Part 58 (1/2)
”Then we are safe; but the silver pitcher must be forthcoming.”
”The fellows will all be glad enough to get out of this sc.r.a.pe by paying ten s.h.i.+llings.”
”Very well; then every one of them must sign an order on Mr. Lowington for ten s.h.i.+llings, payable to Dr. Winstock,” added Pelham.
”They will do it. Are you sure nothing has leaked out?”
”Very sure; there would have been a tremendous commotion before this time, if our real object had been even suspected.”
”No doubt of that.”
”After all, Shuffles, do you really think we intended to take the s.h.i.+p?”
”I did; I know that.”
”I don't believe I did,” said the fourth lieutenant. ”Nothing seemed exactly real to me, until I went overboard.”
”It was more real to me then than ever before,” replied Shuffles. ”What shall we do with the Chain now?”
”Nothing; we may want to use it again, some time. Let every fellow keep still. When the princ.i.p.al gets his silver pitcher, which the doctor will procure as soon as he can go up to Cork, he will think the members of the Chain are the best fellows on board.”
”I think you have sold the whole of us, Pelham,” continued Shuffles, with a sheepish smile. ”Here's the end of the Chain----”
”Yes, and we may be thankful that it isn't the end of a rope instead of a chain,” laughed Pelham. ”The penalty of mutiny is death.”
”I have had no fear of that; it would have been regarded only as a lark.
But it is really amusing to think where we have come out,” added Shuffles. ”We formed the 'Chain' because Lowington was tyrannical; most of the fellows joined it because he took their money from them.”
”Precisely so.”
”And we are going to end it by giving Lowington a silver pitcher, in token of our respect and esteem!”
”In other words, Shuffles, we have played this game, and whipped out each other, without any help from the princ.i.p.al. It was mean business--I really think so; and while we were trying to overreach each other, the game slipped through our fingers. I am really grateful when I think what an awful sc.r.a.pe we have avoided.”
”Perhaps you are right,” replied Shuffles, thoughtfully; ”but there was fun in the scheme.”
”There might have been, if we had succeeded; but it would have been anything but fun if we had failed. Some of us would have found quarters in the brig, and we should not have been allowed to go on sh.o.r.e when we reached Queenstown.”
”A fellow won't want to go on sh.o.r.e without any money,” growled Shuffles, who was not wholly cured of his discontent.
”Since I went overboard I have been thinking a great deal of this matter. I have come to the conclusion that Mr. Lowington is not the worst man in the world.”
”He is harsh and tyrannical.”
”I don't think he ought to have taken our money from us; but I judge him from all his acts, not by one alone.”
Pelham seemed to have turned over a new leaf, and to be sincerely sorry for his att.i.tude of rebellion. Shuffles was not to be convinced; he was to be overwhelmed in another manner.
The rivals separated, with their differences removed and with full confidence in each other. Pelham wrote thirty-one orders on the princ.i.p.al for ten s.h.i.+llings each, in favor of the surgeon, during his off-time on that day, which were to be signed and handed to Paul Kendall. As opportunity occurred, the ”situation” was explained to the members of the League; and though many of them growled at the idea of giving a present to Mr. Lowington for taking their money from them, not one of them refused to sign the orders; none of them dared to refuse.
In due time Dr. Winstock had possession of all these little drafts, amounting in the aggregate to fifteen pounds, ten s.h.i.+llings, which would purchase quite a respectable piece of plate. Paul Kendall was the happiest student on board, for the presentation heralded the era of good feeling. The League was virtually dead for the present, if not forever.