Part 53 (1/2)
”For the fellow who is to present the pitcher and make the speech?”
added Paul.
”Yes.”
”And Shuffles was chosen?”
”Yes, by a trick.”
”You mean that no one but subscribers ought to have voted?”
”Precisely so.”
”It was a mean trick.”
”It was a sort of practical joke upon me, I suppose”
”I don't believe in practical jokes which need a lie to carry them through.”
”Well, Shuffles has the position, unless some of you fellows will help me out. I wanted to make the speech, and without the nine votes which you and other outsiders put in, I should have been chosen.”
”What can we do?”
”I have a right to consider all the fellows that voted as members of the society. The fact of their voting makes them members.”
”I don't know anything about that.”
”It's clear enough to me, and in a talk I had with Shuffles just now, he didn't pretend to deny the correctness of my position.”
”If he agrees, it must be all right,” laughed Paul.
”If you had understood the matter, for whom should you have voted?”
”I don't know? but after the trick Shuffles played off upon you, I should not vote for him.”
”Very well; then you can change your vote.”
”How shall I change it?”
”Go to Shuffles; and the other eight fellows who voted in the dark must do the same.”
”What shall I say to him?”
”You must go to him as a member of the society, and salute him as such.”
”I don't know how.”
”I'll tell you. When you meet him, scratch the tip end of your nose with the nail of your second finger on the right hand; in this manner,”
continued Pelham giving the first sign.