etting mid-July prices in June, that Jack MacRae
was the first buyer who had not tried to hold down prices by pulling a
poor mouth and telling fairy tales of poor markets in town. He had
jumped prices before there was any competitive spur. They admired young
MacRae. He had nerve; he kept his word.

Wherefore it did not take them long to decide that he was a good man to
keep going. As a result of this decision other casual buyers got few
fish even when they met MacRae's price.

When he had run a little over a month MacRae took stock. He paid the
Crow Harbor Canning Company, which was Stubby Abbott's trading name, two
hundred and fifty a month for charter of the _Blackbird_. He had
operating outlay for gas, oil, crushed ice, and wages for Vincent
Ferrara, whom he took on when he reached the limit of single-handed
endurance. Over and above these expenses he had cleared twenty-six
hundred dollars.

That was only a beginning he knew,--only a beginning of profits and of
work. He purposely thrust the taking of salmon on young Ferrara, let him
handle the cash, tally in the fish, watched Vincent nonchalantly chuck
out overripe salmon that careless trollers would as nonchalantly heave
in for fresh ones if they could get away with it. For Jack MacRae had it
in his mind to go as far and as fast as he could while the going was
good. That meant a second carrier on the run as soon as the Folly Bay
cannery opened, and it meant that he must have in charge of the second
boat an able man whom he could trust. There was no question about
trusting Vincent Ferrara. It was only a matter of his ability to handle
the job, and that he demonstrated to MacRae's complete satisfaction.

Early in June MacRae went to Stubby Abbott.

"Have you sold the _Bluebird_ yet?" he asked.

"I want to let three of those _Bird_ boats go," Stubby told him. "I
don't need 'em. They're dead capital. But I haven't made a sale yet."

"Charter me the _Bluebird_ on the same terms," Jack proposed.

"You're on. Things must be going good."

"Not too bad," MacRae admitted.

"Folly Bay opens the twentieth. We open July first," Stubby said
abruptly. "How many bluebacks are you going to get for us?"

"Just about all that are caught around Squitty Island," MacRae said
quietly. "That's why I want another carrier."

"Huh!" Stubby grunted. His tone was slightly incredulous. "You'll have
to go some. Wish you luck though. More you get the better for me."

"I expect to de