Williams news., 1922-02-03

none so foolish as to trust him with
 One-a condition of affairs which had
 tended to sour a disposition not nat
 uraly sweet. The yearning to com
 nand a steamboat gradually had de
 veloped into an obsession. Result
 the fast and commodious S. S. Mag
 Ee," as the United States marshal
 had had the audacity to advertise her. | In the beginning, Captain Scraggs
 had planned to do bay and river tow
 ing with the Maggie. Alas! The
 first time the unfortunate Scraggs at .Ampted to tow a heavily laden barge
 ID river, light fog had come down,
 necessitating the frequent blowing of
 the whistle. Following the sixth long
 blast, MT. McGufrey had whistled
 Scraggs on the engine-room howler;
 swearing horribly, he had demanded
 to be informed why in this and that
 the skipper didn't leave that dod-gast
 ed whistle alone. It was using up his
 steam faster than he could manufac-
 ture it. Thereafter. Scraggs had used
 a patent foghorn, and when the hon.
 est McGuffey had once more succeed
 ed in conserving sufficient steam to
 crawl up river, the tide had turned
 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. Mir. 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 a 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 although Scraggs5 argued thnt the Pa cific ocean constituted waters s..tribu- 1 tary thereto" if he understood. the | English language. the inspectors were l obdurats. What if the distance was less than twenty-five miiesy they | pointed out. The voyage was unde- Hfably coastwise and carried with 1t | all the. risk of wind and wave And I h order to impress upon Captain | Scraggs sthe weight of their authority. the inspectors. suspended for six l months, Captain Scraggs' hay and river license for, having dared to ne gotiate two coa stwise voyages without them. Furthermore. they warned him that the next lime -f'r ''-'l It they would condemn the fas: -t., ggie.4 i
 In this extremity. Fate had sent ts Captain Scraggs a large. imposing. "a pablo. but socially indifferent per son who responded to the name of Adeiberf P. GIbney, MT. Gfbney had spent part of an adventurous life in the United States navy. where he had | applied himself and acquired fsir smattering Of vfGation. Prior to en- kerins the navy he had been. a fore nnst hand in clipper ships and had held . second mates berth Follow Ing his discharge from the navy he had sailed coastwlse on steam schoon- FITS. and after attending navigation school for two months. had procured B ai'pnse ,ss~chief mate of steam, any ocean aud any tonnage
 Unesrt tunateir fur Mir Gihney hr had fa ;i,nG. Most Of us have The most genial fellow in the world, he was cursed with too much brains and mH 1irsatiNn and thirst which re- lnirc'd qw~nching around pay day Also. he had ti:at beastly habit of -ommand which is irs~psraa!~ froT., q born lender: when he held first mates berth. he was wont to try to run .te ship and. on occa Sionx adip cut suggestions to his skipper Inns. in time. he acquired a r@puta- ion for SeinS unreliable and 2 wind .1g -'th tt- rcsult t...t s4-.pper.