“You mean we might have our ship blown up by a German submarine?”
“Well, we'd collect our freight in advance, wouldn't we? And the British Government will guarantee to reimburse us if the ship is lost, will it not? Well, then, where's the risk?”
“Any man that goes to sea knows he has to take a chance. Bet you Mike Murphy could take that cargo of livestock across and bring another cargo back. He's luckier than a cross-eyed coon. And another thing, Matt: If you accept that business we can kill two birds with one stone--yes, three--because Mike and Terry and I will cross over on the _Narcissus_ and save the price of transportation from here to New York, and from New York to Liverpool. Then, while the _Narcissus_ is discharging and taking on another cargo, we'll go scouting for available steamers.”
“It might be done, though I hate to think of it Cappy. If we lose the vessel they'll pay us a million and a half for her, of course--and she cost us less than three hundred thousand a year ago. And, as you say, we'll collect the freight in advance. They're very anxious to get the _Narcissus_. She's a whopping big boat, and that's the kind of a vessel they need for a horse transport.”
“Yes; and, by the Holy Pink-Toed Prophet, it will be a bully vacation, and a bully vacation is something I haven't had since the night of the big wind in Ireland. Moreover, I combine business with pleasure, which is always desirable; and, if that isn't excuse enough, I want to tell you it's cheaper to travel dead-head on our own boats than to pay for three round-trip tickets to Europe on a Cunard liner.”
“Matt, all my life I've played a quiet, safe, sane, conservative game. I've always longed for adventure and never had it. Why, just consider a moment what a tiresome thing life would be were it not for the prospect of death at any moment! That's all that keeps us hustling, my boy--trying to put over a winning run before the game is called on account of darkness. Hell's bells! Don't try to scare me with a sheet and the rattle of old bones. Suppose they do blow us up? We don't lose a dollar; in fact, we make money--and we can take to the boats, can't we?”
“We'll have the boats swung overside, provisioned and ready, two days ahead.”