'Five thousand ton o' potential freight rottin'
in drydock, man; an' he dolin' the paint out in quarter-pound tins,
for it cuts him to the heart, mad though he is. An' the Grotkau -
the Grotkau of all conceivable bottoms - soaking up every pound that
should be ours at Liverpool!'
"I was staggered wi' this folly - considerin' the dinner at Radley's
in connection wi' the same.
"Ye may well stare, McPhee,' says the head-clerk. 'There's engines,
an' rollin' stock, an' iron bridgesd' ye know what freights are noo?
an' pianos, an' millinery, an' fancy Brazil cargo o' every species
pourin' into the Grotkau - the Grotkau o' the Jerusalem firm - and
the Lammergeyer's bein' painted!'
"Losh, I thought he'd drop dead wi' the fits.
"I could say no more than 'Obey orders, if ye break owners,' but on
the Kite we believed McRimmon was mad; an' McIntyre of the Lammergeyer
was for lockin' him up by some patent legal process he'd found in a
book o' maritime law. An' a' that week South American freights rose
an' rose. It was sinfu'!
"Syne Bell got orders to tak' the Kite round to Liverpool in
water-ballast, and McRimmon came to bid's good-bye, yammerin' an'
whinin' o'er the acres o' paint he'd lavished on the Lammergeyer.
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