the tide had turned and the _Maggie_ could not buck the ebb.
McGuffey declared a few new tubes in the boiler would do the
trick, but on the other hand, Mr. Gibney pointed out that the old
craft was practically punk aft and a stiff tow would jerk the
tail off the old girl. In despair, therefore, Captain Scraggs had
abandoned bay and river towing and was prepared to jump overboard
and end all, when an opportunity offered for the freighting of
garden truck and dairy produce from Halfmoon Bay to San
Francisco.

But now a difficulty arose. The new run was an "outside"
one--salt water all the way. Under the ruling of the Inspectors,
the _Maggie_ would be running coastwise the instant she engaged
in the green pea and string bean trade, and Captain Scraggs's
license provided for no such contingency. His ticket entitled him
to act as master on the waters of San Francisco Bay and the
waters tributary thereto, and although Scraggs argued that the
Pacific Ocean constituted waters "tributary thereto," if _he_
understood the English language, the Inspectors were obdurate.
What if the distance was less than twenty-five miles? they
pointed out. The voyage was undeniably coastwise and carried with
it all the risk of wind and wave. And in order to impress upon
Captain Scraggs the weight of their authority, the Inspectors
suspended for six months Captain Scraggs's bay and river license
for having dared to negotiate two coastwise voyages without
consulting them. Furthermore, they warned him that the next time
he did it they would condemn the fast and commodious _Maggie_.

In his extremity, Fate had sent to Captain Scraggs a large,
imposing, capable, but socially indifferent person who responded