| "Captain Rogers" | |
|---|---|
| Short story by W. W. Jacobs | |
 Text available at Wikisource | |
| Country | England |
| Language | English |
| Genre(s) | Crime, short story |
| Publication | |
| Published in | Harper's Magazine |
| Media type | Magazine |
| Publication date | February 1901 |
"Captain Rogers" is a crime short story by W. W. Jacobs. It was published in Harper's Magazine in the February 1901 issue. [1] It follows a stranger taking control of a joint bar and hotel.
Nick Gunn walks into the "Golden Way," a part beer shop and part motel. He walks into the coffee room and demands for the landlord. The waiter initially declines, but due to the stranger's commanding demeanor he gets the landlord, a fellow by the name of Mullet Rogers. Nick Gunn was previously the mate of Mullet Rogers, and Mullet used to be very mean to him on voyages fifteen years ago. Nick has been searching everywhere for Rogers since. Nick demands housing, new clothes, food, and money. Roger declines and tells him to leave, but Nick responds by pulling out his pistol and demanding him to sit and talk it out. As they talk, Rogers' step-daughter walks in, but promptly leaves after she spots Nick. Nick is able to get a room with Rogers and his step-daughter and also supper. He eats the supper in the coffee-room, gets shown to his room, and falls asleep.
Nick awakes the next morning, eating breakfast with the family. Nick learns that Joan, the stepdaughter, has no mother and is in need of a husband.
Nick is able to gain part-time ownership to the part time motel and beer shop through threats, and over the course of a little under a month is makes money as Mullet's authority begins to slip away. Nick hires his own crude women and men. Joan watches with horror as the place begins to decline in popularity. It frightens Mullet so much one night that he is placed into cardiac arrest. Nick, meaning to inherent the dying man's wealth, begs to him on his deathbed to know where his money is. Mullet demands that a nurse be watching, to which Nick gets one and drugs her and places her by the fireplace. Mullet asks to see his stepdaughter, to which Nick says that he'll marry her if Mullet tells him where the money is.
Suddenly, Mullet begins to contort in his bed. He tells Nick that he arranged an assassination of him after the first threat was made, and that he will be surely dead. Mullet promptly dies, and Nick hastily steals his shoes and walks out into the night, presumably running from the police or assassinators.