"You mean run away?"
"I wouldn't put it quite as bluntly as that. I mean, go away and keep
out of sight till it quiets down. If you stay they'll put you on the
rack and get you all tangled up by firing questions at you. And what
will you gain by going through the muss? You've got to agree with me
that the inspectors will suspend you--revoke your license. Here's this
steamer here, talking for herself. If you stay around underfoot, and all
the evidence is brought out at the hearing, then the Federal grand
jury will take the thing up, probably. They'll have a manslaughter case
against you."
Still Captain Mayo did not speak.
"If you simply drop out of sight I don't believe they'll chase you.
Personally, having watched you last night, I don't believe you are
guilty of any very bad break. It simply happened wrong. We don't want
all the notoriety a court trial would bring to the line. And here's what
I'll do, Mayo. I'll slip you a few hundred for expenses so that you can
go away and grab into the shipping game somewhere else. A fellow like
you can land on his feet."
"Mr. Fogg, a renegade steamboat man stands a mighty poor show. I may be
suspended, and worse may happen to me, but I'm not going to ruin myself
and my good name by running away. That's confession! It's wrecking all
my prospects forever--and I have worked too hard for what I've got. I'm
going to stay here and face the music--tell my story like a man."
"It will make a fine story--and you have told me yourself that they
are just waiting to make a smashing example of somebody," sneered Fogg.
"You, a cub captain, broke the navigation rules last night by running at
least fifteen knots in the fog. Your log and the testimony of your mates
will show that. I'm not blaming you, son. I'm showing you how it looks!
You got off your course and rammed a schooner at anchor, and you didn't
even stop to pick up her men. I saw that much. Mayo, the only sensible
thing for you to do is to duck out from under. It will save the line
from a lot of scandal and bad advertising. By gad! if you don't do that
much for us, after the offer I've just made you, I'll go onto the stand
and testify against you."
"You seem to be mighty ready and anxious to make me the goat in this
thing," blazed the young man, his temper getting away from him. He had
been without sleep for many hours, his soul had been crucified by the
bitter experiences he had been through.