y ton a day, the big tears'd come into
the two eyes av him--the Lord ha' mercy on his sowl!"

"You never had any trouble with her engines," Matt suggested.

"I had throuble keepin' shteam enough in the b'ilers to run thim; but
I'll say this for her ingines: Give them a chancet an' they'd run like a
chronometer."

"Would you consider an offer to leave the Arab and be chief of the
Narcissus?" Matt queried. "I'm thinking of buying her, and if I do
I'll give you twenty-five dollars a month above the regular Association
scale."

"I'll go ye," murmured Reardon, "on wan condition: Ye'll shpend some
money in her ingine room, else 'tis no matther av use for ye to talk
to me. I'll not be afther breakin' me poor heart for the sake av
twenty-five dollars a month. Sure, 'twould be wort' that alone to see
the face av ye, young man, afther wan look at the coal bill."

"What repairs would you suggest? Do you think she needs another boiler?
I noticed she has two. We could move those two over and make room for
another."

"Do nothing av the sort, sir. Before ould Webb got her she'd been usin'
bad wather down on the East African Coast, I'm thinkin', and it raised
hell wit' her. 'Tis the expinse av retubin' her condensers that always
frightened ould Webb, and whin he lost conthrol the blatherskite booby
av a port ingineer the new owners app'inted come down to the ship,
looked her over, wit' niver a question to me that knew the very sowl
av her, and reported to the owners that what she needed was another
b'iler." And Terence Reardon laughed the short, mirthless chuckle of the
man who knows.

"Then," Matt continued, "the money should be spent--"

"In retubing her condensers," declared the engineer emphatically. "Do
that an' do a good job on her, an' she'll have shteam enough for thim
fine big ingines av hers on thirty-two ton a day, an' less. An' have a
care would ye buy her until she ships a new crank shaft. She's a crack
in the web av the afther crank shaft ye could shtick a knife blade into.
She may run for years, but sooner or later some wan'll have a salvage
claim agin ye if ye neglect it now. An', for the love av heaven, have
nothin' to do wit' her big motor. 'Twas bur-rnt out by him that had
her ahead av me--bad cess to him, whereiver he is! An' they did a poor,
cheap job av windin' the armature agin. Ye'll be in hot wather wit' the
electric-light system until ye put in a new motor.

"The rheostat on the searchlight niver wa