“He laughed till he choked. ‘Tak’ what I gie you, McPhee, an’ be content,’ he said. ‘Lord, how a man wastes time when he gets old. Get aboard the Kite, mon, as soon as ye can. I’ve clean forgot there’s a Baltic charter yammerin’ for you at London. That’ll be your last voyage, I’m thinkin’, excep’ by way o’ pleasure.’ “Steiner’s men were comin’ aboard to take charge an’ tow her round, an’ I passed young Steiner in a boat as I went to the _Kite_. He looked down his nose; but McRimmon pipes up: ‘Here’s the man ye owe the _Grotkau_ to—at a price, Steiner—at a price! Let me introduce Mr. McPhee to you. Maybe ye’ve met before; but ye’ve vara little luck in keepin’ your men—ashore or afloat!’ “Young Steiner looked angry enough to eat him as he chuckled an’ whustled in his dry old throat. “‘Ye’ve not got your award yet,’ Steiner says. “‘Na, na,’ says the auld man, in a screech ye could hear to the Hoe, ‘but I’ve twa million sterlin’, an’ no bairns, ye Judeeas Apella, if ye mean to fight; an’ I’ll match ye p’und for p’und till the last p’und’s oot. Ye ken _me_, Steiner! I’m McRimmon o’ McNaughten & McRimmon!’ “‘Dod,’ he said betwix’ his teeth, sittin’ back in the boat, ‘I’ve waited fourteen year to break that Jewfirm, an’ God be thankit I’ll do it now.’ “The _Kite_ was in the Baltic while the auld man was warkin’ his warks, but I know the assessors valued the _Grotkau_, all told, at over three hunder and sixty thousand—her manifest was a treat o’ richness—an’ McRimmon got a third for salvin’ an abandoned ship. Ye see, there’s vast deeference between towin’ a ship wi’ men on her an’ pickin’ up a derelict—a vast deeference—in pounds sterlin’. Moreover, twa three o’ the _Grotkau’s_ crew were burnin’ to testify about food, an’ there was a note o’ Calder to the Board, in regard to the tail-shaft, that would ha’ been vara damagin’ if it had come into court. They knew better than to fight. “Syne the _Kite_ came back, an’ McRimmon paid off me an’ Bell personally, an’ the rest of the crew _pro rata_, I believe it’s ca’ed. My share—oor share, I should say—was just twenty-five thousand pound sterlin’.” At this point Janet jumped up and kissed him. “Five-and-twenty thousand pound sterlin’. Noo, I’m fra the North, and I’m not the like to fling money awa’ rashly, but I’d gie six months’ pay—one hunder an’ twenty pounds—to know _who_ flooded the engine-room of the _Grotkau_. I’m fairly well acquaint wi’ McRimmon’s eediosyncrasies, and _he_’d no hand in it. It was not Calder, for I’ve asked him, an’ he wanted to fight me. It would be in the highest degree unprofessional o’ Calder—not fightin’, but openin’ bilge-cocks—but for a while I thought it was him. Ay, I judged it might be him—under temptation.” “What’s your theory?” I demanded. “Weel, I’m inclined to think it was one o’ those singular providences that remind us we’re in the hands o’ Higher Powers.” “It couldn’t open and shut itself?”