e the
interview. But--I--think he'll meet my terms, because he sees I'm
pretty young and inexperienced, and he figures he'll make ten or twenty
thousand dollars out of me before I discover I'm a rotten promoter. And,
at that, his is better than an even-money bet!"

At five o'clock that same day MacCandless telephoned.

"I have called a special meeting of our directors, Captain Peasley," he
announced, "and put your proposition up to them. They have agreed to it,
and if you will be at my office at ten o'clock to-morrow I think we can
do business."

"I think so," Matt answered. "I'll be there."

He hung up, reached for a telegraph blank and wrote the following
message:

San Francisco, July 28, 1914.

Terence Reardon,
Chief Engineer, S. S. Arab,
Port Costa, California.

Have bought Narcissus. Offer you one hundred seventy-five a
month quit Arab now and supervise installation new crank shaft,
retubing condensers, and so on; permanent job as chief. Do you
accept? Answer immediately.

PACIFIC SHIPPING COMPANY,
Matthew Peasley, President.

Having dispatched this message, Matt Peasley closed down his desk,
strolled round to the Blue Star Navigation Company's offices, and
picked up his newly acquired father-in-law. On their way home in Cappy's
carriage the old gentleman, apropos of the afternoon press dispatches
from Europe, remarked that the situation abroad was anything but
encouraging.

"Do you think we'll have a war in Europe?" Matt queried.

"Germany seems determined to back up Austria in her demands on Serbia,
and I don't think Serbia will eat quite all of the dish of dirt Francis
Joseph has set before her," Cappy answered seriously. "Austria seems
determined to make an issue of the assassination of the Archduke
Ferdinand and his wife. If she does, Matt, there'll be the most awful
war in history. All Europe will be fighting."

Matt was silent and thoughtful all the way home, but just before they
left the carriage he turned to Cappy.

"If there's war," he remarked, "England will, doubtless, control the
seas because of her superior navy. German commerce will absolutely
cease."

"The submarine will have to be reckoned with, also," Cappy suggested.
"England's commerce will doubtless be knocked into a cocked hat."

"There'll be a shortage of bottoms, and vessels will be in brisk
demand," Matt predicted.