You
see, it was this way."
Mindful of their experience with the mate of the whaleback, Condy
and Blix were all attention in an instant. Blix sat down upon an
upturned box, her elbows on her knees, leaning forward, her little
eyes fixed and shining with interest and expectation; Condy, the
story-teller all alive and vibrant in him, stood at her elbow,
smoking cigarette after cigarette, his fingers dancing with
excitement and animation as the Captain spoke.
And then it was that Condy and Blix, in that isolated station, the
bay lapping at the shore within ear-shot, in that atmosphere
redolent of paint and oakum and of seaweed decaying upon the beach
outside, first heard the story of "In Defiance of Authority."
Captain Jack began it with his experience as a restaurant keeper
during the boom days in Seattle, Washington. He told them how he
was the cashier of a dining-saloon whose daily net profits
exceeded eight hundred dollars; how its proprietor suddenly died,
and how he, Captain Jack, continued the management of the
restaurant pending a settlement of the proprietor's affairs and an
appearance of heirs; how in the confusion and excitement of the
boom no settlement was ever made; and how, no heirs appearing, he
assumed charge of the establishment himself, paying bills, making
contracts, and signing notes, until he came to consider the
business and all its enormous profits as his own; and how at last,
when the restaurant was burned, he found himself some forty
thousand dollars "ahead of the game.
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