Outward Bound Part 49

"I am tolerably confident of the result," added Pelham.

"I am quite confident that I shall be chosen," replied Shuffles.

"Don't be too certain, my dear fellow," laughed the fourth lieutenant.

"I have taken in a great many recruits."

"I'm glad you have--the more the better. I have also taken in a good many. Pelham, do you know this is very shaky business?"

"Shaky?"

"Yes--between you and me, I mean. If either of us should back down, the whole thing would fall to the ground."

"Back down!" exclaimed Pelham. "Why, after what has pa.s.sed between us, I consider it impossible that either of us should back down. I am pledged; so are you; and if either of us should back down, I hope he will--fall overboard accidentally."

"So do I," replied Shuffles, heartily.

"My dear fellow, if you should back out, I should be mad enough to help you over the rail, some dark evening, if I had a good chance."

"I don't believe I should feel any better-natured if you should break your agreement. One of us is doomed to disappointment. We have tried to make this thing as fair as possible."

"Certainly we have, and it will be as fair as anything can be. I am entirely satisfied with the voting."

"Are you?"

"Of course I am."

Shuffles was very glad of this acknowledgment in advance of the reception of the result.

"But, after all, Pelham," said he, "there may be an appearance of unfairness in the voting, after the result is declared."

"There may be; but each of us is pledged not to claim anything on account of such an appearance. If the figures of the two receivers agree, that is the end of the whole thing, and you or I will be the captain."

"That's so; but here comes McKeon," replied Shuffles, as the receiver gave him the paper on which the result of the votes he had received was written.

It was too dark to see it, and the rivals waited, in great excitement of mind, for the appearance of Grossbeck. He came, and his paper was handed to Pelham. The conditions of the agreement had now all been complied with, and the two papers were to be placed side by side, where both of the candidates could see them at the same instant. It was necessary, in the darkness, to obtain the use of a light for a moment and they decided to wait till the midshipman on duty in the waist went into the steerage to make the half-hourly inspection.

When one bell struck, the officer left his post, and the conspirators walked up to the binnacle in the waist. By raising one of the slides in the side of the machine, the lamp which threw its light on the face of the compa.s.s would enable them to examine the papers.

"Hold your paper by the side of mine," said Pelham as he placed the important doc.u.ment in a position to receive the light from the binnacle when the slide should be moved.

"Open it," replied Shuffles, nervously, as he complied with the direction of his rival.

Pelham raised the slide, and the contents of the papers were read by both.

Peas,........19

Beans,........22

The results given in by the two receivers were the same, and by the terms of the bond, it was an election.

"Shut the slide," said Shuffles.

"Who opened that binnacle?" demanded the first master, walking aft from his station on the forecastle.

"I did, sir," replied Shuffles, unwilling to permit the fourth lieutenant to answer the question. "We were looking at some figures I had made."

The master, finding that the fourth lieutenant was one of the party gathered around the binnacle, said no more, and returned to his place.

"Are you satisfied, Pelham?" asked Shuffles, in the softest of tones.

"I don't understand it," answered the disappointed candidate.

"Don't you? Well, you will remember that neither of us was to raise any question about the fairness of the ballot."

"I don't say a word about its fairness; I only said I did not understand it," answered Pelham, in surly tones.

"I don't understand it any better than you do; but the point just now is, whether you acknowledge me as captain, or not."

"Of course I do. When I pledge myself to do a thing, I always do it, I hail you as captain."

"All right," added Shuffles. "Then nothing more need be said. You have kept your bond like a gentleman and I now appoint you my first officer, as I promised to do."

"Thank you," replied Pelham, in a sneering tone.

"What's the matter, my dear fellow? Are you not satisfied?" demanded Shuffles.

"Entirely satisfied with the result;" but he talked like one who was anything but satisfied.

"It was a fair thing--wasn't it?"

"I suppose it was; I don't know."

"You speak as though you were not satisfied, Pelham."

"I am not disposed to grumble. I only say that I don't understand it."

"What don't you understand?" asked Shuffles, sharply. "The election was conducted on a plan furnished by yourself; the receivers were of your own choice; the results agree; and I can't see, for the life of me, that there is any chance to find fault."

"I don't find fault. The result perplexes me, because I can't see through it."

"What do you mean by that?"

"I don't see where your twenty-two votes came from."

"And I don't see where your nineteen came from," retorted the successful candidate.

"The whole number of votes was forty-one," added Pelham, who was quite sure there was something wrong.

"The long and short of it is, that there are more fellows on board that 'know beans,' than you thought there were," laughed Shuffles.