Blow the Man Down - A Romance of the Coast

Our captain stood on his quarter-deck,

And a fine little man was he!

"Overhaul, overhaul, on your davit tackle fall,

And launch your boats to the sea,

Brave boys! And launch your boats to the sea."

--The Whale.

A slowing, tug, tooting fussy and staccato blasts which Captain Wass

translated into commands to hold up, intercepted the Nequasset in

Hampton Roads.

Mr. Fletcher Fogg was a passenger on the tug. In a suit of natty gray,

he loomed conspicuously in the alley outside the tug's pilot-house. He

cursed roundly when he toilsomely climbed the ladder to the freighter's

deck, for the rusty sheathing smutched the knees of his trousers.

"I'm doing a little better than I promised you, captain," he stated when

he arrived finally in the presence of the master. "I said Philadelphia.

But here I am. Do you know me now?"

"Your name is Fogg," returned Captain Wass, exhibiting no special

delight.

"And I'm manager of this line. As it seems to be pretty hard for you to

get anything through that thick nut of yours, I'll ask you to glance at

a paper which will save argument."

The paper was an attested notification, signed by the directors, stating

in laconic legal phrase what Mr. Fogg had just declared.

"You recognize my authority, do you?"

"Your bill o' lading reads O. K.," assented the skipper.

"Very well! Exactly! Then you take your orders. Proceed to an anchorage

off Lambert Point below Norfolk, pick a berth well off the channel, and

put down both hooks. The boat is going out of commission. I find you're

not making any money for the owners."

"It ain't my fault. With charters at--" began the master, indignantly.

"I haven't any time for a joint debate. You are laid off. Bring your

accounts to the main office as soon as you have turned the steamer over

to the caretaker--he'll come out from Norfolk." Manager Fogg turned on

his heel to meet Mate Mayo. "You will report at the main offices, too,

Mr. Mayo. Have you master's papers?"

"I have, sir--Atlantic waters, Jacksonville to East-port."

"Very good--you're going to be promoted. I shall put you aboard the

passenger-steamer Montana as captain." He looked about sharply. "Where

is my agent?"

"There, in the quartermaster's cabin. We gave him that," replied Captain

Wass, gruffly. "I'm glad I'm out of steamboating. I've learned how to

run a boarding-house and make money out of it."

Mr. Fogg did not understand that sneer, and he paid no attention to the

captain's manner. He started for the cabin indicated.