business
is a gamble and every investment is a bet; hence, a good business man is
a good gambler."

Cappy Ricks sighed.

"There is a special providence," he said, "that looks after fools,
drunken men and sailors."

CHAPTER XXXIX. EASY MONEY

Captain Matt Peasley's first act after consummating his first successful
deal was to purchase for the Pacific Shipping Company a membership in
the Merchants' Exchange, on the floor of which he knew he would meet
daily all the shipping men of San Francisco, and thus be enabled to keep
in touch with trade conditions.

He had been a member less than a week when the wisdom of spending five
hundred dollars for his membership was made delightfully apparent. While
he stood watching the secretary chalk on the blackboard the record of
the latest arrivals and departures, he heard a man behind him speaking:

"Heyfuss, I'm in the market to charter another freighter for the Panama
run. You might look round and see whether you can line something up for
us. I'd like about a two-thousand-ton boat; and we could charter her for
a year."

"There's only one vessel available," the man addressed as Heyfuss
answered; "and that's the Tillicum. Cappy Ricks had her laid up in
Oakland Creek--"

Matt moved away and approached a clerk at the desk.

"That dark-haired man with the thick glasses, talking with Mr. Heyfuss,"
he said--"who is he?"

"That is Mr. Henry Kelton, manager of G. H. Morrow Company," the clerk
answered. "They operate a line of sailing vessels foreign and half a
dozen steamers to South American ports."

Matt thanked him, entered a telephone booth and on consulting the
telephone directory, discovered that J. O. Heyfuss was a broker.

"I'll have to step lively to beat Heyfuss to it," he soliloquized,
and forthwith hastened down to the office of the Blue Star Navigation
Company.

"Well, young man!" Cappy greeted him genially. "How about you?"

"Never mind me. How about the Tillicum?"

"Laid up in Oakland Inner Harbor waiting for better times."

"I think I can give her some business. Would you charter her to the
Pacific Shipping Company?"

"Well," Cappy replied, "I might be induced to take a chance in these
hard times. How much money have you in bank to-day?"

"In a pinch I could lay my hands on thirty thousand, cash."

"Well," said Cappy thoughtfully, "that little roll, plus an established
credit and a reputation for business experience, might carry you far
with s