inished,
and have it published."

"Well, it ought to make prime readin', Miss; an' that's a good fetchin'
title, 'In Defiance of Authority.'"

Regularly Wednesday and Sunday afternoons, Blix and Condy came out to
the lifeboat station. Captain Jack received them in sweater and
visored cap, and ushered them into the front room.

"Well, how's the yarn getting on?" Captain Jack would ask.

Then Condy would read the last chapter while the Captain paced the
floor, frowning heavily, smoking cigars, listening to every word.
Condy told the story in the first person, as if Billy Isham's partner
were narrating scenes and events in which he himself had moved. Condy
called this protagonist "Burke Cassowan," and was rather proud of the
name. But the captain would none of it. Cassowan, the protagonist,
was simply "Our Mug."

"Now," Condy would say, notebook in hand, "now, Cap., we've got down to
Mazatlan. Now I want to sort of organize the expedition in this next
chapter."

"I see, I see," Captain Jack would exclaim, interested at once. "Wait
a bit till I take off my shoes. I can think better with my shoes off";
and having removed his shoes, he would begin to pace the room in his
stocking feet, puffing fiercely on his cigar as he warmed to the tale,
blowing the smoke out through either ear, gesturing savagely, his face
flushed and his eyes kindling.

"Well, now, lessee. First thing Our Mug does when he gets to Mazatlan
is to communicate his arrival to Senora Estrada--telegraphs, you know;
and, by the way, have him use a cipher."

"What kind of cipher?"

"Count three letters on from the right letter, see. If you were
spelling 'boat,' for instance, you would begin with an E, the third
letter after B; then R for the O, being the third letter from O. So
you'd spell 'boat,' ERDW; and Senora Estrada knows when she gets that
despatch that she must count three letters BACK from each letter to get
the right ones. Take now such a cipher word as ULIOH. That means
RIFLE. Count three letters back from each letter of ULIOH, and it'll
spell RIFLE. You can make up a lot of despatches like that, just to
have the thing look natural; savvy?"

"Out of sight!" muttered Condy, making a note.

"Then Our Mug and Billy Isham start getting a crew. And Our Mug, he
buys the sextant there in Mazatlan--the sextant, that got out of order
and spoiled everything. Or, no; don't have it a sextant; have it a
quadrant--an old-fashioned, ebo