The San Francisco call. [volume] (San Francisco [Calif.]) 1895-1913, 1906-11-18

towbOat in Boston harbor. jumped
up from his berth in the pilot
house with a yell that could be heard
across tho stream.
Hey. Pete he shouted. waving a
morning paper about his head. The
northern liner Ionian's ashore IN scitu-
ate shoal. cap'n O1Iara drove her on
last night in the fog. Remember
OHarae"
No. replied Pete. drowsiiy. LIE
me sleep
Bob reached over and gave his mate
hearty poke in the ribs. You wake
Up, want TO talk to you
Pete gruntod. then sat up, rubbing
his eyes.
Look here. Pete. you must remem-
Der OHara. He's the fellow who lied
SO about Us 10 the license board the
time we poizod the O'Brlen into the
ferry-boet. You remember that, I guess.
Here. read that" and he handed Pete
the paper pointing to an article on the
front page with his big forennger.
Pete was wide awake in a second. He
read the story slowly. spelling out the
words with difficulty. then lit his pipe
and smoked renectivoly Tor few min
utes.
well. asked Bob. impatientIy.
cant sou see a chance to square
yards?"
'U-u-n. l see the game" Pete aver
red slowly Bat itll be pretty rough
Of s.tooate and 4 wet job, and o'Hara
won't take Zoo line from as il the mari
time boats is around. And if he don't.
or we smash up the Titan, yen lose
ytAlr license and III lose me job
who's talking about smashing up
the Titan2~ demanded Bob. What
about making pot Of money instcad?"
That's all right" his mate replied,
but you got TO think of it. We might
fool the cap'n. and IL we did, the boss'd
be tickled to death. Dunno but it's
worth Try. The ganGll go. They're
pretty well done up with work. but l
guess they'll take a cnance."
Those maritime fellows are a lot of
dubs anyway" declared Bob. and they
haven't decent fast boat since the
get down to the shoal before they do
anything; it's only : o'clock now. We've
got all day-'
The Titan had arrived in Boston har
Dor the night before, towing No. Dig
ger. All through the summer her crew
had been working like dogs on big
Job that had been promised by October,
and as there was big forfeit il the
work was not completed on schedule
time the whole outfit had been on the
! 5ump from morning till night. and
sometimes all n 'ght, too. Now they were
10 help on widening Broad Sound at
which about all the dredging compa-
mics Of the East had been put to work
by the Government, and which bade fair
TO keep every one busy for the next
year or Two.
They had tied UP at the dock, ex-
pecting to take the digger down the
hsrbor al daybreak. But the gale, be-
fore which they had rushed down the
coast. had not yet entirely lattened
out, and it was thought dangerous TO
anchor the dredge so near the reefs,
where the work was TO be done On
this account the crew had been given a
days lay-off, which was just what they
needed and which they were to spend
in their hunks. turning in after break
fast.
The proposition to pull of the Ionian.
however put matters in another light,
end, as Pete had declared, every one
was in favor Of trying All Of the men
were well tagged out from their last
two weeks Of hard WORK. but the
thought of the bundle" they would
get If successful outweighed all other
considerations If anything went wrong
they would probably lose their jobs.
but what's a dollar a day job when
balanced against a couple Of hundred
dollars salvage?
There were several reasons why Bob
NcIntire wanted to pull the Ionian off
the shoaI In the first place, there was
Just enough uncertainty and danger
about the job TO appeal to him. He
always liked to take chances and he
knew not fear. In the second place.
the project gave him a long-sought OPP
portunity TO make a grandstand play
before his owners and get square with
an enemy. He did not waste any time
figuring out what would happen TO him
if he were unsuccessful or IL he stove
up the Ionian, but he did know, and
mighty well. what would be the result
AZ he pulled her of.
After many years of Flooding along
as mate Bob" McInUire had got a big
towboat the Titan. from Black Bros
and things had gone along pretty
smoothly once he came near blowing
into another towboat, whose captain
took more than his share of the chan
mel. and once he just missed landing
on bad reef in the dark. but these
near wrecks" as he called them. really
could not be counted against him.
Joe" Black, the general manager of
the company, had never forgotten the
O'Brien episode. when Bob" running
one OF the company's small tugs, had
coIlided with a ferry boat and smashed
things up generally. He did not like
Bob" and had given him the Titan
under protest and II was an open Sc
cret on the mud diggers that he was
soon 10 displace the young captain with
an older and more experienced man.
Bob" who was well aware OF this,
did not purpose losing his berth II he
could help it, Long ago he had come
to the conclusion that the only thing
for him to do was TO impress thor
oughly upon his owners. and upon
Joe" Black in particular, that he was
he smartest towboat captain in the
Aharbor; in other words, he would make
some great coup which would coin
money for the company.
Although Bob" had no idea how he
was 10 accomplish this, he had long
been watching for any opportunity that
seemed promising. As he read the