He smiled at Mr. Skinner and passed on into Cappy Ricks’ office.

“Well, Matt,” the latter hailed him pleasantly, “it’s been a long time since I’ve seen you in this office.”

“And it’ll be a long time till you see me here again, sir,” Matt retorted pleasantly.  “I was about to call on you when your message reached me.  So suppose you tell me your business first.  Then I’ll tell you mine.”

“No, you won’t, Matt,” Cappy challenged him, “because hereafter you’re not going to have any business unless I have a finger in it too.  Matt, my son, do you recall the day you quit the Quickstep?”

“With pleasure,” Matt assured him whimsically.

“You’re vindictive; but no matter.  Skinner declared you should never again command a Blue Star ship while he was in my employ, and I said, by George, that was right—­you shouldn’t.  I said I was going to make you our port captain, and eventually place you in charge of the shipping after I had broken you in.”

“I have a curiosity, sir, to know why you didn’t go through with that program.”

“Skinner wouldn’t let me—­said he’d quit if I did, and I just couldn’t afford to lose him, Matt.  However, I have all that fixed up now, so you quit that tugboat job of yours and come to work here as soon as you can.  I could have put you to work three months ago, right after I sewed Skinner up, but I thought I’d wait a little while just to save poor Skinner’s face.”  Cappy commenced to chuckle softly.  “In-fer-nal rascal!” he declared.  “He had me where the hair is short, Matt; he had me where I dassen’t defy my own general manager!  Yes, sir, that was the long and short of it.  I dassen’t call his bluff, because he doesn’t bluff worth a cent, and I happen to know some of my competitors would like to get him away from me.  A good man is always in demand, Matt; never forget that.  You see, Skinner has been carrying the burden of this business for the past ten years practically, and he threatened to toss that burden back on me.  Well, if he had, Matt, I just couldn’t have carried it without competent help—­and by the time I had competent help broken in they’d be measuring me for a tombstone.”

“How did you whip him into line?” Matt demanded.

“Just like spearing fish in a dry lake, boy,” Cappy chuckled.  “I just sold Mr. Skinner part of that burden, and now he has to carry it all until he dies, because if he drops it he loses what I sold him.  Only one way to whip that boy into line, Matt, and that is to pelt him with dollars.”

“But I do not see how that affects me,” Matt answered.

“You don’t, eh?  Why, you’re the port captain of the Blue Star Navigation Company, you-you-you bonehead, and Skinner has to stand for you now whether he likes it or not.  He’ll not sacrifice his future to vent his grudge against you, because he is a business man, Matt, and he knows it’s mighty poor business to bite off his nose to spite his face.  So you just come to work.”