I'll give you two
hundred and fifty thousand dollars for the steamer Narcissus; but when
you turn her over to me I want a ship, not a piece of floating junk.
You'll have to ship a new crank shaft, rewind the main motor, renew
the Manila lines, overhaul the standing rigging, retube the condensers
and dock her before handing her over to me. She's as foul as any hulk
in Rotten Row."
"Why, that will cost in the neighborhood of forty thousand
dollars--nearer fifty!" MacCandless declared.
"I know. But for three hundred thousand dollars I can go to Sweden,
build a smaller vessel than the Narcissus, have her right up to date,
with two-thousand-horsepower oil-burning motors in her; and the saving
in space due to motor installation, with oil tanks instead of coal
bunkers, will enable me to carry fully as much cargo as the Narcissus.
Also, I'll burn six tons of crude oil a day to your forty tons of
coal a day in the Narcissus. I'll employ eight men less in my crew,
and have a cleaner, faster and better ship. The motor ship is the
freighter of the future, and you know it. Your Narcissus is out of
date, and I'm only offering you two hundred and fifty thousand dollars
because I can use her right away."
"Young man," said MacCandless, "you talk like a person that means
business, but you overlook the fact that this company is neither
bankrupt nor silly.
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