words,
the king surreptitiously slipped Mr. Gibney a fifty-dollar
greenback.

Mr. Gibney's great fist closed over the treasure, he having
first, by a coy glance, satisfied himself that it was really
fifty dollars. He shook hands with the king. He said:

"Blumenthal, you're a smart man. I am quite content with this
fifty to keep off your course and give you a wide berth to
starboard. I'm sensible enough to know when I'm licked, an' a
fight without profit ain't in my line. I didn't make my money
that way, Blumenthal. I'll cast off my lines and haul away from
the dock," and suiting the action to the figure, Mr. Gibney
departed.

He went first to the Seaboard Drug Store, where he quizzed the
druggist for five minutes, after which he continued his cruise.
Upon reaching the _Maggie_, he proceeded to relate in detail, and
with many additional details supplied by his own imagination, the
story of his morning's adventure.

"Gib," said McGuffey enviously, "you're a fool for luck."

"Luck," said Mr. Gibney, beginning to expand, "is what the feller
calls a relative proposition----"

"You're wrong, Gib," interposed Captain Scraggs. "Relatives is
unlucky an' expensive. Take, f'r instance, Mrs. Scraggs's
mother----"

"I mean, you lunkhead," said Mr. Gibney, "that luck is found
where brains grow. No brains, no luck. No luck, no brains. Lemme
illustrate. A thievin' land shark makes me a present o' fifty
dollars not to butt in on them two boxes I'm tellin' you about.
Him an' his gang wants them two boxes. Fair crazy to get 'em.
Now, don't it stand to reason that them fellers knows what's _in_
them boxes, or they wouldn't give me fifty dollars to haul ship?
Of course it does. However, in order to earn that fifty dollars,
I got to back water. It wouldn't be playin' fair if I didn't. But
that don't prevent me from puttin' two dear friends o' mine (here
Mr. Gibney encircled Scraggs and McGuffey with an arm each) next
to the secret which I discovers, an' if there's money in it for
old Hooky that buys me off, it stands to reason that there's
money in it for us three. What's to prevent you an' McGuffey from
goin' up to this old horse sale an' biddin' in them two boxes for
the use and benefit of Gibney, Scraggs, an' McGuffey, all share
an' share alike? You can bid as high as a hundred dollars if
necessary, an' still come out a thousand dollars to the good. I'm
tellin' you this because I know what's in them two boxes."

McGuffey was