same. He may exact a five per cent. commission for his
effort, if he wants t' be rotten mean, an' th' company has t' pay
it t' him, but otherwise we all whacks up, share an' share alike,
on profits an' losses."

"Right you are, Gib, my hearty," responded McGuffey. "Scraggs,
we'll just call that sale off, f'r th' sake o' harmony. Here's
your money. I ain't chokin' off Gibney's steam at no time, not if
I know it."

"You infernal river rats," snarled Scraggs, "I'll--I'll----"

"Stow it," Mr. Gibney commanded. "I never did see the like o'
you, Scraggs. You're all right an' good comp'ny right up until
somebody declines to let you have your own way--an' then, right
off, you fly in a rage an' git abusive. I'm gittin' weary o'
bein' ordered off your dirty little scow an' then bein' invited
back agin. One o' these bright days, when you start pulling for
the fiftieth time the modern parable o' the Prodigal Son an' the
Fatted Calf, I'm goin' to walk out o' the cast for keeps. Now, if
I was you an' valued the services of a good navigatin' officer
an' a good engineer, I'd just take a little run along the
waterfront an' cool off. Somethin' tells me that if you stick
around here argyin' with me you'll come to grief--which same is
no idle fancy, you snipe."

Captain Scraggs hastened to take advantage of this invitation,
for it stood him in hand to do so. His plans, due to Mr. Gibney's
inexplicable obstinacy, had failed to mature and he was fearful
that Gin Seng, after consulting with his tong, might return to
the _Maggie_ at any moment and ruin the deal by exposing it to
Gibney and McGuffey; therefore Scraggs resolved to run up to 714
Dupont Street and warn Gin Seng to let the matter lie in abeyance
for a couple of days, alleging as an excuse that he was being
subjected, for some unknown reason, to police surveillance.
Scraggs decided that after three days the presence of the two
dead Chinamen aboard the _Maggie_ would commence to wear on the
Gibney nerves and the deadlock over the final disposition of
their gruesome purchase would result in Gibney and McGuffey
harkening to reason and accepting a profitable compromise. If it
should cost him a leg, Captain Scraggs was resolved to make those
two corpses pay for the repairs in the _Maggie's_ engine room.

Following his departure, Messrs. Gibney and McGuffey sat on deck
smoking and striving to fathom the hidden design back of
Scraggs's offer to buy them out. "He's got his lines fa