But Skipper Sam was much like other people, and the more he had the
more he wanted, so he continued in the fur trade. The fact that he had
purchased some city real estate for the purpose of speculation became
known, and other skippers sailing schooners of their own, with an eye
to lucrative, trade, decided that "Skipper Sam must be havin' a darn
good thing on th' Labrador," and when the _Maid of the North_ made her
fifth voyage she had another schooner to keep her company, and another
skipper was on hand to compete with Skipper Sam.
Each year had brought additions to the trading fleet, and competition
had raised the price of fur until now the trappers, with a ready
market, were growing quite independent, and Skipper Sam, instead of
paying what he pleased for the pelts, which, when he had a monopoly of
the trade, was a merely nominal price as compared with their value,
was forced in order to get them at all to pay more nearly their true
worth.
Even now he was making a fair profit, but his mind constantly reverted
to the "good old days" when his returns were from five hundred to a
thousand per cent. on his investment, and he felt injured and
dissatisfied. At the end of every voyage he declared solemnly that he
was no longer making more than seamen's wages and would quit the
trade, and the mate, who was well aware of the captain's comfortable
financial position, always believed he meant it.
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