And yet there were important affairs to which he owed immediate attention. Carleton’s continued refusal to sign a certificate for the concrete disk, without which no payment would be made by the government, would, if persisted in, cause him serious embarrassment. The difficulty with Carleton had already reached an acute stage. Captain Joe had altogether failed in his efforts to make the superintendent sign the certificate, and Carleton had threatened to wire the Department and demand a board of survey if his orders were not complied with at once. The captain generally retired from the field and left the campaign to Sanford whenever, in the course of their work, it became necessary to fight the United States government—the sea was his enemy.
In this discussion, however, he had taken the pains to explain to Carleton patiently, and he thought intelligently, the falsity of the stand he took, showing him that his idea about the concrete base being too low was the result of a mere optical illusion, due to the action of the tide which backed the water up higher within the breakwater on the southeast side; that when the first course of masonry was laid, bringing the mass of concrete out of water, his—Carleton’s—mistake would be instantly detected.
Captain Joe was as much out of patience as he ever permitted himself to be with Carleton, when he shook Sanford’s hand on his arrival.
“Ain’t no man on earth smart ’nough to make eleven inches a foot, let alone a critter like him!” he said, as he explained the latest development.
Once over the sloop’s side, Sanford laid his bag on the deck and turned to the men.
“Who saw the concrete at dead low water during that low tide we had after the last northwest blow?” he inquired.
“I did, sir,” answered Captain Brandt. “I told Mr. Carleton he was wrong. The water jes’ tetched the outer iron band all round when I see it. It was dead calm an’ dead low water.”
“What do you say to that, Mr. Carleton?” asked Sanford, laughing.
“I’m not here to take no back talk from nobody,” replied Carleton in a surly tone.
“Lonny,” said Sanford,—he saw that further discussion with the superintendent was useless,—“go ashore and get my transit and target rod; you’ll find them in my bedroom at the captain’s; and please put them here in the skipper’s bunk, so they won’t get broken. I’ll run a level on the concrete myself, Mr. Carleton, when we get to the Ledge.”