Cappy shook his head.
"A dirty Yankee trick," he continued, "and I love you for it--in fact,
it breaks my heart not to make good that grandstand play you just pulled
on Skinner, but I've changed my mind about hiring you yet. I'm just
going to sit back and have some fun watching you defend that little old
twenty-thousand dollars I just gave you. Do you know, Matt, that I
never knew a man to save up a thousand dollars, by denying himself many
things, that he didn't invest the thousand in a wild-cat mine or a dry
oil well? Ah, Matt, it's those first few dollars that come so hard and
go so easy that break most men's hearts; but here you are with twenty
thousand that came so easy I've just naturally got to see how hard they
go! You'll be worth more money to me, Matt, and you'll be a safer man to
handle this business when I'm gone, if you go out and play the game for
a while by yourself. You have a secret itching to do it anyhow, Matt,
and in surrendering to me just now you went down with your colors
flying. You just wanted to be kind to the old man, didn't you? Well, I
appreciate it, Matt, because I'm an old man, and I know how hard it is
for a boy to yield to an old man's wishes; but youth must be served,
and God forbid that I should rob you of the joy of the conflict, my boy.
When you're busted flat and need some more money, you may have it up
to the amount to your credit on our books. And when that's gone I guess
you'll make a better port captain than you will this morning. Does that
program suit you better than the one I originally outlined?"

Matt flushed and hung his head in embarrassment, but answered
truthfully: "Yes, sir."

"Very well," said Cappy, relapsing into one of his frequent
colloquialisms, "go to it, boy. Eat it up."

CHAPTER XXXVI. CAPPY FORBIDS THE BANS--YET

Cappy Ricks sat at breakfast, tapping meditatively on the apex of
a boiled egg, when his daughter swished into the room, saluted her
interesting parent by depositing a light kiss on his bald and ingenuous
head, and took her place at the table.

Florence Ricks was a radiant vision in a filmy pink breakfast gown and
cap, and as she smiled perkily at Cappy he returned her bright look with
one a trifle sad and yearning.

"Florence, my love," said Cappy gently, "have you, by any chance, talked
with that big, two-fisted sailor of yours within the past twelve hours?"

She shook her head negatively, tilting her nose and pursing her lips in
an a