Mr. R. I don’t see how you can run this boat.
Mary (rising). Why not, sir? I have run her for the last three or four months. I carried her ’way up the Red and Yellow, and down again to Baton Rouge, through the most crooked part of our whole thousand-mile route; and I steered most of the time myself. The mate don’t know much about handling the wheel.
Mr. R. The merchants, I find, are not willing to trust you with a cargo; so I don’t see but you will have to give it up. You won’t be able to meet your payments; and I must look out for my own property, as well as that of the rest of the owners, for it is all in my care.
Mary. Is not Mr. Miller’s contract as captain of the boat all right? It does not expire till next year. He is all paid up to the first of the month; and I hope to be able to pay the next quarter,—that is, if I can go on running the boat.
Mr. R. Yes, madam; but you must understand that the contract is with Captain Miller, and not with his wife; that is where the trouble is. Husband and wife are not one in this business. Captain Miller’s contract is all right, and he is paid up; but if he dies, the whole thing will have to be settled.
Mary (alarmed). But my husband is not dead. He is not going to die! Why can’t I run the boat up to Cairo? I have a full cargo, and another is promised there. I know the route for the next three months. I have been over it all.
Mr. R. (rising). Mrs. Miller, you cannot be a captain in name.
Mary. But, Mr. Romberg, I am the captain.
Mr. R. No, Mrs. Miller. You may run the boat, but you cannot act as captain,—you have no license. The fact is, the law does not allow it. That is what the owners say; and we consulted a lawyer, and he gave it as his opinion, after careful consideration, that a woman cannot be master of a vessel legally.
Mary. Then we must lose our chance of owning the boat; and I cannot raise the money needed for the support of my poor sick husband and my little baby,—just because I am a woman! Oh! Mr. Romberg! this is hard indeed!