Flood Tide Part 42

That c.o.c.klesh.e.l.l of a _Sea Gull_ goes rippin' along through the eel gra.s.s, her propeller clear and free as if she had twenty fathoms of water under her. It's as pretty a sight as you'd care to look on."

Mr. Galbraith watched the s.h.i.+ning eyes of the inventor.

"Mr. Spence," he said, "that idea of yours is going to be a very useful and valuable one. Have you thought of that?"

Willie flushed.

"Well," replied he with hesitation, "yesterday when I was shuckin'

clams it did come to me that mebbe there'd be other folks besides Zenas Henry would like it."

"A great many folks!" rejoined the capitalist. "I am in a position to know, because s.h.i.+pbuilding chances to be my business."

"So I was told," his listener remarked quietly. An expression of quick surprise pa.s.sed over the other's countenance.

"Yes," he went on, "both Mr. Snelling and I are interested in boats in our way."

"It's a fine job," Willie observed evasively.

"Yes, it is. Not only is s.h.i.+pbuilding a fascinating occupation but it is a patriotic one as well, for I believe the resurrection of our merchant marine to be one of the most important duties of our nation.

Everything that works toward that end is a service to the country, in my estimation."

"You're right, sir," was the rejoinder. "I'm terrible fond of s.h.i.+ps myself. They're human as people an' as different. You can turn 'em out from the same model, but no two of 'em will ever be alike. I've got a little yawl down on the sh.o.r.e I wouldn't take a thousand dollars for. She's knowin' as if she was alive. I can tell to an inch how much sail she'll stand an' how much water she'll draw. She answers to the tiller quick as a child to your voice, too--quicker'n most children. I've had her for years, an' smooth weather or foul she ain't never gone back on me. Folks disappoint you sometimes; but a boat never does." As if sensing that he was venturing on dangerous ground, he stopped abruptly. "So you build boats, do you?" he commented to change the subject.

Richard Galbraith nodded.

"That's my calling," he a.s.sented. "And since it is, I am in a position to handle things that have to do with boats of all kinds. That is why your motor-boat idea has interested me so deeply. I saw its possibilities from the moment I first laid eyes on it, and I wish to congratulate you on having given the public such a useful invention."

"It ain't got far toward the public," objected Willie, with a deprecating shrug of his shoulders.

"But it is going to," Mr. Galbraith declared with promptness. "Bob, Mr. Snelling and I have taken matters into our own hands and have ventured to have an application for a patent prepared--description, claims and all; and after you have sworn to the affidavit and affixed your signature, we will send it off to Was.h.i.+ngton, where I haven't a doubt it will be granted. I thought this would save you the bother of attending to it yourself."

Poor Willie was too amazed to speak.

"Now Galbraith and Company will want the monopoly of that patent, Mr.

Spence," hurried on the financier. "We are going to make you a proposition either for the purchase of it outright, or for its use on a royalty basis."

With a supreme disregard for business, Willie wheeled on him before he could go further and said simply:

"Law, Mr. Galbraith, you can use the thing an' welcome. Turn out as many of 'em as you like. It won't make no odds to me. But the patent--think of havin' a real patent on somethin' I've thought out!

Just you picture it!"

He repeated the words in a soft, musing voice that hushed his hearers into stillness.

"I never thought to live to see the day anything of mine would be patented. That means that n.o.body else anywhere in the world ever was kitched by that same idee before, don't it? It's sorter--sorter wonderful an' gratifyin'. But if it hadn't been for the rest of you that's helped me, the claptraption would never have been in any kind of shape. 'Twould 'a' been just a hit-or-miss contrivance like the rest of the idees I've got indoors. You see, I never had the schoolin' to manage my notions, even when once I'd got 'em. I know that well enough. So if I should get a patent on this thing, 'twould be mostly due to you that's helped me, an' I thank you most humble." His voice trembled with feeling. "After all you've done--the three of you--you wouldn't expect me to take money from you for usin' the scheme, would you? Take it an' welcome, an' may it bring luck to your business! But there's one thing I would like," he added timidly. "If we should get them patent papers from the government an' they ain't no particular use to you, I'd like to keep 'em by me to read over now an' again. 'Twould sorter make it all seem more real some way, an' less as if I'd dreamed it. I've imagined this happenin' so many times an' woke up to find 'twas only imaginin's."

The blue eyes softened into mistiness.

"To think of gettin' a patent! To think of it! Celestina will be glad. I'm afraid, by an' large, I've bothered her quite considerable with my strings, an' spools, an' tacks, an' such. She'll like to know some of 'em went for somethin', after all. The Brewsters an' Delight will be pleased, too. An' there's Janoah! Oh, Janoah must be told right away, Bob, quick's ever we can fetch it. 'Twill clear the air 'twixt him an' me, an' make us both happier. I ain't never been able to convince him that if you put your trust in folks they seldom betray it. Who knows but when he finds out what's happened he'll kitch _that_ idee? If he should, 'twould be worth all the inventions and patents in the world put together. Look for the best, I say, an' you get it every time," continued the little old man, with a smile of exquisite serenity. "The universe is full of kindly souls with hearts a-beatin'

inside 'em same's yours. Meet 'em with your hands out, an' their hands will come the other halfway."

"It is a pity you can't take out a patent on that notion, Mr. Spence, and sow it broadcast," returned the New Yorker soberly.

Willie's gaze traveled with wistful and reverent faith across the other's face to the sky above him.

"Somehow," he murmured, "I like to believe that idee was patented centuries ago by One who put it right to work by believin' the best of all us poor sinners. Folks ain't used the notion yet, much as they might, but they're gettin' round to, an' the day'll come when not to believe in the other feller's soul will be like--well, like havin' a motor-boat without our attachment," concluded he whimsically.