"That's comfortin', Scraggsy. Well, me an' Bart's been chewing
over your proposition to buy out our interest in them two Chinks,
an' as the upshot of our talk we made up our minds to sell, but
not for no measly little five bucks' profit. Now, Scraggsy, you
old he-devil, on your honour as between shipmates, you got to
admit five dollars ain't hardly worth considerin'. Come down to
earth now. You know blamed well you're expectin' to pull out with
a neat profit an' that you can afford to boost that five-dollar
ante. What would you consider a fair price for a one-third
interest? Be honest an' fair, Scraggsy."

Captain Scraggs sat down, beaming. With Mr. Gibney in this frame
of mind he knew he could do anything with him. "Well, now, Gib,
my _dear_ boy, if a man was to get twenty-five dollars for his
interest, I should say he oughtn't to have no kick comin'. I know
I wouldn't."

"If you was sellin' your interest--imagine, now, that you're me
an' I'm you--would you be satisfied to sell for twenty-five
dollars?"

"I certainly would, Gib, my boy. Why, that's almost four hundred
per cent. profit, an' any man that'd turn up his nose at a four
hundred per cent. profit ought to go an' have his head examined
by a competent nut doctor."

"Well, if you feel that way about it, all right, Scraggsy," Mr.
Gibney replied slowly and put his hand in his pocket. "As I remarked
previous, while you're away me an' Bart gets chewin' over the
proposition an' decides we'll sell. An' to show you what a funny