ALBACORA 179 



"They cut a hole in the side of a boat," I said, "way- 

 above the water line, and they shoved the obelisk in so 

 that it ran through the ship like a spear. Maybe you 

 can tell the Grace Company about that to help give 

 them ideas on how to ship the Explorer, 



Lou went back to his telephones without replying, but 

 I knew I had started him thinking. Instead of checking 

 with his broker, he put in a call to Grace Lines. But 

 after he talked to a few officials, Lou hung up despair- 

 ingly. "It's getting away from us," he said. "Even if 

 Wheeler does finish her in time, the Explorer may not 

 make the Santa RitaJ^ 



"Why?" 



"The Grace people just quoted me a price, Genie. 

 I'm not a piker, and I believe in Rivas' work, but that 

 figure was prohibitive." 



"They've got a point," he went on. "I can't argue 

 with them. The Explorer runs sixteen tons. They'll 

 have to rig a special cradle just to get her on the Santa 

 Rita. Then, there isn't any direct boat service to Iqui- 

 que. They're going to have to transfer her three or four 

 times to get her down. Every time it's like moving six- 

 teen tons of freight marked 'handle with care.' " 



"What are you going to do?" 



"I don't know," Lou said. "Maybe I'd better organ- 

 ize another oil company. The oil business isn't as hard 

 as getting an expedition going. I'm stumped." 



Neither of us anticipated the solution. Lou again ex- 



