Cappy Ricks Retires: But That Doesn't Keep Him from Coming Back Stronger Than Ever

e Sunday suit purchased on the Embarcadero for twenty-five dollars, came into the office. He was wearing a celluloid collar, and a quite noticeable rattle

nown that Terence Reardon knew his haberdashery was not au fait, for his wife never failed to remind him of it; but unfortunately he was the possessor of a pair of grimy hands that nothing on ear

heart to take a keen interest in his personal appearance, and a tailor who belonged to Michael's council of the

e as usual. Meet Mr. Terence Reardon, late chief of the Arab. H

Murphy has been in our employ a number of years as master

"That sounds like a good name. Glad to meet you, chief

he thought, since Mike w

rimy paw upon the finger of which Mike Murphy observed a gold ring that proclaimed Mr. Terence

n was the last person on earth in whom he expected to find a brother Mason. He glanced at Mik

Reardon, my son-in-law, Captain Peasley here, tells me you were chief of the

his derby hat on the floor besid

never enter into the working of a ship, and I suppose I'll have to get along with that fellow; but did you mark the Mason

g a Mason?" Matt protested. "

u and Cappy Ricks. That's your

, too," Matt suggested, but Mike Murp

ess laugh of the man who knows. "And he says he's from Belf

ed you were intolerant of a shipmate's private convict

Murphy protested virtuou

and you resent Reardon be

a Protestant, and don't I

, I see," he replied. "It's becaus

tant since the time of Henry VIII. But the lad inside there has no business to be a Protestant. The Lord intended him fo

ague way he had always understood that religious differences were at the bottom of it all. He realized now that it was something deeper than that-a relic of injustice and oppression; a hostility that had come t

on, being Irish, has violated

ey're Tories at heart, ev

you mea

e for Englan

me them. So am I.

not a colony. She's a nation. Man, man, you don't understand. Only an Irishman can, and he gets it at his mother's or his grandmother's k

t on his invitation or for the purpose of locating a leak. Treat him with courtesy and do not discuss politics or religion when you meet him at table, which will be about the only opportunity you two will have to discuss anything; and if Reardon wants to talk religion or politics you change your feeding time and avoid meeting him. I've taken you out of the old Retriever, Mike, where you've been earning a hundred and twenty-five dollars a month, to put you

nest Murphy. "If I can't be g

was just discovering what kind

ark brought him the i

ief," he explained. "He's a splendid fellow personally and a most capable nav

still small voice whispered to him and questione

t the right tempo to that grunt-and the tempo is everything. In the case of Terence Reardon it said distinctly: "I hope you're right, sir, but privately I have my doubts." However, not satisfied with pantomime, Mr. Reardon w

referring to the absent Murphy; only an Irishman would have said "that fella," and only a certain kind of Irishman coul

so even if you and Captain Murphy do not like each other, there will be no excuse for fri

o skipper buttin' in on me, tellin' me how to run me engines an' askin' me why in this an' that I don't go aisy on the coal. Faith, I

e way, considering the chief engineers, while the chiefs will never cease marvelling that such fine ships should be entrusted to a lot of Johnny Know-Nothings. However, Reardon, I might as well tell you that the Blue Star Navigation Company plays no favorites. When the chief and the skipper begin to interfere with the dividends, they look overside some brig

plied complacently and reached for his pipe. "All I ask from you i

don breathing

ous, and treat the skipper with courtesy. Then you'll get along all right. Now with

uption, sor, but the young man prom

. Hereafter you'll deal with the old man in such matters. I'm going to give you two hundred a mo

the fine gintleman on the bridge to keep her out av the kelp, an' faith,

her in commission, and you'll be paid time and a half while she's repairing. Good-day and good luck to you, chief. Come in and see me whenever you get to port." And Cappy Ricks, most democratic of

p serrvice for tip-top pay, an' by the Great Gun av Athlone, you'll ge

y for future disaster, indicated quite clearly that Cappy Ricks, in such a

eparted Cappy Ricks called

things I want to tell you. This man Reardon

ronoun. Unlike Mr. Reardon he employed the third person singular and did n

" Matt Peasley announced. "He understands the situa