Middletown transcript., 1921-10-22

and the Maggie could not buck the
ebb. McGuffey declared a few new
tubes In the boiler would do the trick
but on the other hand, Mr.. Gibney
pointed out that the old craft was
practically punk aft and stiff tow
would jerk the tail off the old girl. In
despair, therefore Captain Scraggs
had abandoned bay and river towing
and was prepared to jump overheard
and end all, when an opportunity Of
fered for the freighting Of garden
truck and dairy produce from Half
moon bay to San Francisco.
But now difficulty arose. The new
run was an "outside" one-salt water
all the way. Under the ruling of the
inspectors, the Maggie would be run
ming coastwise the instant she en-
gagged in the green-pea and string-bean
trade, and Captain Scraggs' license
provided for no such contingency. His
ticket entitled him to act as master
on the waters of San Francisco bay
and the waters tributary thereto, and
although Scraggs argued that the Pa-
cific ocean constituted waters "tribu-
tary thereto" If he understood the
English language, the inspectors were
Obdurate. What If the distance was
less than twenty-five miles? they
pointed out. The voyage was unde-
niably coastwise and carried with 1t
all the risk of wind and wave. And
in order to impress upon Captain
Scraggs the weight of their authority,
the inspectors suspended for six
months Captain Scraggs' bay and
river license for having dared to ne
gotiate two coastwise voyages without
consulting them. Furthermore, they
warned him that the next time he did
it they would condemn the fast and
commodious Maggie.
In this extremity, Fate had sent to
Captain Scraggs a large, imposing,
capable, but socially Indifferent per-
son who responded to the name of
Adelbert P. Gibney. Mr.. Gibney had
spent part of an adventurous life in
the United States navy, where he had
applied himself and acquired fair
smattering of navigation. Prior to en-
tering the navy he had been fore
mast hand in clipper ships and had
held second mates berth. Follow
ing his discharge from the navy he
had sailed coastwise on steam schoon-
ers, and after attending a navigation
school for two months had procured
a license as chief mate Of steam, any
ocean and any tonnage.
Unfortunately for Mr.. Gibney, he
had failing. Most Of us have. The
most genial fellow in the world, he
was cursed with too much brains and
Imagination and thirst which re-
quired quenching around pay day.
Also, he had that beastly habit of
command which is inseparable from a
born leader; when he held a first
mates berth, he was wont to try to
run the ship" and, on occasions,
ladle out suggestions to his skipper.
Thus, in time, he acquired reputa-
ton for being unreliable and wind
bag, with the result that shippers
we're chary Of engaging him. Not to
be too prolix, at the time Captain
Scraggs made the disheartening iis-
covery that he had to have skipper
for the Maggie, Mr.. Gibney found
| himself reduced to the alternative of
longshore work or a fo'castle berth in
a windjammer bound for blue water.
With alacrity, therefore, Mr.. Glib
ney had accepted Scraggs' offer of
seventy-fve dollars month-"and
found"-to skipper the Maggie on her
coastwise run. AS a first mate of
steam he had no difficulty inducing
the inspectors to grant him license
to skipper such an abandoned craft
as the Maggie, and accordingly he
hung up his ticket in her pilot house
and was registered as her master, al
belt. under a gentleman's agreement
| with Scraggs he was not to claim the
title of captain and was known to
the world as the Maggie's first mate.
second mate, third mate, quartermas-
ter. purser and freight clerk. One
Neils HalvOrsen, a solemn Swede with
placid, bovine disposition, consti.
tuted the fo'castle hands, while Bart
McGuffey, wastrel of the Gibney
type but slower-witted, reigned su.
preme in the engine room. Also his
case resembled that Of Mr.. Gibney in
that McGuffey's job on the Maggie
was the first he had had in six months
and he treasured it accordingly. For
this reason he and Gibney had been
inclined to take considerable slack
from Captain Scraggs until McGuffey
discovered that, in all probability, nc
engineer in the world. except him
self, would have the courage to trust
himself within range Of the Maggie's
boilers, and, consequently, he had
Captain Scraggs more or less at his
mercy. Upon imparting this suspicion
to Mr.. Gibney, the latter decided that
it would be cold day, indeed, wher
his ticket would not constitute clut
wherewith to make Scraggs. as Glib
ney expressed it, mind his P's and
Q's."
It will be seen, therefore, that mu
tual necessity held this queerly as
sorted trio together. and, though they
auarreled furiOusly, nevertheless, witt
the passage of time their own weak
nesses and those Of the Maggie hat
aroused in each for the other curl
GUS affection. While Captain Scraggs
frequently pulled" monumental
bluff and threatened to dismiss bOtf
Gibney and McGuffey-and. in fact
occasionally went so far as to order
them off his ship, on their part Glib