provided that in the taking he broke no moral, legal +or ethical code; and if any thought of the apparent incongruity of a +sailor's aspiring to the hand of a millionaire shipowner's daughter had +occurred to him--which, by the way, it had not--he would doubtless have +analyzed it thusly: + +"There she is. Isn't she a queen? I want her and there isn't a single +reason on earth why I shouldn't have her, unless it be that she doesn't +want me. However, I'll learn all about that when I get good and ready, +and if I'm acceptable Cappy Ricks and one of his employees are going +to have a warm debate--subject, matrimony. What do I care for him? He's +only her father, and I'll bet he wasn't half so well fixed as I am when +he got married. I'll just play the game like a white man, and if Cappy +doesn't like it he'll have to get over it." + +"Miss Florence," Matt began, "this is Matt." + +"Matt who?" she queried with provoking assumption of innocence. + +"Door Mat," he replied. "Your daddy has just walked all over me at any +rate." + +"Oh, good morning, captain. Why, what has happened? Your voice sounds +like the growl of a big bear." + +"I suppose so. I'm hopping mad. The very first day I was ashore I turned +a nice little trick for your father. I wasn't on the pay roll at the +time, so we went into the deal together and chartered the Lion and the +Unicorn to freight ore for the Mannheim people from Alaska to Seattle. +I furnished the valuable information and the bright idea, and he +capitalized both. The result of the deal was that he has his own +steamer, the Lion, off his hands for four years, chartered at a fancy +figure. Also he chartered the Unicorn from her owner at a cheap rate and +rechartered at an advance of seventy-five dollars a day, and we split +that profit between us. That gives me an income of thirty-seven and a +half a day for the next four years, provided the Unicorn doesn't get +wrecked. Naturally I wanted to stay ashore, when there's money to be +made as easy as that--and he won't let me." + +"Oh, I'm so sorry, captain." + +"Well, that helps." + +"You do not have to go to sea, do you?" Miss Ricks queried hopefully. + +"Yes, Miss Florry, I do; that's what hurts. Your father induced me +to invest all of my savings in a mortgage and a bond, and he has both +locked up in the Blue Star safe with that ogre Skinner in charge, so I +can't get them to realize on. Of course I could go to law and make him +give them to me, but he knows I'll not do that, so he just sits there +and defies me. And I neglected to take the proper business precautions +about my daily income from the charter of the Unicorn, and because I +cannot prove I have a divvy coming on that he says he won't give me a +cent of it. He says he'll credit my account on the company's books, and +when the Unicorn completes her charter he'll give it to me in a lump. In +the meantime he's going to invest it for me, and without consulting me." + +"Oh, dear," said Miss Ricks sympathetically. "I'm so sorry dad's such a +busybody." + +"You're not half so sorry as I am. I'm flat broke, and in order to eat I +have to go to work, and in order to go to work I have to get a job, and +in order to get the job I have to take what your father offers me--in +fact, insists upon my taking. You see, Miss Florry, I'm almost a +stranger in Pacific shipping. I don't know any owners except your father +and I've never had any coastwise experience. It might be years before +I could get another job as master of a sailing ship, and most steamship +captains prefer to let some other captains break in their mates for +them. So you see I'm helpless." + +A silence. Then: "I'm going to sea in the Gualala to-morrow morning, +Florry." + +It was the first time he had dropped the "Miss," but he dropped it +purposely now. Miss Ricks noticed the omission, which probably imbued +her with the courage to voice again her excess of sympathy. Said she: +"Oh, I'm so sorry, Matt!" + +He thrilled at that. "Well," he answered humorously, "for the first time +I'm glad I'm not a captain any more!" + +Followed another brief silence, while Florry groped for the hidden +meaning behind that subtle retort; then he continued: "Your father +thinks I was a little presumptuous in calling at the house. He spoke to +me about it, Florry, so I'm not going to call any more until he invites +me. It's his house, you know. But he didn't say anything about not +telephoning to you or seeing you outside his confounded house, so I +suppose there's no necessity for me feeling badly about it, is there?" + +This was a pretty direct feeler, but Florry parried it with feminine +skill. + +"Of course you can telephone me whenever you get to port. You mustn't +take dad too seriously, Matt. Really he's very fond of you." + +"Professionally, yes. Socially, no. I think he wants to give me a good +chance to do something for myself in a business way later on, but he +made it pretty plain that he is the only member of the Ricks family I'm +to take seriously. Of course I expect to have something to say about +that myself, Florry, but I didn't tell him so. He's your father, you +know, and besides, a man can't make a very good showing on seventy-five +dollars a month. But if the Unicorn lives to complete her charter I'll +be up on Easy Street, even if I'll only be a plain sea captain when I +come into that money. Of course now I'm only a second mate on the worst +little steam schooner your father owns and I cannot say the things I +want to say--I don't mean to your father, Florry, but to you--" + +"But you're a captain now," Florry interrupted, in delicious terror +hastening to obstruct any further discussion of what a seventy-five +dollar man might have to say were he but in position to say it. "Why +should you go to work as a second mate--" + +"I've been a captain of sail, Florry. Of course, if I had never been +master of a vessel of more than five hundred tons net register, or my +sailing license had been limited to vessels of that tonnage, I should +have to work up from second mate to master in steam. But any man who has +been master of a vessel of more than five hundred tons net register for +more than one year is entitled to apply for a license as master of steam +vessels, and if he can pass the examination he can get his license." + +"Then why don't you do that, Matt?" Florry inquired. + +"I have. The idea of two years' probation as second and first mate +didn't appeal to me, so while I was waiting round to join the Gualala I +went up for my ticket as master of steam. I passed, but when I told your +father I had a license to command the largest steam freighter he owns, +he only laughed at me and told me the inspectors weren't running his +business for him. Just because I'm not twenty-three years old he says I +ought to have two years' experience in steam as mate before he gives me +command of a vessel. He says I'd better learn the Pacific Coast like he +knows his front lawn, or some foggy night I'll walk my vessel overland +and the inspectors will set me down for a couple of years." + +"Well, that sounds reasonable, Matt." + +"Yes, I'll admit there's some justice in his contention, so I'm going to +do it to please him, although I hate to have him think I'm a dog-barking +navigator." + +"Why, what's that?" Florry demanded. + +"A dog-barking navigator is a coastwise blockhead that gets lost if he +loses sight of land. He steers a course from headland to headland, and +every little while on dark nights he stands in close and listens. Pretty +soon he hears a dog barking alongshore. 'All right,' he says to the +mate; 'we're off Point Montara. I know that Newfoundland dog's barking. +He's the only one on the coast. Haul her off and hold her before the +wind for four hours and then stand in again. When you pick up the bark +of a foxhound you'll be off Pigeon Point.'" + +Florry's laughter drowned a further description of the dog-barking +navigator's wonderful knowledge of Pacific Coast canines, and after some +small talk Matt said good-bye and hung up. When he left the telephone +booth, however, he was a happier young man than when he had entered it, +for he had now satisfied himself that while Cappy Ricks might arrogate +to himself the right of proposing, his daughter could be depended upon +to attend to the disposing. He went to his boarding house, paid his +landlady, packed his clothes and sent them down to the Gualala, rubbing +her blistered sides against Howard Street Pier No. 1. At seven o'clock +next morning he was aboard her and at seven-five he superintended the +casting off of the stern lines and his apprenticeship in steam had +commenced. + + + +CHAPTER XXVII. PROMOTION + + +Cappy Ricks was in a fine rage. A situation, unique in his forty years +of experience as a lumber and shipping magnate, was confronting him, +with the prospects exceedingly bright for Cappy playing a role +analogous to that of the simpleton who holds the sack on a snipe-hunting +expedition. He summoned Mr. Skinner into his private office, and glared +at the latter over the rims of his spectacles. "Skinner," he said +solemnly, "there's the very devil to pay." + +Mr. Skinner arched his eyebrows and inclined a respectful ear. Cappy +continued: + +"It's about the Hermosa. Skinner, that dog-barking navigator you put in +that schooner while I was on my vacation has balled us up for fair. I'll +be the laughing-stock of the street." + +Parenthetically it may be stated that the Blue Star Navigation Company's +schooner, Hermosa, had cleared from Astoria for Valparaiso with a cargo +of railroad ties, and, for some reason which the captain could not +explain but which Cappy Ricks could, the unfortunate man had become +lost at sea, finally ending his voyage on a reef on one of the Samoan +Islands. The Hermosa had been listed as missing and her owners had been +on the point of receiving a check for the insurance on the vessel and +her cargo when an Australian steamer brought news of her predicament +in Samoa. Her captain sent word that she was resting easily and that +he would get her off. Subsequently, Cappy learned that his dog-barking +skipper had discharged his cargo of railroad ties on barges, in order +to lighten the vessel and float her off with the aid of a launch. +Unfortunately, however, he discovered a huge hole in her garboard, and +before he could patch it an extra high tide lifted the vessel over the +reef and sunk her forty fathoms deep in a place where nobody could ever +get at her again. + +"Yes, sir," Cappy complained. "I'll be the laughing-stock of the street. +Here's a letter from the insurance people, inclosing a check for a total +loss on the vessel, but they repudiate payment of the insurance on the +cargo." + +"Why?" demanded the amazed Skinner. "They insured those ties for +delivery at Callao. They can't get out of it." + +"I'll bet they can," Cappy shrilled. "I've just called up the Board of +Underwriters and they say the cargo hasn't been lost. They say nothing +is lost if you know where it is, and the ties are on the beach in Samoa +awaiting our pleasure. Skinner, call up our attorneys at once and tell +them to enter suit." + +"I was just about to call them up on another matter," Mr. Skinner +replied. "As secretary of the Blue Star Navigation Company I have +just been served with a summons in another suit, entered against the +Quickstep." + +"What in the fiend's name is the matter with that infernal Quickstep? +This is the third suit we've had in two years. Skinner, what is wrong +with that steam schooner?" + +"She must be hoodooed, Mr. Ricks." + +"Another seaman injured by being hit with a cargo block or having a +piece of eight-by-eight drop on his foot, I suppose." + +"Not this time, Mr. Ricks. One Halvor Jacobsen has sued the Quickstep +and owners for five thousand dollars for injuries alleged to have been +inflicted upon him by the captain." + +"So that Captain Kjellin has been fighting again, eh? Skinner, that +man is too handy with his fists, I tell you. He's another one of your +favorites, by the way. I only put that fellow in the Quickstep to please +you." + +"We haven't a better man in our employ," Mr. Skinner asserted stoutly. +"He carries larger cargoes and makes faster time than any steam-schooner +captain in our vessels of similar carrying capacity. He's a dividend +producer, Mr. Ricks, and he is very efficient." + +"Don't talk to me of efficiency," Cappy snarled. "What's the sense +rushing the vessel round Robin Hood's barn to make dividends, if we lose +them in lawsuits?" + +"His vessel didn't lay up during the strike of the Waterfront Federation +in 1903," Skinner challenged. "You bet she didn't! Kjellin rustled up +a scab crew and kept the mob off the vessel at the point of a gun. I +understand he's a bit short-tempered, but while there are ships with +red-blooded men in them, Mr. Ricks, we must expect the men to pull off a +couple of rounds with skin gloves every so often." + +Cappy looked over the rims of his spectacles at Mr. Skinner. "Skinner," +he said impressively, "listen to me: This is the last suit that's going +to be entered against the Quickstep. Was that man Halvor Jacobsen who is +suing us second mate on the Quickstep?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"I knew it," Cappy shrilled triumphantly. "Skinner, with all your +efficiency ideas, you fail to see anything remarkable in that fact. Now +don't tell me you do, because I know you do not. This is the third suit +since Kjellin took charge, and that's proof enough for me that there's +something wrong with that big Finn. Those other two suits were for +injuries received by men loading cargo in the after hold. The after hold +is presided over by the second mate." Cappy waved his hands. "Huh!" he +said. "Simple!" + +"I believe I comprehend," Mr. Skinner admitted. "But what are you going +to do about it? We can scarcely discharge Kjellin without a hearing and +without proof that he is to blame." + +"What am I going to do about it?" Cappy echoed. "Why, I'm going to send +a judge and a jury aboard the Quickstep, try this Finn, Kjellin, and if +he's guilty of dereliction of duty I'll bet you a plug hat to one small +five-cent bag of smoking tobacco I'll know all about it inside of a +week." + +"Do you mean to put a secret-service operative aboard disguised as a +deckhand?" + +"Huh! Skinner, you distress me. I'm going to put Matt Peasley aboard the +Quickstep as second mate, and let Nature take its course." + +"I wouldn't do that if I were you, sir," Mr. Skinner advised. "That +rowdy Peasley and a man like Kjellin will not get along together for one +voyage; then Kjellin will fire him, and first thing you know you'll be +groping around in the dark again." + +"Oh, I know this Finn is a pet of yours," Cappy retorted acidly, "but +Matt Peasley is a pet of mine. If we put them together in the same ship +maybe we'll have one of those skin-glove contests you referred to a +minute ago, but between their mutual recriminations you can bet your +hopes of Heaven I'll catch a glimpse of the truth and act accordingly. +Matt will not tell a lie, Skinner. Remember that." + +"Neither will Kjellin," Skinner declared with equal warmth. + +"Well, I don't know whether he will or not. However, that's beside the +question. Where is the Florence Ricks?" + +"Sailed from San Pedro at noon yesterday." + +"Where is the Quickstep?" + +"Sailed from Eureka to load shingles last night." + +"Good. Wireless the master of the Florence to provide himself with a +new second mate. That will give him time to wireless ahead and have one +waiting for him when the vessel touches in to discharge passengers +from the south. Tell him to inform Peasley he isn't fired, but just +transferred. Attend to it, Skinner." + +While Mr. Skinner departed to carry out Cappy's order, the old gentleman +called up Harbor 15, Masters' and Pilots' Association, and asked for the +secretary. + +"Ricks of the Blue Star speaking," he announced crisply. "Been +furnishing many second mates to the Quickstep lately?" + +"Why, yes, Mr. Ricks. Kjellin wires for a new second mate quite +frequently. They don't seem to stay with him more than a voyage or two. +He's quite a driver, you know, Mr. Ricks." + +"I know," Cappy replied grimly. "The next time he wires in to have a +second mate join the ship when he touches in here, you might be good +enough to call me up. I have a skookum young second mate in the Florence +Ricks that I'm training for a captain, and I want to switch him in on +the Humboldt Bay run for the sake of the experience. And, of course, you +know how it is with masters--they like to think they're selecting their +own mates, and always resent any interference from their owners. And if +you do ask them to take a certain mate they're apt to suspect he's a spy +from the office, and--well, you understand. I'd prefer to have this lad +I have in mind go aboard as if you had sent him." + +"I understand, Mr. Ricks. I'll let you know the first time Kjellin wires +in." + + + +CHAPTER XXVIII. CAPPY HAS A HEART + + +"Well, Matt," said Cappy Ricks, cheerfully, as he shook hands with the +late second mate of the Florence Ricks. "We don't see much of each other +now that you're a mate. But don't worry, you'll be a master again, and +then you'll be dropping in here a couple of times a month pestering +me for a lot of things for your ship that you could probably get along +without. You're looking fit, my boy." + +"I'm feeling fit, sir," Matt replied, grinning. + +"I'm glad to hear it," was Cappy's grim reply. "Hum! Harump-h-h-h! +Let me see now. You've had your course in the Mendocino dog-holes, and +that's over. I hope you learned something. You've run for seven months +from all the Washington and Oregon ports to Southern California, +and--er--that's very nice. But you haven't been over Humboldt Bar yet, +have you?" + +"No, sir." + +"Then you have something coming. Quite a bar in the winter time, Matt, +quite a bar! Good many tickets been lost on that bar, Matt, so you ought +to have more than a nodding acquaintance with it. You're going second +mate in the Quickstep. She's carrying redwood shingles from Eureka to +the Shingle Association's air-drying yards up river at Los Medanos at +present, and she'll get to Los Medanos Sunday afternoon, so you'd better +get there about the same time, in order to turn to discharging bright +and early Monday morning. And you'll have to step lively, Matt. The +Quickstep lives up to her name, and the way they put shingles into that +vessel is a scandal." + +"Shingles are nice stuff to handle," Matt ventured. + +"Not redwood shingles, Matt. All right after they're dry, but when they +come fresh from the saws they bleed a little, so be sure and wear gloves +when you handle them. If you have a cut on your hand that redwood sap +may poison you. I think you'll like the Quickstep, Matt." + +"It doesn't matter whether I do or not," Matt replied humorously. "You +always do things for me without consulting me anyhow." + +"Why, you don't mind, do you, my boy? It's all for your own good." + +"I can bear it, sir, because one of these bright days I'm going to do +something without consulting you." + +Cappy favored him with a sharp glance. "As the street boys say," he +flashed back, "'I get you, Steve!'" + +"And having gotten me, Mr. Ricks, do you still want me in your employ?" + +"Oh, certainly, certainly. Any time I want to get rid of you I'll fire +you or have Skinner do it for me." + +Matt looked at his watch and rose. "I have four days' shore leave before +me, sir," he said, "so I guess I'll be trotting along and make the most +of it. I'll be at Los Medanos Sunday night." + +"Her skipper's a big Finn," Cappy warned him. "Behave yourself, Matt. +He's bad medicine for young second mates." + +"I'll do my duty, sir." + +He took his leave. As he went out the door Cappy gazed after him with +twinkling eyes: "Young scoundrel!" he murmured. "Damned young scoundrel! +You'll be ringing Florry up the minute you leave this office, if you +haven't already done it. I'm onto you, young fellow!" + +Matt Peasley took Florry Ricks to a matinee that very day. Cappy, +suspecting he might attempt something of the sort and desiring to verify +his suspicions, went home from the office early that day, and from his +hiding place behind the window drapes in his drawing room he observed +a taxicab draw up in front of his residence at six o'clock. From this +vehicle Matt Peasley, astonishingly well tailored, alighted, handed out +the heir to the Ricks millions, said good-by lingeringly and drove away. + +"Well," Cappy soliloquized, "I guess I'm going to land the son-in-law +I'm after. The matinee is over at a quarter of five, and those two have +fooled away an hour. I'll bet a dollar Florry steered that sailor into +a tea fight somewhere, and if she did that, Matt, you're a tip-top risk +and I'll underwrite you." + +That same evening Cappy sneaked into his daughter's apartments and found +a photograph of Matt Peasley in a hammered silver frame on Florry's +dressing table. + +"Holy sailor!" he chuckled. "They think they're putting one over on the +old gentleman, don't they? Trying to cover me with blood, eh? Huh! If +I'd let that fellow Matt stay ashore he'd have hung round Florry until +he wore out his welcome, and I suppose in the long run I'd have had to +put up with one of these lawn-tennis, tea-swilling young fellows too +proud to work. By Judas Priest, when I quit the street I want to give +my proxy to a lad that will make my competitors mind their step, and by +keeping Matt at sea a couple of years, I'll get him over the moon-calf +period. Deliver my girl and my business from the hands of a damned +fool!" + +The following evening Cappy questioned his daughter's chauffeur--a +chauffeur, by the way, being a luxury which Cappy scorned for himself. +He maintained a coachman and a carriage and a spanking team of bays, and +drove to his office like the old-fashioned gentleman he was. From this +chauffeur Cappy learned that he, the chauffeur, had been out all the +afternoon with Miss Florence and a large, light-hearted young gentleman. +They had lunched together at the Cliff House. + +"What did she call him?" Cappy demanded, anxious to verify his +suspicions. "Didn't she address him as 'Matt?'" + +"No, sir," the man replied, grinning. "She called him 'dearie.'" + +"Holy jumped-up Jehosophat!" murmured Cappy, and questioned the man no +further. That evening, however, he decided to have a heart--particularly +after Florry had informed him that she was going out to dinner the +following night. + +"And you'll be all alone, popsy-wops," she added, "so you had better eat +dinner at the club." + +"Oh, I'm tired of my clubs," Cappy replied sadly. "Still your remark +gives me an idea, Florry. If I happen to run across that young fellow +Peasley--you remember him, Florry; the boy I'm training for a steamship +captain--I'll have him out for dinner with me so I'll not have to eat +alone." + +"I thought you didn't care for him socially," Florry put forth a feeler. + +"Well, he used to remind me considerably of a St. Bernard pup, but I +notice he's losing a lot of that fresh, puppy-dog way he used to have. +And then he's a Down-East boy. His Uncle Ethan Peasley and I were pals +together fifty years ago, and for Ethan's sake I feel that I ought to +show the boy some consideration. He's learning to hold himself together +pretty well, and if I should run into him to-morrow I'll ask him out." + +Florry exhibited not the slightest interest in her father's plans, but +he noticed that immediately after dinner she hurried up to her room, and +that upon her return she declined a game of pool with her father on the +score of not feeling very well. + +"You skipped upstairs like a sick woman," Cappy reflected. "I'll bet a +hat you telephoned that son of a sea cook to be sure and throw himself +in my way to-morrow, so I'll invite him out to dinner. And you're +complaining of a headache now so you'll have a good excuse to cancel +that dinner engagement to-morrow night so as to eat at home with your +daddy and his guest. Poor old father! He's such a dub! I'll bet myself a +four-bit cigar I eat breakfast alone to-morrow morning." + +And it was even so. Florry sent down word that she was too indisposed +to breakfast with her father, and the old man drove chuckling to his +office. That afternoon Matt Peasley, in an endeavor to invade the floor +of the Merchants' Exchange, to which he had no right, was apprehended by +the doorkeeper and asked to show his credentials. + +"Oh, I'm Captain Peasley, of the Blue Star Navigation Company," he +replied lightly, and was granted admittance as the courtesy accorded all +sea captains. He knew Cappy Ricks always spent an hour on 'Change after +luncheon at the Commercial Club. When Cappy met him, however, the old +man was mean enough to pay not the slightest attention to Matt; so after +waiting round for three-quarters of an hour longer, the latter left the +Exchange and walked down California Street, where he posted himself in +the shelter of a corner half a block south of No. 258, where the +Blue Star Navigation Company had its offices. From this vantage point +presently he spied Cappy trotting home from the Merchants' Exchange; +whereupon Matt strolled leisurely up the street and met him. And in +order that Cappy should realize whom he was meeting Matt bumped into the +schemer and then begged his pardon profusely. + +"Don't mention it, Matt," the old rascal protested. "You shook up a +flock of ideas in my head and jarred one loose. If you haven't anything +on to-night, my boy, better come out to the house and have dinner with +me. I'm all alone and I want company." + +"Thank you, sir," Matt replied enthusiastically; "I'll be glad to come." + +"You bet you will," Cappy thought. Aloud he said: "At six-thirty." + +"Yes, sir. Thank you, sir." And Matt Peasley was off like a tin-canned +dog to slick himself up for the party, while Cappy entered the elevator +chuckling. "If I ever find the sour-souled philosopher who said +you can't mix business and sentiment without resultant chaos," he +soliloquized, "I'll boil the kill-joy in oil." + + + +CHAPTER XXIX. NATURE TAKES HER COURSE + + +The big steam schooner Quickstep was lying at the Los Medanos dock when +Matt Peasley reported for duty. The captain was not aboard, but the +first mate received him kindly and explained that Captain Kjellin had +gone down to San Francisco by train for a little social relaxation and +to bring back funds to pay off the longshoremen. + +Early on Monday morning the crew and a large force of stevedores +commenced to discharge the vessel. Two winches were kept busy, the first +mate being in charge of the work up forward and Matt superintending that +aft. The shingles were loaded in huge rope cargo nets, snatched out of +the ship and swung overside onto flat cars, which were shunted off into +the drying yard as soon as loaded. + +The captain returned at noon on Tuesday, and at two o'clock the last +bundle of shingles was out of the Quickstep, for the mate had worked +overtime Monday night in order that they might finish discharging early +enough on Tuesday afternoon to drop down to Oleum and take on fuel oil +for the next voyage. This schedule would bring them to the dock at +San Francisco about six o'clock, where they would take on stores and +passengers and sail at seven for Eureka, on Humboldt Bay, where they +would arrive Wednesday night. On Thursday they would commence taking on +cargo, but since they had to take shingles from several mills round the +bay, they were bound to be delayed waiting for tides to get in and +out, and in all probability they would not be loaded and at sea until +Saturday night, which would give them Sunday at sea--and in the lumber +trade on the Pacific Coast the only profitable way to spend Sunday is +to spend it at sea. To spend it in port is a day lost, with the crew +loafing and drawing full pay for it. The mate explained to Matt that +Captain Kjellin would drive them hard to maintain this schedule, for +he prized his job as master of the Quickstep, and had a reputation for +speed and efficiency with his owners which he was anxious to maintain. + +Despite their best efforts, however, the vessel was doomed to fall +behind her schedule. At Oleum they found the oil dock lined with vessels +taking on fuel, and in consequence were forced to wait two hours for a +berth; seeing which the captain went ashore and telephoned his owners +that he would be unable to get to the dock in San Francisco until about +eight o'clock. Consequently, Mr. Skinner, realizing that the passengers +their agent had booked for the Quickstep, by reason of the cut-rates +prevailing on lumber steamers, would not wait on the dock until the +Quickstep should arrive, instructed the captain to lay over in San +Francisco all night and put to sea at nine o'clock Wednesday morning. +In the meantime he said he would send a clerk down to the dock to notify +the waiting passengers of the unavoidable change in schedule. + +Promptly at eight o'clock Wednesday morning the Quickstep got away from +the dock. The minute she was fairly out the Golden Gate, however, she +poked her nose into a stiff nor'west gale; and as she was bound north +and was empty, this gale, catching her on the port counter, caused her +to roll and pitch excessively, and cut her customary speed of ten +miles an hour down to five. Every passenger aboard was soon desperately +seasick, and off Point Reyes so violently did the Quickstep pitch that +even some members of the crew became nauseated, among them Matt Peasley. +He had never been seasick before and he was ashamed of himself now, +notwithstanding the fact that he knew even the hardiest old seadogs are +not proof against mal-de-mer under certain extraordinary conditions. +Captain Kjellin, coming up on the bridge during Matt's watch, found +the latter doing the most unseamanlike thing imaginable. Caught in +a paroxysm at the weather end of the bridge, Matt, in his agony, was +patronizing the weather rail! The captain heard him squawk, and ducked +to avoid what instinct told him the gale would bring him his way. + +"Vat you ban tankin' of?" he roared furiously. "You damned landsman! +Don't you know enough to discharge dot cargo over der lee rail?" + +Having disposed of a hearty breakfast, Matt raised his green face and +stared sheepishly at the Finn. "You didn't get sprayed, did you, sir?" +he queried breathlessly. + +"No, but who der devil ever heard of a seaman gettin' sick to +windward--?" + +"I know it looks awful, sir," quavered Matt. "I thought something like +this might happen, and in order to be prepared for eventualities I +hung a fire bucket over the edge of the weather-bridge railing and set +another there by the binnacle. The man at the wheel got me started, +sir. He asked me if I liked fat pork. Can't you see that if I had made a +quick run for the lee rail while the vessel was pitching to leeward +the chances are I'd continue right on overboard? As soon as I get my +bearings again I'll empty the bucket, sir." + +"Der fire buckets ban't for dot purpose." + +"All right, sir. I'll buy you a new fire bucket when we get to Eureka," +Matt answered contritely. + +Kjellin stayed on the bridge a few minutes, growling and glaring, but +Matt was too ill and dispirited to pay any attention to him, so finally +he went below. + +The Quickstep bucked the gale all the way to Humboldt Bar, and tied up +at the first mill dock at half past one o'clock on Friday. It was two +o'clock before the passengers and their baggage had been sent ashore, +but the minute the last trunk went over the rail the loading began. + +"We'll work overtime again to-night," the first mate told Matt at +luncheon. "The old man will drive us hard to-morrow, and we'll have more +overtime Saturday night so we can get to sea early Sunday morning." + +"I don't care," Matt replied. "I get seventy-five cents an hour for my +overtime, and I'm big enough to stand a lot of that. But, believe me, +I'll jump lively. The old man's out of sorts on account of the delay due +to that head wind." + +At three o'clock the captain walked aft, where Matt Peasley was +superintending the stowing in the after hold. + +"Is dot all you've got to do," he sneered--"settin' roundt mit your +hands in your poggeds?" + +Matt glared at him. True, his hands were in his pockets at that moment, +but he was not setting round. He was watching a slingload of shingles +hovering high over the hatch, and the instant it was lowered he intended +to leap upon it, unship the cargo hook, hang the spare cargo net on +it and whistle to the winchman to hoist away for another slingload. He +controlled his temper and said: + +"I'm doing the best I can, sir. That winchman doesn't have to wait on +us a second, sir. We handle them as fast as they swing them in from the +mill dock." + +"Yump in an' do somedings yourself," Kjellin growled. "Don't stand +roundt like a young leddy." + +"D'ye mean you want I should mule shingles round in this hold like a +longshoreman?" + +"Sure! Ve got to get to sea Sunday morning, und every liddle bit helps." + +"Well, then you'll get along without my little bit. If you don't know +your business, sir, I know mine. Somebody's got to tend that sling, +and everybody's business is nobody's business. If I'm not on the job a +bundle of shingles may come flying down from above and kill a man, or +that heavy cargo block may crack a stevedore on the head. Who's going to +look after the broken bundles and see that they're repacked if I don't? +I can't do that and mule shingles round in this hold, sir; and what's +more I'm not going to do it." + +"Den, by yimminy, you get off der ship!" the captain roared. "I don't +vant no loafers aboard my boat, und if you tank--" + +"Stow the gab, you big Finn! I'm through. Pay me off and help yourself +to another second mate." And Matt put on his coat and whistled to the +winchman to steady his slingload while he climbed out of the hold. +Kjellin followed and Matt preceded him to his stateroom, where the +captain paid him the few dollars he had coming to him. + +"Sign clear," he ordered, and Matt took an indelible pencil and stooped +over the skipper's desk to sign the pay roll. As he straightened up +the captain's powerful left forearm came round Matt's left shoulder and +under his chin, tilting his head backward, while the Finn's left knee +ground into the small of his back. He was held as in a vise, helpless, +and Kjellin spoke: + +"Ven I get fresh young faler like you, an' he quit me cold, I lick him +after I pay him off." + +"I see," Matt replied calmly. "That makes it a plain case of assault and +battery, whereas if you lick him before you pay him off, he can sue your +owners. You're a fine, smart squarehead!" + +"You bet!" Kjellin answered, and struck him a stunning blow behind +the ear. Matt, realizing his inability to wriggle out of the captain's +grasp, kicked backward with his right foot and caught the Finn squarely +on the right shin, splintering the bone. The captain cried out with +the pain of it and released the pressure on Matt's chin, whereupon the +latter whirled, picked the Finn up bodily, and threw him through the +stateroom door out onto the deck, where he struck the pipe railing and +rebounded. He lay where he fell, and when Matt's brain cleared and he +came out on deck the captain was moaning. + +"Get up, you brute!" Matt ordered. "You got the wrong pig by the ear +that time." + +"My leg ban broken," Kjellin whimpered. + +"I wish it was your neck," Matt replied with feeling, and bent over to +examine his fallen foe. When he grasped Kjellin by the right shoulder, +however, the Finn screamed with pain, so Matt called the steward, and +together they lifted him and carried him to his berth. + +"I'll bet a cooky you're a total loss and no accident insurance," Matt +soliloquized. "You're not worth it, but for the sake of the owners I'll +get a doctor to look you over," and he went ashore at once. When the +doctor had looked Thorwald Kjellin over his verdict was a broken tibia, +a broken radius and a broken clavicle. + +Matt was concerned. "I don't think I ever had any of those things to get +broken," he declared humorously, "but if mere words mean anything I'll +bet this is a hospital job." The doctor nodded, and Matt turned to +the captain: "Do you want to go to the hospital in Eureka or in San +Francisco?" + +"I ban vant to go home," the Finn moaned. + +"Very well, captain; I guess your successor will bring you there. I'm +going up to the mill office now to report to the owners by telephone." + +"Dot ban't none o' your business, Peasley," Kjellin protested. "Dot is +der first mate's job. You ban fired." + +"Yes, I know. Now I'm back-firing," Matt retorted. + +Fifteen minutes later he had Cappy Ricks on the long-distance telephone. + +"Mr. Ricks," he began, "this is Peasley talking from Eureka. I have to +report that I'm fired out of the Quickstep. I'm not complaining about +that or asking you to reinstate me, because I can get another job now, +but I want to tell you why I was fired. The captain got a grouch against +me coming up. We had a nor'west gale on our port counter and she rolled +and bucked until even some of the crew got seasick. I'm ashamed to say I +fell by the wayside myself for a few minutes, and Captain Kjellin caught +me draped over the weather bridge railing. So I guess he thought I +wasn't much of a seaman. Anyhow he picked on me from then on, and a +little while ago he ordered me to mule shingles with the longshoremen in +the after hold. I couldn't do that, Mr. Ricks. I'm a ship's officer, +and besides you've simply got to have somebody to watch the slings when +they're coming into the ship at the rate of two a minute or somebody +will get hurt, and then the vessel will be sued for damages. You see we +were working overtime and in a hurry to get loaded--" + +"I see everything," Cappy retorted. "What happened next?" + +"The captain got me foul in his cabin when I went to be paid off, and +hung a shanty back of my ear, so I threw him out on deck and hurt him. +You'll have to send a new skipper up to bring the Quickstep home, sir. +The first mate is a good man but he hasn't a master's license--" + +"What did you do to Kjellin, Matt?" + +"You'll have to ask a doctor, sir. I didn't intend to break him up, but +it seems I damaged all his Latin superstructure, and he'll have to go to +a hospital for a couple of months. I'm sorry I hurt your skipper, +sir, and I felt I couldn't leave your employ, Mr. Ricks, without an +explanation." + +"You haven't left my employ at all. Get back on the job and load that +vessel, or the first thing you know you'll be stuck in port over Sunday, +and that's not the way to make a start as master of the Quickstep. You +have a license as master of steam, haven't you?" + +"Yes, sir. I can handle her, sir." + +"Then do it and don't stand there burning up good money on the +long-distance phone. The Quickstep is yours--on one condition." + +"I accept it, sir," Matt exclaimed, overjoyed. "What is it?" + +"That you stick in her at least six months." + +"I will if I live and she floats that long, sir. Thank you. Please have +a second mate and an ambulance waiting for me at Meiggs Wharf on Monday. +I'll touch in there on my way up river to discharge what's left of your +skipper." + + + +CHAPTER XXX. MR. SKINNER HEARS A LECTURE + + +Down in the offices of the Blue Star Navigation Company Cappy Ricks, +having summoned Mr. Skinner, sat peering whimsically at the general +manager over the rims of his spectacles. "Well, Skinner, my dear boy," +he announced presently, "sure enough there was something wrong with the +Quickstep, and now I know what it is; she has had the wrong master. When +he hustles to catch a tide or to get to sea Saturday night or Sunday +morning he drives his mates and tries to make them do longshoremen's +work. When he bullied a weak mate into doing that, there was nobody to +pay exclusive attention to the slingloads as they came into the ship, +and naturally accidents resulted. When strong second mates refused he +fired them, and after firing them he cornered them in his cabin, held +them foul and beat them. You see, Skinner, this skookum skipper of yours +didn't realize that with two slingloads of shingles a minute dropping +into the ship he had to have a man on the job to watch the loading and +do nothing else; and because he didn't realize the error of his way, +Skinner, he and Matt Peasley have pulled off that little skin-glove +contest, and now Kjellin looks like a barrel of cement that's been +dropped out the window of a six-story building. Hum! Ahem! Harump-h-h-h! +Call up the attorney for that man Jacobsen that's suing the Quickstep, +and tell him to come down here with his man and we'll settle the case +out of court. His charge lies against Kjellin for assault and battery, +but after all, Skinner, I dare say we are in a measure responsible for +our servants. I'll give the attorney about twenty-five dollars for his +fee, and er--the man Jacobsen--let me see, Skinner, he had a broken +nose, did he not?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"We'll pay his doctor bill and his wages as second mate since Kjellin +fired him, and give him a hundred dollars extra." + +"How about Kjellin's hospital bill?" + +"I disclaim responsibility, Skinner. Did he settle up with the cashier +for his last voyage?" + +"Yes, Mr. Ricks." + +"Then send him a wireless and tell him he's fired. Also, Skinner, my +boy, see that an ambulance is waiting for him at Meiggs Wharf when he +arrives on the Quickstep on Monday. We'll show him we're not entirely +heartless. Make it clear, however, that this office will not be +responsible for the ambulance fee. Matt will bring the vessel down +without a second mate, I dare say. He'll stand a watch himself. Better +call up Harbor 15 and see if there isn't a second mate out of a job +hanging round there, and tell him to join the ship at Meiggs Wharf." + +Mr. Skinner's eyes fairly popped. "You don't mean to tell me, sir, that +you've given the Quickstep to that rowdy Peasley?" + +Cappy relapsed into the colloquialism of the younger generation with +which he was wont to associate at luncheon. "Surest thing you know," he +said. + +"If I may be permitted a criticism, Mr. Ricks--" + +"You may not." + +"Your sentimental leaning toward your fellow townsman may be the cause +of losing one of the best paying ships of the fleet." + +"Forget it, Skinner!" + +"Oh, very well. You're the boss, Mr. Ricks. But if I were in your place +I would have an older and more experienced man to relieve him the moment +he comes into the bay. You must remember, Mr. Ricks, that while he may +run her very nicely during the summer months, he has had no experience +on Humboldt Bay during the winter months--" + +"Skinner, the only way he'll ever accumulate experience on that bar is +to give him the opportunity." + +"He'll take big risks. He's very young and headstrong." + +"I admit he's fiery. But I promised him a ship, and he's earned her +sooner than I planned, so, even if my decision loses the Quickstep for +us, he shall have her. I'll be swindled if I ever did see the like of +that boy Matt. He gets results. And do you know why, Skinner?" + +"Because," Mr. Skinner replied coldly, "he's a huge, healthy animal, +able and willing to fight his way in any ship, and at the same time +clever enough to take advantage of your paternal interest in him--" + +"Rats! I'll give you the answer, Skinner, my boy: He gets results +because he does his duty and doesn't sidestep for man or devil. And he's +able to do his duty and do it well because he has a clear understanding +of what his duty is--and that, Skinner, is the kind of skipper material +I've been looking for all my life. As for the boy's horsepower, let me +tell you this: If Matt Peasley wasn't any bigger than I am, he'd fight +any man that tried to walk over him. It's in his breed. Damn it, sir, +he's a Yankee skipper, and when you've said that you're through. I guess +I know. How much have we been paying that bully Kjellin?" + +"Two hundred a month." + +"Too much! Pay Matt two-twenty-five and attend to the certificate of +change of masters." + +When Mr. Skinner had departed Cappy sat back in his chair and closed his +eyes, as was his habit when his gigantic brain grappled with a +problem of more than ordinary dimensions. For fully ten minutes he +sat absolutely motionless, then suddenly he straightened up like a +jack-in-the-box and summoned Mr. Skinner. + +"Skinner," he said plaintively, "I'm feeling a little run down. Will +you please be good enough to book Florry and me passage to Europe right +away. I've never been to Europe, you know, Skinner, and I think it's +time I took a vacation." + +Mr. Skinner smiled. "Why all the hurry?" he queried. + +"I want to try out a theory," Cappy replied. "I have a great curiosity, +Skinner, to ascertain if there is any truth in the old saying that +absence makes the heart grow fonder. And if it does, Skinner--why, the +sooner I start the sooner I can get back." + +Mr. Skinner went out mystified. As Mark Twain's friend, Mr. Ballou, +remarked about the coffee, Cappy Ricks was a little too "technical" for +him. + + + +CHAPTER XXXI. INTERNAL COMBUSTION + + +The Quickstep had arrived in port again before Cappy Ricks and Florry +could get away to Europe, so Matt came down by train from Los Medanos +and was granted the meager comfort of a farewell with his heart's +desire. Thereafter all comfort fled his life, for, with Cappy Ricks +away, Mr. Skinner was high and low justice, and he was not long keeping +Matt Peasley in ignorance of the fact that it was one thing to skipper +a Blue Star ship for Cappy Ricks and quite another thing to skipper the +same ship for the Blue Star manager. For Mr. Skinner had never liked +Captain Peasley, and, moreover, he never intended to, for the master +of the Quickstep was not sufficiently submissive to earn the general +manager's approbation as a desirable employee, and Cappy Ricks was the +only man with a will and a way of his own who could get along amicably +in the same office with the efficient and cold-blooded Mr. Skinner. + +Cappy wasn't outside Sandy Hook before Mr. Skinner had Matt on the +carpet for daring to bring the Quickstep up river without a pilot. He +demanded an explanation. + +"I made careful note of all the twists and turns when the pilot took me +up the first time," Matt declared. "It isn't a difficult channel, so +I decided to save forty-five dollars the next time and take her up +myself." + +"Suppose you'd buried her nose in the mud and we'd had to lighter her +deckload to get her off," Mr. Skinner suggested. + +Matt grinned. "If your aunt was a man she'd be your uncle, wouldn't +she?" he parried. He had made up his mind not to take Mr. Skinner +seriously. Mr. Skinner flushed, looked dangerous, but concluded not to +pursue the investigation further. + +Three weeks later, when making up to a dock at San Pedro, a strong ebb +tide and a mistake in judgment swung the bow of the Quickstep into the +end of the dock and a dolphin was torn out. In the fullness of time +the Blue Star Navigation Company was in receipt of a bill for $112 dock +repairs, whereupon Mr. Skinner wrote Matt, prefacing his letter with the +query: "Referring to inclosed bill--how did this happen?" Then he went +on to scold Matt bitterly for his inability to handle his ship properly +in making up to a dock. + +Matt promptly returned Mr. Skinner his own letter, with this penciled +memorandum at the bottom of the page: "Referring to inclosed bill for +dock repairs--the dock happened to be in my course. That's the only way +I can account for it." + +For some time, whenever the Quickstep carried shingle cargoes for the +Shingle Association, there had been disputes over her freight bill, due +to continued discrepancies between the tally in and the tally out, and +Mr. Skinner had instructed Matt to tally his next cargo into the ship +himself and then tally it out again. Matt engaged a certified lumber +surveyor at five dollars a day to do the tallying at the various mills, +but at Los Medanos he tallied the cargo out personally. To a shingle it +agreed with the mill tally. Subsequently the manager of the drying yard +reported a shortage of eight thousand shingles, and again Mr. Skinner +wrote Matt for an explanation, to which Matt replied as follows: + +"Do not pay any attention to the yard manager's tally. Ours is right. A +certified tallyman counted 11,487,250 in, and I counted 11,487,250 out, +as I have already reported. Sorry I cannot reverse my decision. However, +I have an idea which may account for the shortage: After the vessel +is reported down river, the stevedores gather on the dock, and while +waiting for us to arrive and commence discharging they whittle shingles +to pass the time away. I give you this information for what it may be +worth." + +Mr. Skinner had the grace to see that he had been rebuked and left +standing in a very poor light for one of his noted efficiency, so he +did not pursue the subject further; but the next time Matt came to the +office he jumped on him for carrying a dead-head passenger from San +Pedro in the first cabin. + +"Of course I carried him," Matt replied. "When I was before the mast in +the Annabel Lee he was her skipper, so when I met him in Pedro minus +his ticket and stony broke I gave him a lift to San Francisco. Mr. Ricks +informed me that I would be permitted these little courtesies within the +bounds of reason." + +"When Captain Kjellin had the Quickstep," Mr. Skinner answered, "he +never carried dead-heads." + +"You mean he didn't have the courage to put the name on the passenger +list and write D. H. after it. However, please do not compare me with +Captain Kjellin." + +"Well, you're not making the time he made in the Quickstep." + +"I know it, sir. My policy is to make haste slowly. Kjellin hurried--and +see what happened to him. He'll never be fast again, either, with that +short leg of his." + +"Captain Peasley, I am opposed to your levity." + +"Do you want me to worry and stew just because you do not happen to like +me and keep picking on me, Mr. Skinner? Why don't you be a sport +and give me a fair chance, sir? You have all the best of it in any +argument--so why argue?" + +"No more dead-heads," Mr. Skinner warned. "Hereafter, pay for your +guests." + +With the coming on of winter, however, Matt's troubles with Mr. Skinner +really commenced, although, in all justice to Skinner, the general +manager was merely following out his theory of efficiency, and in +respect to the matter upon which he deviled Matt Peasley most he did +not differ vastly from many managing owners of steam schooners on the +Pacific Coast. The trouble lay in the fact that the Quickstep carried +passengers. While she was a cargo boat, and hence had no regular run or +sailing schedule, her cabin accommodations were really very good and her +steward's department excelled that of the regular passenger boats. By +cutting the regular passenger rates from twenty-five to forty per cent. +and advertising the vessel to sail at a certain hour on a certain date +from a certain pier, free-lance ticket brokers found no difficulty +in getting her a fair complement of passengers each trip. There was a +moderate profit in this passenger traffic, and Mr. Skinner was anxious +to increase it. + +The difficulty surrounding the passenger business in the steam-schooner +trade, however, lies in the uncertainty of a vessel's arrival and +departure. It is all guesswork. Thus Matt Peasley, with his cargo half +discharged at San Pedro, would estimate that he would sail from that +port, northbound via San Francisco to some Oregon or Washington port for +another cargo, at noon on the following day. Accordingly, he would wire +his owners, who would immediately advertise the sailing of the vessel +from San Francisco forty hours later, the Quickstep's average running +time between San Pedro and San Francisco being about thirty-eight hours. +If the master's estimate proved correct and there were no strong head +winds to retard the vessel, she would sail within an hour or two of the +advertised time, whereas a delay of six to eight hours in the arrival +of the vessel at San Francisco might mean the loss of all the passenger +business garnered for that trip; for competition was keen, and the +ticket agents, selling on a commission of one dollar per ticket, would +switch the traffic to some other vessel sailing earlier rather than have +the tickets canceled and thus lose the commission. + +When through delay or miscalculation the vessel lost passenger traffic +out of a port other than San Francisco, Mr. Skinner did not feel +discouraged. To lose passengers out of San Francisco, where the home +office of the Blue Star Navigation Company was located, however, savored +of a reflection on his efficiency, and caused him much bitter anguish. +Consequently, when Matt Peasley, with a full passenger list from Eureka +to San Francisco, wired Mr. Skinner that he would leave his loading port +at two P. M. on Wednesday, Mr. Skinner allowed him twenty-two hours +for landing his passengers from Eureka to San Francisco and taking on +another load for San Pedro, whither the Quickstep was bound on that +voyage. As a result the Quickstep was advertised to sail from San +Francisco on Thursday at two P. M., and the agents were notified +to commence selling tickets. Judge of Mr. Skinner's perturbation, +therefore, when he received the following wireless from Matt Peasley at +five o'clock on Wednesday: + +Bar breaking heavily. At anchor inside. Will cross out as soon as I +judge it safe to do so. + +Three hours' delay, already, with the prospects exceedingly bright for +the Quickstep's lurking inside Humboldt Bar all night! Mr. Skinner saw +his passenger traffic gone to glory for that trip, so he sent a reply to +Matt Peasley by wireless, as follows: + +You are advertised to sail from here for San Pedro at two o'clock +to-morrow. Hope you will permit nothing to militate against the +preservation of that schedule. Answer. + +"That's what comes of having an inexperienced man in the vessel," he +complained to the cashier. "That fellow Peasley sees a few white caps on +the bar, and he's afraid to cross out. Damn! Kjellin had her three years +and never hung behind a bar once. Many a time he's come down to Humboldt +Bar and found half a dozen steam schooners at anchor inside, waiting for +a chance to duck out. Did Kjellin drop anchor too? He did not. Out he +went and bucked right through it." + +Mr. Skinner waited at the office until six o'clock to get Matt Peasley's +answer. He got it--between the eyes: + +I have no jurisdiction over Humboldt Bar. + +The Quickstep crossed out next morning, and Mr. Skinner wirelessed her +master this message: + +Your timidity has spoiled San Pedro passenger business. Drop Eureka +passengers at Meiggs Wharf and continue your voyage. + +Now it does not please any mariner to be told that he is timid, and, +while Matt Peasley made no reply, nevertheless, he chalked up a black +mark against Mr. Skinner and commenced to plan against the day of +reckoning. + +That was an unusually severe winter. Four times Matt Peasley came down +to the entrance to Humboldt Bar and came to anchor. Three times he tried +to cross out and was forced to change his mind; seven times did Mr. +Skinner upbraid him. The eighth time that Matt Peasley's caution knocked +the San Francisco passenger traffic into a deficit, Mr. Skinner sent him +this message where the Quickstep lay behind Coos Bay Bar: + +What is the matter with you? Your predecessor always managed to +negotiate that bar, and this company expects same of you. + +"He's bound to run me out of this ship," Matt soliloquized when he read +that terse aerogram, "but I promised Cappy I'd stick six months and +I'll do it. That penny-pinching Skinner wants me to cut corners and get +myself into trouble so he can fire me. I'll not tell him the things I +want to tell him, so I guess I won't say anything--much." + +He didn't. He just wired Mr. Skinner as follows: + +Any time you want to commit suicide I will furnish a pistol. + +About the beginning of March Mr. Skinner opened his cold heart long +enough to let in a little human love and get married, and shortly +thereafter he found it necessary to make a business trip to the redwood +mill of the Ricks Lumber and Logging Company on Humboldt Bay. He went +up on the regular P. C. passenger boat and took his bride with him, and +while he was at the mill Matt Peasley came nosing in with the Quickstep +and loaded a cargo of redwood lumber. He finished loading on the same +day that Mr. Skinner discovered he had no further excuse for remaining +away from the office, in consequence of which the latter decided to +return to San Francisco on the Quickstep. This for several very good +reasons: The food on the Quickstep was better than the food on the +regular liner, the accommodations were fully as good, the vessel was +loaded deeply and would ride steadily--and Mr. Skinner and his bride +would travel without charge. + +The sight of the Skinners coming aboard was not a pleasing one to Matt +Peasley. He did not like Mr. Skinner well enough to care to eat at the +same table with him, and he bethought him now of all the mean, nagging +complaints of the past six months. In particular he recalled Mr. +Skinner's instructions to him anent the carrying of dead-head +passengers--and suddenly he had a brilliant idea. He sent for his +wireless operator and ordered him to send this message: + +Blue Star Navigation Company, San Francisco, Cal. + +Please accept my resignation as master of your steamer Quickstep, said +resignation to take effect immediately upon my arrival in San Francisco. +Kindly have somebody on hand to relieve me. + +Matthew Peasley. + +Matt had just remembered that his six months in the Quickstep were up. +His next move was to call on the steward. + +"Go into Stateroom 7," he ordered, "and collect fifteen dollars from +that man and woman in there. They came aboard without tickets." + +Two minutes later the steward was back with word that the passengers in +question were dead-heads, being none other than the manager of the Blue +Star Navigation Company and his wife. + +"Steward, you go back and tell that man Skinner that Captain Peasley +never carries any dead-heads on the Quickstep. Tell him that when +Captain Peasley wants to carry a guest he pays the guest's passage out +of his own pocket." + +"But he'll fire me, sir." + +"Do as I order; he will not fire you. I'm the only man that has that +privilege, and I'll exercise it if you don't obey me." + +Two more minutes elapsed; then Mr. Skinner presented himself at the +captain's stateroom. + +"Peasley," he said sharply, "what nonsense is this?" + +"No dead-heads on this ship, Mr. Skinner. Your own orders, sir. Fifteen +dollars, if you please. You're not my guests." + +"Of course," said Mr. Skinner, "I shall do nothing of the sort." + +"Then get off the ship." + +"Sir, are you crazy?" + +"No, I am not; I'm just disgusted with you. Fifteen dollars here and now +before I cast off the lines, or I'll run you off the ship. Don't tempt +me, Skinner. If I ever lay violent hands on you there'll be work for a +doctor." + +Mr. Skinner was speechless, but he laid fifteen dollars on the captain's +desk and returned to his stateroom. His silence was ominous. Five +minutes later the Quickstep backed out from the mill wharf and headed +down the bay. As she plowed along, the rain commenced falling and a +stiff southeast breeze warned Matt that he was in for a wet crossing. +He was further convinced of this when the bar tug Ranger met him a mile +inside the entrance. She steamed alongside, and, as she passed, her +captain hailed Matt. + +"Don't try to cross out, Peasley," he shouted. "The bar is breaking." + +"The Quickstep doesn't mind it," Matt answered. + +"Don't try it, I tell you. I've been twenty years on Humboldt Bar and I +know it, Peasley. I've never seen it so bad as it is this minute." + +"Oh, we'll cross out without any fuss," Matt called back cheerfully, +and rang for full speed ahead. They were down at the entrance, and the +Quickstep had just lifted to the dead water from the first big green +roller, when Mr. Skinner came up and touched Matt Peasley on the arm. + +"Well, sir?" Matt demanded irritably. + +"Drop anchor inside, captain. That bar is too rough to attempt to cross +out." + +"Oh, nonsense!" Matt declared. + +"But didn't you hear what that tug-boat captain said? He said it was +breaking worse than he had known it for twenty years." + +"Bah! What does he know about it?" + +"I don't care what he knows, Captain Peasley; I order you not to attempt +to cross out. My wife is aboard and I'll take no chances. Come to anchor +and wait for the bar to settle." + +"You order me?" Matt sneered. "Who in blazes are you to give orders on +my ship? I'm at sea, you understand, and you have nothing to say. You'll +give your orders and I'll obey them when I'm at the dock, but crossing +Humboldt Bar, I'm the master of ceremonies. I can't turn back now. I'd +lose my rudder as I came about. Get out. Who invited you up here?" + +"How dare you, sir?" Mr. Skinner cried furiously. "Man, have you lost +your mind? Obey me, I say." + +Matt Peasley laughed blithely. "You miserable, cold-blooded, nagging old +woman," he said, and took Mr. Skinner by the nape and shook him. "I've +prayed for this day. Do you remember the time you wired me at Coos Bay +that my timidity had lost you some passenger traffic? You impugned my +courage then, you whelp, and now I'm going to give you a sample of it. +All winter long you've been hounding me, trying to make me take chances +crossing this bar, just so the vessel might pick up a couple of hundred +dollars extra in passenger money. It didn't matter to you what risks +other men's wives ran when you were snug in your office, did it? You +never thought of the passengers I had aboard, or the lives of my crew or +me, did you? You wanted me to cut corners and risk human lives for the +sake of your reputation as an efficient manager, you--" And he shook Mr. +Skinner until the manager's teeth rattled. "Now you're aboard yourself +with your blushing bride, and how do you like it, eh? How do you like +it? You know all about navigation, don't you? Well, you and your wife +are the only passengers this trip, and I'm going to give you a taste +of salt water you'll remember till your dying day," and with a shove he +sent Mr. Skinner flying aft until he collided with the funnel. + +"You're fired!" Skinner screamed, beside himself with fear and rage. But +Matt Peasley was devoting all of his attention to the Quickstep now; and +it was well that he did. The vessel rose on the crest of a green comber +thirty feet high, and plunged with the speed of an express elevator into +the valley between that wave and the next. + +A tremendous sea boiled in over the knight heads and swept aft, burying +the Quickstep until nothing showed but her upper works. But she was a +sturdy craft and came up from under it, rode the succeeding three seas +and was comparatively free of water when she shipped the next one. The +crest of it came in along the little promenade deck, carrying away the +companion that led to the bridge, staving in the doors and windows of +all the staterooms on the port side and carrying away the rails and +stanchions. There was two feet of water in Stateroom 7, where Mrs. +Skinner clung to her husband, screaming hysterically. + +But despite the awful buffeting she was receiving the Quickstep never +faltered. On she plowed, riding the green billows like a gull, and +shipping a sea only occasionally. The deckload, double-lashed, held, +although the deckhouse groaned and twisted until Matt Peasley regretted +the impulse that had impelled him to do this foolish thing for the sake +of satisfying a grudge. + +"She'll make it, sir," the man at the wheel called up; but Matt's face +was a little white and serious as he tried to smile back. + +Another sea came ramping aboard and snatched the port lifeboat out of +the davits, smashed in the door of the dining saloon and flooded it, +gutted the galley, and drove the cook and the steward to the protection +of the engine room. The chief called up through the speaking tube: + +"How's the boss making it, captain?" + +"It's a wet passage for him, chief. I can hear his wife scream every +time we ship one." + +"Serves her right for marrying the pest," the chief growled, and turned +away. + +They crossed out, but at a cost that made Matt Peasley shudder, when he +left the bridge in charge of the mate and went below to take stock of +the damage. A new boat and four days' work for a carpenter gang--perhaps +eighteen hundred dollars' worth of damage, not counting the demurrage! +It was a big price to pay for one brief moment of triumph, but Matt +Peasley felt that it would have been cheap at twice the money. He passed +round on the starboard side of the vessel and found Mr. Skinner wet to +the skin and shivering. + +"We're over," Matt announced cheerfully. "How did you like the going?" + +"You villain!" Skinner cried passionately. "You'll never command another +ship in the Blue Star fleet, I'll promise you that." + +"I know it, Skinner. But if I were you I'd go down in the engine room +and dry out while the cook and the steward straighten things round." + +"I'll discharge you the moment we tie up at the dock in San Francisco," +Skinner stormed. + +"Oh, no, you won't," Matt assured him. "I've beaten you to it. I +resigned by wireless before we left the dock at Eureka." + +That was a long, cold, cheerless trip for the Skinner family. The +Quickstep bucked a howling southeaster all the way down the coast, and +the Skinners were knocked from one end of their wet stateroom to the +other and slept not a wink. It was a frightful experience, and to add +to the discomfort of the trip Mrs. Skinner wept all the way. Eventually, +however, the Quickstep tied up at the wharf in San Francisco, and the +minute she was fast Matt Peasley, his accounts all made up to date and +his clothes and personal effects packed, sprang out on the dock. + +"There's your ship, Skinner," he called to the general manager. "I'm +through." And he hastened away to the Blue Star office to settle up with +the cashier, while Mr. Skinner and his bride entered a taxicab and were +driven to their home. And two hours later when Mr. Skinner, warm and dry +at last, came down to the office to attend to the task of selecting a +new master for the Quickstep, he found Cappy Ricks was back from Europe +and on the job. + +"I hear you've been having some experience," said Cappy cheerfully as +he shook hands with his manager. "Peasley was telling me what he did to +you, and all the disrespectful things he said to you. Skinner, my dear +fellow, that was an outrageous way for him to act." + +"I fired him," said Skinner waspishly. "And while we're on the subject +let me declare myself about this man Peasley; as long as I remain in +your employ, Mr. Ricks, that man must never command another Blue Star +vessel. Do I make myself sufficiently clear?" + +"You do, Skinner; you do, indeed," Cappy answered. "I warned Matt that +if you ever fired him, I'd have to back you up--and I'll do it, Skinner. +I'll sustain your decision, my boy. As long as you're my manager that +fellow can never go to sea under the Blue Star flag. The scoundrel!" + +"And I wouldn't recommend him to any other owner either," Mr. Skinner +suggested. + +"I'll not, Skinner. He will never go to sea again. I'm not going to have +his license taken away from him--er-- Hum! Ahem! Harump-h-h-h! But +I'll see that he doesn't use it again. The fact is, Skinner, I'm +er--getting--old--and--er--you're pretty hard-worked in the lumber +department, so I've--Hum! Harump-h-h-h! decided to relieve you of the +shipping entirely and hire Matt for our port captain. He's on the pay +roll at three hundred a month. And--er--Skinner, try to be friendly with +the boy for my sake. The young rascal is engaged to marry my daughter, +and I--er--it's barely possible he'll take up the business--Hum! Ahem! +I'll stick round another year and break him into the landward side of +shipping and then, Skinner, d'ye know what I'm going to do then?" + +"What?" Mr. Skinner asked dully. + +"I'm going to learn to play golf," said Cappy. + + + +CHAPTER XXXII. SKINNER PROPOSES--AND CAPPY RICKS DISPOSES + + +Having, as he thought, evaded the spirit of Mr. Skinner's ultimatum +while conforming to its literal terms, Cappy Ricks hurried home leaving +his general manager a stunned and horrified man. In this instance, +however, Cappy had erred in his strategy. Skinner was calm, +cold-blooded, suave, politic and deferential, but in his kind of fight +he never bluffed. He never played his hand until he had sufficient +trumps to take the odd trick. + +He looked ahead now, into the not very distant future, and saw Matt +Peasley, husband of the heiress to the Ricks millions, giving him +orders--and the vision did not sit well on the general manager's +stomach. Consequently, Mr. Skinner decided for a test of strength at +once. + +Accordingly, when Cappy Ricks came down to the office the following +morning, Mr. Skinner came into the old fellow's sanctum and requested an +interview. + +"Fire away, my boy," said Cappy amiably, yet with a queer sinking +feeling in his vitals, for he did not like the look in Skinner's eye; +and something told him there was blood on the moon. + +"With reference to this rowdy, Peasley, whom you tell me you are going +to make port captain--" + +"I also told you, Skinner, my boy, that he is to be my son-in-law," +Cappy interrupted, like a good general bringing up his heavy artillery +prior to ordering a charge. "I beg of you, Skinner, whatever your +animosities, to bear in mind the fact that my daughter could not +possibly engage herself to a rowdy." + +"Out of respect to you and Miss Florence I shall not indulge in +personalities, sir," Mr. Skinner replied smilingly, and Cappy shuddered, +for Mr. Skinner never smiled in a fight unless he had the situation +well in hand. "I have merely called to tell you that I have invested +seventy-five cents of my salary in a stout hickory pick-handle, and the +next time Captain Matt Peasley enters my office I shall test the quality +of the said pick-handle over his head. I don't care if he is engaged to +your daughter; the minute you bring that man into this office I go out. +You shall have my resignation instantly. That decision, Mr. Ricks, is +final and irrevocable." And without giving Cappy an instant for argument +Mr. Skinner bowed himself out. + +A month and Cappy Ricks remained minus his port captain; Mr. Skinner was +still strongly entrenched in his job as general manager. It was a hard +hand to beat, for the fact of the matter was that Cappy Ricks simply +could not afford to dispense with Mr. Skinner. The man was too honest, +too conscientious, too industrious, too brilliant, too efficient, not +to be reckoned with. To part with Skinner was like parting with a +dividend-producing gold mine; it was equivalent to unloading on Cappy's +shoulders again the burden of work and worry that would have killed him +ten years ago had he not surrendered it to Skinner, who handled it as a +juggler handles nine balls. Moreover, Skinner knew all of the business +secrets of the Ricks Lumber and Logging Company and the Blue Star +Navigation Company--why, he was an integral part of the business; and, +lastly, Cappy was fond of the man. + +Skinner had come to him as office boy at the tender age of ten--and that +was twenty-five years before. A daily association for twenty-five years +would make a human being like Cappy fond of the devil himself; and, +barring the fact that he was cold-blooded, Skinner was a fairly likeable +chap, and devoted, body and soul to Cappy Ricks. The longer Cappy +pondered the thought of asserting his authority as boss and defying +Skinner, the more impossible the alternative became. Also the longer he +thought of having Matt Peasley kept out of the business by Skinner, the +higher rose his gorge, for Cappy had yearned for a son like Matt Peasley +and been denied. Now when he had planned successfully to do the next +best thing and have Matt for a son-in-law, to be blocked by Skinner was +unbearable. All Cappy could do was to search vainly for an "out," and +in the interim, whenever he met Matt Peasley at his home, he carefully +avoided all reference to Matt's future in the Blue Star employ for +which, by the way, Matt was eternally grateful. He did not care to talk +business with Cappy for a month as yet. He was too happy with Cappy's +daughter. + +Another month passed. Cappy grew thin and lost his relish for his +food. Then Florence, being a woman, began to see, looming out of the +rose-tinted mist of her happy dreams, a huge interrogation mark. + +She wondered what her father intended doing for her future husband; and +since she was accustomed to bossing her parent she spoke to Cappy about +it, thereby increasing his mental agony. + +About the same time Matt Peasley commenced to wonder also, but forbore +to mention the subject to Cappy. Instead, he went down to the Red Stack +people and got himself a job skippering a tug; and great was his joy +thereat, for the wages were fully as good as he had enjoyed on the +Quickstep, and he was enabled to spend nearly every night in port. +The two months of idleness, albeit the happiest he had ever known, had +commenced to pall on him, and he wanted to be up and doing once more. +Also, being a man, he sensed something of the embarrassment of Cappy's +position, and, manlike, decided to relieve the old fellow of that +embarrassment. Matt concluded that he would retain his job as master of +the tug Sea Fox for a few months--say six--and then ask Cappy Ricks +for twenty thousand dollars, which amount would by that time be to his +credit on the Blue Star books by reason of his half-interest in +the seventy-five-dollar-a-day profit he and Cappy had annexed when +rechartering the steamer Unicorn. With that amount of money in hand, +plus the savings from his salary, he planned to marry Cappy's daughter +and go into business for himself as a ship, freight and marine insurance +broker. + +Mr. Skinner heard of Matt Peasley's appointment as master of the tug Sea +Fox several hours before the same information reached Matt himself. The +general manager of the tugboat company, scanning Matt's application and +having a vacancy to fill, called up Mr. Skinner. + +"Say, Skinner," he said, "I have an application for a job as master +for one of our tugs from Captain Matthew Peasley. He tells me he was a +couple of years under the Blue Star flag, from A. B. to master of steam +and sail, with an unlimited license. Is he a good man?" + +"We never had a more capable skipper in our employ," said Mr. Skinner +truthfully. + +"Why did you let him go then?" + +"He resigned." + +"Under fire?" + +"No, he quit voluntarily." + +"Honest?" + +"Very." + +"Then what's wrong with him?" + +"He doesn't like me. But he's capable and fearless and a devil on +wheels. He'll take a ship anywhere and bring her out again whole." + +"Then he's my huckleberry. That's the kind of man for a tugboat +skipper," was the reply, and Matt Peasley had the job, greatly to the +joy of Mr. Skinner, who realized now that his ultimatum to Cappy Ricks +had been a knockout blow. Cappy had surrendered, and the rowdy Matt, +having given up hope of a snug berth as port captain of the Blue Star +Navigation Company, had in despair sought a job with a tugboat company. + +Mr. Skinner was so happy he shelved his office dignity long enough to +whistle a popular ballad that had been running through his mind of late. +All too gladly had he recommended Matt Peasley for that tugboat job! He +would have employed anything, short of dishonorable methods, to rid the +Blue Star of that incubus! + +Cappy Ricks almost wept with rage when his daughter informed him that +Matt had gone back to salt water. She was a little indignant over it, +and demanded a show-down from her unhappy father, who looked at her +miserably and said he'd think it over. + +He did. Every afternoon, upon his return from luncheon he slid down on +his spine in his upholstered swivel chair, draped his old shanks over +his desk, dropped his chin on his breast, closed his eyes and went into +a clinch with the awful problem, with all its dips, spurs and angles. +Save for the nervous clasping and unclasping of his hands one would have +thought him sound asleep. + +For a month no gleam of light filtered through the deep gloom of the old +gentleman's predicament. A dozen times had he reached forth to press the +push-button on his desk, summon Skinner and force the latter to do one +of two things; recede from his position or resign as general manager. +Ten times he had paused with his finger on the push-button. He simply +could NOT afford to dispense with Skinner! The eleventh time, however, +grown desperate from much brooding over his unhappy lot, Cappy pressed +the button. + +"Send Mr. Skinner in," he commanded bravely to the boy who answered his +summons. + +Mr. Skinner entered and stood awaiting Cappy's pleasure. On the instant +the old fellow was overcome by panic. Frantically he sought an "out." + +"Skinner, my dear boy," he purred, "has it occurred to you that young +Tommy, the office boy, has been here long enough, and behaved himself +well enough, to merit a raise of about ten dollars a month?" + +Mr. Skinner was a natural conservative and considerable of a pessimist. + +"Well, I daresay he has, although I hadn't given the matter any thought, +sir. However, the way lumber has been selling the past few months, we +ought to be cutting salaries instead of raising them." + +"I know, Skinner, I know. But a boy needs some encouragement; he has +to have some concrete evidence of appreciation, er--er--attend to it, +Skinner, my boy, attend to it." + +Mr. Skinner nodded and retired, leaving Cappy to grit his teeth and +curse himself for a poltroon. "It's certainly hell when a man of my +age and financial rating stands between his love and duty," he mourned. +"Darn that fellow Skinner. If my bluff should fail to work and he got on +his high horse and quit, I'd have to climb off my high horse and beg him +to return to work. And he knows it. He knows I've been taking it easy so +long I never could bring myself to take up the burden of active business +again. Money! What does money mean if it can't buy happiness? Drat that +devilish Skinner. I wish to jiminy he had the burden of my dollars--" + +He paused, overcome by a sudden brilliant thought. "Bully for you, +Alden P., you old, three-ply, copper-riveted, reinforced, star-spangled +jack-ass!" he murmured. "Why didn't you think of it before and save +yourself all this grief?" + +His hand shot out once more to the push-button. "Send in Mr. Hankins, +sonny," he ordered the office boy. + +Mr. Hankins was the cashier; also secretary of all of Cappy's companies, +of which Mr. Skinner was first vice president. He entered and stood +deferentially beside Cappy's desk. + +"Hankins, my dear boy, bring me the stock certificates for my holdings +in the Ricks Lumber and Logging Company and the Blue Star Navigation +Company. I am going to indorse them, after which I wish you would +reissue the stock to me, less one hundred shares of each in the name +of Mr. Skinner. Say nothing to Mr. Skinner about this and bring the new +certificates to me immediately." + +When Hankins had complied with his request Cappy Ricks placed the +Skinner certificates in his pocket and went uptown to the office of his +attorney. He returned to his office within an hour and immediately sent +for Mr. Skinner. + +"Skinner, my dear boy," began Cappy affably, "sit down. I want to have a +very serious talk with you." + +"Nothing wrong, I trust," Skinner began apprehensively, for Cappy's air +was very portentous. + +"If there was," Cappy snapped, "you wouldn't be here to-day. Some other +fellow would be holding down your job, and, I dare say, giving poor +satisfaction--by the way, my dear Skinner, something which you have +never done." + +Mr. Skinner flushed pleasurably and thanked his employer. + +"Some twenty-five years ago," Cappy continued, "you entered my employ +as a spindle-legged office boy. To-day you are my general manager, and +a rattling good one, too, even if we do have our little run-in together +every so often. We mustn't pay any attention to that, however, for a +fight is good for a man, Skinner. I maintain that it brings out all of +his virtues and vices where one can have an unobstructed view of them. +However, passing that, I decided a long time ago, Skinner, that you are +entitled to more than a mere salary--" + +"My salary has been eminently satisfactory, sir--" Mr. Skinner began. + +"Don't be an ass, Skinner," Cappy interrupted tartly. "I wouldn't +give two hoots in hell for a satisfied man, unless he's his own +man--understand. You should have a more vital interest in the Ricks +Lumber and Logging Company and the Blue Star Navigation Company. We +always make our skippers own a piece of the vessels they command, +so they will not be tempted to rob us, for in robbing us they rob +themselves. Consequently, thinking it over, Skinner, I have decided to +make you own a piece of both the companies you manage, not because you +may rob them but because I want to reward you for faithful service. I +had planned to do this in my will, but I feel so healthy lately I think +I'll live a long time yet, and there isn't any real sense in keeping you +waiting. What is the book valuation of the Ricks L. & L. stock?" + +"Three hundred eighty-seven thirteen, according to the last annual +report," replied Skinner glibly. His eyes glistened. + +"And the Blue Star stock?" + +"Four hundred thirty-two twenty-seven." + +"Hump! Harump-h-h! It will be worth more when the Panama Canal is +opened. We'll have a crack at the Atlantic Seaboard market with our +Pacific Coast lumber, and the water freight will knock the rail rate +silly. Besides, I'm going to buy up a couple of large freighters, or +build them, and that stock of yours will pay dividends then. I'll +soak you four hundred per share for the Blue Star stock. Is that +satisfactory?" + +Nobody knew better than Mr. Skinner the fact that the Blue Star stock at +the book valuation was appraised very conservatively. He nodded. + +"Lumber market's up and down, down and up, and we never know where we +stand. Give you that at two-fifty a share. Want it?" + +"I should say I do!" Skinner gasped. + +"Then you owe me sixty-five thousand dollars. I'll take your promissory +note for it at five per cent., and you can pay the note out of your +salary and the dividends. You'll be in the clear in ten years at the +very latest; the stock I'm selling you now will be worth a hundred +thousand--with your management. Here's the contract, which embodies a +promissory note. Sign it, endorse the stock to me to secure the payment +of the note, and then clear out of here. Not a peep out of you, sir, not +a peep. If you say 'Thank you' I'll change my mind about selling." + +Mr. Skinner's hand trembled a little as he wrote his name across the +backs of the stock certificates and appended the same clear, concise +signature to the note. Silently he wrung Cappy's hand. + +"Get out," rasped Cappy. Mr. Skinner got out. + + + +CHAPTER XXXIII. CAPPY'S PLANS DEMOLISHED + + +Four more months passed, and peace reigned in the offices of the Blue +Star Navigation Company. Matt Peasley's name had never been mentioned in +Mr. Skinner's presence since that dark day when he had ventured, for +the first time in his career, to lay down the law to Cappy Ricks. The +pick-handle still reposed behind Skinner's desk, but that was merely +because he had forgotten all about it, and nobody ever touched any +of his property without his permission. Not once had Matt Peasley's +cheerful countenance darkened the Skinner horizon. + +This, then, was the condition of affairs when the office boy carried +to Mr. Skinner a piece of disquieting information--to wit, that Captain +Matt Peasley was without and desired to hold speech with Mr. Ricks. + +"Tell him Mr. Ricks is too busy to see him," Skinner ordered. Not having +heard anything of Matt for six months he concluded that the latter's +affair with the boss' daughter had languished and died a natural death; +hence he felt that he could defy Matt with impunity. Judge of his +surprise, therefore, when a heavy hand was laid on his shoulder later +and Matt Peasley stood glaring down at him. + +"Well, sir!" said Skinner coolly. + +"I heard you had a pick-handle waiting here for me," Matt replied +evenly, "so I just dropped in to tell you that if you ever pull a +pick-handle on me I'll take it away from you and ram it down your +throat. That's all I have to say to you, Mr. Skinner. If, the next time +I call, at Mr. Ricks' invitation, to see him, you intercept my message +and try to block my game--" + +The great Peasley hand closed over Mr. Skinner's neck and felt of it +tentatively. + +"Ouch!" gasped Mr. Skinner. + +"Admit the brother," Matt called to an imaginary sentry behind Cappy's +door. "He has given the password. The lodge has been duly opened and we +are now ready for business." + +He smiled at Mr. Skinner and passed on into Cappy Ricks' office. + +"Well, Matt," the latter hailed him pleasantly, "it's been a long time +since I've seen you in this office." + +"And it'll be a long time till you see me here again, sir," Matt +retorted pleasantly. "I was about to call on you when your message +reached me. So suppose you tell me your business first. Then I'll tell +you mine." + +"No, you won't, Matt," Cappy challenged him, "because hereafter you're +not going to have any business unless I have a finger in it too. Matt, +my son, do you recall the day you quit the Quickstep?" + +"With pleasure," Matt assured him whimsically. + +"You're vindictive; but no matter. Skinner declared you should never +again command a Blue Star ship while he was in my employ, and I said, +by George, that was right--you shouldn't. I said I was going to make +you our port captain, and eventually place you in charge of the shipping +after I had broken you in." + +"I have a curiosity, sir, to know why you didn't go through with that +program." + +"Skinner wouldn't let me--said he'd quit if I did, and I just couldn't +afford to lose him, Matt. However, I have all that fixed up now, so you +quit that tugboat job of yours and come to work here as soon as you +can. I could have put you to work three months ago, right after I sewed +Skinner up, but I thought I'd wait a little while just to save poor +Skinner's face." Cappy commenced to chuckle softly. "In-fer-nal rascal!" +he declared. "He had me where the hair is short, Matt; he had me where +I dassen't defy my own general manager! Yes, sir, that was the long and +short of it. I dassen't call his bluff, because he doesn't bluff worth a +cent, and I happen to know some of my competitors would like to get him +away from me. A good man is always in demand, Matt; never forget that. +You see, Skinner has been carrying the burden of this business for the +past ten years practically, and he threatened to toss that burden back +on me. Well, if he had, Matt, I just couldn't have carried it without +competent help--and by the time I had competent help broken in they'd be +measuring me for a tombstone." + +"How did you whip him into line?" Matt demanded. + +"Just like spearing fish in a dry lake, boy," Cappy chuckled. "I just +sold Mr. Skinner part of that burden, and now he has to carry it all +until he dies, because if he drops it he loses what I sold him. Only +one way to whip that boy into line, Matt, and that is to pelt him with +dollars." + +"But I do not see how that affects me," Matt answered. + +"You don't, eh? Why, you're the port captain of the Blue Star Navigation +Company, you-you-you bonehead, and Skinner has to stand for you now +whether he likes it or not. He'll not sacrifice his future to vent his +grudge against you, because he is a business man, Matt, and he knows +it's mighty poor business to bite off his nose to spite his face. So you +just come to work." + +Matt Peasley beamed across at his future father-in-law. + +"That was well done, sir," he said, "and I wish I had known you were +going to do it. I would have saved you the trouble, because, you see, I +never intended to go to work for you in this office anyhow." + +"The devil you say!" Cappy interrupted. "Well, you just put some reverse +English on those intentions of yours, my boy. I know what's good for +you." + +But Matt Peasley only shook his head. + +"I can't do it, sir," he said. "While deeply appreciative of all you +want to do for me, the fact is, if I'm going to marry your daughter--and +I am--I'm not going to do it on your money and be dependent upon you for +a job. I'll be my own man, Mr. Ricks. I never ask odds of any man, and I +don't like to work for a relative." + +"Damn your Yankee independence," snapped Cappy angrily. "Why do you +oppose me?" + +"Because I'll not have anybody saying: 'There goes Matt Peasley. He fell +into a good thing. Yes, indeed! Used to be a common A. B. until Alden P. +Ricks' daughter fell in love with him--and of course after that he went +right up the line in the Blue Star Navigation Company. He's a lucky +stiff.'" + +"What do you care what people say? I know what I want." + +"I do care what they say, and I care what I feel. I want to fight my own +way. I want to make a wad of money and build up a business of my own--" + +"You're crazy! Why, here's one ready-made, and it will stand all kinds +of building up--" + +"Then let Skinner build it. I'll build my own. I do not want anybody to +think I married your daughter for your money." + +"Matt, you poor, chuckleheaded boy, listen to me. I intend doing for +you--" + +"And that," roared Matt Peasley, smiting the desk, "is the very reason +why I shall not permit you to do anything for me. That's final, Mr. +Ricks. I hope you will realize it's useless to argue with me." + +"I ought to by this time," Cappy replied bitterly. "Very well, I've told +you my business with you. Suppose you state your business with me." + +"I'd like to draw twenty thousand dollars from my credit on the Blue +Star books." + +"Huh! So you want to dig into that money the recharter of the Unicorn is +bringing you, eh, Matt?" + +"If you can spare it, Mr. Ricks." + +"Of course I can spare it--only I'll not. If you want that money, Matt, +sue for it; and since you haven't any documents to prove you have it +coming to you, I suppose you will agree with me that a suit would be +useless expenditure of time, money and energy." + +"Then you will not give me the money, sir?" Matt Peasley demanded. + +"Not a red," said Cappy calmly. "We've fought this whole matter out +before, so why argue?" + +"Why, indeed," Matt answered, and reached for his hat. He was fighting +mad and desired to go away before he quarreled with Cappy. + +"I'll go downstairs to the cigar stand and shake you the dice, one flop, +to see whether you go into business for yourself or come to work for +me," Cappy pleaded. + +Matt came to him and placed his great hands on the old man's shoulders. + +"You're the finest man I ever knew, Mr. Ricks," he said, "and you're +the meanest man I ever knew, so I'll not shake dice with you. You're too +fond of having your own way--" + +"Yes, and you're the same, blast you!" Cappy shrilled, losing his temper +entirely. "Wait till you're my age. There won't be any standing you at +all. Get out!" + + + +CHAPTER XXXIV. A GIFT FROM THE GODS + + +The barkentine Retriever, lumber laden from Astoria to San Francisco, +lay under the lee of Point Reyes in a dead calm. It was a beautiful, +moonlit night, with the sea as smooth as a fishpond, and Captain Michael +J. Murphy, albeit a trifle surprised at his proximity to the California +coast--the result of three days and nights of thick fog, which had +suddenly lifted--was not particularly worried. At eight o'clock he +turned in, after warning the mate to call him in case the Retriever +should drift inshore. + +"Never fear, sir," the mate replied. "We'll have a puff of wind about +daylight at the latest, and the current sets north and south here rather +than toward the beach." + +For two hours after Captain Murphy had retired the Retriever rose and +fell gently on the slightest swell, her booms and yards swinging idly +amidships, her sails and cordage slatting listlessly as the vessel +rolled. + +Suddenly the lookout shouted: "Steamer on the port bow!" and the mate, +following the direction indicated, made out the red and green sidelights +and the single white light at the short masthead of the approaching +vessel. + +"Tug," he announced to the man at the wheel. "Good enough! The lookout +at Point Reyes reported us, and the owners have sent a tug out to snake +us in." + +The mate's prognostication was correct in some particulars, for in about +half an hour the tug steamed slowly alongside the Retriever and hailed +her. + +"Barkentine, ahoy!" + +"Ahoy! Retriever, of the Blue Star, Astoria for San Francisco." + +"Sea Fox, of the Red Stack Line. Is Captain Murphy on deck?" + +"No, but I'll send for him," the mate shouted, and forthwith sent a man +below to rout out the skipper. When Murphy came on deck and hailed the +tug he nearly fainted at the information that came floating across the +water. + +"Murphy, this is Matt Peasley speaking." + +"Not Matt Peasley that used to command this old box--" + +"Don't speak disrespectfully of my first command, Mike--" + +"And you're only a tug captain--a dirty, thieving, piratical towboat +man, holding up every honest skipper that pokes his nose into San +Francisco Bay. Matt, I'm ashamed of you. How are you anyhow?" + +"Fine, Mike. Want a tow?" + +"I don't need one; I'll have a bit of breeze before long. I'm +independent of you!" + +The tug crept in closer. "Don't be foolish, Mike; better let me slip you +a line." + +"How much will it cost, Matt? None of your highway robbery now. Be easy +on the Retriever for old times' sake." + +"A thousand dollars," Matt Peasley answered pleasantly, and was rewarded +with a volley of oaths from Mike Murphy and his crew. + +"You're a thief!" yelled Murphy. + +"And you're a fool, Mike. You're not more than two miles off the +breakers, you're in a calm that may last two days, and when the tide is +at flood you'll set in on the beach as sure as death and taxes--and then +I'll have a salvage job that will cost your owners not one thousand but +ten." + +"You go to the devil!" was Murphy's reply to this, and the Sea Fox +dropped astern and came round on the starboard bow of the Retriever. In +she backed, a foot at a time, and Captain Murphy, up on the topgallant +fo'castle, was within easy conversational distance of Matt Peasley, +standing on the grating at the stern of the Sea Fox. + +"Better grab this heaving line, Mike," Matt suggested. + +"Come aboard and have a drink, Matt, but leave your line behind you," +Murphy answered hospitably. + +The Sea Fox drifted down fifteen or twenty feet, swung slowly, headed +out to sea, and then backed gingerly in until her stern was within a few +feet of the side of the Retriever. + +"Hey, you! What d'ye mean to do? Back into her?" yelled Matt Peasley to +his mate. "Full speed ahead! Quick!" + +A bell jangled in the bowels of the Sea Fox, her great screw churned the +water and she shot out from the Retriever. + +"That's right! Go clear over to China, and expect me to haggle with this +man through the megaphone, eh?" Matt roared. "Back up again!" + +"I tell you, Matt, there isn't the slightest use hanging round for us," +Murphy warned the towboat skipper. "I wouldn't let the ship be held up +by anybody, least of all a towboat man." + +"Well, when the lookout on Point Reyes telephoned into our office that +the Retriever was inside the Point, I made up my mind I'd come out and +get her, and I don't purpose being disappointed," Matt replied jokingly. +"I'll just wait until you drift into the breakers, and then you'll do +business with me, never fear." + +"G'wan!" snorted Murphy. "How's Cappy Ricks, the old villain?" + +"He's fine, Mike. He wanted me to work for him, but I don't like his +general manager--Mr. Olson, full speed ahead or you'll smash our stern +against this barkentine. Steady! That's better. Astern a trifle. Steady! +Mike, how've you been since I saw you last?" + + + +CHAPTER XXXV. A DIRTY YANKEE TRICK + + +"Skinner," said Cappy Ricks, "I was called out of my bed at five o'clock +this morning by the night operator at the Merchants' Exchange. He told +me our Retriever was in the breakers just south of Point Reyes, but that +a tug was standing by. What have you heard since?" + +"She drifted in there in a calm last night, sir," Mr. Skinner replied. +"Fortunately the Point Reyes lookout had reported her early yesterday +evening, and one of the Red Stack tugs--the Sea Fox--took a chance and +went out seeking. Lucky thing for us--" + +"The tug hauled her off then?" + +"Got a line aboard just in time. I had a telephone message from Captain +Murphy at Meiggs Wharf ten minutes ago. The Retriever is anchored in the +fairway." + +"What tug did you say it was?" Cappy queried. + +"The Sea Fox." + +"That's Matt Peasley's command," Cappy mused. "Lucky? I should say we +are! It's up to the master of the tug very frequently whether, under +such conditions, his task has been a mere towage job at the going rates +or a salvage proposition to be settled in court. I dare say Matt will +give us the benefit of the doubt and call it towage." + +"Don't deceive yourself!" Skinner snapped. "It's salvage; Murphy said +so. After he got close in Peasley refused to name a price and came +aboard and made Murphy sign a paper acknowledging that his ship was in +distress and dire peril, before he would even put a line aboard him--" + +"Wow! Wow! The tugboat company will libel the ship now, and sue us for +fifty thousand dollars' salvage on vessel and cargo," and Cappy groaned, +for he owned both. "By George!" he continued. "I didn't think Matt would +do anything like that to me. No, sir! If anybody had told me that boy +could be such an ingrate I'd have told him--" + +A youth entered Cappy's office uninvited. + +"Captain Peasley to see you, sir," he said. + +"Show the infernal fellow in," rasped Cappy, and Matt Peasley stalked +into the room. + +"I should like to see you privately, Mr. Ricks," he announced, and cast +a significant glance at Skinner, who took the hint and left the room at +once. + +Matt sat down. "Well," he said, "I guess the tug Sea Fox and owners, +together with her doughty skipper and crew, will finger some of your +hard-earned dollars before long, Mr. Ricks. I pulled your barkentine +Retriever out of the breakers this morning. In fifteen minutes she would +have been on the beach and a total loss--and I have a document, signed +by Captain Murphy and his mates, to prove it. I offered the pig-headed +fellow a tow at ten o'clock the night before, but he declined it--trying +to save a few dollars, of course--so when I had him where he had to have +my services--" + +"Well!" Cappy snapped, "send your owners round and we'll try to settle +out of court. If they're hogs we'll fight 'em, that's all." + +"And if you do you'll get licked. We'll get a quarter of the value of +that vessel and her cargo. She's easily worth fifty thousand dollars and +her cargo is worth thirty thousand more--that's eighty thousand, and a +quarter of eighty thousand dollars is twenty thousand." + +"You'll have to fight for it, I tell you," Cappy reiterated. + +"There is no necessity for a fight, Mr. Ricks. It all rests with +me whether this is a salvage job or just a plain towing job at the +customary rates." + +Cappy looked at his ex-skipper keenly. + +"Matt," he charged, "you've got a scheme. You want something." + +"I do; I want to save you a lot of fuss and worry and expense. In return +I want you to do something for me." + +"I'll do it, Matt. What is the program?" + +"Give me that twenty thousand dollars you justly owe me--twenty thousand +dollars I have to my credit on your books, which you are withholding +just because you have the power to withhold it." + +"And in return--" + +"I'll tear up the deadly document I extorted from Murphy and report a +mere towage job to my owners." + +Cappy pressed the push-button and a boy appeared. + +"Tell Mr. Skinner I want to see him," he ordered, and an instant later +Mr. Skinner entered. "Skinner," said Cappy, "draw a check for twenty +thousand in favor of Matt Peasley, and charge it to his account." + +"And then send it over to the bank and certify it," Matt added, "because +before I get through with you, Mr. Ricks, you'll be tempted to stop +payment on it, if I know you--and I think I do." + +Half an hour later Cappy handed Matt Peasley, a certified check for +twenty thousand dollars, and in exchange the latter handed Cappy the +only proof the Red Stack people would have had, over and above the +contradictory testimony of the crews of the respective vessels, that the +services of their tug constituted salvage and not towage. Cappy read it, +tore it into shreds and glared at Matt Peasley. + +"Matt," he said very solemnly, "I'm glad this thing happened. I've +always had a good opinion of you, but now I know that though you have +many excellent qualities you do not possess that quality which above all +others I require in an employee or a son-in-law. + +"You aren't loyal. You had the sweetest case of salvage against our +vessel that any man could go into court with, and you kicked it +away like that, just for your own selfish ends. You sacrificed your +shipmates, who would have been awarded a pro rata of the salvage, and +you were false to the trust your owners reposed in you." + +Cappy stood up, his face pale with fury, and shook an admonitory finger +under Matt Peasley's nose. + +"That act, sir, is an index of your true character," he thundered. +"A master who will deceive his owners, who will be false to their +interests, is a scoundrel, sir; do you hear me?--a scoundrel. You will +oblige me, sir, by refraining from any attentions to my daughter in +the future. To think that you have descended to such a petty, miserable +subterfuge to trick me and rob your owners! Thank God, I have found you +out in time!" + +"Yes, isn't it fortunate?" Matt answered humorously. "And if you get any +angrier you'll bust an artery and die." + +"Out of my office!" Cappy raved; for though he was a business man, and +never hesitated to do business in a businesslike way, he was the soul of +business honor, and in all his life he had never taken a mean or unfair +advantage of those who trusted him. The knowledge that Matt Peasley had +done such a thing filled him with rage not unmixed with sorrow. + +"I'll be gone in a minute," Matt replied gently; "only before I go +permit me to tell you something, and on my honor as a man and a sailor I +assure you I speak the truth. That wasn't a salvage job at all." + +"What?" + +Matt repeated the statement. Cappy blinked and clawed at his whiskers. + +"Oh," he said presently, "I had forgotten that you and Captain Murphy +were once shipmates. And so that fellow Murphy stood in with you to work +a hocuspocus game on me, eh?" he thundered. "By Godfrey, I'll fire +him for it!" and he rushed to the office door, opened it and called to +Skinner: "Skinner, Murphy is to be fired. Attend to it." Then he closed +the door again and faced Matt Peasley. + +"Murphy is to be reinstated," Matt assured Cappy, "for the reason that +Murphy was in deadly earnest when he signed that paper. In five minutes +he would have been a skipper without a ship, and he knew it. If you fire +Murphy you do a fine man a terrible injustice." + +"Well, how in blue blazes did he get so close to the beach and let +himself into your clutches?" Cappy raved. + +"He couldn't answer that question, sir. He doesn't know. He thinks the +current set him in there. It didn't. I set him in there." + +"You set him in?" Cappy queried incredulously. + +"I set him in. I kept backing up on his starboard counter, ostensibly to +dicker with him, and as soon as I had the stern of my tug within a few +feet of the Retriever I'd signal my mate at the wheel, he'd give the +engineer full speed ahead--why you have no idea of the force of the +quick water thrown back from that big towing propeller of the Sea Fox. +The rush of it just swung the Retriever's nose slowly toward the beach +and kicked her ahead fifteen or twenty feet, and then her sheer momentum +carried her thirty yards farther. By that time I was backed up to her +again, bargaining with Murphy, and ready for another kick. It was easier +after the flood tide set in, and I kept at her all night long, and +gradually kicked her into the breakers, where I wanted her. I knew +Murphy would listen to reason then. So you see, Mr. Ricks, it wasn't a +salvage job, and I didn't betray my owners at all--" + +"You Yankee thief!" Cappy yelled, and dashed at Matt, to enfold the +son-in-law-to-be in a paternal embrace. "Oh, Matt, my boy, why do you +want to be a tugboat man when I need a man with your brains? Why don't +you be sensible and listen to reason?" + +Matt held the old man off at arm's length and grinned at him +affectionately. + +"It's worth twenty thousand dollars to get the better of you, sir," he +said. + +Cappy sat down very suddenly. + +"Ah, yes," he said. "Speaking of money reminds me: What do you intend +doing with that twenty thousand dollars?" + +"Well, I thought at first I'd go into the shipping business for +myself--" + +"Skiffs or gasoline launches--which?" Cappy twitted him. + +"But you seem bent on having your way, and Florry is making such a fuss, +I suppose I'll have to give in to you after all." + +Matt stepped to the door, opened it and called: "Mr. Skinner!" + +Mr. Skinner looked up from his desk by the window. "Well, sir!" he +demanded haughtily. + +"Murphy is not to be fired," Matt answered. + +"Indeed! And by whose orders?" + +"Mine! I'm the port captain of the Blue Star Navigation Company, and, +beginning now, I'm going to do all the hiring and firing of captains." + +Mr. Skinner turned pale. He started from his chair and made two steps +toward Cappy Ricks' office, firmly resolved to present his resignation +then and there. At the door, however, he thought better of it, +hesitated, returned to his desk and sat down again, for he had suddenly +remembered, and, remembering, discovered that Cappy Ricks had laid upon +him a burden that must be reckoned with--the burden of his own future. +He flushed and bit his lips; then, feeling Matt Peasley's eyes boring +into the small of his back, he turned and said: + +"I have every reason to believe, Captain Peasley, that you are the right +man in the right place." + +Matt advanced upon him and held out his hand. + +"Mr. Ricks has always bragged that you could think quicker and act +quicker in an emergency than any man he ever knew. He's right, you can. +Suppose we bury that pick-handle, Mr. Skinner?" + +Mr. Skinner's lips twitched in a wry smile, but he took Matt Peasley's +hand and wrung it heartily, not because he loved Matt Peasley or ever +would, but because he had a true appreciation of Abraham Lincoln's +philosophy to the effect that a house divided against itself must surely +fall. "I'm sure we'll get along famously together," he said. + +"You know it," Matt answered heartily, and stepped back into Cappy's +office. + +"Well," said Cappy, "that was mighty well done, Matt. Thank you. So you +think you'll quit the Sea Fox and be my port captain, eh?" + +"I think so, sir." + +"Well, I do not, Matt. The fact of the matter is, your business +education is now about to commence, and about two minutes ago I suddenly +decided that you might as well pay for it with your own money. I have +no doubt such a course will meet with the approval of your independent +spirit anyhow. You're a little too uppish yet, Matt. You must be +chastened, and the only way to chasten a man and make him humble is +to turn him loose to fight with the pack for a while. Consequently I'm +going to turn you loose, Matt; there are some wolves along California +Street that will take your twenty thousand away from you so fast that +you won't know it's going till it's gone. But the loss will do you a +heap of good--and I guess Florry can wait a while." + +He paused and eyed Matt meditatively for fully a minute. + +"And you kicked my barkentine ashore with the quick water from your +tug's propeller," he mused aloud. "Got her where you wanted her--and +Murphy didn't suspect! He laid it to the current!" Cappy shook his head. +"A dirty Yankee trick," he continued, "and I love you for it--in fact, +it breaks my heart not to make good that grandstand play you just pulled +on Skinner, but I've changed my mind about hiring you yet. I'm just +going to sit back and have some fun watching you defend that little old +twenty-thousand dollars I just gave you. Do you know, Matt, that I +never knew a man to save up a thousand dollars, by denying himself many +things, that he didn't invest the thousand in a wild-cat mine or a dry +oil well? Ah, Matt, it's those first few dollars that come so hard and +go so easy that break most men's hearts; but here you are with twenty +thousand that came so easy I've just naturally got to see how hard they +go! You'll be worth more money to me, Matt, and you'll be a safer man to +handle this business when I'm gone, if you go out and play the game for +a while by yourself. You have a secret itching to do it anyhow, Matt, +and in surrendering to me just now you went down with your colors +flying. You just wanted to be kind to the old man, didn't you? Well, I +appreciate it, Matt, because I'm an old man, and I know how hard it is +for a boy to yield to an old man's wishes; but youth must be served, +and God forbid that I should rob you of the joy of the conflict, my boy. +When you're busted flat and need some more money, you may have it up +to the amount to your credit on our books. And when that's gone I guess +you'll make a better port captain than you will this morning. Does that +program suit you better than the one I originally outlined?" + +Matt flushed and hung his head in embarrassment, but answered +truthfully: "Yes, sir." + +"Very well," said Cappy, relapsing into one of his frequent +colloquialisms, "go to it, boy. Eat it up." + + + +CHAPTER XXXVI. CAPPY FORBIDS THE BANS--YET + + +Cappy Ricks sat at breakfast, tapping meditatively on the apex of +a boiled egg, when his daughter swished into the room, saluted her +interesting parent by depositing a light kiss on his bald and ingenuous +head, and took her place at the table. + +Florence Ricks was a radiant vision in a filmy pink breakfast gown and +cap, and as she smiled perkily at Cappy he returned her bright look with +one a trifle sad and yearning. + +"Florence, my love," said Cappy gently, "have you, by any chance, talked +with that big, two-fisted sailor of yours within the past twelve hours?" + +She shook her head negatively, tilting her nose and pursing her lips in +an adorable grimace of disapproval. + +"Since Matt Peasley has been master of that tug I see him only when his +owners cannot find something more important for him to do. Why do you +pop that question at me so suddenly? Did you want to see him about +something?" + +"No. I saw him yesterday forenoon, and we went into a clinch and fought +each other all over my private office. Matt got the decision. I thought +he might have called you up to discuss with you his plans for the +future. When he left me yesterday he was on his way back to the office +of the Red Stack Tugboat Company to tell the port captain he could stick +some other skipper on the tug Sea Fox." + +Florence clapped her hands ecstatically. "Oh, goody, goody!" she cried. + +"Well, it might be worse." + +"Why is he resigning? To go to work for you, as I wanted him to do six +months ago?" + +"Well, I'll tell you, Florry," Cappy began. "I know you're going to be +disappointed, but the fact of the matter is we've just got to let +that boy paddle his own canoe--though, to hear him talk, he's going to +operate his own line of steamers! Matt doesn't think in canoes when +the subject of the merchant marine is up for discussion any more than I +think in cent pieces when I'm wrestling with a banker for a loan. He has +resigned from the tug Sea Fox to go into business for himself!" + +"But how can he? He hasn't any money, you silly man!" + +"Oh, yes, he has. I gave him twenty thousand dollars yesterday. He had +that much credit on the Blue Star books from his share of the recharter +of the steamer Unicorn nearly two years ago." + +"But I thought you weren't going to give him any of that money," +Florence protested. + +"I thought so, too," Cappy answered dryly; "but the scoundrel put up +a low-down job on me and pried the twenty thousand loose," and Cappy +proceeded to relate to Florry the sad tale of the salvage of the +Retriever. + +Florence was gifted with the same lovable sense of humor that +distinguished her father; and, somewhat to his annoyance, she laughed +long and heartily at this tale of how her fiance had vanquished him. + +"And then what?" she queried with childish insouciance. + +"Why, then he made friends with Skinner and, to my complete amazement, +surrendered without firing a shot. He said he'd be my port captain now; +whereas six months ago he said it was against his religion to work for +a relative, and that he wanted to go into business for himself. And only +the day before he'd reiterated those sentiments." + +"Oh, I'm so glad!" said Florry, much relieved. + +"Wait!" said Cappy dramatically. "Don't cheer yet. I've upset your apple +cart, my dear. I rejected the young man's proposition and condemned him +to a business of his own." + +"But you wanted him for your port captain, Daddy dear. You wanted him +the very worst way." + +"And that's just how I got him, Florry. I don't want any man whose +heart is not in his job, and a business man should never surrender for +sentimental reasons. You cannot mix sentiment and business, daughter; if +you do you'll get chaos. Matt Peasley surrendered to me--not because +he wanted to, but to please you. You've been picking on him rather hard +lately, haven't you?" + +Florry admitted it. + +"I knew it," Cappy declared. "I knew it--and that's why I exercised the +veto on you, Florry." + +Florry's eyes dropped, and in the corners of them her father thought +he detected a glint of tears; whereupon he attacked his egg vigorously. +After a brief silence he said: + +"Of course that means a slight delay in your plans for a June wedding--" + +A tear crept through Florry's long lashes and dropped unheeded into her +grapefruit. Cappy saw it drop, but resolved to be cruel and ignore it. + +"The infernal schemer couldn't resist the temptation to take a fall out +of your old man, Florry; so naturally I had to take a fall out of him; +though, at that, I have doubts whether I succeeded. I think I played +into his hand; and now I'm telling you about it to save him the trouble +and grief of an explanation he couldn't make and which you wouldn't +understand--from him. Some day my affairs will all be yours, +Florry--yours and Matt's; and he'll have to manage them for you. To +manage them well, he must have experience; hence, I decided, in about +two flips of a humming-bird's tail, that it would be a mighty good thing +for you and Matt if I forced him into business for himself and, as I +informed him, let him pay for that experience with his own money; for +that is the only kind of money that will buy him any experience worth +while. No young man ever learned a great deal when some sentimental +old fool footed the bill for his tuition fees in the college of hard +knocks." + +"Poor Matt!" Florry sobbed. "He hasn't--had anything--except hard knocks +since he was--fourteen years--old." + +"Yes," shrilled Cappy; "and just look at the difference between him and +these la-di-da boys that never had any hard knocks! Hard knocks! Why, +hard knocks keep that devilish fellow in condition!" + +"But I'd planned--we didn't want to have too long an--engagement--" + +"I'll guarantee you, little daughter, you will not have to wait longer +than six months. Please wait--for my sake." And Cappy rose, made his way +round the breakfast table and placed his old arms about the light and +joy of his existence. "So, so, now!" he soothed. "Don't you cry, honey, +until you hear what the old man has to say. Why, haven't I always given +my little daughter everything she wanted? You wanted that big sailor, +Florry; I saw he wanted you; and he looked awful good to me. I knew he +was man, every inch of him; he was our kind of people and he knew ships +and loved them, and so I wanted him for you. What if he was a big hunk +of a sailor with hardly enough money saved up to buy you half a dozen +party dresses? None of the Ricks tribe was ever born or bred in the +purple--and I have money enough for all practical purposes. So I went +after him for you, Florry, and you're going to get him; so don't cry +about it." + +"Life is so filled with disappointments," Florry sobbed, notwithstanding +this was the first she had ever known. + +Cappy smiled a still small smile as he bent over her. + +"Fiddlesticks!" he replied. "Only the day before yesterday Matt told me +he didn't want to work for me; that he didn't want a relative handing +him any favors; and that he wasn't marrying you to ease himself into a +soft job for life. He said he wanted to make the fight himself. And do +you know, Florry, if he had been my own boy I couldn't have been prouder +of him than when he told me that! When old What-you-may-call-him in +Shakespeare's play said: 'Let me have men about me that are fat,' it +showed how blamed little Shakespeare knew about men. He should have +said: 'Let me have men about me who are long and tough, and fairly thick +in the middle; let me have scrappy boys about me with backbone!' + +"Well, in a way, Florry, I was disappointed, and perhaps, in the heat of +the moment, I showed it, as I have a habit of doing; but after Matt +had left the office, and I got to thinking it over, away down low I was +proud of him. Consequently when he reversed his decision yesterday I +knew why, for I lived twenty-five years with your mother. But a woman's +love is selfish sometimes, and I knew that Matt had surrendered, not to +me, but to you; though he came across like a sport, he didn't want to, +for you'd roweled him and roped him with your love, my dear--and, though +you do not know it, that's a terrible thing to do to a free-running colt +like Matt Peasley. He has his code, and it's a bully code; and I +don't want you to tie knots in it, Florry. Won't you be as spunky and +independent as he is, and give him his head for six months more? He'll +probably call sometime to-day, or ring up, to tell you how I picked +holes in the program; and when he does I want you to smile and tell him +you're glad of it, and suggest a postponement of the wedding until he +has demonstrated to me that he is a business man." + +Florence looked up and bravely smiled a forgiving smile through her +tears. + +"You're a dreadful Buttinsky, Daddy Ricks!" she protested. + +He kissed her hungrily. + +"Oh, I'm a devil in my own home town!" he replied, and trotted back to +his neglected breakfast. "If Matt hasn't made good as a business man +within six months, or has lost his bank roll--and I intend to see to it +that he does lose it, if I ever get a hack at him--we'll pull off this +wedding anyhow. I guess there's room enough in this house for three." + +At nine o'clock Cappy Ricks, with a lilt in his heart, drove down to +his office behind his team of high-stepping bays. At the corner of +California and Drumm Streets he saw Matt Peasley and hailed him. The +latter came to the carriage door and looked in. + +"It's all right, Matt," Cappy said with a cunning wink. "I've fixed +Florry's clock for her. There won't be the slightest trouble." + +Matt Peasley wrung his hand gratefully. + +"I quit the Sea Fox last night," he announced gladly. + +"Going into business this morning, I suppose?" + +"Yes, sir." + +"What line?" + +"Ship, freight and marine insurance broker." + +"Well, that's a line that will keep you hustling for your wheatcakes +until you get well acquainted. However, just to give you a shove in the +right direction, you might scout round the market and see whether you +can dig up a cargo for our steamer Tillicum. Usual commission of two and +a half per cent." + +"Thank you, Mr. Ricks. I ought to be able to scare up something in the +way of a foreign lumber cargo for her." + +"We've tried and failed. Moreover, her fuel-oil tankage isn't sufficient +to take her too far foreign and back; added to which she is under +American registry, employing American seamen, and I'd rather lay her up +than put a coolie crew aboard and compete with the British tramps, with +their Lascar and Chinamen, at six and seven dollars a month. We've been +running her in our own trade; but the lumber market is very dull and she +has but one more cargo in sight; after that is freighted, unless we can +find outside business for her, she'll have to lay up in Oakland Inner +Harbor until the Panama Canal opens--when, of course, we can load her +for the Atlantic seaboard. She carries nearly two million feet, and +that's what makes it so hard for us to keep her busy coastwise." + +"How about some Mexican or Central American business--general cargo?" +Matt suggested. + +"Pretty hard stuff to get. The Pacific Mail has most of the Central +American business; and, owing to the political situation in Mexico, that +trade is practically killed. Every vessel that gets in there has trouble +with one faction or the other; they're liable to confiscate, and then +we'd have to call on the navy to get our ship back for us." + +"I'll look round for a grain charter to Honolulu and return with sugar +or general cargo." + +"We might do that," Cappy suggested, brightening. "Good luck to you, +Matt--and don't be a stranger." + + + +CHAPTER XXXVII. MATT PEASLEY BECOMES A SHIPOWNER + + +A youth thrust a wary nose into Cappy Ricks' private office and +announced Captain Matt Peasley was desirous of admittance. + +"Show him in," Cappy ordered, and Matt entered. + +"Well, young man," said Cappy briskly, "sit down and tell me of your +adventures during your first week as a business man. Of course, I hear +from Florry that you have opened a dink of an office somewhere--got desk +space with the Alaskan Codfish Corporation, haven't you, with the use of +their telephone, stenographer and general office boy?" + +"Yes, sir. The manager, Slade, is a native of Thomaston--never knew +anything but fish all his life; and, inasmuch as I was raised on the +Grand Banks, I got in the habit of drifting round there occasionally, +and Slade offered me the privilege of making it my headquarters. Ten +dollars a month--cheap enough." + +"Yes, considering the aroma of codfish that goes with it, free-gratis," +Cappy admitted dryly; "but then I suppose that's what attracted you in +the first place. But have you done any real business, Matt?" + +"Well, I've arranged with several good old-line insurance companies to +accept any marine-insurance business I may bring in, though I haven't +sold any yet; neither have I been able to find a load for your Tillicum. +By the way, you have a little old three-legged schooner laid up in +Oakland Inner Harbor." + +"I have three of them--more's the pity!" Cappy replied--"the Ethel +Ricks, the Nukahiva and the Harpoon. Which one do you mean?" + +"The Ethel Ricks. She's the only one I examined closely. Would you +consider selling her?" + +"Ah," said Cappy, "I perceive. Your friend Slade wants her for a +codfisher, eh?" + +"That's all she's good for now, Mr. Ricks. She has had her day in the +lumber trade; the steam schooners have relegated her to a final resting +place in the ooze of Oakland Inner Harbor; her class of windjammers is +a thing of the past for general cargo. She's been laid up now for three +years. True, her bottom is coppered and you dry-dock her every year; but +that's an expense. And then you must consider taxes and depreciation, +and sooner or later, if she lies in the mud long enough, the Teredo will +eat her up; so it occurred to me that you might be glad to sell. She was +built in 1883, but she was built to last--" + +"Never built a cheap ship in my life and never ran 'em cheap," Cappy +challenged proudly. "The Ethel Ricks is in the discard, but she's as +sound a little packet as you'll find anywhere. She's had the best of +care. The same is true of the Harpoon and the Nukahiva." + +"What do you want for her?" + +"Four thousand dollars," Cappy answered promptly. + +"I was offered the Dandelion for three thousand; she's ten years younger +than the Ethel Ricks and in very good condition. Sorry, but I guess +you'll have to keep the Ethel--and let me tell you, the longer you +keep her the less she's worth. However, I guess she doesn't owe you +anything." + +"No; she paid for herself more'n twice," Cappy replied. + +"Then if you get three thousand for her it's like finding the money and +losing a worry." + +"Sold!" said Cappy. + +"I didn't say I'd buy," Matt warned him. "What do you want for the +Harpoon and the Nukahiva?" + +"They're all sister ships. Three thousand each." + +"I am empowered to make you an offer of twenty-seven hundred and fifty +dollars each for the three!" Matt shot at him. + +"Net? The three of them?" Cappy was all attention now; for selling +schooners in lots of three was decidedly new and interesting. + +"Hardly! Five per cent to me. Remember I'm a ship, freight and marine +insurance broker, and I'm not working for my health. Why, I haven't even +suggested any other vessels to my clients--and, by the way, they are +not codfish people either. I knew you'd want to get rid of these little +hookers, so I'm giving you first crack at the bargain." + +"Who wants them?" Cappy demanded craftily. + +"If I told you that you'd do me the way you did that Seattle broker who +tried to put through the charter of the Lion and the Unicorn. When you +knew who his clients were you were in position to defy him--and you +did!" + +"No offense," Cappy retorted innocently. "Don't be so touchy! Is this a +cash proposition, Matt?" + +"In the hand." + +"I accept." + +"Then give me a written option," Matt warned him. "No more word-of-mouth +business for me with you." + +Cappy laughed; and, calling in a stenographer, he dictated the option. + +"Now, then, Matt," he said as he signed the option five minutes later +and handed it to Matt, "who shall we make out the bills of sale to?" + +"To the Pacific Shipping Company. When you're ready telephone me and +I'll bring the check round." + +"Go get your check now," Cappy ordered. "Skinner will have the bills of +sale ready by the time you return. And I do wish to heaven," he added, +"that you had called round with this proposition four days ago. I've +just had those three schooners dry-docked, cleaned and painted." + +"Which is the very reason why I didn't call round until to-day, Mr. +Ricks. You can afford that dry-dock bill so much better than--er--the +Pacific Shipping Company." + +He left, laughing, and proceeded to the office of the Pacific Shipping +Company, where he procured a check for eighty-two hundred and fifty +dollars and returned to the Blue Star Navigation Company's office. Mr. +Skinner had in the meantime prepared proper bills of sale; a notary, +with offices in the building, had been called in to attest the +signatures of Cappy Ricks and Mr. Hankins, president and secretary +respectively of the Blue Star Navigation Company; and when Cappy Ricks +handed over the bills of sale to Matt Peasley, together with the Blue +Star check for four hundred and twelve dollars and fifty cents--Matt's +commission--the latter handed him the certified check of the Pacific +Shipping Company. + +"Who is the Pacific Shipping Company, Matt?" Cappy queried. "I never +heard of them before." + +"It's a new company, sir," Matt replied; and, gathering up his bills of +sale and the check for his commission, he fled precipitately, leaving +Cappy Ricks to adjust his spectacles and examine the check. It was +signed: "Pacific Shipping Company, by Matthew Peasley, President." + +For a long time Cappy Ricks sat staring at that check. Finally he looked +up and saw Mr. Skinner gazing at him. He held out the check and tapped +Matt Peasley's signature. + +"Get on to that, Skinner, my boy," he said; "get on to that! Matt's gone +into the shipping business, and he's making an humble start with three +little old antiquated schooners, for which he has paid me more than +eight thousand dollars. Now he will go broke!" + +"I do not agree with you, Mr. Ricks," Mr. Skinner replied dryly, "for I +notice he didn't forget to stick us four hundred and twelve dollars and +fifty cents for the privilege of selling him those three schooners! +This is the first time I ever heard of anybody's paying the purchaser a +commission!" + +"The infernal scoundrel!" Cappy shrilled angrily, for Mr. Skinner's +assertion carried the hint that Cappy had been outgeneraled. "The Yankee +thief!--acting as broker for a company in which he owns all the capital +stock! In business a week and he's made over four hundred dollars +already, neat and nice, and as clean as a hound's tooth! Can you beat +it?" + +"It's better than being a port captain for the Blue Star Navigation +Company at three hundred a month," Mr. Skinner suggested wistfully. + +He had worked for a salary all his days, and after passing the thirty +mark he had lost the courage to leap into the commercial fray and be his +own man. He wished he might have been endowed at birth with a modicum of +Matt Peasley's courage and reckless disregard of consequences. + + + +CHAPTER XXXVIII. WORKING CAPITAL + + +It was nearly ten weeks before Cappy Ricks laid eyes on Matt Peasley +again. Inquiry from Florry elicited the information that Matt had gone +to Mexico as skipper of his own schooner, the Harpoon, bound on some +mysterious business. + +"He's taken the old Harpoon down there to stick a Mexican--I'll bet a +hat on that!" Cappy reflected. "I'll bet he'll have a tale to tell when +he gets back." + +There came a day when Matt, looking healthy and happy, dropped in for a +social call. + +"Well, young man," Cappy greeted him, "give an account of yourself. How +do you find business?" + +"The finest game in the world," Matt replied heartily. "I had the Ethel +Ricks snaked out of the mud and hauled out on the marine railway, where +I bossed a gang of riggers and sailmakers for a week, getting her gear +in shape while she was having a gas engine and tanks for the distillate +installed. Then I gave her a dab of paint here and there, sweetened her +up, and sold her to Slade, of the Alaska Codfishing Corporation, at a +net profit of fifteen hundred dollars over her total cost to me. Nearly +two thousand for my first month in business. Not so bad, eh?" + +"You'll do better after a while," Cappy remarked dryly. "I hear you've +been to Mexico. How about it, boy?" + +"I took the Harpoon down myself, and hired a skipper to take the +Nukahiva. Before doing so, however, I overhauled their gear and +installed gas engines in them also--only I'd learned something by this +time. I bought second-hand engines, rebuilt, but with a guaranty, and +they cost me a thousand dollars less than new engines. In conversation +with Captain Kirk, of the steamer San Blas, I had heard that a company +in Guaymas was thinking of buying a couple of little coasting schooners, +putting gas engines in them, and adding these crafts to their fleet +running out of Guaymas to Mazatlan, Topolobampo, and way ports. So +I went down, put my schooners under the Mexican flag, and started +opposition. The old-established company went to the local military +commander and tried to get him to commandeer my vessels for the use of +the government, which pays in depreciated shinplasters that may be worth +something some day a hundred years from now." + +"Whew-w-w!" Cappy whistled. "That was a narrow squeak, Matt. How did you +dodge it?" + +"I had the local military commander on my payroll, with good American +gold, before I ever started anything. I knew he'd come to shake me +down; so I anticipated him and made a monthly donation to the cause of +liberty. I do not know for certain, but I imagine he went south with it +himself, though I do not begrudge the amount. I only paid him for +one month anyhow. By that time I had an offer to sell out; and I did, +reluctantly, but for real money and at a much better figure than if I +had not made it an object for them to buy. I got out with a net profit +of seventy-four hundred and fifty dollars on the two schooners. Not +so bad, eh, Mr. Ricks? Over nine thousand dollars in less than three +months? Of course, I realize I could not have made that much if I hadn't +had the funds with which to speculate." + +Cappy nodded. Words were beyond him for the time being. Finally he said: + +"Matt, that was pure gambling, though you think it was a speculation. +It was mighty poor business, even if you did emerge with a fancy profit. +You might have been cleaned out." + +"Yes; and if the hare hadn't stopped to take a nap the tortoise would +not have won the race," Matt replied. "So far as I can see, all business +is a gamble and every investment is a bet; hence, a good business man is +a good gambler." + +Cappy Ricks sighed. + +"There is a special providence," he said, "that looks after fools, +drunken men and sailors." + + + +CHAPTER XXXIX. EASY MONEY + + +Captain Matt Peasley's first act after consummating his first successful +deal was to purchase for the Pacific Shipping Company a membership in +the Merchants' Exchange, on the floor of which he knew he would meet +daily all the shipping men of San Francisco, and thus be enabled to keep +in touch with trade conditions. + +He had been a member less than a week when the wisdom of spending five +hundred dollars for his membership was made delightfully apparent. While +he stood watching the secretary chalk on the blackboard the record of +the latest arrivals and departures, he heard a man behind him speaking: + +"Heyfuss, I'm in the market to charter another freighter for the Panama +run. You might look round and see whether you can line something up for +us. I'd like about a two-thousand-ton boat; and we could charter her for +a year." + +"There's only one vessel available," the man addressed as Heyfuss +answered; "and that's the Tillicum. Cappy Ricks had her laid up in +Oakland Creek--" + +Matt moved away and approached a clerk at the desk. + +"That dark-haired man with the thick glasses, talking with Mr. Heyfuss," +he said--"who is he?" + +"That is Mr. Henry Kelton, manager of G. H. Morrow Company," the clerk +answered. "They operate a line of sailing vessels foreign and half a +dozen steamers to South American ports." + +Matt thanked him, entered a telephone booth and on consulting the +telephone directory, discovered that J. O. Heyfuss was a broker. + +"I'll have to step lively to beat Heyfuss to it," he soliloquized, +and forthwith hastened down to the office of the Blue Star Navigation +Company. + +"Well, young man!" Cappy greeted him genially. "How about you?" + +"Never mind me. How about the Tillicum?" + +"Laid up in Oakland Inner Harbor waiting for better times." + +"I think I can give her some business. Would you charter her to the +Pacific Shipping Company?" + +"Well," Cappy replied, "I might be induced to take a chance in these +hard times. How much money have you in bank to-day?" + +"In a pinch I could lay my hands on thirty thousand, cash." + +"Well," said Cappy thoughtfully, "that little roll, plus an established +credit and a reputation for business experience, might carry you far +with some people--but not with me. You're not a safe bet--yet; but we +can make it safe." + +"How?" + +"You can pay the charter money in advance," Cappy answered smilingly. + +"I have decided not to do any more gambling, Mr. Ricks. Hereafter, as +near as such a thing may be humanly possible, I'm going to play a sure +thing. Therefore, all things being equal, if I can guarantee you your +price for the steamer, on a year's charter, you do not care what I do +with the vessel, provided that I do not injure her?" + +"Certainly." + +"Well, then, in order to play safe and protect you, suppose I charter +her from you, contingent on my ability to recharter her to some +responsible shipping firm. Under those conditions would you exact the +charter money in advance? You know very well that when I collect my +money from the charterers you'll get yours right away." + +"Without question, Matt; but sometimes a fellow cannot collect his +money from the charterers, and then the owner has to wait. I'm taking no +chances to speak of on you, Matthew, my son; but for the sake of making +it a sporting proposition I'll talk business on the basis of fifty per +cent. of the charter money, payable monthly in advance." + +"That's cold-blooded, but I can stand it. What is the Tillicum going to +cost me a day?" + +"What kind of charter do you want--government form or bare boat?" + +"You might give me an option with a price based on each form. I haven't +the slightest idea what form my prospective victim prefers, though I +prefer a bare-boat charter. I will close with you on whatever basis he +prefers, if that is satisfactory." + +"I'll make many concessions to get that vessel out of the mud and to +sea, and paying a reasonable rate on the money invested in her. I hate +to keep a good skipper and a good chief engineer on the beach, and I +want them to begin drawing their salaries again." + +Cappy reached into his desk and produced a little loose-leaf memorandum +book, and from certain figures therein contained he commenced to figure +what he should charge Matt for the ship. On his part, Matt, whose +apprenticeship under the Blue Star had made him tolerably familiar with +every steamer in the fleet, got out a pad and pencil and commenced +to figure the cost of operation himself. Not knowing the cost of the +steamer or the ratio of profit Cappy might expect on the investment, +however, he was more or less at sea until Cappy had named his figures; +whereupon Matt pretended to do some more figuring. Finally he frowned +and said: + +"Fifty dollars a day too much." + +He did not know a thing about it, but he knew Cappy Ricks well enough to +know that Cappy would first decide on his minimum price and then add +a hundred dollars a day for good measure; hence, Yankeelike, Matt +commenced to chaffer, with the result that before he left the office +Cappy had abated his price fifty dollars a day and given Matt a +forty-eight-hour option on the vessel, agreeing to charter her to him at +the figures specified, contingent on Matt's ability to recharter her to +a responsible firm. + +Cappy chuckled as Matt Peasley left the office. + +"You're taking a pretty big bite, Matt," he soliloquized; "so I'll +handicap you. And if anything goes wrong, and you fail to collect from +your people, I'll give you a lesson in high finance that you'll never +forget, young man! I'll bet my immortal soul you're going to try to do +business with Morrow & Company; and if that outfit isn't scheduled for +involuntary bankruptcy, then I'm a Chinaman. A charter for a year, eh? +They'll never last a year. They'll bust, owing you a month's charter +money, Matthew, and the vessel will be at sea, most likely, or in a +South American port, when that happens; and you can't throw her back on +me until you deliver her in her home port. And meantime your charter to +me keeps rambling right along, and I'll attach your bankroll if you're +a day late with your payment in advance. Yes, sir; I'll break you in two +for the good of your immortal soul. Matt--Matt, my son--something tells +me you're monkeying with fire and liable to get burned." + +From Cappy Ricks' office Matt Peasley called on Kelton of Morrow & +Company. Kelton, a shrewd, double-action sort of person and the smartest +shipping man on the street, looked with frank curiosity at Matt's modest +card. + +"Pacific Shipping Company, eh? That's a new one on me, Captain Peasley," +he said. + +"It's a new one on me also," Matt replied humorously; "in fact, it +is too recent to be very well known. We've been operating a fleet of +windjammers, with auxiliary power, down on the Mexican Coast," he added +truthfully, calm in the knowledge that two schooners constitute a fleet +if one be not inclined to split conversational hairs; "but we sold them +and decided to go into the steamship business. We hope to buy or build a +line of freighters to run to Atlantic Coast ports via the Panama Canal." + +"What steam vessels have you got now?" Kelton queried interestedly. + +"Only one at present, Mr. Kelton. We've acquired the Tillicum, late of +the Blue Star fleet." + +"Indeed!" replied Kelton. + +He was all attention now; for, though Matt Peasley did not know it, less +than ten days previous Kelton had tried to charter the Tillicum direct +from Cappy Ricks, who, knowing something of the financial condition +of Morrow & Company, had declined to consider a charter unless under a +guaranty of payment other than that of Morrow & Company. Kelton was in +urgent need of a steamer to cope with the congestion of freight, and the +Tillicum suited the purpose of his company admirably; hence, the news +that he might still be able to acquire her filled him with sudden hope. + +"Indeed!" he reiterated. "I had no idea Cappy Ricks contemplated selling +her, though it has been common talk on the street that he made a mistake +in building such a big boat as the Tillicum for the coastwise lumber +trade. She was too hard to find business for, and I dare say he was sick +of his bargain." + +"Well, I thought we'd take a chance on her," Matt replied, not taking +the trouble to disabuse Kelton of the impression to which he had +apparently jumped--to wit, that the Pacific Shipping Company had +purchased the Tillicum. + +"What do you intend doing with her?" Kelton continued. + +"They tell me business is good on the Panama run, and it will be better +when the Canal is opened. However, until the Canal does open, we would +prefer to keep out of the Pacific Coast trade. Competition always means +a rate war, with consequent loss to both parties to the struggle; so +we'd rather charter the Tillicum for a year if we could. I heard you +were in the market for a boat." + +"I think we might use the Tillicum," Kelton replied. "What are you +asking for her?" + +Matt named a figure considerably in advance of what he expected to +receive and stipulated a bare-boat charter--that is to say, Kelton's +company should pay the entire cost of operating the vessel, and select +her crew and officers with the exception of the captain and chief +engineer, it being customary among many owners, when chartering +a vessel, to stipulate that their own captain, in whom they have +confidence, shall command her. Cappy Ricks always specified his own +skipper and chief engineer. + +When Matt named his figure Kelton promptly shouted "Thief!" but made +the mistake of shouting too loud--whereat Matt Peasley knew he was not +sincere and promptly decided to outgame him. At the end of half an hour +of argument and much futile figuring, which deceived nobody, Matt abated +his price twenty-five dollars a day and Kelton said he would think it +over. Matt knew the charter was as good as closed, and when he left +Morrow & Company's office he repaired straight to that of Cappy Ricks. + +"I think I'll be able to recharter, Mr. Ricks," he said confidently. +"Have you any objection to Morrow & Company as recharterers?" + +Cappy started slightly, hesitated a fraction of a second, and replied +that he had no objection whatsoever. + +"Very well, sir," Matt replied. "Will you please have Mr. Skinner +prepare the charter parties right away, sign them, and send them over to +my office for my signature? I can't wait to sign them now. And about the +captain--I suppose you'll want to put in your own skipper, of course. +Who is he?" + +"Captain Grant." + +"Have you any objection to inserting a clause in the charter party +stipulating that, if for any reason Captain Grant proves objectionable +to the charterers, I may take command of the vessel myself? As charterer +I will have a very vital interest in the vessel and I might feel called +on to protect that interest personally." + +"Matt," said Cappy earnestly, "I'll trust you in preference to most men +with any ship of mine. Still, Grant is a very able man." + +"He might be too slow for me, Mr. Ricks. I prefer to have a spare anchor +in case of necessity." + +"Well, have it your own way," Cappy acquiesced, and summoned Mr. Skinner +to prepare the charter parties, while Matt went back to his own office +and gave instructions that he was not to be called to the telephone. + +Something told him that Kelton would be ringing up before the day was +over to accept his price on the Tillicum, and he did not want to be +placed in the position of having to give a yes or no answer until he had +seen Cappy Ricks' charter parties, with Cappy's signature attached. He +would then close up his deal with Morrow & Company, after which he would +sign Cappy's charter parties and turn two copies over to Cappy. In this +way he would be enabled to play safe and save his face in case any hitch +occurred at the last minute. + +The charter parties, duly signed and in triplicate, arrived from Cappy +Ricks in the morning's mail, with a request from Cappy for Matt to +append his signature to two copies and return them to the Blue Star +Navigation Company. Matt, after first assuring himself that the +instrument was in order, called up Kelton, who informed him that he +would accept Matt's offer for a year's charter of the Tillicum. Within +half an hour Matt had his charter parties ready for Kelton's signature +and the deal was closed; whereupon Matt signed the charter party Cappy +Ricks had sent him and handed it to Cappy, together with a check for +nine thousand dollars--one half the monthly rental of the Tillicum. + +Cappy whistled softly through his teeth as he handed the documents to +Mr. Skinner and instructed him to put the Tillicum in commission at +once. + + + +CHAPTER XL. THE CATACLYSM + + +For two voyages all went well. The Tillicum was engaged in carrying +general cargo to Panama for reshipment over the Panama Railroad to +Colon, at which point it was reshipped in steamers to ports along the +Atlantic seaboard. Following the universal custom, Matt's charter +with Morrow & Company stipulated settlement in full every thirty days, +whereas his charter with Cappy Ricks, for reasons best known to Cappy, +stipulated payment in full every fifteen days; which arrangement +operated to keep nine thousand dollars of Matt's money in Cappy's hands +continuously. This fact graveled Matt whenever he reflected that money +was worth at least seven per cent.; but, since he was making sixty +dollars a day profit as the result of his deal, he concluded not to +mention this point to Cappy Ricks. + +Morrow & Company met the first monthly payment with cash on the nail. At +the second settlement, however, when Matt called for his check, Kelton +requested, as a special favor, that Matt allow him four days' time. +A clever talker, with a peculiarly winning way about him, he disarmed +suspicion very readily, and Matt assured him he would be very glad +indeed to extend him such a slight courtesy. + +Meantime, however, Cappy Ricks had to be reckoned with; so, in order +not to keep him waiting, Matt sent him another check for nine thousand +dollars. Cappy now had eighteen thousand dollars of Matt's money; and +on the fourth day, when the latter called on Kelton for his check, the +latter actually made him feel ashamed of himself for calling and sent +him away with one-half of the sum now overdue! This perturbed Matt +somewhat, but when he showed some slight indication of it Kelton +playfully picked up a glass paper weight and threatened to destroy him +if he did not get out of the office at once; so, because it is difficult +to be serious with a man who declines to take one seriously, Matt forced +a grin and departed, with the light intimation that he would return in +three days, and if the check was not forthcoming then he would fresco +Kelton's office with the latter's life-blood. + +"Get out!" shouted Kelton laughingly. "I know money is tight and I don't +blame you for being Fido-at-the-rat-hole; but if you bother me about +that check for a week I'll not speak to you." + +So Matt waited a week, and then the check reached him by mail, with a +courteous note from Kelton thanking him for his leniency. It seemed to +Matt he had scarcely acknowledged the receipt of that check before he +had to give Cappy Ricks another nine thousand dollars! + +Morrow & Company were late again on the third month, but this time they +did not wait to be dunned. On the day before the payment was due Kelton +took Matt Peasley to luncheon and in the course of the meal he informed +Matt, quite casually, that he would be a little late with his check. +With two dollars' worth of his genial host's food under his belt, +Matt felt that it would be rude, to say the least, if he insisted on +settlement; so he said: + +"Oh, don't worry about that, old man! Give it to me as soon as you can, +because I'm a little pinched myself." + +Nevertheless, Matt was beginning to worry, for his acquaintance +throughout the trade had extended rapidly, due to his propensity for +making friends, and he had heard one or two little rumors that Morrow & +Company had bitten off more than they could chew in a few big deals of +late and had been badly pinched; in fact, to such an extent did Matt +ponder on the possibility of the company's going into the hands of the +receiver, leaving his thirty thousand dollars to disappear into the +ravening maw of the Blue Star Navigation Company, that he forgot to send +Cappy his check for nine thousand dollars the day it was due. And the +next morning Cappy himself called up and, in a voice that seemed to come +straight from a cold-storage plant, asked him what he meant by it, and +requested him--though to Matt it sounded like a peremptory demand--to +send the check over at once. So angry and humiliated did Matt feel as +a result of this dun, he could not trust himself to call with the check +but sent it by special delivery. + +The Tillicum had returned from her second voyage to Panama and was about +to commence loading her third cargo when another payment fell due. To +Matt's chagrin Kelton again pleaded for delay; and again Matt settled +with Cappy Ricks prior to collecting from Morrow & Company. Kelton had +promised a check on the following Wednesday, and on the appointed day +Matt called, only to be met with a request for further delay. Kelton +explained that Mr. Morrow had been taken very ill and things were at +sixes and sevens in the office as a result. Could not Matt wait until +Saturday, when Mr. Morrow would be back to sign a check? + +"What's wrong with Morrow?" Matt demanded pointedly. "Has he got +paralysis of the right hand?" + +"Worse than that," Kelton answered seriously. "He's on the verge of +nervous prostration." + +"But can't you sign a check?" + +"Y-e-s; but Mr. Morrow generally attends to all financial details." + +"Well, we'll excuse him from attending to this detail," Matt replied. "I +want a check and I want it now, because it is a week overdue; the vessel +is nearly loaded and about to go to sea, and if I do not get my money--" + +"Well, suppose I give you half of it now and the other half in a day or +two?" Kelton suggested. + +He looked worried and unhappy, and Matt felt sorry for him; for, indeed, +Kelton was a likable chap and perfectly trustworthy, and Matt sensed +some of the worry that was falling on the manager in his desperate +efforts to run a business on short capital. However, Matt's own +financial shoestring was too short for him to afford any sentiment, +though, for the reason that he was naturally kind-hearted and +considerate, he consented to accept a check for half the amount due +and left Kelton to the society of the many devils which seemed to be +tormenting him. + +On the sidewalk he paused suddenly. So Morrow was on the verge of +nervous prostration, eh? That was bad. It had been Matt's experience +that, as a usual thing, but two things conduce to bring about nervous +prostration--overwork and worry; and in Morrow's case it must be worry, +for Kelton did all the work! Kelton, too, looked haggard and drawn. + +"I must be very careful," Matt told himself, "for if that concern should +go broke while the Tillicum is en route to Panama my charter to Morrow & +Company may be considered to have terminated automatically; and if +they go under owing me from ten to twenty thousand dollars, I'm still +responsible to Cappy Ricks for my charter of the Tillicum until I can +bring her back to her home port and turn her back to him. Thank God for +that clause in the charter which gives me the privilege of terminating +my charter with Cappy in case Morrow & Company terminate their charter +with me! It will be all right if they terminate it while the vessel is +in San Francisco; but if she's very far from home I'll most certainly be +eaten alive while I'm getting her back to Cappy!" + +He returned to his office and went into a long executive session with +himself, from which he aroused presently and went down to the dock where +the cargo was pouring into the hold of the Tillicum. Here he consulted +with the captain and the purser, and obtained a list of all persons, +firms or corporations which had furnished supplies of any kind to the +deck department of the steamer. From the chief engineer he procured +a similar list of those who had furnished supplies to the engine +department; and, armed with this information, he returned to his office +and dictated the following form letter: + + Gentlemen:--Please take notice that we as charterers of the + steamer Tillicum from the Blue Star Navigation Company, and as + recharterers to Messrs. G. H. Morrow & Company, will not be + responsible for the payment to you of any bills for supplies or + stores, of any nature whatsoever, furnished to the said steamer + Tillicum since she has been under charter to said G. H. Morrow + & Company. Any bills contracted with you by G. H. Morrow & + Company for account of the Tillicum must be paid to you by + G. H. Morrow & Company. This notice is hereby given you in order + that we may go on record as disclaiming any responsibility as + charterers prior to the departure of the said steamer Tillicum + on her next voyage. + + Yours very truly, + PACIFIC SHIPPING COMPANY, + By Matthew Peasley, President. + +A copy of this letter Matt sent by registered mail, with a request for +a return registry receipt, to each of the creditors of the Tillicum of +whom he could get track. He had all the receipts in hand by the +last mail delivery the next day, and at eight o'clock that night the +Tillicum, having cleared the customs the same afternoon, departed for +Panama. Two days later Matt again called on Morrow & Company for the +money due him and, after much argument, succeeded in getting it. He +hastened at once to the bank on which it was drawn and asked the paying +teller to certify it. This the latter declined to do--neither would he +cash the check; so Matt took it back to Kelton. + +"Kelton," he said, "the bank will not honor your check." + +Kelton looked desperate. + +"Confound you!" he growled. "I stalled you until five minutes before the +bank closed, thinking you would deposit it in your own bank to-morrow +morning and I'd have a deposit to cover it by that time. It will be all +right first thing in the morning, Peasley." + +"It had better be!" Matt told him bluntly. "Your charter provides for +cancellation in the event that payments are not made as stipulated, and +I'm not in a position to carry you or to take any chances on you--and +I'm not going to." + +"I can't blame you a bit," Kelton answered regretfully. "I tell you, +with the money market as tight as it is, we're beating the devil +round the stump these days. Confound it, Peasley, a man has to do some +scheming and stalling when everybody is crowding him for money, doesn't +he?" + +The check was not paid when Matt presented it the next morning. As he +came out of the bank a newsboy, crying his daily sensation, accosted him +with the first afternoon edition, and Matt's glance caught a smear of +red ink seven columns wide across the front page: + + SHIPPING MAN A SUICIDE! + +It was Morrow! + +For about a minute Matt Peasley stood on the corner, doing some of the +fastest thinking he had ever done. Morrow had taken a short cut out +of his financial worries, and Matt realized that the tragedy would +undoubtedly bring an avalanche of creditors down on the unhappy Kelton +and ruin the firm. At any rate, the concern would doubtless go into the +hands of a receiver, and Matt Peasley might or might not hope for his +in the sweet by and by, according to the amount of salvage reported. The +Tillicum was seventy-six hours at sea! + +"Matthew," Matt Peasley murmured to himself, "'theirs not to reason why, +theirs but to do and die'--and all in one thundering big hurry!" + + + +CHAPTER XLI. WHEN PAIN AND ANGUISH WRING THE BROW + + +Cappy Ricks was having his siesta, with his feet on top of his desk, +when Matt Peasley came bounding in, seized him by the shoulder and shook +him wideawake. + +"Well, young man," Cappy snapped querulously, "what's all the excitement +about?" + +"Morrow has committed suicide, and I know the firm is in financial +difficulties. I'll not be able to collect now--I'll have to wait with +the rest of the creditors; and meantime the Tillicum, fully loaded, is +somewhere down off the Mexican coast. Good gracious, Mr. Ricks, there's +the very devil to pay!" + +"We will, if you please, not include outsiders in this argument for the +present, Matt," Cappy retorted dryly. "The unfortunate devil does not +pay! You do, Matt. I should worry!" + +"But you can help me save something from the wreck!" Matt pleaded +desperately. "It's going to clean me of my last dollar to make good with +you on my charter, even if Morrow & Company do not make good with me on +theirs; and--" + +Cappy Ricks held up his hand. + +"My dear boy," he said with maddening calm, "listen to me! I had a hunch +this would happen. As a matter of fact, I declined to charter to Morrow +& Company direct ten days before you came prancing in with your head +all swelled up with a brand-new idea for making a lot of easy money in +a hurry. Me charter to them--me!" In his superb scorn Cappy waxed +ungrammatical. "I should kiss a pig! Why, if sawmills were selling +for six bits each I wouldn't trust that concern with a hatful of +sawdust--not that they weren't honest and capable, but they haven't got +any money to speak of any more!" + +"But--but--Why, dad burn it, sir, you said it was perfectly agreeable to +you to have me charter the Tillicum to them!" Matt roared, angry, hurt +and amazed. + +"Why should I worry what you do? I have all I can do to attend to my own +business. Why should I tell you yours?" + +"But--" + +"No ifs or buts, Matt. I played safe; but you're caught away off third +base and now you're out! You've got to settle with me for every day you +have that vessel under charter until you deliver her back here in +San Francisco Bay and formally surrender her to me. You've got to pay +me--and what's more, I'm going to see to it that you do! Business is +business, my boy." + +"Well, I'll pay you all the cash I can and give you my note for the +remainder." + +"Your note!" Cappy jeered. "Your note! What do I want with your note! Is +it hockable at any bank? Huh! Answer me that." + +"You needn't insult me!" Matt growled wrathfully. + +"Bah!" Cappy sneered. "You think you're mighty smart, don't you, Matt? +Do you remember what I told you when you declined to go to work for me +and insisted on going into business for yourself? I told you you'd go +bust--and you're going right now. All you'll have left in thirty days +will be the clothes you stand in and the corporation seal of the Pacific +Shipping Company. Ho-ho! Isn't that funny? The idea of a man's paying +thirty thousand dollars for a dinky old corporation seal worth two and a +half!" + +Matt Peasley's face went white with suppressed fury. + +"Yes," he said quietly. "I seem to remember some such prophecy; also, +some conversation to the effect that I'd be a better business man if I +purchased my business experience with my own money. You said there were +wolves along California Street that would take my roll away from me so +fast it'd surprise me. I must confess, however, that I had no idea you +would lead the pack! However, I didn't come here to argue, Mr. Ricks--" + +"What did you come for? Sympathy?" Cappy queried. "Because, if you did, +you've come to the wrong shop, my boy. Business is business, Matt; I +never mix sentiment with it and I advise you never to do it either. Pay +your way and take your beating like a sport--that's my policy, Matt." + +"Do you want to save the Blue Star Navigation Company some money?" Matt +managed to articulate. + +"Certainly! Now you're talking business; so I'll listen." + +"As charterer of your steamer Tillicum, I find that Captain Grant, the +master you installed there, is offensive to me. I object to the way he +parts his hair and knots his necktie, and I want a new skipper on the +ship." + +Cappy Ricks slid out to the edge of his swivel chair, placed a hand on +each knee and eyed Matt suspiciously over the rims of his spectacles. +After a long silence he shook his head negatively. + +"Then I'll sue you!" Matt replied. "There's a clause in the charter +party. You've got to do it." + +Cappy's mouth flew open. + +"Oh, by Judas Priest, that's right," he said, and laughed. "So you're +providing a job for yourself after the smoke clears away, eh?" he +quizzed. "Well, you can skipper the Tillicum while you keep up the +payments of the charter money, Matt; but I give you my word that the day +you slip up on a payment, out you go and back Captain Grant goes into +the ship. Meantime, however, I think I see now why you inserted that +clause. In the event of just such a contingency as the present you +wanted the privilege of jumping in and taking command yourself." + +Matt nodded. + +"Captain Grant is a good man, but old. He can't drive a crew like I can, +Mr. Ricks--and, with me on the job, that steamer will be discharged and +back in San Francisco Bay from three to five days sooner that she would +ordinarily. It means six hundred dollars a day to me, sir, and every day +saved is worth that much cash in hand to you, since you profess to think +so lightly of my promissory note." + +"Enough!" Cappy commanded. "I'll admit that the thought does you credit. +It was a mighty bright idea, Matt, and showed fine forethought. Now, +then, what are you going to do to save your roll?" + +"The City of Para leaves for Panama to-morrow. Give me a letter +to Captain Grant, commanding him to turn his ship over to me on +presentation of this letter. I will furnish him the funds to pay his +transportation back to San Francisco." + +"Fair enough," said Cappy; and, calling in a stenographer, he dictated +the desired letter. + +Ten minutes later Matt Peasley had left the office without the formality +of saying good-by to Cappy Ricks, and was in a taxicab en route to +his lodgings to pack his steamer trunk and hand baggage. Cappy Ricks +chuckled as Matt went angrily out. + +"Ah--that first time a man goes broke!" he soliloquized. "What a blow to +one's pride! What a shock to the nervous system!" He sighed. "Poor old +Matt! Nobody knows better than Cappy Ricks how you feel, because +he's been there twice and it blamed near broke his heart each time it +happened." + +He shook his head with an air of satisfaction, for things were going +well with him. He had made a prophecy and it was in a fair way of being +fulfilled--nay, its fulfillment was inevitable; whereat Cappy, after +the habit of the aged in their conflict with Youth, felt very much like +shaking hands with himself. Indeed, so pleased was he that presently he +called in Mr. Skinner and related the story in meticulous detail to the +general manager. + +Mr. Skinner was delighted. More--he was overcome. He sat down and +permitted himself the most soul-satisfying laugh he had had in years. + + + +CHAPTER XLII. UNEXPECTED DEVELOPMENTS + + +Mr. Skinner thrust his head into Cappy Ricks' office and said: + +"I've just had a telephone message from the Merchants' Exchange. The +Tillicum is passing in." + +"Then," said Cappy Ricks, "in about two hours at the latest we may +expect a mournful visit from Captain Matt Peasley." + +"If you don't mind, Mr. Ricks," said Skinner with a smirk, "I should +dearly love to be present at the interview." + +Cappy smiled brightly. + +"By all means, Skinner, my dear boy; by all means, since you wish it. It +just about breaks my heart to think of the cargo of grief I'm going +to slip that boy; but I have resolved to be firm, Skinner. He owes us +eighteen thousand dollars and he must go through with his contract to +the very letter, and pay the Blue Star Navigation Company every last +cent due it. He will, doubtless, suggest some sort of settlement--ten +cents on the dollar--" + +"Don't agree to it," Mr. Skinner pleaded. "He has more than a thousand +dollars a month going to his credit on our books from the Unicorn +charter, and if that vessel stays afloat a year longer we'll be in the +clear. Be very firm with him, Mr. Ricks. As you say, it is all for his +own benefit and the experience will do him a whole lot of good." + +"I love the boy," said Cappy; "but in the present case, Skinner, I +haven't any heart. A chunk of anthracite coal is softer than that +particular organ this morning. Be sure to show Matt in the minute he +comes up from the dock." + +Mr. Skinner needed no urging when, less than two hours later, Captain +Matt Peasley arrived. Mr. Skinner greeted him courteously and followed +him into Cappy's office. + +"Well, well, well!" Cappy began unctuously. "How do you do, Matt, my +dear boy? Glad to see you; in fact, we're extra glad to see you," he +added significantly and winked at Mr. Skinner, who caught the hint and +murmured loud enough for Matt Peasley to hear: + +"Eighteen thousand dollars to-morrow!" + +Cappy extended a hand, which Matt grasped heartily. + +"You're looking fit as a fiddle," Cappy continued. "Doesn't look a bit +worried--does he, Skinner?" + +"I must admit he appears to carry it off very well, Mr. Ricks. We had +thought, captain," Skinner continued, turning to Matt Peasley, "that, +when Mr. Ricks agreed to permit you to assume command of the Tillicum +when she reached Panama, we might have been treated to an exhibition of +speed; but the fact of the matter is that instead of economizing on time +you are about ten days in excess of the period it would have taken +for Captain Grant to have discharged his cargo and gotten back to San +Francisco." He winked at Cappy Ricks, who returned the wink. + +"You mean in ballast," Matt suggested. Skinner nodded. "Oh, well, that +accounts for it," Matt continued serenely. "I came home with a cargo of +steel rails." + +Cappy Ricks slid out to the extreme edge of his swivel chair; and, +with a hand on each knee, he gazed at Matt Peasley over the rims of his +spectacles. Mr. Skinner started violently. + +"You came home with a cargo of steel rails?" Cappy demanded +incredulously. + +"Certainly! Do you suppose I would go to the expense of hiring somebody +else to skipper the Tillicum while I was there with my license? Not by a +jugful! I was saving every dollar I could. I had to." + +"Er--er--Where is Captain Grant?" Skinner demanded. + +"Captain Grant is free, white and twenty-one. He goes where he pleases +without consulting me, Mr. Skinner. He means nothing in my life--so why +should I know where he is?" + +"You infernal scoundrel!" shrilled Cappy Ricks. "You whaled hell out of +him and threw him out on the dock at Panama--that's what you did to him! +You took the Tillicum away from him by force." + +"Captain Grant is a fine, elderly gentleman, sir," Matt interrupted. "I +would not use force on him. He left the ship of his own free will at San +Diego, California." + +"At San Diego?" Cappy and Skinner cried in unison. + +"At San Diego." + +"But you said you were going to Panama on the City of Para, the regular +passenger liner," Cappy challenged. + +"Well, I wasn't committed to that course, sir. After leaving your office +I changed my mind. I figured the Tillicum was somewhere off the coast of +Lower California; so I wirelessed Captain Grant, explained to him that +the ship was back on my hands by reason of the failure of Morrow & +Company, and ordered him to put into San Diego for further orders. He +proceeded there; I proceeded there; we met; I presented your letter +relieving him of his command. Simple enough, isn't it?" + +"But what became of him?" + +"How should I know, sir? I've been as busy as a bird dog down in Panama. +Please let me get on with my story. I had just cleared Point Loma and +was about to surrender the bridge to my first mate when an interesting +little message came trickling out of the ether--and my wireless boy +picked it up, because it was addressed to 'Captain Grant, Master S. S. +Tillicum.'" + +Cappy Ricks quivered and licked his lower lip, but said nothing. + +"That message," Matt continued, "was brought to me by the operator, who +really didn't know what to do with it. Captain Grant had left the ship +and Sparks didn't know what hotel in San Diego the late master of +the Tillicum would put up for the night; so I read the message to see +whether it was important, for I felt that it had to do with the ship's +business and that I was justified in reading it." + +Again Cappy Ricks squirmed. Mr. Skinner commenced to gnaw his thumb +nail. + +"That message broke me all up," Matt continued sadly. "It destroyed +completely my faith in human nature and demonstrated beyond a doubt that +there is no such thing in this world as fair play in business. It's +like a waterfront fight. You just get your man down and everything +goes--kicking, biting, gouging, knee-work!" Matt sighed dolorously and +drew from his vest pocket a scrap of paper. "Just listen to this for a +message!" He continued. "Just imagine how nice you'd feel, Mr. Ricks, if +you were skippering a boat and picked up a message like this at sea: + + "'Grant, Master Steamer Tillicum: Gave Captain Matt Peasley a + letter to you yesterday ordering you to turn over command of + Tillicum to him on presentation or demand. This on his request + and on his insistence, as per clause in charter party, copy of + which you have. Peasley leaves to-day for Panama on City of + Para. This will be your authority for declining to surrender + the ship to him when he comes aboard there. Stand pat! Letter + with complete instructions for your guidance follows on City of + Para. + + "Ricks.'" + +Cappy Ricks commenced tapping one foot nervously against the other, Mr. +Skinner coughed perfunctorily, while Matt withered each with a rather +sorrowful glance. + +"Of course you can imagine the shock this gave me. I give you my word +that for as much as five seconds I didn't know what to do; but after +that I got real busy. I swung the ship and came ramping back to San +Diego harbor, slipped ashore in the small boat and found Captain Grant +at the railroad station buying a ticket for San Francisco. I had to wait +and watch the ticket office for an hour before he showed up, and when he +did I made him a proposition. I told him that if he would agree to keep +away from the office of the Blue Star Navigation Company you might think +he was peeved at being relieved of his command so peremptorily, and +hence would not attach any importance to his failure to report at the +office. + +"In consideration of this I gave him my word of honor that he would be +restored to his command as soon as I could bring the Tillicum back from +Panama, and meantime his salary would continue just the same--in proof +of which I gave him a check for two months' pay in advance. He said he +thought it all a very queer proceeding; but, since he was no longer in +command of the Tillicum, it wasn't up to him to ask questions, and he +agreed to my proposition. However, he said he thought he ought to wire +the company acknowledging receipt of their instructions with reference +to surrendering his command--and I agreed with him that he should. +'But,' I said, 'why bother sending such a message, collect, ashore, when +we pay a flat monthly rate to the wireless company for the plant and +operator aboard the ship, no matter how many messages we send? Give me +your message to Mr. Ricks and when I get back aboard the Tillicum I'll +wireless it to him for you, and it won't cost the ship a cent extra.' + +"Well, you know your own captains, Mr. Ricks. They'll save their ships a +dollar wherever they can; and simple, honest Old Man Grant agreed to my +suggestion. Before he had an opportunity to consider I stepped to the +telegraph office and wrote this message for him." Matt produced another +telegram and read: + + "'Blue Star Navigation Company, + + "'258 California Street, San Francisco. + + "'Instructions with reference to change of masters received. + + "Would feel badly if I thought any act of mine necessitated + change; but since my conscience is clear I shall not worry. I + always have done and always shall do my duty to my owners + without thought of my personal interests, and you may rely + fully on that in the present emergency.'" + +"Well, sir, that sounded so infernally grandiloquent to Old Man Grant +that his hand actually trembled with emotion as he signed it--at my +suggestion. You know I'd hate to be tried for forgery. Then I shook +hands with him and started for Panama once more--only this time I kept +right on going; and I didn't spare the fuel oil either. Why should I? It +wasn't costing me anything." + +Both Cappy and Mr. Skinner winced, as from a blow. Matt waited for them +to say something, but they didn't; so after a respectful interval he +resumed: + +"Off the Coronado Islands I sent you Captain Grant's diplomatic message. +I was very glad to send it to you, Mr. Ricks, because I knew its receipt +would make you very happy, and I like to scatter happiness wherever I +can. The Scriptures say we should return good for evil." + +Cappy Ricks bounded to his feet and shook a skinny fist under Matt +Peasley's nose. + +"You're a damned scoundrel!" he piped, beside himself with rage. "Be +careful how you talk to me, young man, or I'll lose my temper; and if I +ever do--" + +"That would be terrible, wouldn't it?" Matt laughed. "I suppose you'd +just haul off and biff me one, and I'd think it was autumn with the +leaves falling!" + +Cappy choked, turned purple, sat down again, and glanced covertly at Mr. +Skinner, who returned the glance with one that seemed to shout aloud: +"Mr. Ricks, I smell a rat as big as a Shetland pony. Something has +slipped and we're covered with blood. Incredible as it may seem, this +rowdy Peasley has outthought us!" + +"Did you get the letter we sent Captain Grant at Panama?" Skinner +managed to articulate presently. + +Matt nodded affirmatively. + +"Opened it, I suppose!" Cappy accused him. + +Matt nodded negatively, produced the letter from his pocket and handed +it to Cappy. + +"Where I was raised," he said gently, "they taught boys that it was +wrong to read other people's private correspondence. You will note that +the seal is unbroken." + +"Thank God for that!" Cappy Ricks murmured, sotto voice, and tore the +letter into tiny bits. "Now, then," he said, "we'll hear the rest of +your story." + +"When did a doctor look you over last?" Matt queried. "I'm afraid you'll +die of heart disease before I finish." + +"I'm sound in wind and limb," Cappy declared. "I'm not so young as I +used to be; but, by Jupiter, there isn't any young pup on the street who +can tell me where to head in! What next?" + +"Of course, Mr. Ricks, very shortly after I had rechartered the Tillicum +to Morrow & Company I began to suspect they were shy of sufficient +capital to run their big business comfortably. I found it very hard to +collect; so, fully a month before they went up the spout, I commenced +to figure on what would happen to me if they did. Consequently, I wasn't +caught napping. On the day Morrow committed suicide the company gave me +a check that was repudiated at the bank. I protested it and immediately +served formal notice on Morrow & Company that their failure to meet +the terms of our charter party necessitated immediate cancellation; and +accordingly I was cancelling it." + +"Did you send that notice by registered mail?" Skinner demanded. + +"You bet!--with a return registry receipt requested." + +Cappy nodded at Skinner approvingly, as though to say: "Smart of him, +eh?" Matt continued: + +"After sending my wireless to Captain Grant aboard the Tillicum I sent +a cablegram to the Panama Railroad people informing them that, owing to +certain circumstances over which I had no control, the steamer Tillicum, +fully loaded and en route to Panama to discharge cargo, had been turned +back on my hands by the charterers. I informed them I had diverted the +steamer to San Diego for orders, and in the interim, unless the Panama +Railroad guaranteed me by cable immediately sixty per cent. of the +through-freight rate for the Tillicum, and a return cargo to San +Francisco, I would decline to send the Tillicum to Panama, but would, on +the contrary, divert her to Tehuantepec and transship her cargo over the +American-Hawaiian road there. I figured--" + +"You infernal scoundrel!" Cappy Ricks murmured. "You--slippery--devil!" + +"Of course," Matt went on calmly, "I had no means of knowing what +freight rate Morrow & Company received; but I figured that they ought to +get about forty per cent., the Panama Railroad about twenty per cent., +and the steamer on the Atlantic side the remaining forty. So I decided +to play safe and ask sixty per cent. of the through rate, figuring that +the Panama Railroad would give it to me rather than have the Tillicum's +cargo diverted over their competitor's road at Tehuantepec. In the first +place they were depending on business from Morrow & Company's ships; +and, with Morrow & Company gone broke and a new company liable to take +over their line, it would be a bad precedent to establish, to permit one +cargo to go to the competitor. Future cargoes might follow it! + +"Then, too, the schedule of the ships on the Atlantic side of the Canal +doubtless had been made up already, with a view to handling this cargo +ex-Tillicum, and to lose the cargo would throw that schedule out of +joint; in fact, from whatever angle I viewed the situation, I could see +that the railroad company would prefer to give up its twenty per cent. +rather than decline my terms. They might think their competitor had +already made me an offer! Of course, it was all a mighty bluff on my +part, but bluffs are not always called, particularly when they're made +good and strong; and, believe me, my bluff was anything but weak in the +knees. I told the Panama people to wire their reply to me at San Diego, +and when I got to that city, twenty-four hours later, their answer was +awaiting me." + +"They called your bluff?" Mr. Skinner challenged. + +"Pooh-pooh for you!" Matt laughed. "God is good and the devil not half +bad. I got the guaranties I asked for, old dear! Don't you ever think +I'd have been crazy enough to go to Panama without them." + +Cappy jerked forward in his chair again. + +"Matt," he said sternly, "you have defaulted in your payments to the +Blue Star Navigation Company to the tune of eighteen thousand dollars, +and I'd like to hear what you have to say about that." + +"Well, I couldn't help it," Matt replied, "I was shy ten thousand +dollars when Morrow & Company defaulted on me, and I was at sea when the +other payment fell due. However, you had your recourse. You could have +canceled the charter on me. That was a chance I had to take. + +"Why didn't you grab the ship away from me? If you had done that you +would be in the clear to-day instead of up to your neck in grief." + +"We'll grab her away from you to-day--never fear!" Cappy promised him. +"I guess we'll get ours from the freight due on that cargo of steel +rails you came home with." + +"You have another guess coming, Mr. Ricks. You'll not do any grabbing +to-day, for the reason that somebody else has already grabbed her." + +"Who?" chorused Cappy and Skinner. + +"The United States Marshal. Half an hour ago the Pacific Shipping +Company libeled her." + +"What for, you bonehead? You haven't any cause for libel, so how can you +make it stick?" + +"The Pacific Shipping Company has cause, and it can make the libel +stick. The first mate of the Tillicum assigned to the Pacific Shipping +Company his claim for wages as mate--" + +"Matt, you poor goose! The Pacific Shipping Company OWE him his wages. +Your dink of a company chartered the boat, and we will not pay such a +ridiculous claim." + +"I do not care whether you do or not. That libel will keep you from +canceling my charter, although when you failed to cancel when I failed +to make the payments as stipulated, your laxity must be regarded in the +eyes of the law as evidence that you voluntarily waived that clause in +the charter; and after you have voluntarily waived a thing twice you'll +have a job making it stick the third time." + +"If I had only known!" groaned Skinner miserably. + +"Besides," Matt continued brightly, "I have a cargo in that vessel, +and she's under charter to my company at six hundred dollars a day. +Of course you know very well, Mr. Ricks, that while the United States +Marshal remains in charge of her I cannot discharge an ounce of that +cargo or move the ship, or--er--anything. Well, naturally that will be +no fault of the Pacific Shipping Company, Mr. Ricks. It will be up to +the Blue Star Navigation Company to file a bond and lift that libel in +order that I may have some use of the ship I have chartered from you. +If you do not pull the plaster off of her of course I'll have to sue you +for heavy damages; and I can refuse to pay you any moneys due you." + +"We'll lift the libel in an hour," Mr. Skinner declared dramatically; +and he took down the telephone to call up the attorney for the Blue +Star. + +"Wait!" said Matt. "I'm not through. Before I entered the harbor I +called all hands up on the boat deck and explained matters to them. They +had been engaged by Morrow & Company, and the firm of Morrow & Company +was in the bankruptcy court; so the prospects of cash from that quarter +did not seem encouraging. The Pacific Shipping Company had made a +bare-boat charter from the Blue Star Navigation Company, and had then +made a similar charter to Morrow & Company; consequently the Pacific +Shipping Company would repudiate payment, and, as president and +principal stockholder of that company, I took it on myself to repudiate +any responsibility then and there. + +"Then the crew wanted to know what they should do, and I said: 'Why, +seek the protection of the law, in such cases made and provided. A +seaman is not presumed to have any knowledge of the intricate deals his +owners may put through. All he knows is that he is employed aboard +a ship, and if he doesn't get his money from the charterers at the +completion of the voyage he can libel the ship and collect from the +owners. This is a fine new steamer, men, and I, for one, believe she is +good for what is owing you all; and if you will assign your claims to +the Pacific Shipping Company I will pay them in full and trust to the +Blue Star Navigation Company to reimburse me.' So they did that. + +"Now go ahead, Mr. Skinner, and lift the libel I put on the vessel for +my first mate's account, and the instant you get it lifted I'll slap +another libel on her for account of the second mate. Get rid of the +second mate's claim and up bobs the steward, and so on, ad libitum, e +pluribus unum, now and forever, one and inseparable. I care not what +course others may pursue, but as for me, give me liberty or give me +death!" + +Mr. Skinner quietly hung up the telephone receiver. + +"And, by the way," Matt continued, "I forgot to mention that I +requested the steward to stay aboard and make the United States Marshal +comfortable as soon as he arrived. In these little matters one might +as well be courteous, and I should hate to have the Tillicum acquire a +reputation for being cheap and inhospitable." + +"You dirty dog!" cried Cappy Ricks hoarsely. + +"Really, my dear Peasley, this matter has passed beyond the joke stage," +Mr. Skinner began suavely. + +"Let me get along with my story," said he. "The worst is yet to come. My +attorney informs me--" + +"Matt Peasley," said Cappy Ricks, "that's the first lie I ever knew you +to tell. You don't have to hire an attorney to tell you where to head +in, you infernal sea lawyer!" + +"I thank you for the compliment," Matt observed quizzically. "Perhaps I +deserve it. However, 'we come to bury Caesar, not to praise him;' so, if +you will kindly hold over your head, Mr. Ricks, I'll be pleased to hit +it another swat." + +"Well, I'll admit that the failure of Morrow & Company and the Pacific +Shipping Company to pay the crew of the Tillicum puts the buck up to me, +and I dare say I'll have to pay," Cappy admitted, his voice trembling +with rage. + +"Well, that isn't the only bill you'll have to pay. Don't cheer until +you're out of the woods, Mr. Ricks. You'll have to pay for a couple +of thousand barrels of fuel oil, and a lot of engine supplies, and sea +stores, and laundry, and water--why, Lord bless you, Mr. Ricks, I can't +begin to think of all the things you're stuck for!" + +"Not a bit of it!" Cappy cried triumphantly. "It was an open-boat +charter, my son, and you rechartered on the same basis; and, though +Morrow & Company were originally responsible you'll find that the +creditors, despairing of collecting from them, will come down on the +Pacific Shipping Company like a pack of ravening wolves, by thunder! +Don't YOU cheer until YOU'RE out of the woods!" + +"Well, I have a license to cheer," Matt replied, "because I got out of +the woods a long time ago. Before the vessel sailed from this port, +I sent this letter to all her creditors!" And Matt thrust into Cappy +Ricks' hand a copy of the letter in question. + +"That will not help you at all," Mr. Skinner, who had read the letter +over Cappy's shoulder, declared. + +"It wouldn't--if I hadn't sent it by registered mail and got a return +receipt," Matt admitted; "but, since I have a receipt from every +creditor acknowledging the denial of responsibility of the Pacific +Shipping Company, I'm in the clear. It was up to the creditors to +protect their hands before the vessel went to sea! They had ample +warning--and I can prove it! I tell you, Mr. Ricks, when you begin to +dig into this matter you will find these creditors will claim that every +article furnished to the Tillicum while Morrow & Company had her was +ordered on requisitions signed by Captain Grant, your employee, or +Collins, your chief engineer. They were your servants and you paid their +salaries." + +"All right then," Cappy challenged. "Suppose we do have to pay. How +about that freight money you collected in Panama--eh? How about that? I +guess we'll have an accounting of the freight money, young man." + +"I submit, with all due respect, that what I did with that freight money +I collected in Panama is none of your confounded business. I chartered +a vessel from you and she was loaded with a cargo. The only interest +you can possibly have in that cargo lies in the fact that the Pacific +Stevedoring Company stowed it in the vessel and hasn't been paid some +forty-five hundred dollars for so stowing it, and eventually, of course, +you'll have to foot the bill as owner of the vessel. That vessel and +cargo were thrown back on my hands, not on yours; so why should you ask +questions about my business? You've got your nerve with you!" + +"But you'll have to render an accounting to Morrow & Company," Cappy +charged. + +"I'll not. They gave me a check that was returned branded 'Not +sufficient funds;' they didn't keep their charter with me, and if I +hadn't been a fly young fellow their failure would have ruined me, and +then a lot they'd care about it! If I spoke to them about it they'd say: +'Well, these things will happen in business. We're sorry; but what can +we do about it?' No, Mr. Ricks; I'm in the clear with Morrow & Company, +and their creditors will be lucky if I do not present my claim for +ten thousand dollars because of that worthless check I hold. When I +collected from the Panama Railroad Company for the freight on that +southbound cargo I paid myself all Morrow & Company owed me, and the +rest is velvet if I choose to keep it. If I do not choose to keep it the +only honorable course for me to pursue will be to send a statement and +my check for the balance to the receiver for Morrow & Company." + +"What!" demanded Mr. Skinner. "And leave the Blue Star Navigation +Company to pay the crew?" + +"Yes--and the fuel bill, and the butcher and the baker and the +candlestick maker, and the stevedoring firm, and the whole infernal, +sorry mess!" + +Cappy Ricks motioned to Mr. Skinner to be silent; then he rose and +placed his hand on Matt's shoulder. + +"Matt," he said kindly, "look me in the eyes and see if you can have the +crust to tell me that, with all that freight money in your possession, +you do not intend to apply the residue to the payments of these claims +against the Tillicum." + +Matt bent low and peered fiercely into Cappy's face, for all the world +like a belligerent rooster. + +"Once more, my dear Mr. Ricks," he said impressively, I desire to inform +you that, so far as the steamer Tillicum is concerned, I venerate you as +a human Christmas tree. I'm the villain in this sketch and proud of it. +You're stabbed to the hilt! Why should I be expected to pay the debts of +your steamer?" + +"But you used all the materials placed aboard her for your own use and +benefit." + +"That, Mr. Ricks, constitutes my profit," Matt retorted pleasantly. "She +had fuel oil aboard when she was turned back on me sufficient to last +her to Panama and return--she had engine supplies, gear, beef in the +refrigerator, provisions in the storeroom, and clean laundry in the +linen lockers; in fact, I never went to sea in command of a ship that +was better found." + +"Matt Peasley," said Cappy solemnly, "you think this is funny; but it +isn't. You do not realize what you are doing. Why, this action of yours +will be construed as highway robbery and no man on the Street will trust +you. You must think of your future in business. If this leaks out nobody +will ever extend you any credit--" + +"I should worry about credit when I have the cash!" Matt retorted. "I'm +absolutely within the law, and this whole affair is my picnic and your +funeral. Moreover, I dare you to give me permission to circulate this +story up and down California Street! Yes, sir, I dare you--and you +aren't game! Why, everybody would be cheering for me and laughing +at you, and you'd get about as much sympathy as a rich relative with +arterial sclerosis. I haven't any sympathy for you, Mr. Ricks. You got +me into this whole mess when a kind word from you would have kept me out +of it. But, no; you wouldn't extend me that kind word. You wanted to see +me get tangled up and go broke; and when you thought I was a dead one +you made fun of me and rejoiced in my wretchedness, and did everything +you could to put me down and out, just so you could say: 'Well, I +warned you, Matt; but you would go to it. You have nobody to blame but +yourself.' + +"Of course I realize that you didn't want to make any money out of +me; but you did want to manhandle me, Mr. Ricks, just as a sporting +proposition. Besides, you tried to double-cross me with that wireless +message. I knew what you were up to. You thought you had pulled the same +stunt on me I pulled on you, and that letter to Captain Grant contained +full instructions. However, you wanted to be so slick about it you +wouldn't get caught with your fingers in the jam; so you forbore to +cancel my charter. You figured you'd present me with my troubles all in +one heap the day I got back from Panama. I'm onto you!" + +"Well, I guess we've still got a sting in our tail," Cappy answered +pertly. "Slap on your libels. We'll lift 'em all, and to-morrow we'll +expect eighteen thousand dollars from you, or I'm afraid, Matthew, my +boy, you're going to lose that ship with her cargo of steel rails, and +we'll collect the freight." + +"Again you lose. You'll have to make a formal written demand on me for +the money before you cancel the charter; and when you do I'll hand you a +certified check for eighteen thousand dollars. Don't think for a minute +that I'm a pauper, Mr. Ricks; because I'm not. When a fellow freights +one cargo to Panama and another back, and it doesn't cost him a blamed +cent to stow the first cargo and cheap Jamaica nigger labor to stow +the second, and the cost of operating the ship for the round trip is +absolutely nil--I tell you, sir, there's money in it." + +Cappy Ricks' eyes blazed, but he controlled his temper and made one +final appeal. + +"Matt," he said plaintively, "you infernal young cut-up, quit kidding +the old man! Don't tell me that a Peasley, of Thomaston, Maine, would +take advantage of certain adventitious circumstances and the legal +loopholes provided by our outrageous maritime laws--" + +"To swindle the Blue Star Navigation Company!" Mr. Skinner cut in. + +"Swindle is an ugly word, Mr. Skinner. Please do not use it again to +describe my legitimate business--and don't ask any sympathy of me. You +two are old enough and experienced enough in the shipping game to spin +your own tops. You didn't give me any the best of it; you crowded my +hand and joggled my elbow, and it would have been the signal for a half +holiday in the office if I had gone broke." + +"But after all Mr. Ricks has done for you--" + +"He always had value received, and I asked no favors of him--and +received none." + +"But surely, my dear Matt," Skinner purred, for the first time calling +his ancient enemy by his Christian name--"surely you're jesting with +us." + +"Skinner, old horse, I was never more serious in my life. Mr. Alden P. +Ricks is my ideal of a perfect business man; and just before I left for +Panama he informed me--rather coldly, I thought--that he never mixed +sentiment with business. Moreover, he advised me not to do it either. +To surrender to him now would mean the fracturing, for the first time +in history, of a slogan that has been in the Peasley tribe for +generations." + +"What's that?" Cappy queried with shaking voice. + +"Pay your way and take your beating like a sport, sir," Matt shot at +him. He drew out his watch. "Well," he continued, "I guess the United +States Marshal is in charge of the Tillicum by this time; so get busy +with the bond and have him removed from the ship. The minute one of +those birds lights on my deck I just go crazy!" + +"Yes, you do!" screamed Cappy Ricks, completely losing his self-control. +"You go crazy--like a fox!" + +And then Cappy Ricks did something he had never done before. He swore, +with a depth of feeling and a range of language to be equalled only by +a lumberjack. Matt Peasley waited until he subsided for lack of new +invective and then said reproachfully: + +"I can't stand this any longer, Mr. Ricks. I'll have to go now. Back +home I belonged to the Congregational Church--" + +"Out!" yelled Cappy. "Out, you vagabond!" + + + +CHAPTER XLIII. CAPPY PLANS A KNOCK-OUT + + +The morning following Matt Peasley's triumphant return from Panama +with the steamer Tillicum, Cappy Ricks created a mild sensation in his +offices by reporting for duty at a quarter past eight. Mr. Skinner was +already at his desk, for he was a slave driver who drove himself fully +as hard as he did those under him. He glanced up apprehensively as Cappy +bustled in. + +"Why, what has happened, Mr. Ricks?" he queried. + +"I have an idea," said Cappy. "Skinner, my boy, a word with you in +private." + +Mr. Skinner rose with alacrity, for instinct warned him that he was in +for some fast and clever work. Cappy sat in at his desk, and Skinner, +drawing up a chair, sat down beside him and waited respectfully for +Cappy to begin. + +"Skinner," Cappy began impressively, "for many years you and I have +been harboring the delusion that we are business men, whereas, if we can +stand to hear the truth told about ourselves, we handle a deal with the +reckless abandon of a pair of bear cubs juggling hazel nuts." + +"I have sufficient self-esteem," Skinner replied stiffly, "not to take +that pessimistic view of myself. If you refer to the inglorious rout we +suffered yesterday in our skirmish with Captain Matt Peasley, permit +me to remind you, in all respect, that you handled that entire deal +yourself." + +"Bah!" said Cappy witheringly. "Why, you aided and abetted me, Skinner. +You told me my strategy was absolutely flawless." + +"I am not the seventh son of a seventh son, sir. I did not see the flaw +in your strategy. You lost by one of those strange accidents which must +be attributed to the interference of the Almighty in the affairs of +men." + +"Lost!" Cappy jeered. "Lost! Skinner, you infuriate me. I haven't lost. +Like John Paul Jones, I haven't yet commenced to fight. Skinner, listen +to me. When I get through with that Matt Peasley you can take it from me +he'll be sore from soul to vermiform appendix." + +"If I may be permitted a criticism, sir, I would suggest that you let +this matter rest right where it is. Surely you realize the delicate +position you are in, quarreling with your future son-in-law--" + +"Agh-h-h! Pooh!" snapped Cappy. "That's all outside office hours. I +haven't any grudge against the boy and he knows it. I don't want his +little old bank roll--that is, for keeps. When I went into this deal, +Skinner, I was actuated by the same benevolent intentions as a man +that desires to cure a hound pup of sucking eggs. He fills an egg with +cayenne pepper and leaves it where the pup can find it--and after that +the pup sucks no more eggs. I love this boy Matt like he was my own +son, but he's too infernally fresh! He holds people too cheap; he's too +trustful. He's made his little wad too easily, and easy money never did +any man any good. So I wanted to teach him that business is business, +and if I could take his roll away from him I was going to do it. Of +course, Skinner, I need not remind you that I would have loaned him the +next minute, without interest and without security, every cent I'd taken +from him in this deal--" + +"But why peeve over it, Mr. Ricks? If Captain Matt--" + +"At my age--to take a beating like that?" Cappy shrilled. "Impossible! +Why, he'll tell this story on the Merchants' Exchange, and I can't +afford that. Not at my age, Skinner, not at my age! I have a reputation +to sustain, and, by the Holy Pink-toed Prophet, I'm going to sustain it. +I'm going down fighting like a bear cat. I know he scalded us yesterday, +Skinner, but every dog must have his day--and that dog-gone Matt's day +dawned this morning." + +"The only tactical error, if I may appear hypercritical," Skinner said +suavely, "was your failure to cancel the charter on the very day that +Matt slipped up on his first advance payment. If you had done that you +would have had him. Don't say I didn't call your attention to the fact +that his payment was overdue!" + +"Yes, if I had done that I would have had him, but how much would I have +had him for? Paltry nine thousand dollars! I wanted him to get into the +financial quicksands up to his chin--and then I'd have had him! Besides, +Skinner, I had to go slow. Just think what would have happened if Florry +found me out! Why, I would have had to call off the dogs before I was +half through the job." + +"He's probably told her all about it by now," Skinner suggested. + +"Don't get him wrong," Cappy protested. "He's no tattle-tale. He'll +fight fair. However, as I was saying, I couldn't do anything raw, +Skinner. I had planned, when Matt reached Panama and discovered he had +been double-crossed to pass the buck up to you!" + +Mr. Skinner started, but Cappy continued serenely: + +"I planned to be away from the office when the blow-off came, and you +were to have borne the brunt of Matt's fury and despair. Why, what the +devil do I have a general manager for if not to help me out in these +little affairs? And besides, Skinner, when he blew in here the day +Morrow & Company hit the ceiling, he was so excited and worried I felt +positive he was busted then; so what was the use calling him for his +overdue payment when if I let him run on I'd have his young soul in hock +for the next ten years?" Cappy leaned forward and laid an impressive +hand on Mr. Skinner's knee. "You know, Skinner, we really need that boy +in this office, and it would have been a fine thing to have gotten him +and gotten him right. Then he wouldn't be leaving the reservation to +chase rainbows. However, as the boys say, I overlooked a bet, but I'll +not overlook another." + +"You said you had an idea," Mr. Skinner suggested. + +"I have. Just at present there is a libel on the Tillicum, and when we +lift it Matt Peasley is prepared to plaster another libel on her, and +another, and still another. Now, as a result of our conversation with +Matt yesterday, he thinks we'll lift the libel to-day--in fact, settle +with him for what he paid the crew when they assigned their wage claim +to his company, and thus prevent any further libels. Now, if we do that +it leaves Matt in the clear to commence discharging his cargo, but at +the same time it makes it incumbent upon him to slam a certified check +for eighteen thousand dollars down on the Blue Star counter, in order +to hold the vessel long enough to discharge her and collect the freight. +Then he'll turn the vessel back on our hands with many thanks--rot him!" + +"I have no doubt that such are his intentions, Mr. Ricks; in which event +he will, of course, be ready with the certified check the instant we +make formal, written demand upon him for our money. I believe I have +already warned you, sir, that we cannot cancel the charter without first +making formal, written demand for our charter money." + +"Well," said Cappy, "we'll get round that all right." + +"Pray, how?" + +"What time did Matt Peasley leave this office after the battle +yesterday?" + +"I should say in the neighborhood of half after three." + +"Hum! Ahem! Harump-h-h! The banks close at three, and they do not reopen +for business until ten this morning. It is now exactly a quarter of +nine. Has Matt Peasley had time to procure a certified check since he +arrived from Panama--or has he not?" + +"The situation admits of no argument," Mr. Skinner admitted. + +"Exactly! He didn't have time yesterday, and he sha'n't have time +to-day, and to-morrow will be too late, because his money is due us +to-day! We shall lift all those libels and free the Tillicum for him; +then we shall make formal demand upon him for eighteen thousand dollars, +in cash or certified check--we can legally decline his check unless +certified--and when he fails to make good we formally cancel the +charter. Then what happens? I'll tell you. We grab the boat with a full +cargo from him as he grabbed it from Morrow & Company with a full cargo. +Then we collect the freight on that northbound cargo as he collected the +freight on the southbound cargo, and," Cappy continued calmly, "I dare +say that freight money will put us in the clear on all those bills we're +stuck for." + +"And to do all this," Skinner remarked sententiously, "it is necessary +to tie up Matt Peasley's bank account the instant the bank opens this +morning." + +"Skinner," said Cappy feelingly, "you get me almost before I get myself. +Now listen, while I give you your orders: Go right up to our attorney's +office, take our copy of the charter with you, explain that Matt has +defaulted in his payments, and instruct our attorney to enter suit +to collect. Tell him to get the complaint out and filed within +three-quarters of an hour, and then, the instant he has filed the suit, +he is to get out a writ of attachment on the Pacific Shipping Company's +bank account." + +"But we cannot do that, Mr. Ricks. We must make formal, written demand +for the payments in arrears before we can proceed to force collection--" + +"Certainly. We'll do that after we've tied up his bank account." + +"But when we get into court we'll be nonsuited because we didn't do that +first." + +"I sincerely hope so. But in the meanwhile we've tied up Matt's bank +account, and while we're arguing the merits of our action in so doing, +another sun will have set, and when it rises again"--Cappy kissed his +hand airily into space--"the good ship Tillicum will be back under the +Blue Star Flag--" + +"But Matt Peasley will allege conspiracy and a lot of things, and he +can sue us and get the boat back and force us to render an accounting of +that freight money." + +"That situation will admit of much argument, Skinner. However, Matt will +not sue me. Florry wouldn't let him! He'll make us lift the attachment +on his bank account, and then he'll protect himself and tell us to +whistle for the eighteen thousand dollars he owes us. Whichever way the +cat jumps he wins. What I want to do is break even and with a modicum of +my self-respect left intact." + +"He'll promptly file a bond to lift the attachment--" + +"Will he? Who in this city will go on his bond? Who does he know?" + +"There are bonding companies in business, and for a cash +consideration--" + +"Rot! They will investigate and ponder before granting his application +for a bond. It takes a day or two to get a bond through a bonding house, +and all I want to do is to tie Matt up for a day. Now, listen! You see +to it that the suit is filed and an attachment levied on Matt Peasley's +bank account in the Marine National. That's where he keeps his little +wad, because I took him over and introduced him there myself. Well, sir, +in the meantime I'll call up Matt and precipitate a devil of a row with +him over the phone. I'll tell him I've made up my mind to fight him to +the last ditch and that those libels will not be lifted until he lifts +them himself. Of course, he'll figure right away that he won't need a +certified check to-day, and maybe he'll neglect to provide himself +with one; or he may be chump enough to figure we'll take his check +uncertified, and if he does that will teach him something." + +"Well, I'm betting he'll not be caught napping," Mr. Skinner declared, +"and if you want my opinion of this new proceeding I will state frankly +that I am not in favor of it. It savors too much of assination. Of +course, you may do it and get away with it--" + +"Pooh!" snorted Cappy. "Forget it. At ten minutes of three this +afternoon the libel on the Tillicum will be lifted, and Matt Peasley +will be paid in cash the sum he advanced his crew for wages. That will +block him from slapping any more libels on her and holding us up. +Then we'll make formal, written demand upon him for eighteen thousand +dollars; he won't have it where he can lay his hands on it, and he'll be +up Salt Creek without a paddle." + +"I am not in favor of it," Mr. Skinner reiterated firmly. + +"Neither am I, Skinner, but I've got to do something. Can't let that +young pup cover me with blood. No, sir, not at my age, Skinner. I can't +afford to be laughed off California Street. And by the way, since when +did you become a champion of Matt Peasley?" + +Mr. Skinner did not answer. + +"Since when?" Cappy repeated. + +"Since he administered such a thorough thrashing to the Blue Star +Navigation Company," Mr. Skinner answered, "and did it without +prejudice. He swatted us, and we deserved it, but he didn't get angry. +Every time he banged us, he'd look at me as much as to say: 'I hate to +swat you two, but it's got to be done.' Bang! 'This hurts me more than +it does you.' Biff! And then he went out smiling. I used to think he was +an--an--interloper, I thought he had designs on the Blue Star Navigation +Company and the Ricks Lumber and Logging Company, but he hasn't. He +doesn't give a hoot for anything or anybody except for what he can be +to them; not for what they can be to him. He's brainy and spunky and, +by thunder, I'm for him, and if you're going to hand him a clout when he +isn't looking you'll have to do it yourself." + +"Skinner," said Cappy Ricks impressively. "Look me square in the eye. Do +you refuse orders?" + +"I do, sir," Skinner replied, and looked Cappy in the eye so fiercely +that the old schemer quailed. "This is an unworthy business, Mr. Ricks. +You're trying to teach Matt Peasley some business tricks, and he's +taught you a few, so be a sport, sir, and pay for your education." + +"All right," Cappy replied meekly. "When my own general manager goes +back on me, I suppose there's nothing to do but quit. The program +appears to be impracticable, so we'll say no more about it." + +"I am glad to hear you say that, Mr. Ricks," Skinner answered feelingly, +and forthwith repaired to his own office. + +Cappy Ricks gazed after him almost affectionately, and as the door +closed behind the general manager, Cappy murmured sotto voce: + +"Skinner, I've been twenty-five years wondering why the devil I liked +you, and now I know. Why, you cold-blooded, efficient, human automaton, +you've actually got a heart! Bow! wow! Faithful Fido Skinner was just +a-tugging at the chain and dragging the dog house after him in his +efforts to eat me up! I hope I go bankrupt if I don't raise his salary!" + +He turned to a pigeonhole in his desk and drew forth the charter he had +negotiated months before with Matt Peasley for the Tillicum. He read it +over carefully, tucked it in his breast pocket and slipped quietly out +the door. One hour later a suit against the Pacific Shipping Company +was filed in the county clerk's office, and at five minutes after ten +a deputy-sheriff appeared at the paying-teller's window in the Marine +National Bank and filed a writ of attachment on the funds to their +credit. + + + +CHAPTER XLIV. SKINNER DEVELOPS INTO A HUMAN BEING + + +Cappy Ricks was having his mid-afternoon siesta in his office when +Captain Matt Peasley appeared at the counter of the general office and, +without awaiting an invitation to enter, swung through the office gate +and made straight for Cappy's office. En route he had to pass through +Mr. Skinner's lair, and the general manager looked up as Matt entered. + +"Well, Captain," he said pleasantly, "how goes it?" + +"Fine," Matt answered with equal urbanity. "That was a slick piece of +work tying up my bank account. I can't get a bond to-day, the bank +is closed, and I suppose you're going to insist upon payment of that +eighteen thousand dollars before midnight to-night or take the Tillicum +and her cargo away from me." + +Mr. Skinner started in genuine amazement. + +"Attached your bank account, Matt? I give you my word of honor I had +nothing to do with it." + +"Well, it's tied up by the Blue Star Navigation Company, and Cappy Ricks +has served notice on me to call here and pay up or suffer cancellation +of my charter. Of course, for all the good my bank account is to me this +minute he might as well ask me to give him the moon." + +"I'm truly sorry," said Skinner. "I protested to Mr. Ricks against this +action. I assure you I would not have taken such a course myself--under +the circumstances." + +"Cappy wants cash or a certified check," Matt complained, "and he's made +it impossible for me to go to my bank and get either--to-day. What am I +going to do?" + +"I'm afraid you're going to lose the Tillicum and her cargo. The Blue +Star Navigation Company will doubtless collect the freight on that +northbound cargo. Besides, Mr. Ricks has some business offered for the +Tillicum and wants her back--" + +"But I was going to give her back to him as soon as I discharged her +cargo. Now, just for that he'll not get her back. I'll keep her the full +year." + +"But how?" Mr. Skinner queried kindly. + +"By paying the Blue Star Navigation Company eighteen thousand dollars in +good old U. S. yellow-backs." Matt laughed and drew from his hip pocket +a roll that would have choked a hippopotamus. "Skinner, this is so rich +I'll have to tell you about it, and then if you're good I'll let you be +present when I put the crusher on Cappy. His plan was without a flaw. He +had me right where he wanted me--only something slipped." + +"What?" Mr. Skinner demanded breathlessly. + +"Why, as soon as my account was attached, the bank called me up and told +me about it. I was just about to start for the bank to make a deposit +of all that freight money I had collected in Panama--about twenty-four +thousand dollars, more or less--the Panama Railroad gave it to me in a +lump--exchange on San Francisco, you know--" + +"So you cashed that draft at the bank upon which it was drawn--" + +"And I'm here with the cash to smother Cappy Ricks! I'll cover him with +confusion, the old villain! Skinner, I give you my word, if he hadn't +tried to slip one over on me I would never have stuck him with all those +bills Morrow & Company didn't pay, but now that he's gone and attached +my bank account--" + +Mr. Skinner rose and took Matt Peasley by the arm. + +"Matt," he said in the friendliest fashion imaginable. "You and I have +clashed since the first day I learned of your existence, but we're not +going to clash any more." He pointed to the door leading to Cappy Ricks' +office. "One of these days, Matt, whether you want to or not, you're +going to be occupying that office and giving orders to me, and when you +do I want to tell you here and now I shall accord you the same measure +of respect I now accord Mr. Ricks. I've worked twenty-five years for Mr. +Ricks. I--I'm--absurdly fond of him, for all his er--er--" + +"Why, so am I, Skinner. I'd do anything to please him--" + +"Then do it," Skinner pleaded. "Give him a cheap victory. He's an old +man and he'll enjoy it. He didn't sleep a wink last night, just scheming +a way to get a strangle hold on you--it's hard for the old to give way +to the young, you know--and now he's inside there, just hungering for +you to arrive so he can jeer at you and lecture you and make fun of you. +He doesn't want your money. Why, he loves you as if you were his own +boy--" + +"But how can I let him get away with this deal?" Matt queried soberly. + +"By rushing in on him now and simulating a terrific rage. Just imagine +you're on the bridge of a steamer making up to a dock against a strong +flood tide, with stupid mates fore and aft, and rotten lines that won't +hold when you get them over the dolphins, and the tide has grabbed you +and slammed you into the dock and done five hundred dollars' worth of +damage--just feel like that, Matt--" + +"If I do I'll cuss something scandalous," Matt warned him. + +"The harder the better." + +"And I'm to keep this money in my pocket, and let him cancel my charter, +and take that northbound cargo away from me, and collect the freight on +me--" + +"Exactly that! He'll withdraw his suit against you to-morrow and release +your bank account, and then you decline to pay him the eighteen thousand +dollars you owe him until he gives an accounting of the freight money +he's collected. He'll tell you to go to Halifax, but you mustn't mind. +It's going to make him as happy as a fool to think he beat you in the +end." + +A slow smile spread over Matt's face. + +"Skinner," he said. "You're a good old wagon, that's what you are. I'm +sorry we ever had any mix-up, and we'll never have another--after this +one--and this is going to be a fake. You see, Skinner, if we're going +to put one over on Cappy let's have it one worth while--so this is the +program. I've just arrived, with blood in my eye, to clean out the Blue +Star office, and I'm starting in with the general manager. Clinch +me now, and we'll wrestle all over the office and bang against the +furniture and that door there--" + +As Cappy Ricks was wont to remark, Mr. Skinner could "get" one before +one could "get" one's self. + +"Get out of my office, you infernal rowdy," he yelled loud enough to +awaken Cappy Ricks next door. Then he clinched with Matt Peasley. + +"A good fight," said Cappy Ricks half an hour after Matt Peasley had +been pried away from Mr. Skinner and forced to listen to reason, "is the +grandest thing in life. Now there's that crazy boy gone out in a rage +just because he had the presumption to tangle with me in a business deal +and get dog-gone well licked! He put it all over me yesterday, thinking +I couldn't protect myself. Well, he knows better now, Skinner; he knows +better now! In-fer-nal young scoundrel! Wow, but wasn't he a wild man, +Skinner? Wasn't he though?" And Cappy Ricks chuckled. + +"You have probably cured him of sucking eggs," Mr. Skinner observed +enigmatically. + +"Well, I handed the young pup a dose of cayenne pepper, at any rate," +Cappy bragged, "and I wouldn't have missed doing it for a cool hundred +thousand. Why, Skinner, a man might as well retire from business when he +gets so weak and feeble and soft-headed he doesn't know how to protect +himself in the clinches and break-aways." + +Mr. Skinner smiled. "The old dog for the cold scent," he suggested. + +"You bet," Cappy cackled triumphantly. "Skinner, my dear boy, what are +we paying you?" + +"Ten thousand a year, sir." + +"Not enough money. Hereafter pay yourself twelve thousand. Tut, tut. Not +a peep out of you, sir, not a peep. If you do, Skinner, you'll spoil the +happiest day I've known in twenty years." + + + +CHAPTER XLV. CAPPY PULLS OFF A WEDDING + + +About a week later, Captain Matt Peasley was studying the weather chart +at the Merchants' Exchange when he heard behind him a propitiatory +"Ahem! Hum-m-m! Harump-h-h-h!"--infallible evidence that Cappy Ricks was +in the immediate offing, yearning for Matt to turn round in order that +he might hail the boy and thus re-establish diplomatic relations. Matt, +however, elected to be perverse and pay no attention to Cappy; instead, +he moved closer to the chart and affected greater interest in it. + +"Hello, you big, sulky boob!" Cappy snapped presently, unable to stand +the silence any longer. "Come away from that weather chart. It's blowing +a fifty-mile nor'west gale off Point Reyes, and that's all any shipping +man cares to know to-day. You haven't got any ships at sea!" + +"No; but you have, sir," Matt replied, unable longer to simulate +indifference to Cappy's presence. "The Tillicum is bucking into that +gale this minute, wasting fuel oil and making about four miles an hour. +I'm glad you're paying for the oil. Where are you loading her?" + +"At Hinch's Mill, in Aberdeen, Grays Harbor; discharge at Honolulu and +back with sugar." Cappy came close to Matt and drew the latter's great +arm through his. "Say, Matt," he queried plaintively, "are you still mad +over that walloping I gave you?" + +"Well-l, no. I think I've recovered. And I'm not willing to admit I was +walloped. The best you got out of our little mix-up with the Tillicum +was a lucky draw." + +"I'm still out a lot of money," Cappy admitted. "You owe me eighteen +thousand dollars on that charter I canceled on you, Matt, and you ought +to pay it. Really, you ought." + +"That being tantamount to an admission on your part you cannot go into +court with clean hands and force me to pay it," Matt flashed back at +him, "I'll make you a proposition: You render me an accounting of the +freight you collected on the cargo you stole from me, and I'll render +you an accounting for the freight on the cargo I stole from you; then +we'll get an insurance adjuster in and let him figure out, by general +average, how much I would owe you if I had a conscience; then I'll give +you my note, due in one year, at six per cent. for whatever the amount +may be." + +"Why not give me the cash?" Cappy pleaded. "You've got the money in +bank." + +"I know; but I want to use it for a year." + +"Your note's no good to me," Cappy protested. "I told you once before it +wasn't hockable at any bank." + +"Then I'll withdraw my proposition." + +"And present a substitute?" + +"No, sir." + +"I guess I'll take your note," Cappy said eagerly. + +"I thank you for the compliment," Matt laughed; and Cappy, no +longer able to dissemble, laughed with him--and their feud was over. +Consequently, post-mortems being in order, Matt went on: "I feel pretty +sneaky about sticking you with all those bills on the Tillicum that +Morrow & Company defaulted on, just because the law enabled me to do +so--but you did your best to ruin me; you wouldn't have showed me any +pity or consideration." + +"Not a dog-goned bit!" Cappy declared firmly. "I was out to bust you +wide open for the good of your immortal soul. I would have taken your +roll away from you, my son, by fair means--or--er--legal, if I could." +He looked up at Matt, with such a smile as he might have applied to a +lovable and well-beloved son. "I hope you've got sporting blood enough +in you to realize I didn't really want your little bank roll, Matt," he +said half pleadingly. "I don't know just why I did it--except that +I'm an old man and I know it; and I hate to be out of the running. +I suppose, just because I'm old, I wanted to take a fall out of +you--you're so young; and--oh, Matt, you do make a scrap so worth while! + +"And, because I've lived longer in this world and fought harder for what +I've got than you'll ever have to fight, I wanted to put about six feet +of hot iron into your soul. You're a little bit too cocksure, Matt. I +tell you it's a mistake to hold your business competitor cheap. I want +you to know that the fine gentleman who plays cribbage with you at your +club to-night will lift the hair off your head down here on the Street +to-morrow, because that's the game; and nobody shakes hands with you +before giving you the poke that puts you to sleep. There are a lot of +old men out in the almshouse just because they trusted too much in +human nature; and I wanted to show you how hard and cruel men can be and +excuse their piracy on the plea that it is business! I tell you, Matt +Peasley, when you've lived as long as I have you'll know men for the +swine they are whenever they see some real money in sight." + +"Well, I shouldn't be surprised if you got the lesson over after all," +Matt replied gravely. "You certainly made me step lively to keep from +getting run over. You scared me out of a year's growth." + +Cappy laughed contentedly. + +"And what are you going to do with all this money you admit you owe me +and decline to let me see the color of for a year?" + +"Do you really want to know?" Matt queried. + +"I'll take you to luncheon up at the Commercial Club if you'll tell me." + +Matt bent low and whispered in Cappy's ear: + +"I'm going to marry your daughter. I'll have to furnish a home and--" + +"No excuse!" said Cappy fiercely. "Son, all you've got to buy is the +wedding ring and the license, and some clothes. I'm stuck for the +wedding expenses and you don't have to furnish a home. My house is big +enough for three, isn't it?" + +"But this thing of living with your wife's relations--" Matt began +mischievously, until he saw the pain and the loneliness in Cappy's kind +old eyes. "Oh, well," he hastened to add, "pull it off to suit yourself; +but don't waste any time." + +"In-fer-nal young scoundrel!" Cappy cried happily. "We've waited too +long already." + +Florry was a June bride, and the proudest and happiest man present, not +excepting the groom, was old Cappy Ricks. He looked fully two inches +taller as he walked up the church aisle, with Florry on his arm, and +handed her over to Matt Peasley, waiting at the altar. And when the +ceremony was over, and Matt had entered the waiting limousine with his +bride, Cappy Ricks stood on the church steps among a dozen of his young +friends from the wholesale lumber and shipping trade and made a brief +oration. + +"Take a good look at him, boys," he said proudly. "You fresh young +fellows will have to tangle with him one of these bright days; and when +you do he'll make hell look like a summer holiday to you. See if he +doesn't!" + +Later, when Matt and Florry, about to leave on their honeymoon, were +saying good-bye, Matt put his huge arm round Cappy and gave him a filial +hug. Cappy's eyes filled with tears. + +"I guess we understand each other, sonny," he said haltingly. "I've +wanted a son like you, Matt. Had a boy once--little chap--just seven +when he died--might have been big like you. I was the runt of the Ricks' +tribe, you know--all the other boys over six feet--and his mother's +people--same stock. I--I--" + +Matt patted his shoulder. Truly he understood. + + + +CHAPTER XLVI. A SHIP FORGOTTEN + + +The Blue Star Navigation Company's big steam schooner Amelia Ricks, +northbound to load lumber at Aberdeen in command of a skipper who +revered his berth to such an extent that he thought only of pleasing Mr. +Skinner by making fast time, thus failing to take into consideration a +two-mile current setting shoreward, had come to grief. Her skipper had +cut a corner once too often and started overland with her right across +the toe of Point Gorda. Her wireless brought two tugs hastening up from +San Francisco; but, before they could haul her off at high tide, the +jagged reef had chewed her bottom to rags, and in a submerged condition +she was towed back to port and kicked into the dry dock at Hunters +Point. + +Cappy Ricks, feverishly excited over the affair, was very anxious to +get a report on the condition of the vessel as soon as possible. He had +planned to hire a launch and proceed to Hunters Point for a personal +appraisal of the damage to the Amelia Ricks, but the northwest trades +were blowing half a gale that day and had kicked up just sufficient sea +to warn Cappy that seasickness would be his portion if he essayed to +brave it in a launch. It occurred to him, therefore, to stay in the +office and send somebody in whose knowledge of ships he had profound +confidence. He got Matt Peasley on the phone at once. + +"Matt," he said plaintively. "I want you to do the old man a favor, if +you will. You heard about our Amelia Ricks, didn't you? Well, she's in +dry dock at Hunters Point now, and they'll have the dock pumped out in +two hours so we can see what her bottom looks like. I know she's ripped +out clear up to the garboards and probably hogged, and I can hardly wait +to make sure. The marine surveyor for the Underwriters will go down this +afternoon to look her over, and then he'll take a day to present his +long, typewritten report--and I can't wait that long. Will you skip down +to Crowley's boathouse, hire a launch and charge it to us, and go down +to see the Amelia? She'll be shored up by the time you get down there. +Make a good quick examination of the damage and hurry back so I can talk +it over with you. I go a heap on your judgment, Matt." + +"I'll start right away, sir," Matt promised, glad of any opportunity to +favor Cappy. + +Two hours later, on his way back to the Mission Street bulkhead, he +passed, in Mission Bay, a huge, rusty red box of a steel freighter, +swinging at anchor. Under ordinary weather conditions Matt would have +paid no attention to her; but, as has already been stated, the northwest +trades were blowing a gale and had kicked up a sea; hence the steamer +was rolling freely at her anchorage, and as the launch bobbed by to +windward of her she rolled far over to leeward--and Matt saw something +that challenged his immediate attention and provoked his profound +disgust. The sides of the vessel below the water line were incrusted +with barnacles and eelgrass fully six inches thick! + +No skipper that ever set foot on a bridge could pass that scaly hulk +unmoved. Matt Peasley said uncomplimentary things about the owners of +the vessel and directed the launchman to pass in under her stern, in +order that he might read her name. She proved to be the Narcissus, of +London. + +He stood in the stern of the launch, staring thoughtfully after +the Narcissus, and before his mind there floated that vision of the +barnacles and eelgrass, infallible evidence that the years had been long +since the Narcissus had been hauled out. + +"Do you know how long that steamer has lain there?" he queried of the +launchman. + +"I been runnin' launches to and from Hunters Point for seven years an' +she was there when I come on the job," the latter answered. + +"It's no place for a good ship," Matt Peasley murmured musingly. "She +ought to be out on the dark blue, loaded and earning good money for her +owners. I must find out why she isn't doing it." + +Having rendered a meticulous report to Cappy on the condition of the +Amelia Ricks, Matt, his brain still filled with thoughts of that lonely +big steamer swinging neglected in Mission Bay among the rotting oyster +boats and old clipper ships waiting to be converted into coal hulks, +proceeded to the Merchants' Exchange where Lloyds' Register soon put him +in possession of the following information: + +The steamer Narcissus had been built in Glasgow in 1894 by Sutherland +& Sons, Limited. She was four hundred and fifty-five feet +long, fifty-eight feet beam and thirty-one feet draft. She had +triple-expansion engines of two thousand indicated horse power, two +Scotch boilers, and was of seventy-five hundred tons net register. + +"Huh!" Matt murmured. "She'll carry forty per cent. more than her +registered tonnage; if I had the loading of her she'd carry fifty per +cent. more, at certain seasons of the year. I wonder why her owners +have let her lie idle for eight years? I'll have to ask Jerry Dooley. He +knows everything about ships that a landsman can possibly know." + +Jerry Dooley had presided over the desk at the Merchants' Exchange for +so many years that there was a rumor current to the effect that he had +been there in the days when the water used to come up to Montgomery +Street. Before Jerry's desk the skippers of all nations came and went; +to him there drifted inevitably all of the little, intimate gossip of +the shipping world. If somebody built a ship and she had trouble with +her oil burners on the trial trip, Jerry Dooley would know all about it +before that vessel got back to her dock again. If somebody else's ship +was a wet boat, Jerry knew of it, and could, moreover, give one the name +of the naval architect responsible; if a vessel had been hogged on a +reef, Jerry could tell you the name of the reef, the date of the wreck, +the location of the hog, and all about the trouble they had keeping her +cargo dry as a result. To this human encyclopedia, therefore, did Matt +Peasley come in his still-hunt for information touching the steamer +Narcissus. + +He opened negotiations by handing Jerry Dooley a good cigar. Jerry +examined it, saw that it was a good cigar, and said: "I don't smoke +myself, but I have a brother that does." He fixed Matt Peasley with an +alert, inquisitive eye and said: "Well, what do you know, Captain?" + +"Nothing much. What do you know about the steamer Narcissus?" + +Jerry Dooley scratched his red head. + +"Narcissus!" he murmured. "Narcissus! By George, it's a long time +since I heard of her. Has she just come into port?" And he glanced +apprehensively at the register of arrivals and departures, wondering if +he hadn't overlooked the Narcissus. + +"She's been in port eight years at least," Matt answered; "tucked away +down in Mission Bay, with a watchman aboard." + +"Oh, I remember now," Jerry replied. "She belongs to the Oriental +Steamship Company. Old man Webb, of the Oriental Company, got all worked +up about the possibilities of the Oriental trade right after the Spanish +War. He had a lot of old bottoms running in the combined freight and +passenger trade and not making expenses when the war came along, and the +Government grabbed all his boats for transports to rush troops over +to the Philippines. That was fine business for quite a while and the +Oriental got out of the hole and made a lot of money besides. About that +time Old Webb saw a vision of huge Oriental trade for the man who would +go after it, and in his excitement he purchased the Narcissus. She +carried horses down to the Philippines, and to China during the Boxer +uprising; and when that business was over, and while old Webb was +waiting for the expected boom in trade to the Orient, he got a lumber +charter for her from Puget Sound to Australia. But she was never built +for a lumber boat, though she carried six million five hundred thousand +feet; she was so big and it took so long to load and discharge her that +she lost twenty-five thousand dollars on the voyage. Run her in the +lumber trade and the demurrage would break a national bank. + +"Well, sir, after that lumber charter, old man Webb had a fit. He tried +her out on a few grain charters, but she didn't make any money to speak +of; and about that time the P. & S. W., with a view to grabbing some +Oriental freight for their road, got the control of the steamship +company away from Webb. The Oriental trade boom never developed, and the +regular steamers, carrying freight and passengers, were ample to cope +with what business the company was offered; so they didn't need the +Narcissus. + +"As I remember it, she was expensive to operate. She had a punk pair of +boilers or she needed another boiler--or something; at any rate, she was +a hog on coal, and they laid her up until such time as they could find +use for her. I suppose after she was laid up a few years the thought of +all the money it would cost to put her in commission again discouraged +them--and she's been down in Mission Bay ever since." + +"But the Canal will soon be open," Matt suggested. "One would suppose +they'd put her in commission and find business for her between Pacific +and Atlantic coast ports." + +"You forget she's a foreign-built vessel and hence cannot run between +American ports." + +"She can run between North and South American ports," Matt replied +doggedly. "I bet if I owned her I'd dig up enough business in Brazil +and the Argentine to keep her busy. I'd be dodging backward and forward +through the Canal." + +"You would, of course," Jerry answered placidly; "but the Oriental +Steamship Company cannot." + +"Why?" + +"Fifty-one per cent. of their stock is owned by a railroad--and under +the law no railroad-owned ship may use the Canal." + +Matt's eyebrows arched. + +"Ah!" he murmured. "Then that's one of the reasons why she's a white +elephant on their hands." + +"Got a customer for her?" Jerry queried shrewdly. "A fellow ought to be +able to pick the Narcissus up rather cheap." + +Matt shook his head negatively. + +"Happened to pass her in a launch a couple of hours ago, and the sight +of the barnacles on her bottom just naturally graveled me and roused my +curiosity. Much obliged for your information." And Matt excused himself +and strolled over to the counter of the Hydro-graphic Office to look +over the recent bulletins to masters. + +The information that the whistling buoy off Duxbury Reef had gone adrift +and that Blunt's Reef Lightship would be withdrawn for fifteen days for +repairs and docking interested him but little, however. In his mind's +eye there loomed the picture of that great red freighter, with her foul +bottom, rusty funnel and unpainted, weather-beaten upper works. + +"Her bridge is pretty well exposed to the weather," he murmured. "I'd +build it up so the man on watch could just look over it. I noticed +they'd had the good sense to house over her winches, so I dare say +they're in good shape; her paint will have prevented rust below the +water line, and I'll bet she's as sound as the day she was built. I +think I'd paint her dead black, with red underbody and terra-cotta upper +works." He pondered. "Yes, and I'd paint her funnel dead black, too, +with a broad red band; and on both sides of the funnel, in the center of +this red band, I'd have a white diamond with a black P in the center +of it. By George, they'd know the Peasley Line as far as they could see +it!" + +He would have dreamed on had he not bethought himself suddenly of his +modest capital--fifty thousand-odd dollars, out of which he owed Cappy +Ricks a considerable sum on a promissory note due in one year. On such +a meager bank balance it would not do to dream of buying a vessel worth +nearly four hundred thousand dollars. Why, it would require twenty +thousand dollars to put her in commission after all these years of +idleness, and she had to have another boiler because she was a hog on +coal; and, in addition, her operating cost would be between nine and ten +thousand dollars a month. + +Matt shook his head and looked round the great room as though in search +of inspiration. He found it. His wandering glance finally came to rest +on Jerry Dooley's alert countenance. Jerry crooked a finger at him and +Matt strolled over to the desk. + +"I've been watching you milling the idea round in your head," said +Jerry. "I saw you reject it. You're crazy! It can be done." + +"How?" Matt queried eagerly. + +"Go get an option on her for the lowest price you can get--then form a +syndicate and sell her to them at a higher price; or, if you don't want +to do that, form your syndicate to buy her at the option price, and if +you work it right you can get the job of managing owner. I want to tell +you that two and one-half per cent. commission on her freight earnings +would make a nice income." + +"I wonder whom I could get into the syndicate?" Matt queried. + +Jerry scratched his head. + +"Well," he suggested, "you're mighty close to old Cappy Ricks. If you +could hook him for a piece of her, the rest would be easy. Any shipping +man on the Street will follow where Cappy Ricks leads. I'd try Pollard +& Reilly; Redell, of the West Coast Trading Company; Jack Haviland, +the ship chandler; Charley Beyers, the ship's grocer and butcher; A. B. +Cahill & Co., the coal dealers; Pete Hansen, of the Bulkhead Hotel down +on the Embarcadero--he's always got a couple of thousand dollars to +put into a clean-cut shipping enterprise. Then there's Rickey, the +ship-builder, and--yes, even Alcott, the crimp, will take a piece of +her. I'd look in on Louis Wiley, the chronometer man, and Cox, the +coppersmith--why I'd take in every firm and individual who might hope +to get business out of the ship; and, you bet, I'd sell 'em all a little +block of stock in the S. S. Narcissus Company." + +"It might be done," Matt answered evasively. "I'll think it over." + +He did think it over very seriously the greater portion of that night. +As a result, instead of going to his office next morning he went to +Mission Street bulkhead and engaged a launch, and forty minutes later, +in response to his hail, the aged watchman aboard the Narcissus came to +the rail and asked him what he wanted. + +"I want to come aboard!" Matt shouted. + +"Got a permit from the office?" + +"No." + +"Orders are to allow nobody aboard without a permit." + +"How do you like the color of this permit?" Matt called back, and waved +a greenback. + +The answer came in the shape of a Jacob's ladder promptly tossed +overside and Matt Peasley mounted the towering hulk of the Narcissus. + +"What do you want?" the watchman again demanded as he pouched the bill +Matt handed him. + +"I want to examine this vessel from bilge to truck," Matt answered. +"I'll begin with a look at the winches." + +As he had surmised, the winches had been housed over and fairly buried +in grease when the ship laid up; hence they were in absolutely perfect +condition. The engines, too, had received the best of care, as nearly +as Matt could judge from a cursory view. Her cargo space was littered +up with a number of grain chutes, which would have to come out; and +her boats, which had been stored in the empty hold aft, away from the +weather, were in tiptop shape. She had a spare anchor, plenty of chain, +wire cable and Manila lines, though these latter would doubtless have to +be renewed in their entirety, owing to deterioration from age. + +Her crew quarters were commodious and ample, and the officers' quarters +all that could be desired; her galley equipment was complete, even to +a small auxiliary ice plant. What she needed was cleaning, painting and +scraping, and lots of it, also the riggers would be a few days on her +standing rigging; but, so far as Matt could discern, that was all. From +the watchman he learned that one Terence Reardon had been her chief +engineer in the days when the Oriental Steamship Company first owned +her. + +From the Narcissus, Matt Peasley returned to the city and went at +once to the office of the Marine Engineers' Association, where he made +inquiry for Terence Reardon. It appeared that Terence was chief of the +Arab, loading grain at Port Costa; so to Port Costa Matt Peasley went +to interview him. He found Reardon on deck, enjoying a short pipe and a +breath of cool air, and introduced himself. + +"I understand you were the chief of the Narcissus at one time, Mr. +Reardon," Matt began abruptly. "I understand, also, that under your +coaxing you used to get ten miles out of her loaded." + +Parenthetically it may be stated that Matt Peasley had never heard +anything of the sort; but he knew the weaknesses of chief engineers and +decided to try a shot in the dark, hoping, by the grace of the devil and +the luck of a sailor, to score a bull's-eye. He succeeded at least in +ringing the bell. + +"Coax, is it?" murmured Terence Reardon in his deep Kerry brogue. +"Faith, thin, the Narcissus niver laid eye on the day she could do nine +an' a half wit' the kindliest av treatment. Wirrah, but 'tis herself was +the glutton for coal. Sure, whin I'd hand in me report to ould Webb, and +he'd see where she'd averaged forty ton a day, the big tears'd come into +the two eyes av him--the Lord ha' mercy on his sowl!" + +"You never had any trouble with her engines," Matt suggested. + +"I had throuble keepin' shteam enough in the b'ilers to run thim; but +I'll say this for her ingines: Give them a chancet an' they'd run like a +chronometer." + +"Would you consider an offer to leave the Arab and be chief of the +Narcissus?" Matt queried. "I'm thinking of buying her, and if I do +I'll give you twenty-five dollars a month above the regular Association +scale." + +"I'll go ye," murmured Reardon, "on wan condition: Ye'll shpend some +money in her ingine room, else 'tis no matther av use for ye to talk +to me. I'll not be afther breakin' me poor heart for the sake av +twenty-five dollars a month. Sure, 'twould be wort' that alone to see +the face av ye, young man, afther wan look at the coal bill." + +"What repairs would you suggest? Do you think she needs another boiler? +I noticed she has two. We could move those two over and make room for +another." + +"Do nothing av the sort, sir. Before ould Webb got her she'd been usin' +bad wather down on the East African Coast, I'm thinkin', and it raised +hell wit' her. 'Tis the expinse av retubin' her condensers that always +frightened ould Webb, and whin he lost conthrol the blatherskite booby +av a port ingineer the new owners app'inted come down to the ship, +looked her over, wit' niver a question to me that knew the very sowl +av her, and reported to the owners that what she needed was another +b'iler." And Terence Reardon laughed the short, mirthless chuckle of the +man who knows. + +"Then," Matt continued, "the money should be spent--" + +"In retubing her condensers," declared the engineer emphatically. "Do +that an' do a good job on her, an' she'll have shteam enough for thim +fine big ingines av hers on thirty-two ton a day, an' less. An' have a +care would ye buy her until she ships a new crank shaft. She's a crack +in the web av the afther crank shaft ye could shtick a knife blade into. +She may run for years, but sooner or later some wan'll have a salvage +claim agin ye if ye neglect it now. An', for the love av heaven, have +nothin' to do wit' her big motor. 'Twas bur-rnt out by him that had +her ahead av me--bad cess to him, whereiver he is! An' they did a poor, +cheap job av windin' the armature agin. Ye'll be in hot wather wit' the +electric-light system until ye put in a new motor. + +"The rheostat on the searchlight niver was any good; and she may or may +not need a new whistle--I dunno. Sure, the skipper niver blew it good +an' long but the wanst; an', so help me, young man, I was lookin' at the +shteam gauge whin he shtarted that prolonged blast--an' whin he finished +the gauge had dhropped tin pounds! So up I go on the bridge to the ould +man, an' says I to him, says I: 'Clear weather or thick fog, I'm tellin' +ye to lave that whistle alone if ye expect to finish the voyage. Wan +toot out av it means a ton av coal gone to hell an' a dhrop av blood out +av the owner's heart! An' from that time on the best I iver hearrd out +av that whistle was a sick sort av a sob." + +Matt laughed as Terence Reardon's natural propensity for romancing +came to the front. He thanked the chief for the latter's invaluable +information, and, with a mental resolve to have Terence Reardon +presiding over the engines of the Narcissus at no distant date, he +returned to the city. + + + +CHAPTER XLVII. THE TAIL GOES WITH THE HIDE + + +The following morning Matt called upon MacCandless, the general manager +of the Oriental Steamship Company. Mr. MacCandless was a cold individual +of Scotch ancestry, with a scent for a dollar a trifle keener than most; +and Matt Peasley, young and inexperienced in business fencing, was never +more aware of his deficiencies than when he faced MacCandless across +the latter's desk. Consequently, he resolved to waste no words in vain +parley. MacCandless was still looking curiously at Matt's card when the +latter said: + +"I called with reference to that big freighter of the Oriental Steamship +Company--the Narcissus. Is she for sale?" + +MacCandless smiled with his lips, but his eyes wore the eternal Show-me! +look. He nodded. + +"Foolish of me to ask, I know," Matt continued complacently, "since it +is a matter of common gossip that you would have been delighted to have +sold her any time these past eight years." + +Since MacCandless did not deny this Matt assumed that it was true and +returned to the attack with renewed vigor. + +"What do you want for her?" + +"Are you acting as a broker in this matter or do you represent +principals who have asked you to interview me? In other words, before +I talk business with you I want to know that you mean business. I shall +waste no time discussing a possible trade unless you assure me that you +have a customer in sight. I am weary of brokers. I've had forty of them +after that vessel from time to time, but no business ever resulted." + +"Which is not at all surprising, considering the circumstances," Matt +retorted. "If you cannot use her yourself you mustn't expect other +people to be over-enthusiastic about owning her. However, I think I +can find business for her, and I've come to buy her myself. You seem to +think a lot of your time, so I'll conserve it for you. I'm the principal +in this deal, and if you really want to get rid of her we'll do business +in two minutes." + +"Three hundred thousand dollars," MacCandless answered promptly. + +"Listen," said Matt Peasley. "I have fifty thousand dollars of my own +in bank this minute, but I will have to raise two hundred and fifty +thousand more before I can afford to buy your vessel, even if we agree +on that price, which does not seem probable. I'll give you two hundred +and fifty thousand dollars for the steamer Narcissus; but when you turn +her over to me I want a ship, not a piece of floating junk. You'll +have to ship a new crank shaft, rewind the main motor, renew the Manila +lines, overhaul the standing rigging, retube the condensers and dock her +before handing her over to me. She's as foul as any hulk in Rotten Row." + +"Why, that will cost in the neighborhood of forty thousand +dollars--nearer fifty!" MacCandless declared. + +"I know. But for three hundred thousand dollars I can go to Sweden, +build a smaller vessel than the Narcissus, have her right up to date, +with two-thousand-horsepower oil-burning motors in her; and the saving +in space due to motor installation, with oil tanks instead of coal +bunkers, will enable me to carry fully as much cargo as the Narcissus. +Also, I'll burn six tons of crude oil a day to your forty tons of coal a +day in the Narcissus. I'll employ eight men less in my crew, and have a +cleaner, faster and better ship. The motor ship is the freighter of the +future, and you know it. Your Narcissus is out of date, and I'm only +offering you two hundred and fifty thousand dollars because I can use +her right away." + +"Young man," said MacCandless, "you talk like a person that means +business, but you overlook the fact that this company is neither +bankrupt nor silly. The directors will, I feel assured, agree to do all +the work you specify, but the price must be three hundred thousand. That +will leave us two hundred and fifty thousand dollars net." + +"I'll split the difference with you." + +MacCandless shook his head. + +"Well, that ends our argument," Matt answered pleasantly, and took up +his hat. "You can keep your big white elephant another eight years, Mr. +MacCandless. Perhaps some principal will come along then and make you +another offer; and in the interim you can charge off about one hundred +and fifty thousand dollars interest on the money tied up in the +Narcissus. Fine business--I don't think!" He nodded farewell and started +for the door. + +"But you say you have but fifty thousand dollars," MacCandless +protested. + +"I said I'd have to get two hundred and fifty thousand dollars more. +Well, I'll do it." + +"Quite a sum to raise these days," MacCandless remarked doubtfully. + +"Well, if you'll give me a sixty-day option on the Narcissus at two +hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars and agree to do the repairs +on her, including dry-docking, cleaning and painting her up to the water +line, I'll take a ten-thousand-dollar chance, Mr. MacCandless, that I +can raise the money." + +"Do you mean you'll give the Oriental Steamship Company ten thousand +dollars for a sixty-day option?" + +"I do; and I'll pay for the vessel as I raise the remainder of the +money. Ten thousand dollars down for the option, to apply on the +purchase price, of course, if the deal goes through, and to be forfeited +to you if I fail to make the next payment on time." + +"What will the next payment be?" the cautious MacCandless demanded. + +"Twenty thousand dollars a month, with interest at six per cent. in +deferred payments. You might as well be earning six per cent. on her as +have her rusting holes in her bottom down there in Mission Bay. As she +lies, you're losing at least six per cent. interest on her." + +"There's reason in that," MacCandless answered thoughtfully. "You to +insure the vessel as our interest may appear, bill of sale in escrow; +and if you default for more than thirty days on any payment before we +have received fifty per cent. of the purchase price you lose out and we +get our ship back." + +"Sharp business, but I'll take it, Mr. MacCandless. After I've paid half +the money I can mortgage her for the remainder and get out from under +your clutches. Put the buck up to your directors, get their approval to +the option and contract of sale, notify me, and I'll be right up with +a certified check for ten thousand dollars." And, without giving +MacCandless time to answer, Matt took his departure. + +"If I talked ten minutes with that man," he soliloquized, "he'd have +the number of my mess. He'd realize what a piker I was and terminate the +interview. But--I--think he'll meet my terms, because he sees I'm +pretty young and inexperienced, and he figures he'll make ten or twenty +thousand dollars out of me before I discover I'm a rotten promoter. And, +at that, his is better than an even-money bet!" + +At five o'clock that same day MacCandless telephoned. + +"I have called a special meeting of our directors, Captain Peasley," he +announced, "and put your proposition up to them. They have agreed to it, +and if you will be at my office at ten o'clock to-morrow I think we can +do business." + +"I think so," Matt answered. "I'll be there." + +He hung up, reached for a telegraph blank and wrote the following +message: + + San Francisco, July 28, 1914. + + Terence Reardon, + Chief Engineer, S. S. Arab, + Port Costa, California. + + Have bought Narcissus. Offer you one hundred seventy-five a + month quit Arab now and supervise installation new crank shaft, + retubing condensers, and so on; permanent job as chief. Do you + accept? Answer immediately. + + PACIFIC SHIPPING COMPANY, + Matthew Peasley, President. + +Having dispatched this message, Matt Peasley closed down his desk, +strolled round to the Blue Star Navigation Company's offices, and +picked up his newly acquired father-in-law. On their way home in Cappy's +carriage the old gentleman, apropos of the afternoon press dispatches +from Europe, remarked that the situation abroad was anything but +encouraging. + +"Do you think we'll have a war in Europe?" Matt queried. + +"Germany seems determined to back up Austria in her demands on Serbia, +and I don't think Serbia will eat quite all of the dish of dirt Francis +Joseph has set before her," Cappy answered seriously. "Austria seems +determined to make an issue of the assassination of the Archduke +Ferdinand and his wife. If she does, Matt, there'll be the most awful +war in history. All Europe will be fighting." + +Matt was silent and thoughtful all the way home, but just before they +left the carriage he turned to Cappy. + +"If there's war," he remarked, "England will, doubtless, control the +seas because of her superior navy. German commerce will absolutely +cease." + +"The submarine will have to be reckoned with, also," Cappy suggested. +"England's commerce will doubtless be knocked into a cocked hat." + +"There'll be a shortage of bottoms, and vessels will be in brisk +demand," Matt predicted. "There'll be a sharp rise in freight rates on +all commodities the instant war breaks out, and the American mercantile +marine ought to reap a harvest." + +"My dear boy," said Cappy acidly, "why speak of the American mercantile +marine? There ain't no such animal." + +"There will be--if the war in Europe ever starts," Matt retorted; "and, +what's more, I'm going to bet there will be war within thirty days." + +He did not consider it advisable to mention to Cappy that he was going +to bet ten thousand dollars! + + + +CHAPTER XLVIII. VICTORY + + +At ten o'clock the following morning Matt Peasley, accompanied by an +attorney, an expert in maritime law, presented himself at the Oriental +Steamship Company's office. MacCandless and the attorney for his company +were awaiting them, with a tentative form of contract of sale already +drawn up, and after a two-hour discussion on various points the finished +document was finally presented for the signatures of both parties, but +not, however, until Matt Peasley had been forced to do something that +brought out a gentle perspiration on the backs of his sturdy legs. +Before the shrewd MacCandless would consent to begin the work of placing +the vessel in commission, according to agreement, he stipulated a +payment of twenty-five thousand dollars down! He estimated the cost of +the docking and repair work at fifty thousand dollars, and, desiring to +play safe, insisted that Matt Peasley should advance at least fifty per +cent. of this preliminary outlay in cash. + +Matt thereupon excused himself from the conference on the plea that he +had to consult with others before taking this step. He was gone about +fifteen minutes, during which time he consulted with the "others." +They happened to be two newsboys selling rival afternoon editions. +Matt Peasley did business with each, and after a quick perusal of both +papers, he decided that war was inevitable and resolved to take +the plunge. In no sense of the word, however, did he believe he was +gambling. His conversation with Terence Reardon had convinced him that +the Narcissus was a misunderstood ship--that she had been poorly managed +and was the victim of a false financial policy. + +Hence, even though the war should not materialize, he would be making no +mistake in tying her up. She was a bully gamble and a wonderful bargain +at the price; with Terence Reardon presiding over her engines at a +salary twenty-five dollars in excess of the union scale, the orders to +keep her out of the shop would be followed, so far as lay in Terence's +power. Even should he not succeed in financing the enterprise Cappy +Ricks would be glad to take his bargain off his hands--perhaps at a neat +profit. Consequently, Matt went over to his bank, procured an +additional certified check for fifteen thousand dollars and returned to +MacCandless' office, where he signed the contract of sale and paid over +his twenty-five thousand dollars. He trembled a little as he did it. + +"I'll have the insurance on her placed this afternoon," MacCandless +suggested as he handed Matt his copy of the sale contract; whereat the +latter came to life with galvanic suddenness. + +"Oh, no, you'll not, Mr. MacCandless," he suggested smilingly. "I'll +place that insurance myself. My company has to pay for it, so I'll +act as agent and collect my little old ten per cent. commission. But, +passing that, do you want to know the latest--the very latest news?" + +"I don't mind," MacCandless replied. + +"Well, there's going to be a devil of big war in Europe and I wouldn't +take four hundred thousand dollars for the Narcissus this minute. May +I use your telephone? Thanks!" He called up his office. "Is there +a telegram there for me?" he queried, and on being answered in the +affirmative he directed his stenographer to read it to him. He turned to +MacCandless. + +"Mr. Terence Reardon will have entire charge of the work of retubing +those condensers, and so on," he explained. "I'll give him a letter to +you, which will be his authority to superintend the job. I'm going to +New York tonight, but I think I'll be back in time to accept the vessel +when she's ready for commission." He looked at his watch. It was just +twelve-thirty o'clock. "The Overland leaves at two-thirty," he murmured. +"I'll have just time to pack a suit case." And he picked up his hat and +fled with the celerity and singleness of purpose of a tin-canned dog. + +Cappy Ricks woke from his mid-afternoon doze to find his son-in-law +shaking him by the shoulder. + +"Well, young man," Cappy began severely, "so you're back, are you? Give +an account of yourself. Where the devil have you been for the past two +weeks? Why did you go, and why did you have the consummate nerve to +leave Florry behind you? Why, you hadn't been married two months--" + +"I couldn't take her with me, sir," Matt protested. "I wanted to, but +she would have been in the way. You see, I knew I was going to be busy +night and day." + +Cappy Ricks slid out to the edge of his swivel chair; with a hand +on each knee he gazed at his smiling son-in-law over the rims of his +spectacles. For fully a minute he remained motionless. + +"Matt," he demanded suspiciously, "what the devil have you been up to?" + +Matt raised a huge forefinger. + +"Number one," he began: "I bought the Oriental Steamship Company's +freighter Narcissus, seventy-five hundred tons' register, for two +hundred and seventy-five thousand dollars, and in a month she'll be in +tiptop shape and ready for sea. I've paid twenty-five thousand dollars +down on her and I'll have to make a payment of twenty thousand dollars +on the twenty-sixth of September and twenty thousand dollars a month on +her thereafter until she, is paid for. And if I default on a payment for +more than thirty days before I've paid off half of the purchase price +the Oriental Steamship Company may, at its option, take the vessel away +from me." + +Cappy Ricks smiled. + +"Ah!" he breathed softly. "So you want help, eh? You finally did manage +to get into deep water close to the shore, and now you're yelling to +father to come through and save you, eh? Well, I'll do it, my boy, +because I think you made a bully buy; and she's worth it. I'll take over +your bargain for you and give you, say--er--ahem! we--harumph-h-h--say +twenty-five thousand dollars profit. Not so bad, eh? When I was your +age--" Cappy paused, open-mouthed. He had suddenly remembered something. +"Oh, no," he contradicted himself; "this isn't my foolish day--not by +a jugful! You owe me a lot of money on that promissory note you gave me +when we settled up for that Tillicum business--so I'll not give you any +money after all. I'll just take the contract of sale off your hands, +give you back the money you risked in the deal--and your promissory +note, cancelled." And Cappy Ricks sat back and clawed his whiskers +expectantly. + +"Oh, I'm not in distress," Matt answered cheerfully. "On the contrary, +I'm going to take up that note before the week is out." + +Once more Cappy slid out to the edge of his chair. + +"Where are you going to get the money?" he demanded bluntly. + +"I'm going to sell the Narcissus. The day I purchased her it was a moral +certainty that Europe was to be plunged into a terrible war; so the ink +wasn't dry on the contract before I was streaking it for New York. War +was declared by England on Germany on the fifth of August, and while +you'd be saying Jack Robinson every German freighter went into neutral +ports to intern until the war should terminate. The German raiders are +still out after the British and French commerce, and the deep-water +shipping out of Eastern ports isn't a business any more. It's a +delirium--a night-mare! Why, I was offered any number of charters for my +Narcissus, but I didn't bother trying to charter her until just before I +started for home; and, moreover, the longer I waited the better charter +I could make. Besides, she isn't in commission yet--and I had other fish +to fry." + +"For instance?" Cappy inquired wonderingly. + +"It is an undisputed fact that the early bird gets the worm," Matt +Peasley replied brightly, "and I was the early bird. I was in New York +a few days before the war became general, and for a week thereafter +everybody was so blamed interested in the fighting they neglected +business. But I didn't. I went to New York to charter, under the +government form, as many big steel freighters as I could lay hands on--" + +Cappy Ricks raised his clasped hands and gazed reverently upward. + +"Oh, Lord!" he murmured. "How many? How many?" + +"Fifteen," Matt Peasley murmured complacently. "I got about half of them +real cheap, because business was rotten when I landed in the East. Why, +I chartered the entire fleet of one shipping firm in Boston. I had to +pay a stiffer rate for the others; but--" + +"How long did you charter them for?" Cappy yelled. "Quick! Tell me!" + +"All for a year, with the privilege of renewal at a ten per cent. +advance. I had no difficulty in rechartering to the men who had been +asleep on the job. I shall average a profit of two hundred dollars a day +on each of the fifteen even if I do not charter them longer--" + +"A day!" Cappy's voice rose to a shrill scream. + +"A day! Any American bottom that will float and move through the water +is worth five times what it was before war was declared, and the freight +rates are going up every day. Three thousand dollars a day income--three +hundred and sixty-five days in the year! Man, if the war lasts a year +I'll make a million dollars net!" + +"But--but--about this Narcissus?" Cappy sputtered. + +"Just before I left for home I chartered her at fourteen hundred dollars +a day--forty-two thousand dollars a month--on the Government form of +charter." + +"Impossible!" Cappy shrieked, losing all control of himself. "Dog-gone +you, Matt Peasley, don't tell me such stories. You're driving me crazy!" + +"It will cost me nine thousand a month to run her--and she doesn't even +go near the war zone. I'm going to run her to South American ports." + +"How long?" + +Matt Peasley smiled. "How long?" he echoed. "Why, she's only chartered +for one trip just now. You don't suppose I'd charter her for several +voyages or for a year, on a freight market that's growing over-night?" + +"And those fifteen vessels you chartered. You rechartered them. For what +period?" + +"Three months, with privilege of renewal at the going rates." + +"Matt," Cappy murmured, "you're great. Damn me, sir, I could kiss you." + +Matt grinned at this earnest commendation. + +"Of course I can operate the Narcissus and meet my monthly payments +to the Oriental Steamship Company and still be ahead of the game," he +continued. "But I'm going to sell her, Mr. Ricks. I've had an offer of +four hundred and fifty thousand dollars for her already--and she's still +waiting to be hauled out on the marine railway and put in commission! +I'll just wait one week and by that time she'll bring half a million. +At that I hate to sell, but I've got to. I figure a bird in the hand is +worth two in the bush." + +"Why have you got to?" Cappy shrilled. "You're crazy! You don't have +to." + +"But the next payment will come due on her before I receive any charter +money from the Steel people, and that will clean me for fair. I can't +help myself. Besides, I've got these other fifteen vessels chartered; +I'll have to have capital--and I've got to have it quickly or I'll be a +pauper while you'd be saying Jack Robinson." + +"But, Matt, you old dunderhead, you mustn't sell a good thing. Why, man, +you've got a million and a half profit right in the hollow of your hand; +and, oh, we mustn't let it get away, Matt--we mustn't let it get away! + +"It was magnificent, Matt--perfectly magnificent. I'll help you, sonny. +By golly, I'll go to the bat for you and back you for the last dollar I +have. No more monkeyshines between us now, boy! We've had a lot of +fun in our day, playing nip and tuck with each other; but this is real +business. You've got to be saved." + +"I had an idea that you would see it in that light, sir," Matt suggested +smilingly. "I knew you'd back me up; so I didn't worry. But you'll have +to take half the profit on the deals I've made--that's only fair." + +"Profits!" Cappy Ricks sneered. "Why, what the devil do I care for +profits? You keep the profits. You and Florry are young and you'll know +how to enjoy them. Why, what do you think I am? A human hog? Let me sit +in the game with you--let me play the game of business with you, son, +down to my last buffalo nickel. I can't take the blamed money with me +when I die, can I? But don't ask me to make any money out of you, my +boy. I'm going to get my fun watching you in action." + +Matt Peasley came close and took old Cappy Ricks' hand in both of his. + +"I want to be your partner," he said wistfully. "I couldn't come into +this office and sponge off you, and so I've waited until I could buy +in! I wanted to bring some assets besides myself when I should come to +manage the Blue Star. May I, sir? I want to turn in this big deal I've +put over for stock in the Ricks Lumber and Logging Company and the Blue +Star Navigation Company; and, then, with Skinner managing the lumber +end, I'll sit in and run the fleet--and you just sit round and help and +offer advice, Mr. Ricks. Let me turn in the Narcissus for what I have +been offered--four hundred and fifty thousand dollars--and take stock. + +"I don't want to be an employee; I don't want to be just your +son-in-law, waiting for your shoes. I want to be your partner--to +be more than a cog in the machine. And those freighters I've +chartered--why, I could never have chartered them without your help. Who +was I? Would I have had any credit or standing with those big Eastern +shipping firms? Not much! I represented myself as the general manager +of the Blue Star Navigation Company. And they knew about you--you were +rated A-1 in financial circles." + +"You what?" yelled Cappy. "General manager! You infernal duffer, why +didn't you cut the whole hog and call yourself president?" + +"I had my cards printed to read: Vice President and General Manager," +Matt replied with a twinkle. "I didn't feel any qualms of conscience +about cutting that much of the hog, because I knew you would make me +vice president and general manager as soon as I got back with the bacon! +So I signed all the charters, 'Blue Star Navigation Company, by Matthew +Peasley, V. P. and G.M.'--drew a raft of sight drafts on you also. +They'll be putting in an appearance in a day or two. I got home just +about two jumps ahead of them." + +"You're a devil!" said Cappy Ricks. "But--I'll pay the drafts." Matt +laughed happily. "You're bringing about a million and a half into the +company--at least, if everything goes well, you will; and you've got a +half interest in what you have brought in," Cappy continued. + +He touched a push button. An instant later Mr. Skinner appeared. + +"Skinner, my dear boy," said Cappy, "Matt has a flock of charters he +has made for us in the East--also, a flock of recharters of the same +boats--also, a contract of sale on the steamer Narcissus. Make out a +form of assignment of that contract from the Pacific Shipping Company to +the Blue Star Navigation Company and Matt will sign it. We'll keep that +boat ourselves. Then give Matt a check for the next payment due that +man MacCandless on the Narcissus and after you've cleaned up with +Matt, Skinner, have Hankins issue him seven hundred and fifty thousand +dollars' worth of stock--half in the Blue Star and half in the Ricks +Lumber & Logging Company. Tell Hankins, also, to call a special +meeting of the board of directors of both companies for ten o'clock +tomorrow--and to be sure to have a quorum present. And in the meantime +put the Narcissus under provisional American registry." + +"Why, what are you going to do?" Mr. Skinner demanded wonderingly. + +Cappy walked tip to his general manager and affectionately placed his +hand on Skinner's arm. + +"Skinner, my dear boy," he said, "we're going to elect you president +of the lumber company and Matt is to be president of the Navigation +Company. I'm going to resign and be a sort of president emeritus of both +companies and advisory director to both boards. Matt, you might tell +Skinner what your plans are for the Blue Star." + +"Well," said Matt, "I'm going to leave the president emeritus on the job +a few months longer." + +"Not by a jugful! I quit tomorrow. Hereafter I'm just scenery. I'm old +and I must give way to youth. I've had my day; I'm out of the running +now," Cappy answered sadly. + +"We're going to leave the president emeritus on the job," Matt repeated, +"while I go to Europe and pick up a couple of big British tramps, under +the provisions of the recent Emergency Shipping Act, and stick 'em under +the American flag. Regardless of what the other fellows may do or think, +the fact is we're American citizens; and we're going to do our duty and +help establish an American mercantile marine. Skinner, we'll make the +Blue Star flag known on the Seven Seas." + +Cappy Ricks sprang into the air and got one thin old arm round Matt +Peasley's neck; with the other he groped for Skinner, for there were +tears in his fine old eyes. + +"What a pair of lads to have round me!" he said huskily. "Matt--Skinner, +my boy--by the Holy Pink-toed Prophet!--we'll do it; not because we need +the money or want it, or give a particular damn to hoard up a heap +of it, but because it's the right thing to do. It's patriotic--it's +American--our activities shall enrich the world--and oh, it's such a +bully game to play!" + +Mr. Skinner glanced at Cappy Ricks with the closest approach to +downright affection he considered quite dignified to permit during +business hours. + +"I notice you were going to quit a minute ago to become president +emeritus--and now you're including yourself in the new program of +activity," he reminded Cappy Ricks. "I seem to remember that for the +past few years you've been talking of the happy day when you could +retire and learn to play golf." + +"Golf!" Cappy glanced at Mr. Skinner witheringly. "Skinner," he +continued, "don't be an ass! Golf is an old man's game--and I belong +with the young fellows. Why, don't you remember the day, three years +ago, when we discovered we had a sailor named Matt Peasley before the +mast in the old Retriever? Why, ever since I've been having so much +fun--" + +"And that reminds me," Matt interrupted: "We must send a new skipper to +Aberdeen to relieve Mike Murphy in the Retriever. He has his ticket for +steam and I've hired him at two hundred and fifty a month to skipper the +Narcissus. Mike is one of the best men under the Blue Star; he has come +up from before the mast." + +"The only kind I ever gave a whoop for," Cappy declared. "In effect, he +once told me to go chase myself." + +"But," Skinner persisted, "how about playing golf?" + +Cappy Ricks raised his eyes reverently upward. "Please God," he said, +"I'll die in the harness!" + +"Amen!" said Mr. Skinner; and Matt Peasely re-echoed the sentiment. + + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Cappy Ricks, by Peter B. 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