declared.

"Aye! True enough, Mac; but 'twould be hard to convince Cappy Ricks
o' that. Every skipper in his employ is a graybeard."

"Mayhap," the canny MacLean retorted. "That's because t'owd boy's
skippers have held their berths ower long."

But Mr. Murphy shook his head. He had come up from before the mast in
the ships of the Blue Star Navigation Company, and since he had
ambitions he had been at some pains to acquaint himself with the
peculiarities of the president of that corporation.

"Give Cappy Ricks one look into Matt Peasley's face and I'll be
skippering the Retriever," he declared.

And in this he was more than half right, for Cappy Ricks had never met
Matt Peasley, and when the Old Man made up his mind that he wanted the
boy to skipper his barkentine, the Retriever, he was acting entirely
on instinct. He only knew that in Matt Peasley he had a man who had
shipped out before the mast and returned from the voyage in command of
the ship, and naturally such an exploit challenged recognition of the
most signal nature--particularly when, in its performance, the object
of Cappy's admiration had demonstrated that he was possessed of
certain sterling attributes which are commonly supposed to make for
success in any walk of life.

Since Matt Peasley had accomplished a man's work it never occurred to
Cappy Ricks to consider that the object of his interest might be a
boy. Young he knew him to be--that is to say, Cappy figured the rascal