e along forty foot o'
twisted pipe railin', a wrecked bridge, three bent stanchions an'
every door an' window on the starboard side o' the ship stove in,
while the passengers crowded the rail lookin' cold an' miserable,
pea-green an' thankful. No need for me to do any explainin'. He
knew. He throws his dead fish eye up to me on what's left o' the
bridge an' I felt my job was vacant.

"'We was hit by a sea or two on Humboldt bar, sir,' I says, as if
gettin' hit by a sea or two an' havin' the ship gutted was an
every-day experience."

"'Is that so, Hicks?' says he sweetly. 'Well, now, if you hadn't
told me that I'd ha' jumped to the conclusion that a couple o'
the mess boys had got fightin' an' wrecked the ship before you
could separate 'em. Why in this an' that,' he says, 'didn't you
stick inside when any dumb fool could see the bar was breakin'?'

"'I wanted to keep the comp'ny's sailin' schedule unbroken, sir,'
I says, tryin' to be funny.

"'Well, Captain,' he says, 'it 'pears to me you've broken damned
near everything else tryin' to do it.'

"I was certain he was goin' to set me down, but the worst I got
was a three months' lay-off to teach me common sense----"

The telephone rang and Tiernan answered. Hicks and Flaherty
hitched forward in their chairs to listen.

"Hello.... Yes, Red Stack office.... Steamer _Yankee Prince_....
What's that?... silk and rice?... Half a mile below the Cliff
House, eh?... Sure, I'll send a tug right away, Lindstrom."

Tiernan hung up and faced the two skippers. "Gentlemen," he
announced, "here's a chance for a little salvage money to-night.
The American steamer _Yankee Prince_ is ashore half a mile below
the Cliff House. She's a big tramp with a valuable cargo from
Hong Kong, with her rudder gone and her crank shaft busted."

"It's high water at twelve thirty-seven," Jack Flaherty pleaded.
"You'd better send me, Tiernan. The _Bodega_ has more power than
the _Aphrodite_."

This was the truth and Dan Hicks knew it, but he was not to be
beaten out of his share of the salvage by such flimsy argument.
"Jack," he pleaded, "don't be a hog all the time. The _Yankee
Prince_ is an eight thousand ton vessel and it's a two-tug job.
Better send us both, Tiernan, and play safe. Chances are our
competitors have three tugs on the way right now."

"What a wonderful imagination you have, Dan. Eight thousand tons!
You're crazy, man. She's thirteen hundred net register and I know
it because