ks and make out a balance
sheet. I'll pay his fee. I'm anxious to be free to work on the ship
end."

"All right. I'll do that. We can arrange the details later if I decide
to take you up," Thompson said.

Tommy stretched his arms and yawned.

"By jove," said he, "I'm going to be the busiest thing on wheels for
awhile. It's no joke running a big show."

"I didn't know you were a shipbuilder," Thompson commented.

"I'm not," Tommy admitted, stifling another yawn. "But I can hire
'em--both brains and labor. The main thing is I've got the contracts.
That's the chief item in this war business. The rest is chiefly a matter
of business judgment. It's something of a jump, I'll admit, but I can
negotiate it, all right."

"As a matter of fact," he continued presently, and with a highly
self-satisfied note in his voice, "apart from the executive work it's
what the Americans call a lead-pipe cinch. We can't lose. I've been
fishing for this quite a while, and I put it over by getting in touch
with the right people. It's wonderful what you can do in the proper
quarter. The Vancouver Construction Company consists of Joe Hedley and
myself. Joe is a very clever chap. Has influential people, too. We have
contracts with the I.M.B. calling for ten schooners estimated to cost
three hundred thousand dollars per. We finance the construction, but we
don't really risk a penny. The contracts are on a basis of cost, plus
ten per cent. You see? If we go above or under the estimate it doesn't
matter much. Our profit is fixed. The main consideration is speed. The
only thing we can be penalized for is failure to launch and deliver
within specified dates."

Thompson did a rough bit of mental figuring.

"I should say it was a cinch," he said dryly. "Nobody can accuse you of
profiteering. Yet your undertaking is both patriotic and profitable. I
suppose you had no trouble financing a thing like that?"

"I should say not. The banks," Tommy replied with cynical emphasis,
"would fall over themselves to get their finger in our pie. But they
won't. Hedley and I have some money. Sam Carr is letting us have fifty
thousand dollars at seven per cent. No bank is going to charge like the
Old Guard at Waterloo on overdrafts and advances--and dictate to us
besides. I'm too wise for that. I'm not in the game for my health. I see
a big lump of money, and I'm after it."

"I suppose we all are," Thompson reflected absently.

"Certainly," Tommy responded pro