THE CRISIS
During the two years that followed, matters went from bad to worse for
the shipper. Even as Captain Hawley had predicted, the dearth of oysters
continued. Day after day the fleet came back from the oyster grounds
with the lightest of loads. But expenses were as heavy as ever. Gloomy,
indeed, were these days at Bivalve. Credit was strained to the utmost.
Ship-chandlers, merchants, supply houses, and banks were carrying
accounts long overdue, and lending still more money to men unable to pay
what they already owed. The lenders' only hope of getting out what they
had already put into the oyster business lay in putting in still more,
in carrying the shippers until the oyster business became prosperous
again. Yet there was a limit even here, and now one, and then another
shipper went to the wall.
Though nobody guessed it, Captain Rumford was in worse shape than any
other planter in the business. His loans were so widely scattered,
however, that not even the bankers suspected his actual condition.
Bravely he fought to stave off a smash. Finally he came to the point
where he had to sacrifice something or lose all. He sold a large
oyster-bed. Three years previously it would have brought him double the
price he now got for it. But now the oyster business was in the worst
sort of a depression. Nobody wanted oyster-beds at any price. Shippers
could not work what they already had. So for a time the captain's offer
went begging. Then finally some one who had money picked up the bargain.
Alec alone of the shipper's forces saw the oyster ground change hands
without sorrow. It was one of the beds that Alec had condemned. He
believed the shipper had benefited rather than harmed himself by the
sale. In his opinion Captain Rumford would have been wise to sell his
poor beds and work his good beds more intensively. He tried to tell the
shipper something of this, but it was cold comfort to the captain.
Weeks passed. Things grew steadily worse in the oyster business. Yet
there were exceptions to the general rule. More than one shipper was
making money. Anybody who had oysters would have made money, for as
oysters became scarcer the price rose higher. And some shippers had
them. Day after day their boats came in well laden. Day after day their
slips were occupied by well filled oyster scows, their piers encumbered
with long rows of bulging oyster sacks waiting to be trundled aboard the
trains. With his eyes open to all that was doing, Alec noted who these
fortunate shippers were. He was much about the piers now, for sometimes
for days on end the shipper kept him in the office to look after
things, while the shipper himself was absent on business. Daily Alec
made it a point to note who was shipping oysters in quantity. Now he
dropped a casual question here, now a joking inquiry there, until he
amassed an amount of information that was amazing. For he was finding
out far more than the mere matter of what planters had oysters. He was
ascertaining where each man's oysters came from, and whether they were
principally planted oysters or oysters that had set themselves in the
various beds. Alec even tabulated the information he got, and when his
table was complete, he examined his charts of the oyster-beds in the
light of it.
He now possessed the most complete data about the oyster grounds that
any one had probably ever collected. For his chart showed him, not only
the contour of the Bay and the location and ownership of the various
oyster-beds, but to a large extent the contour of the bottom of the Bay,
the depth of water at different points, the nature of the bottom,
whether muddy or sandy, while every principal slick and swirl and eddy
was plainly indicated. Now, as he studied these data, he wanted to shout
for very joy; for again and again he found proof of his own beliefs
about oysters, and confirmation of the facts he had gotten from his
little book. Here were planters with beds located much like the deep
water beds of Captain Rumford, who were getting next to nothing. Here
were others, with beds bordering a slick, like Captain Hardy's, who
were bringing in good catches of oysters, while still others whose
grounds lay in some great eddy, like Captain Rumford's inshore beds,
were coining money through their good hauls. Only where heavy plantings
had been made were there good crops in those areas that Alec considered
poor locations. Here was confirmation, indeed, here was proof, in very
truth, of the convictions that had formed in Alec's mind. He believed
that the truth about oyster grounds could be learned by any one who
would study diligently, as he had, and with an open mind. For Alec never
doubted that to him the truth was now an open secret.
All that he learned only convinced him the more that Captain Rumford's
enforced sale of his deep water beds was not the calamity the shipper
considered it. So he felt little distress when Captain Rumford was
compelled to sacrifice still another of his deep water holdings. But he
was frankly puzzled. He could not understand why this sale was
necessary. Although he knew that the shipper was losing money steadily,
he had a very fair idea as to the extent of these losses. To Alec it
seemed as though the sale of the first bed should have enabled the
captain to come through the season safely; for, though the bed had gone
at a sacrifice, nevertheless, the sum actually received for it was
large. That, with the money the captain did have, Alec thought, should
have carried him through the season. Yet it was no time at all before
the shipper was again in desperate straits. When the shipper parted
with still another of his holdings, Alec was dumfounded.
He went to Elsa with the matter. "Do you know," he asked, "why your
father found it necessary to sell his third oyster ground?"
Elsa looked at him searchingly. Alec misunderstood the look. "I am not
trying to pry into your father's affairs, Elsa," he said, "but you
know----"
"Of course you aren't, Alec," she replied. "Did you really think I
believed you were? You ought to know me better by this time, Alec. I
would never suspect you of doing anything dishonorable or discreditable.
But your question startled me. I didn't even know that father had sold
another oyster-bed. But I know he's deeply in trouble. Night after night
I hear him talking to mother about things, though I don't know what they
are saying, and mother looks so worried. And we have to be so careful
about expenses, Alec. Father has always given me almost everything I
asked for. Now he says he can't afford to spend a cent that he doesn't
just have to. I don't know what it all means, but I know he's in
trouble."
"Well, Elsa, you know I help keep his books, and I can't help knowing
something about his business. He lost money last year and he's losing
money this year. But the loss isn't so terrible that it should cause all
this distress. At least I don't see how it can be. Yet your father is
terribly worried. I can see it in a thousand ways. And he has sold
three oyster grounds now, and yet seems as hard pressed for money as
ever. You do know that I don't want to pry into his business, Elsa, but
I'd like to know more about it in a perfectly honest, friendly way.
Likely there isn't a thing in the world I can do to help him. But if
there is, I want to do it. That's why I'm asking you the present
question."
"Thank you, Alec," said Elsa. "That is very fine of you. I know you mean
every word of it. And I know it would give you pleasure to help father.
But I am as much puzzled as you are. And what you say worries me. Come
to me to-morrow night, and, meantime, I will see if I can learn what is
the matter."
A very sober-faced Elsa it was who greeted Alec on the next night.
"Come," she said. "Let us take a walk. I have lots to tell you, but I
cannot tell it here."
They left the house and walked in the moonlight along the cool country
road. On his arm Alec could feel Elsa's hand tremble. "Oh, Alec!" she
almost sobbed, when they had walked a little distance. "It's terrible,
just terrible. Father thinks he's going to lose everything he has--his
oyster grounds, his boats, all his stocks and bonds and money, and even
our very home. He says he doesn't know what is to become of us. He's too
old to make another fortune and we may have to go to the poorhouse." She
broke down and stopped in a flood of tears.
"Elsa, Elsa--dear," said Alec, "don't cry. Surely it cannot be so bad
as that. I cannot see how his indebtedness can be so great. He isn't
losing so terribly much."
She laid her head on his breast and Alec passed his arm protectingly
around her shoulders. "It isn't the oyster business at all, Alec. He has
some other debts we never even suspected. I asked him what was the
trouble and he told me everything. He said it would come easier if I
could prepare myself for the crash."
"But tell me about it, Elsa. What are these debts? Has your father been
speculating?"
"No, Alec. But he has made large investments on the partial payment
plan. If the oyster business had kept up the way it was going for two or
three years, he could have met his obligations nicely and canceled his
indebtedness. Now he not only has no revenue from his oysters to meet
the payments, but he is getting in debt deeper every day he runs his
boats."
"Why doesn't he stop running them?"
"Oh! He can't, Alec, he can't. He doesn't dare let anybody know the
situation, for nobody suspects it yet."
"But surely the banks will help him out. Why, if he has an equity in a
valuable property, even if it isn't fully paid for, the banks will
gladly lend him money."
"Oh, Alec! That's just where the trouble is. He's borrowed every cent
that anybody will lend him. He's tried and tried, and he can't borrow
another penny."
"But surely he can't be so desperately off as you think, Elsa."
"I'm afraid it's worse than I think. Mother has been crying all day.
Father said flatly that he didn't think there was a particle of hope.
He'll hang on as long as he can, in the hope that something may save
him. By selling more oyster-beds and his boats, he says he can keep his
head above water for a little while, but if he sells his grounds and his
boats, how is he ever to pay the debts he owes? Oh, Alec! It's
terrible!"
"Little girl," said Alec, "if I were to tell you that what you have just
told me makes me almost happy, I suppose you'd never speak to me again."
"Oh, Alec!" cried Elsa springing away from him. "Whatever do you mean?
You can't mean what you say."
"No, Elsa. I don't. I am distressed beyond measure about your father.
But if your father is in such bad condition financially, you wouldn't
call him rich any longer, would you?"
"Rich! Why, Alec, we'll soon be paupers. That's the very word father
used."
"Then if you are a pauper, Elsa, you wouldn't think me a fortune-hunter
if I asked you a question that's been in my heart for months, would
you?"
"I--I--I don't know," faltered Elsa. "How can I know when you haven't
even asked me?" But her tone showed very plainly that she knew.
"Are you sure you want me to ask you?" said Alec, raising her face with
his hand and looking straight into her eyes. "I'll wait--if you wish
it."
"Please--ask me," she said.
Alec bent his head and whispered in her ear.
"Are you asking because you really don't know, or just because you want
to hear me say yes?" asked Elsa, archly.
"How could I know, when you haven't told me?" retorted Alec. "And
anyway, I _do_ want to hear you say yes."
"Then I'll say it. Yes."
"Thank you, Elsa," said Alec, pressing her hand. "Now that I know, I
shall not bother you any more. What I must do, what we all must do, is
to try to save your father."
"Oh! If only he could get oysters, he'd pull through sound enough. I'm
sure of it. Prices were never higher. The shippers that have them are
coining money. If only father's beds would yield as they sometimes do,
he could meet all his interest charges and gradually pay off his debts."
"Then there's just one thing for me to do--find those oysters for him."