Cappy Ricks Retires

en it fell. About the time the Narcissus, fully loaded, was snoring out to sea past Old Point Comfort, Matt Peasley came across Seaborn & Compan

doze to find his big son-in-law w

l the world as if Cappy was a very stupid mate and al

g, but instinct told him it was awful, so he resolved instantly to meet it with a bra

sus was to drop in at Pernambuco f

inner. He eyed the general manager over the rims

do anything any more. Tut, tut! Not a peep out of you, sir. Now then, answer me: Why d

he repeated, "and asked you if I should close. You said to close. I closed. That's all I know about it. You and Matt are in charge of the shipping and I decline to be dragged in

aited the next move on the part of Cappy. The latter, thoroughly crushed-for h

"what's your grouch

known better had placed a fine ship in jeopardy for you. It just breaks me all up to think you may have lost my s

ackdaw! Out with it! Where do you get that stuff-lose your steam

man crew aboard. Pernambuco for orders! Suffering sailor! And you, of all men, to put o

over my head and

. Skinner struck in blandly, "

, whether the vessel discharges at Batavia or Manila, her course in the Atlantic Ocean while en route to either port is identical! She passes round the Cape of Good Hope, which is at the extreme south end of Africa. If her course, on the contrary, was round Cape Horn or through the Straits of Magellan there might be some sense in sending her over to the east coast of South America for orders. But whether she is ordered to Manila or Batavia, the fact remains that she must put in to Durban, South Africa, for fuel to

general color tones of a ripe old Edam cheese, while at the conclusion of Matt's or

he murmured in an awed voice. "

ttered, "that you are mistaken, Mr. Ri

head of the class. Really, I believe I begin to pick up sig

ng and break the news to

cleared from San Francisco with coal, ostensibly for discharge at Chilean or Mexican ports, but in reality for delivery to the German fleet at sea, but even with these few deliveries, there is a coal famine. And now that the Pacific is getting too hot for it, the general impression is that the German fleet will try to get through the Straits of Magellan, for, once in the Atlantic, coal will be easier to get. More ships, you know; more ship-owners willing to take a chance for wartime profits-and they say Brazil is rather friendly to the German cause. We will assume, therefore, that the German secre

a beetling glance, first at C

soft coal or anthr

w," Mr. Skin

Cappy Ricks p

man admiral wirelesses his Pernambuco agent, 'Send a jag of coal into the Indian Ocean,' to the Indian Ocean goes the Narcissus, and presently she finds a German warship or two or three ranging along in her course. Th

rtain latitude and longitude off the River Plate,' and Mike Murphy objects, that German crew on our Narcissus will just natur

bin in order to get the ship," Mr. Skinner struck in, a n

t you speak of it, I recall it was his idea, getting that crew of Germans aboard! He

r climb up on Mike Murphy's deck except over Mike Murphy's dead body. According to the president emerit

y letter filed by Mike Murphy in Norfolk t

nd I am overhauled en route, that is your funeral. If orders conflict with charter party, as I suspect they may, that may be my funeral. Regretfully I shall resign at Pernambuco.

J.

he air and tried to crack

Saved! Bully for Mike Murphy! Say, when that fellow

cowls had been r

an Pacific fleet; or for Admiral Craddock's Pacific fleet in case the Germans chase it back into the Atlantic. He knows that we know he is pro-German and for anything that's

ortunate for us that Murphy's suspicions do us a grave injustice. We know now t

y. "Cable him, Skinner, to fire that German crew so fast one

crew," Matt Peasley mourned. "There's just a possibility that German crew of h

and pray," said Mr

ir and, pop-eyed with horror, gazed at his

and you have to go to work and rip the silver lining out of our cloud of contentment. And

s," Mr. Skinner admonished the president emeritus. "While

original Mr. Tight Wad!" he lamented. "But you must forgive me, Matt. I got in the habit of thinking of expense when I was young, and I've never gotten over it. You know how a habit gets a grip on a man, don't you, Matt? Oh, if you had only overruled me when I decided to save m

nd of the business, Mr. Ric

two boys know blamed well I'm an old man and that an old man will make mistakes. It is your duty to watch me. I pay the money, but I don't get the service. When Matt argued with me about the wireless you sided in with me, Skinner. You've got that infernal saving habit, too-drat you! Don't deny it, Skinner. I can see by the look in your eye you're fixing to contradict me. You're as miserable a miser as I

thingly, "As Skinner says,

the praying. I'm goin

Pernambuco and cable Mike to let his crew go. And you know, sir, even if he should not receive our cablegram, we have still

rd," Cappy sneered. "And she carries a crew of forty, all told. Matt, those odds are too long for an

y side for the ship. Of course we haven't known Terence Reardon very long; he may be a bad one after all; but

rney-" Skinner began, but Cappy c

prefer to believe that the ship is safe with those two Hibernians aboard-win, lose or draw. And I want you two to quit picking on me; I don't want the word 'Narcissus' mentioned in my presence until the ship is

caught by the wrong warship, a couple of thousand miles off her course and with coal, or evidences of coal, in her cargo space. Buck up, Skinner. A little Christian Science here,

has nothing more tangible than a dime-novel tale of coercion as an excuse for being

he efficient Mr. Skinner so far forg