“I'll bet they can,” Cappy shrilled. “I've just called up the Board of Underwriters and they say the cargo hasn't been lost. They say nothing is lost if you know where it is, and the ties are on the beach in Samoa awaiting our pleasure. Skinner, call up our attorneys at once and tell them to enter suit.”
“I was just about to call them up on another matter,” Mr. Skinner replied. “As secretary of the Blue Star Navigation Company I have just been served with a summons in another suit, entered against the Quickstep.”
“What in the fiend's name is the matter with that infernal Quickstep? This is the third suit we've had in two years. Skinner, what is wrong with that steam schooner?”
“She must be hoodooed, Mr. Ricks.”
“Another seaman injured by being hit with a cargo block or having a piece of eight-by-eight drop on his foot, I suppose.”
“Not this time, Mr. Ricks. One Halvor Jacobsen has sued the Quickstep and owners for five thousand dollars for injuries alleged to have been inflicted upon him by the captain.”
“So that Captain Kjellin has been fighting again, eh? Skinner, that man is too handy with his fists, I tell you. He's another one of your favorites, by the way. I only put that fellow in the Quickstep to please you.”
“We haven't a better man in our employ,” Mr. Skinner asserted stoutly. “He carries larger cargoes and makes faster time than any steam-schooner captain in our vessels of similar carrying capacity. He's a dividend producer, Mr. Ricks, and he is very efficient.”
“Don't talk to me of efficiency,” Cappy snarled. “What's the sense rushing the vessel round Robin Hood's barn to make dividends, if we lose them in lawsuits?”
“His vessel didn't lay up during the strike of the Waterfront Federation in 1903,” Skinner challenged. “You bet she didn't! Kjellin rustled up a scab crew and kept the mob off the vessel at the point of a gun. I understand he's a bit short-tempered, but while there are ships with red-blooded men in them, Mr. Ricks, we must expect the men to pull off a couple of rounds with skin gloves every so often.”