cablegram was received. Insofar as Matt was concerned, that cablegram
closed the argument, for even had it seemed to demand a reply the
master of the Retriever would not--nay could not, have answered, for
the controversy had already ruined him financially. So he went on
briskly with his task of discharging the Retriever and when the A. D.
liner pulled out for Liverpool with Captain Noah's body on board, he
laid off work merely long enough to dip the ensign and run it to half
mast again until the steamer was out of sight; then he furled the
flag, stored it in the locker in Captain Noah's stateroom, into which
he had now moved, and went on superintending the discharging. When
the vessel was empty he had a tug tow him out into the roadstead,
where he cast anchor and set himself patiently to await the arrival of
the special messenger "as big as a horse."

Somehow Matt didn't relish that little dash of descriptive writing.
In conjunction with the noun horse Cappy Ricks had employed the
indefinite article a, and while a horse was a horse and Cappy might
have had a Shetland pony in mind when he coined the simile,
nevertheless, a still small voice whispered to Matt Peasley that at
the time Cappy was really thinking of a Percheron. The longer Matt
chewed the cud of anticipation the more acute grew his regret that he
had threatened to throw his successor overboard. He traced a certain
analogy between that threat and Cappy Ricks' simple declarative
sentence, and finally he decided to take Mr. Murphy into his
confidence.

"Mike," he said, "did you ever hear any gossip to the effect that
Cappy Ricks will swallow a bluff?"

"No, I never have," Mr. Murphy replied. "Why do you ask? You been