y second mate's berth."

"I suppose you'll say next that the relief skipper will be happy in
poor old Captain Noah's berth, eh?" Matt interrupted. He grinned at Mr.
Murphy.

"Mike, listen to me. There isn't going to be any relief skipper. You're
going back to Hoquiam, Grays Harbor, Washington, U. S. A., as chief
kicker of the barkentine Retriever, and you're going to take orders from
me all the way. In fact, you might as well begin right now. Take your
duds and move into my cabin."

"Matt," Mr. Murphy pleaded earnestly, "you don't know Cappy Ricks, do
you?"

"No, but I'll get acquainted with him in due course. Don't let that
worry you Mike."

"All right, I won't. But what does worry me is the fact that Cappy Ricks
doesn't know you.

"Does he know you?"

"No."

"Do you know him?"

"Yes, by proxy. I've heard a lot about him, and that's why I'm in his
employ and resolved to stay there. If a man sails under the Blue
Star flag long enough and behaves himself and displays a little human
intelligence from time to time sooner or later he gets his chance. Cappy
Ricks does all the hiring and firing for the fleet, and whenever he has
a good job to fill, he never goes outside his own employ to fill it. He
always promotes the deserving. You cabled him, of course, that Captain
Kendall has been killed."

"Yes, I did. And I cabled him also to cable me authority to draw drafts,
as skipper, in order to disburse the vessel."

"Just like a kid! Just like a kid!" Mr. Murphy groaned. "That finishes
you, Matt. Cappy'll think you're fresh and you'll be ten years proving
to him you are not."

"It proves I'm on the job," Matt protested doggedly.

"No matter, Matt. Cappy Ricks will go over the list of his skippers
due for promotion into a larger ship and more pay, and right away he'll
start Captain Noah's successor for Cape Town to bring the ship home."

"If he does, Mike, he's crazy."

"Oh, he's crazy enough, Matt, like a fox--so blamed crazy he will not
consider handing over this Retriever to an untried and unknown man who
has been in his employ for less than a voyage. Why, I wouldn't myself."

"Maybe you think he'll hand her over to you?" Matt asked, with the
suspicion and impetuosity of youth.

"Boy," said Mr. Murphy patiently, "you're getting into deep water close
to the shore. Starboard your helm and put her on the other tack. If he
gives her to me--which he will not--I'll take her. I've been three years
in his emplo