"Exactly. And with that gold you could be safe from your Mama for ever and ever."

    "Why I guess I really could, couldn't I?"

    "Why of course you could, my friend. Of course you could." Gabe leaned forward very close to him. "You with us?"

    Ittzy looked around at the three friendly faces. So much better than the back room of the shop and the staring eyes at the peephole.

    "I'm with you," he said.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN

    Gabe felt proud of himself. It was the first con spiel he'd essayed since he'd left New York, and he'd been afraid he might be getting a little rusty. But it had worked with Ittzy and he felt a whole lot more confident now.

    "The next thing we need," he said, "is a boat."

    Francis said, "A boat? What kind of boat?"

    "A big one. Maybe a ship."

    Vangie gawked at him. "You're going on a ship?"

    "For a million dollars I'm willing to throw up a little."

    "I swear I never thought I'd see the day."

    "Well, it's the only way. I've thought and thought, but there's no other answer. Look, we have to get the stuff out of San Francisco. That means either a boat or a wagon. There's only one wagon road-down the Peninsula-and they could telegraph ahead and cut us off."

    Vangie said, "Couldn't you cut the telegraph wire?"

    Gabe frowned at her. "But what if there was an emergency and somebody had to telegraph for a doctor or something? I mean, you can't just go around cutting Western Union wires all over the place. Somebody could get hurt."

    Francis said, "Besides, with a wagonload of gold you wouldn't be able to go terribly fast, dear. They'd overtake us in just no time on horseback."

    Gabe said, "It's gotta be a ship," and waited.

    Francis said, "I'm sorry, old cock, I'm afraid I don't know anyone with a ship."

    "I know somebody," said Ittzy.

    They all looked at him. Gabe said, "Who?"

    "Flagway," Ittzy said. "His name's Captain Flagway. He has a ship."

    "What does he do with it?"

    "Nothing. His crew jumped ship and ran away to the gold fields."

    Vangie said, "He could have hired Roscoe's crimpers to get him a new crew."

    "He won't do that. He says it's wrong, I don't know why."

    Gabe said, "Does he need money, by any chance?"

    "He sure does," Ittzy said.

    Gabe stood up. "Well, the only thing we'll get if we wait around here is whiskers. Let's go see this guy."

    Along the waterfront Gabe kept his eyes averted from the Bay side of the street. In New York you could live thirty years without once seeing a ship. You could completely ignore the fact that Manhattan was even an island. But in San Francisco you could hardly look across the street without being confronted by roiling water and heaving ships.

    Ittzy led them to a bedraggled sailing ship with several masts. Gabe wouldn't know a clipper from a dinghy, but this one looked plenty big enough, whatever make and model it was.

    Whether it would go more than five miles without sinking was another question. It seemed ready to disintegrate at a moment's notice. Most of the paint was worn off and he wood beneath was splintery and rotten. The big mast in the middle of the ship was slightly off kilter and looked about to fall over. The entire vessel appeared to be in an advanced state of dilapidated decay.

    It was tied up at an equally rotten pier, half a mile below the main waterfront. The dock area around here consisted mainly of abandoned shacks and windowless warehouses.

    Gabe was beginning to feel queasy before they even stepped onto the dock, but he took a deep breath and persevered.

    The ship's name was painted across the stern in faded red letters. San Andreas. Above that a flag hung from a staff canted vertiginously over the stern. Gabe didn't recognize the colors. "What country's that?"

    Ittzy said, "Paraguay."

    "Paraguay?"

    "It's a country in South America," Vangie said.

    Francis was frowning. "Something's decidedly fishy about that."

    "You can say that again," Gabe said, wrinkling his nostrils.

    "No, I don't mean that, old cock. The thing is, you see, Paraguay's a landlocked country. No seacoast. No ports."

    It sounded like Heaven to Gabe.

    Ittzy said, "Well they do have a flag. That's it right there."

    "But how can they have ships if they haven't got any harbors?" Vangie asked.

    Nobody seemed to have an answer for that. They headed for the gangplank that came down from the side of the boat to the dock. Gabe stopped at the foot of the plank. "I think I'll wait here. You go aboard and bring him out, and we'll take him somewhere for a drink."

    Vangie said, sympathetically, "Is it getting to you?"

    "I'll be all right," Gabe said. "As long as I don't have to talk about it."

    "We'll be right back," she said.

    "That's fine," he said, and turned purposefully away as Vangie, Francis and Ittzy went up the undulating gangplank and on board the ship.

    Gabe waited with his back to the sea, fixing his eyes on the hills inland. He could still hear the sickening slap and gulp of the water against the pilings and the ship, but he bore up stoically until the others finally returned.

    "Nobody's on board," Vangie said.

    Ittzy said, "He must be around somewhere. He never goes far."

    "Well, let's find him, then," Gabe said.

    They walked off the pier and turned up the street toward town. Things were very quiet and deserted down in this neighborhood.

    As they passed an alley, Gabe glanced into it and saw an unhappy gentleman in semi-nautical attire, engaged in a dispute with two burly guys. Another look and Gabe realized that they were Roscoe and his partner, the crimpers. They were approaching the nautical gentleman from opposite sides with rope manacles.

    "Help!" the gentleman cried. "Oh, do help!"

    Ittzy shouted, "That's Captain Flagway!"

    "Ho, ho," Gabe said.

    He headed into the alley, reaching for his knuckle-duster with one hand and the loaded whisky-flask with the other. As he approached Roscoe's identity was confirmed, if it needed confirming, by the gamy odor that infused the alleyway.

    Roscoe and the other guy squared off to meet his approach when from behind him he heard Francis say, loud and clear, "Roscoe, you put that man down this minute!"

    It made Roscoe look past Gabe. Suddenly he became very embarrassed. He released Captain Flagway at once, looked at his partner, and turned away with a disgusted look, fading back into the narrow passages between the warehouses. His baffled partner hesitated a second, then followed.

    Gabe looked over his shoulder in bewilderment at Francis, who was looking after the attempted crimpers with a very stern expression on his face, like a fussy housewife finding muddy footprints in the parlor.

    Gabe shook his head and turned back to Captain Flagway, who had staggered to the nearest wall and was leaning against it, mopping his brow. "Oh, thank you, dear friends," he said.

    "Any time," said Gabe.