Outward Bound Part 56

added Pelham, laughing; for he was enjoying the scene he had witnessed in the waist, when, one after another, the "outsiders" had made the signs to his rival.

"You have betrayed the secrets of the Chain."

"Have I?"

"Didn't you give the signs to Paul Kendall, the captain, and half a dozen others?"

"But, my dear fellow, they are members," replied Pelham, chuckling.

"They are not? and you know they are not."

"But, Shuffles, just consider that all of them voted for you."

"I don't care for that."

"I do. You recognized them as members first, and I couldn't do less than you did."

"You are a traitor!" said Shuffles, red in the face with pa.s.sion; and the word hissed through his closed teeth.

"Well, just as you like: we won't quarrel about the meaning of words,"

replied Pelham, gayly; for he enjoyed the discomfiture of his rival, and felt that Shuffles deserved all he got, for the foul play of which he had been guilty on the ballot.

"You pledged yourself to be honest, and stand by the vote, fair or foul."

"Very true, my dear fellow? and I do so. Give me your orders, and I will obey them."

"But you have exposed the whole thing," retorted Shuffles. "What can we do now, when Kendall and the captain know all about it?"

"They don't know any more than the law allows. Besides, they are members. Didn't they vote for you? Didn't they know beans?" continued Pelham, in the most tantalizing of tones.

"Do you mean to insult me?" demanded Shuffles, unable to control his rage.

"Not I. I respect you too much. You are the captain--that is to be--of the ship," laughed Pelham. "The captain, the second lieutenant, and all the flunkies, voted for you? and, of course, I couldn't be so deficient in politeness as to insult one who----"

At that moment Pelham removed his hand from the sheet, and Shuffles, irritated beyond control at the badinage of his companion, gave him a sudden push, and the fourth lieutenant went down into the surges, under the bow of the ship.

As Pelham disappeared beneath the waves, Shuffles was appalled at his own act; for even he had not sunk so low as to contemplate murder. The deed was not premeditated. It was done on the spur of angry excitement, which dethroned his reason. The chief conspirator had so often and so lightly used the language of the League, about "falling overboard accidentally," that he had become familiar with the idea; and, perhaps, the deed seemed less terrible to him than it really was. When the act was done, on the impulse of the moment, he realized his own situation, and that of his victim. He would have given anything at that instant, as he looked down upon the dark waves, to have recalled the deed; but it was too late. Self-reproach and terror overwhelmed him.

"Man overboard!" he shouted with desperation, as he threw off his pea-jacket, and dived, head foremost, from the forecastle into the sea.

His first impulse had been to do a foul deed; his next, to undo it.

Shuffles was a powerful swimmer. The ocean was his element. He struck the water hardly an instant after Pelham; and the ship, which was under all sail, making nine knots, hurried on her course, leaving the rivals to buffet the waves unaided.

"Man overboard!" cried officers and seamen, on all parts of the ship's deck.

"Hard down the helm, quartermaster! Let go the life-buoys!" shouted Kendall, who was the officer of the deck.

"Hard down, sir. Buoy overboard," replied Bennington the quartermaster at the helm.

"Clear away the third cutter!" added Kendall.

The orders were rapidly given for backing the main-topsail, while the courses were clewed up; but the ship went on a considerable distance before her headway could be arrested.

When Pelham went down into the water, he had been injured by the fall; and though he struck out to save himself, it was not with his usual skill and vigor; for, like his companion in the water, he was a good swimmer. Shuffles had struck the waves in proper att.i.tude, and was in condition to exert all his powers when he came to the surface. He swam towards Pelham, intent upon rendering him the a.s.sistance he might require.

"Do you mean to drown me?" gasped Pelham, who supposed his rival had followed him overboard for the purpose of completing his work.

"I mean to save you, Pelham," replied Shuffles. "Can you swim?"

"I'm hurt."

"Give me your hand, and I will support you."

Shuffles took the offered hand of Pelham, who was able to swim a little, and supported him till they could reach the life-buoy, which had been dropped from the stern of the ship when the alarming cry was given.

"Where are you hurt?" asked Shuffles, as soon as they had grasped the buoy.

"My stomach struck the water," replied Pelham, faintly.

The third cutter had been lowered into the water as soon as the ship's headway was stopped, and was now within a few yards of the buoy.

"Will you forgive me, Pelham? I was beside myself," said Shuffles, when his companion had recovered breath after his exertions.

"You have saved me, Shuffles. I should have gone down without you."

"Will you forgive me?" pleaded the penitent. "I did not mean to injure you."

"Never mind it; we won't say a word about it," answered Pelham, as the boat came up.

They were a.s.sisted into the cutter, and the oarsmen pulled back to the ship. When the party reached the deck, a cheer burst from a portion of the crew; but Wilton, Monroe, and a few others, believing that Pelham had "fallen overboard accidentally," were appalled at the probable consequences of the event.

Pelham was a.s.sisted to the after cabin, where Dr. Winstock immediately attended him. He was not seriously injured; and the next day he was able to be on deck, and do duty.

"How was that?" asked Wilton, when Shuffles had changed his clothes, and warmed himself at the stove, as they met in the waist.

Shuffles looked sad and solemn. He made no reply.

"Did he fall overboard accidentally?" demanded Wilton.

"Don't ask me."

"You jumped in after him, and saved him, they say," added Wilton; "so, I suppose, it was really an accident."

Shuffles still made no reply.

CHAPTER XX.