"
Cappy jerked forward in his chair again.
"Matt," he said sternly, "you have defaulted in your payments to the
Blue Star Navigation Company to the tune of eighteen thousand dollars,
and I'd like to hear what you have to say about that."
"Well, I couldn't help it," Matt replied, "I was shy ten thousand
dollars when Morrow & Company defaulted on me, and I was at sea when
the other payment fell due. However, you had your recourse. You
could have canceled the charter on me. That was a chance I had to
take.
"Why didn't you grab the ship away from me? If you had done that you
would be in the clear to-day instead of up to your neck in grief."
"We'll grab her away from you to-day--never fear!" Cappy promised him.
"I guess we'll get ours from the freight due on that cargo of steel
rails you came home with."
"You have another guess coming, Mr. Ricks. You'll not do any grabbing
to-day, for the reason that somebody else has already grabbed her."
"Who?" chorused Cappy and Skinner.
"The United States Marshal. Half an hour ago the Pacific Shipping
Company libeled her."
"What for, you bonehead? You haven't any cause for libel, so how can
you make it stick?"
"The Pacific Shipping Company has cause, and it can make the libel
stick. The first mate of the Tillicum assigned to the Pacific
Shipping Company his claim for wages as mate--"
"Matt, you poor goose! The Pacific Shipping Company OWE him his
wages.
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