Matt Peasley

“ I rejected the young man's proposition and condemned him to a business of his own.”
“But you wanted him for your port captain, Daddy dear. You wanted him the very worst way.”
“And that's just how I got him, Florry. I don't want any man whose heart is not in his job, and a business man should never surrender for sentimental reasons. You cannot mix sentiment and business, daughter; if you do you'll get chaos. Matt Peasley surrendered to me—not because he wanted to, but to please you. ”

“ CHAPTER XLVII. THE TAIL GOES WITH THE HIDE
The following morning Matt called upon MacCandless, the general manager of the Oriental Steamship Company. Mr. MacCandless was a cold individual of Scotch ancestry, with a scent for a dollar a trifle keener than most; and Matt Peasley, young and inexperienced in business fencing, was never more aware of his deficiencies than when he faced MacCandless across the latter's desk. ”

“ I told you all fights on my ship are pulled off under my rules. I always fight with two-ounce gloves.”
“All righd. Suit yourself.” All Hands And Feet felt he could afford to give the enemy a trifle the better of the argument without the slightest prejudice to his own chances for success.
Accordingly, Mr. Murphy skillfully bandaged Matt Peasley's hands, drew on the gloves and gently shoved his young champion toward the center of the deck. “Let 'er go!” he announced.
“Come Swede! Present your credentials!” Matt taunted. His long left flashed out and cuffed All Hands And Feet on the nose. ”

“ Then he clinched with Matt Peasley.
“A good fight,” said Cappy Ricks half an hour after Matt Peasley had been pried away from Mr. Skinner and forced to listen to reason, “is the grandest thing in life. Now there's that crazy boy gone out in a rage just because he had the presumption to tangle with me in a business deal and get dog-gone well licked! He put it all over me yesterday, thinking I couldn't protect myself. Well, he knows better now, Skinner; he knows better now! In-fer-nal young scoundrel! Wow, but wasn't he a wild man, Skinner? Wasn't he though?” And Cappy Ricks chuckled. ”

“ A new boat and four days' work for a carpenter gang—perhaps eighteen hundred dollars' worth of damage, not counting the demurrage! It was a big price to pay for one brief moment of triumph, but Matt Peasley felt that it would have been cheap at twice the money. He passed round on the starboard side of the vessel and found Mr. Skinner wet to the skin and shivering.
“We're over,” Matt announced cheerfully. “How did you like the going?”
“You villain!” Skinner cried passionately. “You'll never command another ship in the Blue Star fleet, I'll promise you that.” ”

“ That same evening Cappy sneaked into his daughter's apartments and found a photograph of Matt Peasley in a hammered silver frame on Florry's dressing table.
“Holy sailor!” he chuckled. “They think they're putting one over on the old gentleman, don't they? Trying to cover me with blood, eh? Huh! If I'd let that fellow Matt stay ashore he'd have hung round Florry until he wore out his welcome, and I suppose in the long run I'd have had to put up with one of these lawn-tennis, tea-swilling young fellows too proud to work. ”

“ Matt's peaceful acquiescence in his owner's program merely served to arouse Cappy Ricks' abnormal curiosity. The more he thought of Matt Peasley the greater grew his desire for a closer scrutiny. The most amazing man in the world had been in his employ a year and a half, and as yet they had never met; unless the Retriever should happen to be loaded for San Francisco years might elapse before they should see each other; and now that he had attained to his allotted three score years and ten Cappy decided that he could no longer gamble on the future.
He summoned Mr. Skinner. ”

“ He glanced from her to her father.
“He's handsome,” thought Florry. “What a beautiful tan on his throat! He looks anything but the brute he is. But he hasn't any manners. Oh, dear! He stands there like a graven image.”
Matt Peasley's hand came out of his pocket; off came his cap and he bowed slightly.
“I am Captain Peasley,” he said.
Cappy Ricks, leaning forward on the edge of his swivel chair, with head slightly bent, made a long appraisal of the young man over the rims of his spectacles.
“Ahem!” he said. “Huh! Harumph!” Ensued another terrible silence. Then: “Young scoundrel!” ”

“ He gets results because he does his duty and doesn't sidestep for man or devil. And he's able to do his duty and do it well because he has a clear understanding of what his duty is—and that, Skinner, is the kind of skipper material I've been looking for all my life. As for the boy's horsepower, let me tell you this: If Matt Peasley wasn't any bigger than I am, he'd fight any man that tried to walk over him. It's in his breed. Damn it, sir, he's a Yankee skipper, and when you've said that you're through. I guess I know. How much have we been paying that bully Kjellin? ”

“ But Matt Peasley only shook his head.
“I can't do it, sir,” he said. “While deeply appreciative of all you want to do for me, the fact is, if I'm going to marry your daughter—and I am—I'm not going to do it on your money and be dependent upon you for a job. I'll be my own man, Mr. Ricks. I never ask odds of any man, and I don't like to work for a relative.”
“Damn your Yankee independence,” snapped Cappy angrily. “Why do you oppose me?” ”

“ The captain, thereupon, bawled for the second mate, who came running. Matt noticed this and decided that should the Old Man ever bawl for him he would come running too.
“Mr. Swenson, you have a chief mate's license, have you not?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Very well. You're the first mate. Mr. Lindstrom”—turning to the bosun—“you've waited a year for your chance, and here it is. You're the second mate. Bosun!” He was looking straight at Matt Peasley as he spoke. Matt did not stir. “Hey, there,” the skipper roared, “you big mountain of meat, step lively!” ”

“ He kissed her hungrily.
“Oh, I'm a devil in my own home town!” he replied, and trotted back to his neglected breakfast. “If Matt hasn't made good as a business man within six months, or has lost his bank roll—and I intend to see to it that he does lose it, if I ever get a hack at him—we'll pull off this wedding anyhow. I guess there's room enough in this house for three.”
At nine o'clock Cappy Ricks, with a lilt in his heart, drove down to his office behind his team of high-stepping bays. At the corner of California and Drumm Streets he saw Matt Peasley and hailed him. ”

“ Murphy nodded politely to the American consul.
“Excuse me,” he said. “The bigger they are the harder they fall, and the Retriever's deck ain't no nice place to bump a man's head. I'll just skip round in back and catch him in my arms.”
Which being done, Mr. Murphy laid All Hands And Feet gently on deck, walked to the scuttle butt, procured a dipperful of water and threw it into the gory, battered face. Matt Peasley had simply walked round him and, with the advantage of a superior reach, had systematically cut Captain Ole Peterson to strings and ribbons. ”

“ You had the sweetest case of salvage against our vessel that any man could go into court with, and you kicked it away like that, just for your own selfish ends. You sacrificed your shipmates, who would have been awarded a pro rata of the salvage, and you were false to the trust your owners reposed in you.”
Cappy stood up, his face pale with fury, and shook an admonitory finger under Matt Peasley's nose.
“That act, sir, is an index of your true character,” he thundered. “A master who will deceive his owners, who will be false to their interests, is a scoundrel, sir ”

“ CHAPTER XLIV. SKINNER DEVELOPS INTO A HUMAN BEING
Cappy Ricks was having his mid-afternoon siesta in his office when Captain Matt Peasley appeared at the counter of the general office and, without awaiting an invitation to enter, swung through the office gate and made straight for Cappy's office. En route he had to pass through Mr. Skinner's lair, and the general manager looked up as Matt entered. ”

“ Cappy answered sadly.
“We're going to leave the president emeritus on the job,” Matt repeated, “while I go to Europe and pick up a couple of big British tramps, under the provisions of the recent Emergency Shipping Act, and stick 'em under the American flag. Regardless of what the other fellows may do or think, the fact is we're American citizens; and we're going to do our duty and help establish an American mercantile marine. Skinner, we'll make the Blue Star flag known on the Seven Seas.”
Cappy Ricks sprang into the air and got one thin old arm round Matt Peasley's neck ”

“ Again Cappy Ricks squirmed. Mr. Skinner commenced to gnaw his thumb nail.
“That message broke me all up,” Matt continued sadly. “It destroyed completely my faith in human nature and demonstrated beyond a doubt that there is no such thing in this world as fair play in business. It's like a waterfront fight. You just get your man down and everything goes—kicking, biting, gouging, knee-work!” Matt sighed dolorously and drew from his vest pocket a scrap of paper. ”

“ You're a little too uppish yet, Matt. You must be chastened, and the only way to chasten a man and make him humble is to turn him loose to fight with the pack for a while. Consequently I'm going to turn you loose, Matt; there are some wolves along California Street that will take your twenty thousand away from you so fast that you won't know it's going till it's gone. But the loss will do you a heap of good—and I guess Florry can wait a while. ”

“ He had me where the hair is short, Matt; he had me where I dassen't defy my own general manager! Yes, sir, that was the long and short of it. I dassen't call his bluff, because he doesn't bluff worth a cent, and I happen to know some of my competitors would like to get him away from me. A good man is always in demand, Matt; never forget that. You see, Skinner has been carrying the burden of this business for the past ten years practically, and he threatened to toss that burden back on me. ”

“ No, sir. It's a promise. McBride is a splendid little man and game to the core; but no good, game little man will ever stay on a deck if a good, game big man takes a notion to throw him overboard, and the man Peasley is both big and game, otherwise he would not defy us. Why, Skinner, that fellow wouldn't pause at anything. Hasn't he spent over a hundred dollars arguing with us by cable? ”

“ Mr. Hudner snorted. “I'd like to know what the devil Cappy Ricks wants of my Unicorn when he's got her infernal sister squatting in the mud of Oakland Creek? There's something rotten in Denmark, Mr. Peasley. There always is when that old scoundrel Ricks does incomprehensible things.”
“Very likely he's up to some skullduggery, sir,” Matt opined.
“I wish you had informed me of the identity of your client, Mr. Peasley,” Hudner complained. “I don't like to sign this charter.”
“I cannot help that now, sir,” Matt retorted. ”

“ Matt replied happily, and started back to the Retriever in a hurry. He had been gone less than twenty minutes, a fact noted by the astute Murphy, who met his superior at the rail as the latter climbed up the Jacob's ladder.
“Why, you haven't cleared the old girl so soon, have you, sir?” he queried.
“Read that,” Matt announced dramatically.
Mr. Murphy read the telegram. “Bust my bob-stay!” he murmured. “The dirty old assassin! The slimy old pile-worm! The blessed old duffer! ”

“ As I believe I wired you, I'm going to put you in steam.”
“You didn't consult me about it, sir; but, to please you, I'll tackle steam. I'm very grateful for your interest in me, Mr. Ricks.”
“Huh! That's not true, Matt. You're not grateful; and if you are you have no business to be. I paid you a hundred and twenty-five dollars a month to skipper the Retriever; you earned every cent of it and I made you fight for the job; so, no thanks to me. And I know for a fact that you and Mr. Murphy cursed me up hill and down dale—”
“Oh, Captain Peasley!” ”

“ Skinner rang for the girl and retired in high dudgeon, while Cappy Ricks smote his corrugated brow and brought forth the following:
Captain Matthew Peasley, Master Barkentine Retriever, Hall's Dry Dock, Eagle Harbor, Wash. “Yes; that was a grave oversight sending you to Antofagasta without docking you first. Express my appreciation of Murphy's forethought in killing some of the worms. Am not kind of owner that lets a ship go to glory to make dividends. Keep your vessel in top-notch shape at all times, though I realize this instruction unnecessary to you. ”

“ She'll be shored up by the time you get down there. Make a good quick examination of the damage and hurry back so I can talk it over with you. I go a heap on your judgment, Matt.”
“I'll start right away, sir,” Matt promised, glad of any opportunity to favor Cappy.
Two hours later, on his way back to the Mission Street bulkhead, he passed, in Mission Bay, a huge, rusty red box of a steel freighter, swinging at anchor. Under ordinary weather conditions Matt would have paid no attention to her; but, as has already been stated, the northwest trades were blowing a gale and had kicked up a sea ”

“ When the stenographer entered Cappy Ricks said:
“Ahem-m! Harump-h-h-h! Take telegram: 'Captain Matthew Peasley, care Rainier Mill and Lumber Company, Tacoma, Washington. You're fired! Ricks.' Ahem! Huh! Har-ump! Take 'nother telegram: 'Mr. Michael J. Murphy, First Mate Barkentine Retriever'—same address as Peasley—'Accept this telegram as your formal appointment to command of our barkentine, Retriever, vice Matthew Peasley, discharged this day ”