" He fixed Matt Peasley with
an alert, inquisitive eye and said: "Well, what do you know,
Captain?"
"Nothing much. What do you know about the steamer Narcissus?"
Jerry Dooley scratched his red head.
"Narcissus!" he murmured. "Narcissus! By George, it's a long time
since I heard of her. Has she just come into port?" And he glanced
apprehensively at the register of arrivals and departures, wondering
if he hadn't overlooked the Narcissus.
"She's been in port eight years at least," Matt answered; "tucked away
down in Mission Bay, with a watchman aboard."
"Oh, I remember now," Jerry replied. "She belongs to the Oriental
Steamship Company. Old man Webb, of the Oriental Company, got all
worked up about the possibilities of the Oriental trade right after
the Spanish War. He had a lot of old bottoms running in the combined
freight and passenger trade and not making expenses when the war came
along, and the Government grabbed all his boats for transports to rush
troops over to the Philippines. That was fine business for quite a
while and the Oriental got out of the hole and made a lot of money
besides. About that time Old Webb saw a vision of huge Oriental trade
for the man who would go after it, and in his excitement he purchased
the Narcissus. She carried horses down to the Philippines, and to
China during the Boxer uprising; and when that business was over, and
while old Webb was waiting for the expected boom in trade to the
Orient, he got a lumber charter for her from Puget Sound to Australia.
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