_ CHAPTER XXXIX. EASY MONEY
Captain Matt Peasley's first act after consummating his first successful deal was to purchase for the Pacific Shipping Company a membership in the Merchants' Exchange, on the floor of which he knew he would meet daily all the shipping men of San Francisco, and thus be enabled to keep in touch with trade conditions.
He had been a member less than a week when the wisdom of spending five hundred dollars for his membership was made delightfully apparent. While he stood watching the secretary chalk on the blackboard the record of the latest arrivals and departures, he heard a man behind him speaking:
"Heyfuss, I'm in the market to charter another freighter for the Panama run. You might look round and see whether you can line something up for us. I'd like about a two-thousand-ton boat; and we could charter her for a year."
"There's only one vessel available," the man addressed as Heyfuss answered; "and that's the Tillicum. Cappy Ricks had her laid up in Oakland Creek--"
Matt moved away and approached a clerk at the desk.
"That dark-haired man with the thick glasses, talking with Mr. Heyfuss," he said--"who is he?"
"That is Mr. Henry Kelton, manager of G. H. Morrow Company," the clerk answered. "They operate a line of sailing vessels foreign and half a dozen steamers to South American ports."
Matt thanked him, entered a telephone booth and on consulting the telephone directory, discovered that J. O. Heyfuss was a broker.
"I'll have to step lively to beat Heyfuss to it," he soliloquized, and forthwith hastened down to the office of the Blue Star Navigation Company.
"Well, young man!" Cappy greeted him genially. "How about you?"
"Never mind me. How about the Tillicum?"
"Laid up in Oakland Inner Harbor waiting for better times."
"I think I can give her some business. Would you charter her to the Pacific Shipping Company?"
"Well," Cappy replied, "I might be induced to take a chance in these hard times. How much money have you in bank to-day?"
"In a pinch I could lay my hands on thirty thousand, cash."
"Well," said Cappy thoughtfully, "that little roll, plus an established credit and a reputation for business experience, might carry you far with some people--but not with me. You're not a safe bet--yet; but we can make it safe."
"How?"
"You can pay the charter money in advance," Cappy answered smilingly.
"I have decided not to do any more gambling, Mr. Ricks. Hereafter, as near as such a thing may be humanly possible, I'm going to play a sure thing. Therefore, all things being equal, if I can guarantee you your price for the steamer, on a year's charter, you do not care what I do with the vessel, provided that I do not injure her?"
"Certainly."
"Well, then, in order to play safe and protect you, suppose I charter her from you, contingent on my ability to recharter her to some responsible shipping firm. Under those conditions would you exact the charter money in advance? You know very well that when I collect my money from the charterers you'll get yours right away."
"Without question, Matt; but sometimes a fellow cannot collect his money from the charterers, and then the owner has to wait. I'm taking no chances to speak of on you, Matthew, my son; but for the sake of making it a sporting proposition I'll talk business on the basis of fifty per cent. of the charter money, payable monthly in advance."
"That's cold-blooded, but I can stand it. What is the Tillicum going to cost me a day?"
"What kind of charter do you want--government form or bare boat?"
"You might give me an option with a price based on each form. I haven't the slightest idea what form my prospective victim prefers, though I prefer a bare-boat charter. I will close with you on whatever basis he prefers, if that is satisfactory."
"I'll make many concessions to get that vessel out of the mud and to sea, and paying a reasonable rate on the money invested in her. I hate to keep a good skipper and a good chief engineer on the beach, and I want them to begin drawing their salaries again."
Cappy reached into his desk and produced a little loose-leaf memorandum book, and from certain figures therein contained he commenced to figure what he should charge Matt for the ship. On his part, Matt, whose apprenticeship under the Blue Star had made him tolerably familiar with every steamer in the fleet, got out a pad and pencil and commenced to figure the cost of operation himself. Not knowing the cost of the steamer or the ratio of profit Cappy might expect on the investment, however, he was more or less at sea until Cappy had named his figures; whereupon Matt pretended to do some more figuring. Finally he frowned and said:
"Fifty dollars a day too much."
He did not know a thing about it, but he knew Cappy Ricks well enough to know that Cappy would first decide on his minimum price and then add a hundred dollars a day for good measure; hence, Yankeelike, Matt commenced to chaffer, with the result that before he left the office Cappy had abated his price fifty dollars a day and given Matt a forty-eight-hour option on the vessel, agreeing to charter her to him at the figures specified, contingent on Matt's ability to recharter her to a responsible firm.
Cappy chuckled as Matt Peasley left the office.
"You're taking a pretty big bite, Matt," he soliloquized; "so I'll handicap you. And if anything goes wrong, and you fail to collect from your people, I'll give you a lesson in high finance that you'll never forget, young man! I'll bet my immortal soul you're going to try to do business with Morrow & Company; and if that outfit isn't scheduled for involuntary bankruptcy, then I'm a Chinaman. A charter for a year, eh? They'll never last a year. They'll bust, owing you a month's charter money, Matthew, and the vessel will be at sea, most likely, or in a South American port, when that happens; and you can't throw her back on me until you deliver her in her home port. And meantime your charter to me keeps rambling right along, and I'll attach your bankroll if you're a day late with your payment in advance. Yes, sir; I'll break you in two for the good of your immortal soul. Matt--Matt, my son--something tells me you're monkeying with fire and liable to get burned."
From Cappy Ricks' office Matt Peasley called on Kelton of Morrow & Company. Kelton, a shrewd, double-action sort of person and the smartest shipping man on the street, looked with frank curiosity at Matt's modest card.
"Pacific Shipping Company, eh? That's a new one on me, Captain Peasley," he said.
"It's a new one on me also," Matt replied humorously; "in fact, it is too recent to be very well known. We've been operating a fleet of windjammers, with auxiliary power, down on the Mexican Coast," he added truthfully, calm in the knowledge that two schooners constitute a fleet if one be not inclined to split conversational hairs; "but we sold them and decided to go into the steamship business. We hope to buy or build a line of freighters to run to Atlantic Coast ports via the Panama Canal."
"What steam vessels have you got now?" Kelton queried interestedly.
"Only one at present, Mr. Kelton. We've acquired the Tillicum, late of the Blue Star fleet."
"Indeed!" replied Kelton.
He was all attention now; for, though Matt Peasley did not know it, less than ten days previous Kelton had tried to charter the Tillicum direct from Cappy Ricks, who, knowing something of the financial condition of Morrow & Company, had declined to consider a charter unless under a guaranty of payment other than that of Morrow & Company. Kelton was in urgent need of a steamer to cope with the congestion of freight, and the Tillicum suited the purpose of his company admirably; hence, the news that he might still be able to acquire her filled him with sudden hope.
"Indeed!" he reiterated. "I had no idea Cappy Ricks contemplated selling her, though it has been common talk on the street that he made a mistake in building such a big boat as the Tillicum for the coastwise lumber trade. She was too hard to find business for, and I dare say he was sick of his bargain."
"Well, I thought we'd take a chance on her," Matt replied, not taking the trouble to disabuse Kelton of the impression to which he had apparently jumped--to wit, that the Pacific Shipping Company had purchased the Tillicum.
"What do you intend doing with her?" Kelton continued.
"They tell me business is good on the Panama run, and it will be better when the Canal is opened. However, until the Canal does open, we would prefer to keep out of the Pacific Coast trade. Competition always means a rate war, with consequent loss to both parties to the struggle; so we'd rather charter the Tillicum for a year if we could. I heard you were in the market for a boat."
"I think we might use the Tillicum," Kelton replied. "What are you asking for her?"
Matt named a figure considerably in advance of what he expected to receive and stipulated a bare-boat charter--that is to say, Kelton's company should pay the entire cost of operating the vessel, and select her crew and officers with the exception of the captain and chief engineer, it being customary among many owners, when chartering a vessel, to stipulate that their own captain, in whom they have confidence, shall command her. Cappy Ricks always specified his own skipper and chief engineer.
When Matt named his figure Kelton promptly shouted "Thief!" but made the mistake of shouting too loud--whereat Matt Peasley knew he was not sincere and promptly decided to outgame him. At the end of half an hour of argument and much futile figuring, which deceived nobody, Matt abated his price twenty-five dollars a day and Kelton said he would think it over. Matt knew the charter was as good as closed, and when he left Morrow & Company's office he repaired straight to that of Cappy Ricks.
"I think I'll be able to recharter, Mr. Ricks," he said confidently. "Have you any objection to Morrow & Company as recharterers?"
Cappy started slightly, hesitated a fraction of a second, and replied that he had no objection whatsoever.
"Very well, sir," Matt replied. "Will you please have Mr. Skinner prepare the charter parties right away, sign them, and send them over to my office for my signature? I can't wait to sign them now. And about the captain--I suppose you'll want to put in your own skipper, of course. Who is he?"
"Captain Grant."
"Have you any objection to inserting a clause in the charter party stipulating that, if for any reason Captain Grant proves objectionable to the charterers, I may take command of the vessel myself? As charterer I will have a very vital interest in the vessel and I might feel called on to protect that interest personally."
"Matt," said Cappy earnestly, "I'll trust you in preference to most men with any ship of mine. Still, Grant is a very able man."
"He might be too slow for me, Mr. Ricks. I prefer to have a spare anchor in case of necessity."
"Well, have it your own way," Cappy acquiesced, and summoned Mr. Skinner to prepare the charter parties, while Matt went back to his own office and gave instructions that he was not to be called to the telephone.
Something told him that Kelton would be ringing up before the day was over to accept his price on the Tillicum, and he did not want to be placed in the position of having to give a yes or no answer until he had seen Cappy Ricks' charter parties, with Cappy's signature attached. He would then close up his deal with Morrow & Company, after which he would sign Cappy's charter parties and turn two copies over to Cappy. In this way he would be enabled to play safe and save his face in case any hitch occurred at the last minute.
The charter parties, duly signed and in triplicate, arrived from Cappy Ricks in the morning's mail, with a request from Cappy for Matt to append his signature to two copies and return them to the Blue Star Navigation Company. Matt, after first assuring himself that the instrument was in order, called up Kelton, who informed him that he would accept Matt's offer for a year's charter of the Tillicum. Within half an hour Matt had his charter parties ready for Kelton's signature and the deal was closed; whereupon Matt signed the charter party Cappy Ricks had sent him and handed it to Cappy, together with a check for nine thousand dollars--one half the monthly rental of the Tillicum.
Cappy whistled softly through his teeth as he handed the documents to Mr. Skinner and instructed him to put the Tillicum in commission at once. _