Shortly after noon on the day of his small triumph over the West Coast
Trading Company, Cappy Ricks bustled up California Street, bound for
luncheon with the Bilgewater Club.
On this day, of all days, Cappy would not have missed luncheon with the
Bilgewater Club for a farm. As he breezed along there was a smile on his
ruddy old face and a lilt in his kind old heart, for he was rehearsing
his announcement to his youthful friends of how he had but recently
tanned the hide of a brother! He almost laughed aloud as he pictured
himself solemnly relating, in the presence of J. Augustus Redell and
Live Wire Luiz, the tale of the ill-favored spruce, excusing his own
mendacity the while on the ground that he wasn't a mind reader; that if
the West Coast Lumber Company desired northern spruce they should have
stipulated northern spruce; that, as alleged business men, it was high
time they were made aware of the ancient principle of _caveat emptor_,
which means, as every schoolboy knows, that the buyer must protect
himself in the clinches and breakaways. And lastly, he planned to claim
it the solemn duty of the aged to instruct the young and ignorant in the
hard school of experience.
Judge, therefore, of his disappointment when, on entering the lobby of
the Merchants' Exchange Building, on the two top floors of which the
Commercial Club is situated, he encountered Redell and Live Wire Luiz
leaving the elevator.
The West Coast Trading Company had offices in the same building and, as
Redell carried a plethoric suit case, while Live Wire Luiz followed with
a small hand bag, Cappy realized they were bound for parts unknown.
In consequence of which he realized he had rehearsed to no purpose his
expose of the pair before the Bilgewater Club. He halted the partners
and secured a firm grip on the lapel of each.
“Cowards!” he sneered. “Running out on me, eh? By Judas Priest, I
just knew you didn't dast to stay and hear me tell the boys about that
spruce. Drat you! The next time you'll know the difference between attar
of roses and California spruce!”
Redell put down his suit case, pulled out his watch, glanced at it and
then at his partner.
“Shall I tell him, Luiz?” he queried.
Live Wire Luiz thereupon consulted his watch, scratched his ear and
said:
“Friend of my heart, do you theenk eet ees safe?”
“Oh, yes. He isn't a bit dangerous, Luiz. He's lost all his teeth and
all he can do now is sit and bay at the moon.”
Live Wire Luiz shrugged.
“I theenk maybe so you are right, _amigo mio_. The steamer she will
go to depart in half an hour, an' that ees not time for thees ol'
high-binder to do somet'ing. Eet ees what you call one stiff li'l'
order. I admit thees spruce bandit ees pretty smart, but--” again Live
Wire Luiz shrugged his expressive shoulders--“he ees pretty ol', no? I
theenk to myself he have lose--what you call heem? ah, yes, he have lose
hees punch!”
“I fear he has, Luiz; so I'll tell him. At least the knowledge will
gravel him and take all the joy out of that stinking little spruce
swindle of his.”
“'Twon't neither!” Gappy challenged. “I stung you there--drat your
picture!--and I'm glad I did it. I rejoice in my wickedness. Cost you
five hundred dollars for making a monkey out of the old man in that
grape-stake deal, Gus.”
“Why,” said Redell wonderingly, “I thought you'd forgiven me that,
Cappy.”
“So I have; but I haven't forgotten. Expect me to lose my self-respect
and forget about it? No, sir! When I go into a deal and emerge in the
red, I take a look at my loss-and-gain account and forget it; but when
I'm ravished of my self--respect-wow! Look out below and get out from
under! In-fer-nal young scoundrel! If I don't show you two before I die
that I haven't lost my punch I'll come back from the grave to ha'nt you.
Go on and spin your little tale, Augus-tus. You can't tell me anything
that'll make me mad. What you got on your mind besides your hair, Gus?
Out with it, boy; out with it! I'm listening.”
And Cappy came close to Redell and inclined his head close to the young
fellow's breast; whereupon Redell put his lips close to Cappy's ear and
answered hoarsely:
“I'm going to Papeete to bid in that sunken German steamer, _Valkyrie_.”
Cappy nodded.
“Huh!” he said. “Is that all? Well, when you return from Papeete you're
going to take another journey right away.”
“Where?”
“Into the bankruptcy court first, and then up to the Home for the
Feeble-Minded. On the level, boy, you're overdue at the foolish farm.”
“I'll take a chance, Cappy. All you old graybeards can do is sit on the
fence and decry the efforts of the rising generation. You just croak and
knock. Of course I admit that once on a time an opportunity couldn't fly
by you so fast you wouldn't get some of the tail feathers; but that was
a long time ago.”
He paused and glanced at his partner. Sorrowfully Live Wire Luiz tapped
his forehead with his brown, cigarette-stained forefinger.
“Senile decay!” Redell murmured.
“Sure; I bet you, Mike!” Live Wire Luiz answered.
He wagged his head lugubriously, turned aside and affected to wipe away
a vagrant tear with his salmon-colored silk handkerchief.
“Look here!” Cappy rasped. “This thing is getting personal. Never mind
about my years, you pup. If my back is bent a trifle it's from carrying
a load of experience and other people's mistakes. And never mind about
my noodle! It may have a few knots and shakes in it, but they're tight
and sound, and it's free of pitch pockets, wane and rotten streaks; so
this old head grades as merchantable timber still.
“As for your head, Gus, and that of this human firecracker with you,
both have streaks of sap round the edges, and I'll prove it to you yet.
No; on second thought I don't have to prove it. You've already done that
yourself! You're going to Papeete to try to bid in the _Valkyrie_, and
she's junk!”
“Partly.” Redell admitted. “She's been under water about two years and I
suppose the teredo have digested her upper works by now; but they can be
rebuilt quickly and without a great deal of expense.”
“How about her boilers? You'll have to retube them.”
“I don't think so. I was talking with Captain Hippard, of the
Morrison-Hippard Line. They had the steamer _Chinook_ under water a year
in Norton Sound, but they raised her and brought her to San Francisco
under her own steam. You know, Cappy, it's the combination of water and
air that makes iron and steel rust. It seems that when a boiler is under
water and not exposed to the air it rusts very slowly; also, the rust
is like a soft film--it doesn't pit and scale off in great flakes. And
a couple of years under water will not do any appreciable damage to the
_Valkyrie's_ boilers. The _Chinook_ is running yet, notwithstanding the
fact that fifteen years ago she was submerged for a year.”
“Huh!” Cappy grunted.
“The same condition, of course, holds true with regard to her hull, only
more so,” Redell continued. “The paint will protect the hull perfectly.
Of course if, after getting her up, she is permitted to lie exposed to
the air, the soft film of rust will promptly harden and scale off and
she'll go to glory in a few months. However, nothing like that will
happen, because the minute she's up she'll be thoroughly cleaned and
scrubbed and painted. Of course the asbestos cover will have peeled off
her boilers, but even at that I'll bring her to San Francisco under her
own steam. She'll just be ungodly hot below decks and a hog for coal
until the boilers are re-covered.”
Cappy sighed. He was not prepared to combat this argument, for he had a
sneaking impression Redell was right. However, he returned undaunted to
the attack.
“She's shot full of holes,” he declared.
“She has one hole through her, and when she's loaded light that hole is
above water line. The wrecking vessel that goes down to salve her will
have steel plates, tools and mechanics aboard, and new plates can be put
in temporarily. And if that cannot be done those holes can be patched
with planking and cemented over.”
“Well, all right. Grant that. But think of her engines, Gus. Think of
those fine, smooth bearings and polished steel rods all corroded and
pitted by salt water. The water may not have a disastrous effect on the
boilers and hull, but an engine can't stand any rust at all and still
remain one hundred per cent efficient. I tell you I know, Gus. I had my
_Amelia Ricks_ submerged on Duxbury Reef for a week; then I hauled her
off and she lay on the tide flats in Mission Bay another three weeks
until I could patch her up and float her into the dry dock. Do you
know what it cost me to make her engines over again? Thirteen thousand
dollars, young man--and, at that, they're nothing to brag of now.”
“Quite right; but that's because you didn't employ a German engineer and
tell him you were going to put the _Amelia Ricks_ on Duxbury Reef. Are
you familiar with the characteristics of German engineers, Cappy?”
Cappy threw up both hands.
“I'm neutral, Gus. Between them and the French it's a case of heads I
win, tails you lose.”
“No, no, Cappy. You're wrong. The Germans are a careful, thrifty,
painstaking, systematic race, and the chief of the _Valkyrie_ was the
flower of the flock. When that little French gunboat captured her this
chief engineer looked into the future and saw himself and the _Valkyrie_
interned indefinitely--and he didn't like it. It just broke his heart to
think of a stranger messing round among his engines; so the instant he
got into Papeete and blew down his boilers he did a wise thing. He knew
the war risk insurance would probably cover the _Valkyrie's_ loss as a
war prize, but there was a chance that her German owners might send one
of their hyphenated brethren down to Papeete to buy her in the prize
court; and if that happened the chief wanted them to have a good ship.
Perhaps, also, he figured on getting his old job back after the war. At
any rate he got out a barrel of fine heavy grease and slobbered up his
engines for fair.”
It was too much. Cappy Ricks was too fine a sport not to acknowledge a
beating; he was too generous not to rejoice in a competitor's gain.
“You lucky, lucky scoundrel!” he murmured in an awed voice. “Not enough
salt water will get through that grease to hurt those engines. Gus, how
did you find this all out?”
“Well, you can bet your whiskers, Cappy, I didn't depend on hearsay
evidence and water-front reporters to dig it up for me. The minute I
heard her sea cocks had been opened and that her funnels and masts were
sticking up out of the harbor I concluded I was interested; so I sent
Bill Jinks, of our office, down to Papeete to get me some first-hand
information. The chief of the _Valkyrie_ is interned there, of course.”
“May mad dogs bite me! Why in the name of all that's sweet and holy
didn't I have sense enough to do that?” Cappy mourned.
“You have lose the punch!” chirped Live Wire Luiz, and Cappy glared at
him.
“She's an honest vessel, Cappy.”
“An' what you s'pose she have in her?” Live Wire Luiz demanded. “Oh,
notheeng very much, Senor Ricks. Just two t'ousand tons of phosphate.”
“Worth ten or twelve dollars a ton, Cappy.”
“An' t'irteen hundred tons of the good coal to bring her to San
Francisco, _Ai_, Santa Maria!” Live Wire Luiz blew a kiss airily into
space and added: “I die weeth dee-light!”
“You haven't got her yet,” Cappy snapped viciously.
“No; but we'll get her all right,” Redell declared confidently.
“How'll you get her?”
“We've only one real competitor to buck--an Australian steamship
company. They're crazy to get her; and as there are no French bidders on
this side of the world, naturally and in view of the present condition
of world politics the French authorities in Papeete are pulling for the
Britisher. Jinks is now in Papeete and I'm about to start for there at
one o'clock. Two bids, Cappy; I'll be the dark horse and file my bid at
the last minute, after I've sized up the lay of the land. But, before I
do so, I'm going to take the representative of that Australian steamship
company into my confidence and find out what he's going to bid. For
instance, now, Cappy, if you were bidding against me, how high would you
go?”
“She's a long way from nowhere,” Cappy replied thoughtfully. “It means
sending a wrecking steamer down there with a lot of expert wreckers,
divers, mechanics and carpenters; it means lumber for cofferdam and
pontoons; it means donkey engines, cables, pumps, the stress of wind and
wave--”
“She lies in a protected cove, Cappy; the mean rise and fall of the
tide, so close to the equator, is about eighteen inches, and the water
is so clear you can always see what the divers are doing. Forget the
stress of wind and wave.”
“Forty thousand dollars would be my top figure if I were the Australian
bidder,” Cappy declared, and added to himself: “But, as Alden P. Ricks,
seventy-five might not stagger me in view of the present freight rates.”
“Just what I figured,” Redell answered. “She'll cost us two hundred
thousand dollars before we get her in commission again. I figure the
Australian people will not go over forty thousand dollars. They won't
figure Jinks as a heavyweight. I told him to create the impression that
he was a professional wrecker--a sort of fly-by-night junk dealer, who
would buy the vessel if he could get her at a great bargain. Then I'll
drop quietly into Papeete, and at the eleventh hour fifty-ninth minute
I'll slip in a bid that will top the Australian's. If by any chance
Jinks' bid should also top the Australian's I'll just forfeit the
certified check for ten per cent of my bid, run out and leave the ship
to Jinks, the next highest bidder. The chances are I'll make a few
thousand dollars at that.”
“How do you purpose raising her--provided you are the successful
bidder?”
“Well, she has four hatches and she lies on an even keel. I'll build a
coffer dam on her deck round these four hatches and pump her out. If we
have enough pumps we can pump her out faster than the water can leak
in under the coffer dam. When I've lightened her somewhat I'll kick her
into the shore, little by little, until she lies in shallow water with
her bulwarks above the surface. Then I'll patch the holes in her, pump
her out--and up she'll come, of course.”
“You say that so glibly,” Gappy growled, “one would almost think you
could whistle it.”
“Don't feel sore, Cappy. Do you know what a vessel of her age and class
is worth nowadays? Well, I'll tell you. About sixty dollars a ton,
dead weight capacity--and the _Valkyrie_ can carry seven thousand tons;
that's four hundred and twenty thousand dollars--”
“If you can get her up,” Cappy interrupted.
“If I bid her in I'll get her up. Don't worry.”
'“It'll clean you of your bank roll to do it.”
“Of course. Luiz and I aren't millionaires like you; so we'll just form
a corporation and call it the S. S. Valkyrie Company and sell stock
in our venture. I have you down right now for a ten-thousand-dollar
subscription at the very least, though you can have more if you want
it.”
“Gus,” Cappy pleaded, “if you bid that boat in for forty thousand
dollars I'll give you ten thousand dollars for your bargain and
reimburse you for all the expense you've been put to.”
“Nothing doing, Cappy.”
“I'll make it--let me see--I'll make it twenty thousand.”
“You waste your breath. She'll pay for herself the first year she's in
commission.”
“I'll furnish the sinews of war, Gus, for a half interest in her. Let me
add her to the Blue Star Fleet and you'll never regret it.”
“Sorry, Cappy; but Luiz and I are ambitious. We want to get into the
steamship business ourselves.”
“Well, then, I've offered to do the fair thing by you two lunatics,”
Cappy declared with a great air of finality. “So now I'll deliver my
ultimatum: I'm going to keep the _Valkyrie_ and not give you two as much
as one little piece of her. Yes, sir! I'm going to send a representative
to Papeete and match you and that Australian chap for your shoe-strings.
Gus, you know me! If I ever go after a thing and don't get it, the man
that takes it away from me will know he's been in a fight.”
“Indeed, I know it, Cappy--which is why I kept this information
carefully to myself. However, I guess you'll not get in on this good
thing.”
“Why?”
“You're too late for the banquet.”
“Not one leetle hope ees left for you, Cappy Reeks,” Senor Almeida
asserted. “The _Moana_, on which my good partner have engaged passage
to-day, ees the last steamer which shall arrive to Papeete before the
bids shall be open. The next steamer, Capitan Reeks ees arrive too
late.”
“Yes; and the _Moana_ sails in just twenty-five minutes, Cappy. If
you're thinking of sending a man down to bid against me you'll have to
step lively.”
Cappy Ricks was now beside himself; this gentle, good-natured heckling
had made of him a venerable Fury.
“I'll cable my bid!” he shrilled.
“No you won't Cappy, for the reason that there is no cable to Tahiti.”
“Then I'll wireless it!”
“Well, you can try that, Cappy. Unfortunately, however, the only
wireless station in Tahiti is a little, old, one-cat-power set. It can
receive your message, but it can't send one that will reach the nearest
wireless station--and that's at Honolulu. And until the bank in Tahiti
can confirm drafts by wireless I imagine it will not pay them on
presentation.”
Cappy surrendered. He couldn't stand any more.
“Good-bye, Gus,” he said. “Good luck to you! If you get that vessel
you'll deserve her, and when you're forming the S.S. Valkyrie Company
I'll head the list of stock subscribers with a healthy little chunk. You
know me, Gus! I'm the old bell mare in shipping circles; a lot of others
will follow where I lead.”
“I forgive you the spruce deal, Cappy. You're an awful pirate; but, for
all that, you're a grand piece of work. God bless you!” And Redell put
his arm round the old man affectionately. “Good-bye.”
And, followed by Live Wire Luiz, who was going to the dock to see his
partner aboard the _Moana_, Redell disappeared into California Street.
“Dammit!” Cappy soliloquized bitterly. “I can't eat lunch now. One bite
would choke me.”