"Well, Skinner, if you hadn't butted in on the shipping end of the
business the man Peasley would not have been given this opening to
swat us. It's nuts for a sailor any time he can trip up a landsman,
and particularly his owners--"

"You 0. K.'d the cablegrams, Mr. Ricks," Skinner reminded him coldly.

"Don't talk back to me!" Cappy piped. "Not another peep out of you,
sir! Not another word of discussion about this matter under any
circumstances! I don't want to talk about it further--understand?
It's driving me insane. Now, then, Skinner, tell me: If the man
Peasley should decline to recognize McBride's authority, what course
would you advise pursuing?"

"I do not think he will be that arbitrary, Mr. Ricks. In the first
place--"

"Skinner, please do not argue with me. The man Peasley would do
anything--"

"Well, in that event, McBride can call in the civil authorities of
Cape Town, to remove Peasley by force from the ship."

"Skinner, you'll drive me to drink! I ask you, has a British official
any authority over an American vessel lying in the roadstead? Will a
foreign official dare to set foot on an American deck when an American
skipper orders him not to do so?"

"I am not a sea lawyer," Mr. Skinner retorted, "I do not know."