"He'll do nothing of the sort," Matt Peasley declared quietly. "We
have union crews in all our other steamers, and the unions will
declare a strike on us if we put non-union men in the _Narcissus_."

"Of course--if they find out. But they'll not. Besides, we're going
to the Atlantic Coast, so why should we bring a high-priced crew
into a low-priced market, Mr. Ricks? Leave it to me, sir. I'll load
the ship with longshoremen entirely, and we'll sail with the crew of
that German liner that came a few days ago to intern in Richardson's
Bay until the European war is over."

"I'm not partial to the German cause," Matt Peasley announced. "So
I'll just veto that plan right now, Mike."

"Matt, we're neutral," Cappy declared.

"And it pays to ship those Germans, Matt," Murphy continued. "I
confess I'm for the Germans, although not to such an extent that I'd
go round offering them jobs just because they _are_ Germans.
But the minute I heard about that interned boat I said to myself:
'Now, here's a chance to save the _Narcissus_ some money. The
crew of that liner will all be discharged now that she is interned.
However, the local unions will not admit them to membership and
they cannot work on any Pacific Coast boat unless they hold union
cards. Consequently they must seek other occupations, and as the
chances are these fellows do not speak English, they're up against
it. Also, they are foreigners who have paid no head tax when coming
into the country, because they are seamen. They have the right to
land and stay ashore three months, if they state that it is their
intention to ship out again within that period; but if they do