“Yes,” said Fairfax thoughtfully; “I see no undue risks. By the way, as the _Port Edes_ is merely a cargo tramp, and doesn’t hold a certificate for passengers, I’m afraid the Board of Trade would not let Mr. Onslow travel by her simply as the firm’s representative. But that could be easily overcome.” “Oh,” said Onslow, “I’ll sign on articles in the usual way as one of the ship’s company—as fourth mate, say, or doctor, with salary of one shilling for the run. ’Tisn’t the first time that pleasing fiction has been palmed upon a shipping-master. It doesn’t deceive any one you know, because the rate of wages gives one away at the outset. But the country’s paternal, mutton-headed shipping laws are obeyed, and so everybody’s pleased.” Fairfax laughed and went into the outer offices, and Patrick Onslow turned to the shipowner with a couple of questions. “To begin with,” he said, “why did you offer freights to Norfolk, and Pensacola, and Mobile, and those places? If you call in there, the natural thing would be to get the specie ashore and express it by railroad direct to New Orleans. If you miss that chance, and start carrying it round by sea, the thing looks fishy at once. Now, fishiness is an aspect which we can’t afford in the very least degree. The swindle will call up enough sensation in its most honest and straightforward dress.” “My dear Mr. Onslow, please give me credit for a little more finesse. I see the objection to intermediate ports as much as you do, but I merely mentioned them to Fairfax as a blind. To begin with, it is a hundred to one chance against our getting any cargo at all consigned to them at this season of the year, even if we offered to carry it gratis. In the second place, if it was offered, I could easily get out of it in fifty ways. Afterwards, when the deplorable accident takes place, an inquiry into this will help to draw off attention from your Floridan Peninsula. Any one inclined to carp will instantly be told that we were equally ready to put the specie ashore on the Virginian coast if our other cargo had led us there. What do you think of that now?” “Beg your pardon. That’s clear-sighted enough, and should work correctly. But I fancy my other objection is better founded. What in the name of plague did you go and economize over insurance for? Why didn’t you get the stuff underwritten slap up to the strong-room of the bank?” “To save £500. If you aren’t going past the middle of the Mexican Gulf, what is the use of wasting money by insuring further?” “£500 in a deal of £500,000! A mere straw in a cartload!” “That, my dear Mr. Onslow, is business. As I often assure my young friends commencing life, if one takes care of the pennies, the pounds will take care of themselves. It is by looking after what you are pleased to consider trivial sums like these that the firm of Marmaduke Rivers and Shelf has risen to its present eminence.” “Oh, wind!” retorted Onslow. “Don’t tell me!” “Sir!” exclaimed Shelf.