to join him in three fingers of nepenthe to celebrate the occasion.

"T'ank you, sor, but I never dhrink--on djooty," Mr. Reardon retorted
with chill politeness, "nor," he added, "wit' me immejiate superiors."

A superficial analysis of this remark will convince the most sceptical
that Mr. Reardon, with true Hibernian adroitness, had managed to
convey an insult without seeming to convey it.

"Isn't that a pity!" the skipper replied. "We'll excuse you to
attend to your duty, Mr. Reardon;" and he bowed the chief toward the
companion leading to the boat deck. The latter departed, furious,
with an uncomfortable feeling of having been out-generaled; and
once a good Irishman and true has undergone that humiliation it is
a safe bet that the Dove of Peace has lost her tail feathers.

"That's an unmannerly chief engineer," Mike Murphy announced
blandly, "but for all that he's not without his good points. He'll
not waste money in his department."

"A virtue which I trust you will imitate in yours, captain," Cappy
Ricks snapped dryly. "Is Reardon working short-handed?"

"Only while we're loading, when he'll need just enough men to keep
steam up in the winches. When we go to sea, however, he'll have a
full crew, but the fun of it is they'll be non-union men with the
exception of the engineers and officers. The engineers will all
belong to the Marine Engineers' Association and the mates to Harbor
15, Masters' and Pilots' Association."