rced
a grin and departed, with the light intimation that he would return in
three days, and if the check was not forthcoming then he would fresco
Kelton's office with the latter's life-blood.

"Get out!" shouted Kelton laughingly. "I know money is tight and I don't
blame you for being Fido-at-the-rat-hole; but if you bother me about
that check for a week I'll not speak to you."

So Matt waited a week, and then the check reached him by mail, with a
courteous note from Kelton thanking him for his leniency. It seemed to
Matt he had scarcely acknowledged the receipt of that check before he
had to give Cappy Ricks another nine thousand dollars!

Morrow & Company were late again on the third month, but this time they
did not wait to be dunned. On the day before the payment was due Kelton
took Matt Peasley to luncheon and in the course of the meal he informed
Matt, quite casually, that he would be a little late with his check.
With two dollars' worth of his genial host's food under his belt,
Matt felt that it would be rude, to say the least, if he insisted on
settlement; so he said:

"Oh, don't worry about that, old man! Give it to me as soon as you can,
because I'm a little pinched myself."

Nevertheless, Matt was beginning to worry, for his acquaintance
throughout the trade had extended rapidly, due to his propensity for
making friends, and he had heard one or two little rumors that Morrow &
Company had bitten off more than they could chew in a few big deals of
late and had been badly pinched; in fact, to such an extent did Matt
ponder on the possibility of the company's going into the hands of the
receiver, leaving his thirty thousand dollars to disappear into the
ravening maw of the Blue Star Navigation Company, that he forgot to send
Cappy his check for nine thousand dollars the day it was due. And the
next morning Cappy himself called up and, in a voice that seemed to come
straight from a cold-storage plant, asked him what he meant by it, and
requested him--though to Matt it sounded like a peremptory demand--to
send the check over at once. So angry and humiliated did Matt feel as
a result of this dun, he could not trust himself to call with the check
but sent it by special delivery.

The Tillicum had returned from her second voyage to Panama and was about
to commence loading her third cargo when another payment fell due. To
Matt's chagrin Kelton again pleaded for delay; and again Matt settled
with Cappy Ricks prio