his earlier efforts as a caterer.

"It's nothing to wot I'd do if I could afford it," he added graciously.
"But, as you said, let's look at the fax. Wot chance 'as an iron ship,
built twenty years ago, at a cost of sixteen pound a ton, ag'in a steel
ship of to-day, at seven pound a ton, with twiced the cargo space, an'
three feet less draught? W'y no earthly. We're dished every way. We
cost more to run; we can't jump 'arf the bars; we can't carry 'arf the
stuff; we pay double insurance; an' we're axed to find interest on
more'n double the capital. As you say, Jimmie, wot bloomin' chanst
'ave we?"

Coke smoked silently; he had said none of these things, but when the
shipowner's glance suddenly dwelt on him, he nodded. Silent
acquiescence on his part, however, was not what Verity wanted. He,
too, knew when to hold his tongue. After a long interval, during which
a robin piped a merry roundelay from the depths of a neighboring pink
hawthorn, Coke dug out a question.

"Premium gone up, then?" he inquired.

"She's on a twelve-month rate. It runs out in September. If you're
lucky, an' fill up with nitrate soon, you may be 'ome again. If not,
I'll 'ave to whack up a special quotation. After that, there'll be no
insurance. The _Andromeeda_ goes for wot she'll fetch."

Another pause; then Coke broached a new phase.

"Meanin' that I lose the two thousand pounds I put in 'er to get my
berth?" he said huskily.

"An' wot about me? _I_ lose eight times as much. Just think of it!
Sixteen thousand pounds would give me a fair balance to go on wi' i'
these hard times, an' your two thou' would make the skipper's job in my
new ship a certainty."

Coke's brick-red face darkened. He breathed hard.

"Wot new ship?" he demanded.

Verity smiled knowingly.

"It's a secret, Jimmie, but I must stretch a point for a pal's sake.
Dickey Bulmer's goin' to marry my niece, an' 'e 'as pledged himself to
double the capital of the firm. Now I've let the cat out of the bag.
I'm sorry, ole man--pon me soul, I am--but w'en Dickey's name crops up
on 'Change you know as well as me 'ow many captain's tickets will be
backed wi' t' brass."

This time, if so minded, the robin might have trilled his song _adagio
con sostenuto_ without fear of interruption by those harsh voices.
Neither man spoke during so long a time that the break seemed to impose
a test of endurance; in such a crisis, he who has all at stake will
yield rather than