leaped into his cunning brain and crystallized into definite purpose.
He sprang up, waved his skinny old arms, and kicked the waste-basket
into a corner of the room.

"I have it, Skinner! I've solved the problem. Go back and 'tend to
your lumber business and leave the man Peasley to me. I'll tan that
fellow's hide and hang it on my fence, just as sure as George
Washington crossed the Delaware River."

Mr. Skinner, glad to be excused, promptly made his escape. When Cappy
Ricks stripped for action, Mr. Skinner knew from long experience that
there was going to be a fight or a foot race; that whenever the old
gentleman set out to confound an enemy, the inevitable result was
wailing and weeping and gnashing of teeth, in which doleful form of
exercise Cappy Ricks had never been known to participate.

"Send in a boy!" Cappy ordered as the general manager withdrew.

The boy appeared. "Sonny," said Cappy Ricks, "do you know All Hands
And Feet?" The boy nodded and Cappy continued: "Well, you go down on
the Embarcadero, like a good boy, and cruise from Folsom Street to
Broadway Wharf Number Two until you find All Hands and Feet. Look in
front of cigar stands and in the shipchandlery stores; and if you
don't find him in those places run over to the assembly rooms of
Harbor Fifteen, Masters' and Pilots' Association, and see if he's
there, playing checkers. When you find him tell him Mr. Ricks wants
to see him at once."