Cappy Ricks Part 3

"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 s.h.i.+pped to Port Townsend, Was.h.i.+ngton, prepaid, deducting charges from our invoice."

CHAPTER V. MATT PEASLEY a.s.sUMES 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 s.h.i.+p 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 s.h.i.+p 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-cla.s.s "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 ash.o.r.e and the black scoundrel skewered him. I'm going ash.o.r.e 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 ash.o.r.e, poor fellow."

"Very well, Sir," Mr. Murphy replied, and murmured some commonplace expression of regret. He was not particularly shocked for he had lost s.h.i.+pmates 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 s.h.i.+p.

"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 amus.e.m.e.nt. "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 s.h.i.+p, 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 s.h.i.+p."

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 s.h.i.+p; and of course I wouldn't care to have that happen. I'd have to quit the s.h.i.+p, 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, Was.h.i.+ngton, 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 s.h.i.+p and more pay, and right away he'll start Captain Noah's successor for Cape Town to bring the s.h.i.+p 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 sh.o.r.e. 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.