and our agent can't get hold of another boat to make”
“Oh, to blazes with the big contractor! His funeral, not mine!”
“Very well, sir,” Barton said, turning away with a look of disappointment. “I thought it only right to tell you, and”
He stopped and hesitated, then shut his firm lips again as if it were useless to appeal to such an owner.
“Good heavens! You look disappointed about my refusal,” Jimmy remarked.
“Oh—I am, sir! You see, it's this way. This contractor works a few hundred men—poor devils, you know. We've seen them, sir, you and I have, the kind of men who have to work for a living in Egypt—and at this time of the year, too. Nearly all of 'em have big families dependent on 'em, and it'll be hard on those few hundred men to be laid off. Perhaps-it's because I've got a family of my own that depends on my wages that—that makes me think so much about those poor devils.”
Captain Jimmy had an immense respect for Barton. “Barton,” he had once said, “is the best chief officer and the most humane man I've ever known.” And now the humane side of the man appealed to him. Barton, glancing up at him, read the new look of thoughtfulness and consideration in his owner's face, and dared to make a further suggestive remark.
“The agent tells me there has been a breakdown in the cement mill at Spalato, and we'd not have to clear from Venice for four days yet because the cargo couldn't be ready for us before then. If it were possible, sir, that this four days' delay here in the Giudecco might make any difference in your decision, I could tell the agent.”
Captain Jimmy could not suppress the smile that he turned upon this man for whom he had such a distinct liking.
“Barton, you're a wonder!” he exclaimed impulsively. “You're the greatest man to take on the troubles and perplexities of other people that I've ever met. Me—I'm selfish and thoughtless, I'm afraid. And”
“No, Captain Ware. You're neither, only—only you have never been put up against it yourself and you don't know as well as I do what being laid off indefinitely, when every penny counts, means to a man who has to work for a living. I can't help but think about those others.”
Captain Jimmy looked into the unflinching eyes for a moment and then laid a hand on his chief officer's shoulder and laughed.
“You win, Barton,' he said. “You can tell the agent that we'll take that cargo. Also that I've authorized you to make the terms.”
“And when shall I send the boat to bring you aboard, sir?” the chief asked, striving to suppress his satisfaction.
“Maybe I'll not come aboard at all. If I don't I'll give notice as owner, to the port authorities, that you are master of the ship. You've got a master's certificate, so that is easy. You will wait here until the last minute, then if I don't come aboard proceed to Spalato and take on that cement, carry it to Alexandria, deliver and collect. I'll cable you orders to Alexandria in case I don't go along.”
“Thank you, Captain Ware,” Barton said. “Not that I care to be master if you are aboard, because I'm satisfied to be your first mate; but because—well, you understand. I'll hold the ship until the last minute in the hope that you'll take over the bridge. And I'll be ready to clear, sir, if you come aboard.”
“Nobody could kick at that! You're what I might call 'The Complete Sailor,'” Jimmy remarked with an entirely lost pun upon “The Compleat Angler.” “But, in any event, on the fourth night the Adventure sails; the cement reaches Alexandria; the contractor, who is doubtless robbing his clients and bloated with fat, gets it, and the work continues; the hundred or so of poor laboring men don't get laid off; their wives and families don't miss a meal of mutton stew—and there you are! We become benefactors—at so much per ton for cargo.”
“I can't take it as a joke, sir,” Barton said, gravely wagging his head. “But I thank you for your confidence in me. I'll do my best.”
“Barton,” said Jimmy suddenly impressed with this unbreakable modesty and fidelity, “I shouldn't ever make a joke of anything with you. You're so confoundedly serious. But you go ahead and make the contract. We'll see it through, one way or the other. I'm too busy to look after it myself because I'm head over ears in something here that seems to take all my time.”
He grinned to himself at the thought of what really was absorbing his time, and wondered if he was a hopeless idiot at the
