ment grabbed all his boats for transports to rush troops over
to the Philippines. That was fine business for quite a while and the
Oriental got out of the hole and made a lot of money besides. About that
time Old Webb saw a vision of huge Oriental trade for the man who would
go after it, and in his excitement he purchased the Narcissus. She
carried horses down to the Philippines, and to China during the Boxer
uprising; and when that business was over, and while old Webb was
waiting for the expected boom in trade to the Orient, he got a lumber
charter for her from Puget Sound to Australia. But she was never built
for a lumber boat, though she carried six million five hundred thousand
feet; she was so big and it took so long to load and discharge her that
she lost twenty-five thousand dollars on the voyage. Run her in the
lumber trade and the demurrage would break a national bank.

"Well, sir, after that lumber charter, old man Webb had a fit. He tried
her out on a few grain charters, but she didn't make any money to speak
of; and about that time the P. & S. W., with a view to grabbing some
Oriental freight for their road, got the control of the steamship
company away from Webb. The Oriental trade boom never developed, and the
regular steamers, carrying freight and passengers, were ample to cope
with what business the company was offered; so they didn't need the
Narcissus.

"As I remember it, she was expensive to operate. She had a punk pair of
boilers or she needed another boiler--or something; at any rate, she was
a hog on coal, and they laid her up until such time as they could find
use for her. I suppose after she was laid up a few years the thought of
all the money it would cost to put her in commission again discouraged
them--and she's been down in Mission Bay ever since."

"But the Canal will soon be open," Matt suggested. "One would suppose
they'd put her in commission and find business for her between Pacific
and Atlantic coast ports."

"You forget she's a foreign-built vessel and hence cannot run between
American ports."

"She can run between North and South American ports," Matt replied
doggedly. "I bet if I owned her I'd dig up enough business in Brazil
and the Argentine to keep her busy. I'd be dodging backward and forward
through the Canal."

"You would, of course," Jerry answered placidly; "but the Oriental
Steamship Company cannot."

"Why?"

"Fifty-one per cent. of their stock is owned by a railr