I beg
to . . ."

"Get out of my way!"

The other had a slight start, the impulse of suppressed indignation
perhaps, but held his ground. Massy's downward glance wandered right and
left, as though the deck all round Sterne had been bestrewn with eggs
that must not be broken, and he had looked irritably for places where
he could set his feet in flight. In the end he too did not move, though
there was plenty of room to pass on.

"I heard you say up there," went on the mate--"and a very just remark it
was too--that there's always something wrong. . . ."

"Eavesdropping is what's wrong with _you_, Mr. Sterne."

"Now, if you would only listen to me for a moment, Mr. Massy, sir, I
could . . ."

"You are a sneak," interrupted Massy in a great hurry, and even managed
to get so far as to repeat, "a common sneak," before the mate had broken
in argumentatively--

"Now, sir, what is it you want? You want . . ."

"I want--I want," stammered Massy, infuriated and astonished--"I want.
How do you know that I want anything? How dare you? . . . What do you
mean? . . . What are you after--you . . ."

"Promotion." Sterne silenced him with a sort of candid bravado. The
engineer's round soft cheeks quivered still, but he said quietly
enough--

"You are only worrying my head off," and Sterne met him with a confident
little smile.

"A chap in business I know (well up in the world he is now) used to tell
me that this was the proper way. 'Always push on to the front,' he would
say. 'Keep yourself well before your boss. Interfere whenever you get a
chance. Show him what you know. Worry him into seeing you.' That was his
advice. Now I know no other boss than you here. You are the owner, and
no one else counts for _that_ much in my eyes. See, Mr. Massy? I want to
get on. I make no secret of it that I am one of the sort that means to
get on. These are the men to make use of, sir. You haven't arrived at
the top of the tree, sir, without finding that out--I dare say."

"Worry your boss in order to get on," mumbled Massy, as if awestruck by
the irreverent originality of the idea. "I shouldn't wonder if this was
just what the Blue Anchor people kicked you out of the employ for. Is
that what you call getting on? You shall get on in the same way here if
you aren't careful--I can promise you."

At this Sterne hung his head, thoughtful, perplexed, winking hard at
the deck. All his attempts to enter into confidential relations with
his owner