there's something fishy about this enterprise. Cappy Ricks isn't fully
informed, otherwise he wouldn't be doing business with a crook!"






CHAPTER VII





Arrived ashore, Captain Murphy hurried to the cable office, registered
his cable address, borrowed a code book and sent a code telegram to
his owner. Then, having subsidized the operator liberally to rush it,
Michael J. Murphy set out for a stroll among the limited attractions
of Pernambuco. His cablegram would get through in two hours at the
very most, and though the captain figured the Blue Star offices would
be closed when the message reached San Francisco, still he was not
discouraged. He knew the cable company always telephoned to Mr.
Skinner, at his home, all Blue Star and Ricks Lumber & Logging
messages arriving after office hours and before midnight. Naturally
Skinner could be depended upon to have a copy of the code at home, and
if he didn't Murphy knew he would rush down to the office, no matter
what the hour, and decode it there. Of course he would cable his reply
immediately, in which event it might be that the captain would have an
answer shortly after midnight or by breakfast at the latest.