"That's the way to talk; but we've got to have hustle and dash, and
young men can give us what we're after. It doesn't mean that you've got
to take reckless chances."
"I hope not, Mr. Fogg. My training with Captain Wass has been the other
way. And if you could only give him--"
"Captain, you've got your own row to hoe. Keep your eye on it," advised
the general manager, sharply. "I'm picking captains for the Vose boats,
and I think I understand my business. Now what I want to know is, do you
have confidence in me? Are you going to be loyal to me?"
"Yes, sir!" affirmed Mayo, impressed by his superior's brisk, brusque
business demeanor.
"Exactly! And the only talk I want you to turn loose is to the effect
that you believe I'm doing my best to make this line worth something to
the stockholders. Where are you stopping?"
Mayo named a little hotel around the corner.
"I'll put you aboard the Montana just as soon as I can arrange the
details of transfer. I may let Jacobs make another trip or so. Report
here each morning at nine. For the rest of the time keep within reach of
the hotel telephone."
Mayo saluted and went out.
Fogg called the observer at the weather bureau on the telephone and
asked some questions. He was informed that the wind had swung into the
northwest and that the long-prevailing fog had been blown off the coast.
Mr. Fogg appeared to feel somewhat peevish over this sudden departure
of the weather phenomenon which bore his family name. He slammed the
receiver on to the hook and said a naughty word. A person overhearing
might have wondered a bit, for here was a steamboat manager cursing the
absence of the fog instead of preserving his profanity to expend on the
presence of the demoralizing mists. But the reign of the north wind in
late summer is never long; three days later the breeze shifted, and the
gray banks of the fog marched in from the open sea.
Mayo was awakened early by the clamor of the whistles of river craft,
for the little hotel was near the water-front. He saw the fog drifting
in shredded masses against the high buildings, shrouding the towers.
He had been waiting his call to duty with much impatience, finding the
confinement of the hotel irksome in the crisp days of sunlight, eager to
be out and about this splendid new duty which promised so much.
It was the Montana's sailing-day from the New York end.