BUBBLES 199 



me as he lay resting on his elbows on the floor 

 with the chart before him and his face turned up 

 to mine. 



''Where are we, Captain?" I asked, and he 

 said, "Come here and I'll show you." 



I sprawled out on the floor beside him, while 

 with ruler and dividers he plotted out our course, 

 finally driving a leg of the latter through the 

 chart into the floor and exclaiming, "We are 

 there if the compass is right and I know it isn't." 



Though it looked as if we might be drowned 

 we arrived safely at Norfolk three days after 

 leaving New York. 



It's a feast or a famine in the steamship busi- 

 ness. I have known one of our boats to clear 

 twenty-five thousand dollars on a trip and then 

 eat her head off for months at a time. Long be- 

 fore the pool had floored me I had grub-staked a 

 friend to a line to the Magdalena River. He 

 bought the Estrella, which had cost $125,000, at a 

 sacrifice price and started in. I knew Garrison 

 slightly at that time and as he had seemed to like 

 me I consulted him, when it was too late. His 



