"Would you say anything to Shuffles?" asked Wilton, still in doubt, of Monroe, as they happened to meet again in the waist.
"To Shuffles!" exclaimed Monroe, in an energetic whisper.
"I mean so."
"Certainly not. I should as soon think of speaking to Lowington himself."
"But Shuffles may join us. He is always in for a good time."
"Why, you ninny, he is third lieutenant of the ship."
"No matter if he is. I think Shuffles would like to join us."
"Nonsense! He has been in office only three days, and it would break him. He would be degraded to the steerage," replied Monroe, who could not help thinking that Wilton was beside himself in proposing such a thing, and that the enterprise was doomed to failure in such incompetent hands.
"If he won"t join us, perhaps he will help us off. He is officer of the deck, you know, in the second dog watch."
"I know he is; but don"t you open your mouth to him. If you do, I"ll back out at once."
"Back out?"
"Yes, back out. I believe you are crazy. Why don"t you go to Captain Carnes, and done with it?" said Monroe, with energy.
"I haven"t any hold on Carnes, and I have on Shuffles."
"What do you mean?" asked the prudent conspirator, curiously.
"If Shuffles won"t join us, he won"t blow on us, you may depend upon that. He wouldn"t dare to do it. I could break him before sundown, if I chose," said Wilton, with conscious power.
"That alters the case."
"Of course, I shouldn"t think of saying anything to him, if I did not know what I was talking about. I have him where the hair is short, and he knows it, as well as I do."
"What is it, Wilton?"
"No matter what it is. When a thing is told me in confidence, I keep it to myself; but if he turns traitor to his cronies, he must look out for breakers. He knows what it is."
"Well, if you can get him, he will be a first-rate fellow to have."
"I think I can get him. Here he comes; you keep out of the way, and I will see how deep the water is."
Monroe went forward to find a student to whom he had been deputed to speak in the interest of the enterprise leaving Wilton to grapple with the old lion of mischief, whose teeth, however, seemed to have been worn out in the cause.
"What"s up, Wilton?" demanded the third lieutenant who was now off duty, and therefore allowed to speak to the crew, though it was a privilege of which the officers seldom availed themselves.
"Who said anything was up?" asked Wilton.
"You look as though you meant something. What were you and Ike Monroe talking about just now?" continued Shuffles. "About me, I"ll be bound, for you kept looking at me, as though you meant something."
"What makes you think so? Have you heard anything?" asked Wilton, fearful that the plot had leaked out.
"Not a word? I only judged by your looks."
"I suppose if anything was up, you wouldn"t have anything to do with it now."
"Most decidedly, I should not. I like my present position too well to fall out of it. I"m going to be captain next term, if I can fetch it any way in the world."
"You mean to be a flunky, just like the rest of them. You are not the same fellow you used to be."
"Yes, I am."
"You are getting too big for your boots."
"You wrong me, Wilton. I"m just as good a fellow as I ever was. I think I"m the best fellow in the ship, and for that reason I want to be captain. I"m ahead of Carnes so far on marks this month."
"Well, if you want to be the head flunky, I hope you"ll get it. We are not going ash.o.r.e to-morrow, they say," added Wilton, changing the topic to get nearer to the business of the hour.
"So Pelham told me."
"Are you willing to stay on board and study, and do ship"s duty, on the Fourth of July?"
"We are going to celebrate."
"How?"
"I"m sure I don"t know."
"We shall celebrate to-morrow just as we do every day--as close prisoners on board the ship. I, for one, don"t like it, and I won"t stand it."
"Won"t you?" laughed Shuffles.
"When I say I won"t, I mean so."
"O, you do--do you?"
"You better believe I do," added Wilton, shaking his head resolutely.
"What are you going to do?"
"I"m going ash.o.r.e, by hook or by crook."
"Better not get into any sc.r.a.pe."
"You say that as one of the flunkies."
"Well, you had better not say anything to me, for I shall have to do my duty as an officer. Don"t say anything to me, and then I shall not know anything about it."
"Humph!" sneered Wilton, not pleased with this non-committal policy.