very substantial. . . . So you see where your supposed wharf-rat
acquired the manner which you marked in him, and his good English,
and--and well, whatever else you marked."

"What is he going to do now?" asked Mrs. Van Vleck. "Oh, of course,
the _Tampico_. Is he qualified to be a captain?"

"Why, naturally; I haven't the slightest doubt of it. But Harrison
will stay with the ship for two or three more trips to break him in
thoroughly. Both companies by whom he was employed while in tugboat
work speak of him in the highest terms. It's all rather a departure.
But I feel I owe it to Merrithew; and besides, I have an idea he is the
sort of man we want. This West Indian trade is not all beer and
skittles."

"It is very interesting," said Virginia, stifling a yawn. "I hope to
see something more of him; he's a new sort and worth studying.
And--oh, father, is there any chance that we'll have that house-party
at our San Blanco estate next Spring? I mean--of course you've
promised that. What I meant was, will we go on the _Tampico_? Now
don't smile, father; you have said a dozen times you were through with
steam yachts."

"I'm not smiling," said Mr. Howland. "It is quite possible we'll go
down on the _Tampico_--unless Merrithew manages to sink her in the
meantime."

"Bully," cried the girl. "Good-night. . . . I think," she said,
speaking slowly over her shoulder--"I think we had a very successful
partee." She paused and looked doubtfully at her father. "The only
difficulty is that, now we know he is not hopelessly impossible in one
way, we have to face the fact that he is all the more impossible in
others."

"Yes," said her aunt, laughing, "as an interesting social freak we
might have used him; but as an ordinary, well-behaved steamship
captain--" Mrs. Van Vleck shrugged her shoulders expressively and
raised her eyebrows.

"Well," said the girl, "he'll be eminently eligible for the Captain's
table of the _Tampico_. Somehow I wish he had done something unusual
to-night. I had developed all sorts of strange fancies concerning him."

Now, as a matter of fact, she did not wish that at all.

CHAPTER VIII

WITS VERSUS MACHINE GUNS

Dan brought to his new duties a well-grounded knowledge of the
fundamentals of his calling, and his deficiencies, such as they were,
were skilfully eliminated by his white-haired mentor, Captain Harrison.
Among other things, this prince of ancient mariners, who had t