the death of Captain
Kendall I have been in charge of the vessel; hence, for the present, I
am known as Captain Peasley. What can I do for you, gentlemen?"

All Hands And Feet glanced appraisingly at Matt Peasley and did him the
honor to remove his coat and vest.

"Yes; it's pretty hot down in these latitudes," Matt remarked, by way of
being pleasant and making conversation.

All Hands And Feet removed an envelope from his coat pocket and handed
it to Matt; and while the latter perused it the big Swede strode to the
scuttle butt and helped himself to a drink of water. Matt opened the
envelope and read this communication from Cappy Ricks:

San Francisco, California.
February 20, 19--.

Mr. Matthew Peasley,
Chief Mate Barkentine Retriever,
Cape Town, South Africa.

My Dear Mr. Peasley:

Cast your eye along the lines of the bearer of this note, Captain
Ole Peterson, who comes to Cape Town to take command of the
Retriever. Within five minutes he will, acting under
instructions from me and without the slightest personal animus
toward yourself, proceed to administer to you the beating of a
lifetime. By the time he gets through wiping the deck with you
perhaps you will realize the necessity, in the future, of obeying
orders from your owners.

In your cablegram received to-day, you take occasion to remind us
that no manager or owner has authority to disrate a ship's
officer. This is quite true. Such authority is vested only in
the master of the ship. You need have no fear for your job,
however. We believe you to be a clever first mate, otherwise
Captain Kendall would not have dug you up out of the forecastle;
and believing this, naturally we dislike the thought of disrating
you. We have, therefore, instructed Captain Peterson to retain
you in your berth as first mate.

However, in view of the fact that we have informed him of your
amiable intentions of throwing him overboard, he will first
inculcate in you that spirit of respect to your superiors which
you so manifestly lack. He will then dip you into the drink, to
bring you to, and after that you will kindly go forward and break
out the anchor. You signed for the round trip and you're going
to complete your contract. Remember that.

Cordially and sincerely yours,