Part 4 (2/2)
”For whom shall you vote, Wilton?” asked Shuffles in a group of half a dozen which had gathered around one of the mess tables.
”I don't know? whom do you go for?” replied Wilton.
”I rather think I shall go for Bob Shuffles. In my opinion, he is the best fellow on board,” replied the owner of that name.
”That's modest,” laughed Wilton.
”Do you know of any fellow that would make a better captain than I should?”
”You don't know the first thing about a s.h.i.+p.”
”What odds does that make? I can learn as fast as anybody else.”
”Do you expect every fellow to vote for himself?” asked Howe, another of the group.
”Of course I don't; I expect them to vote for me,” answered Shuffles, with great good-nature.
”You are rather cheeky, Shuffles.”
”What's the use of mincing the matter? Here we are, half a dozen of the best fellows in the s.h.i.+p. We can't all be captain; but one of us can be just as well as not.”
”That's so,” added Howe, approvingly. ”But who shall that one be?”
”I am the one, without a doubt,” said Shuffles.
”I don't see it,” interposed Monroe, shaking his head; and he was the young gentleman who had a.s.sisted the aspirant for the captaincy to rob Mr. Lowington's favorite peach tree.
”What have you got to say about it, Ike Monroe? Do you expect us to go for you?”
”I didn't say so.”
”That's what you meant.”
”I've just as much right to the place as you have, Bob Shuffles.”
”Do you think you could make the fellows stand round as I can? But hold on; fellows, don't let us fight about it. We are just the best six fellows on board, and if we have a mind to do so, we can have this thing all our own way,” continued Shuffles.
”I don't see how,” said Philip Sanborn.
”Don't you know how the politicians manage these things?”
”I don't.”
”I'll tell you, then.”
”But the princ.i.p.al said we must go according to merit, and elect the fellows who were the best fitted for the offices,” interposed Howe.
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