Rollo on the Atlantic Part 15

"Come," said he, "Chauncy, that will amuse you."

"O, no," said Mr. Chauncy.

"Yes, come," said Charles. "Besides, we ought to do our part to a.s.sist in entertaining one another."

So saying, Charles led Mr. Chauncy along, and partly by persuasion, and partly by a little gentle force, he made him take out his purse and produce a half sovereign, too. He also subscribed himself, and then drew both the tickets. He gave one of them to Mr. Chauncy, and the other he kept himself; and then the two friends walked away. Mr. Chauncy's ticket was 66, the number immediately below that which Hilbert had drawn.

Mr. Chauncy, being now tired of walking, went to sit down upon one of the settees next to where Hilbert and Rollo had just gone to take a seat. Mr. Chauncy was next to Hilbert. He immediately began to talk with Hilbert about the lottery.

"Have you got a ticket in this lottery?" he asked.

"Yes," said Hilbert; "mine is 267. What is yours?"

"I don't know," said Mr. Chauncy; "I did not observe." As he said this, however, he took his ticket out of his pocket, and said, reading it, "Ninety-nine."

He was holding it wrong side upward, and so it read 99.

"Ho!" said Hilbert, "that will not get the prize. We shall not go 299 miles. I would not exchange mine for yours on any account."

"No," said Mr. Chauncy, "nor would I exchange mine for yours."

"Why?" said Hilbert. "Do you think there is any chance of the ship's making 299?"

"No," replied Mr. Chauncy; "and that is the very reason I like my ticket. If I had yours, I should be afraid I might get the prize."

"Afraid?" repeated Hilbert.

"Yes," said Mr. Chauncy.

"Why should you be afraid?" asked Hilbert, much surprised.

"Because," said Mr. Chauncy, "I should not know what to do with the money. I would not put it in my purse; for I don't let any thing go in there but honest money. I don't know who I could give it to. Besides, I should not like to ask any body to take what I should be ashamed to keep myself. I should really be in a very awkward situation."

As he said this, Mr. Chauncy held his ticket between his thumb and finger, and looked at the number. Neither he nor Hilbert suspected for a moment that there was any mistake in reading it; for, not having paid any attention to the _scheme_, as it is called, of the lottery, they did not know how high the numbers went.

"There is a possibility that I may get it, after all," said Mr. Chauncy at length, musing. "We have had fine weather, and have been coming on fast. The best thing for me to do is to get rid of the ticket. Have _you_ got a ticket, Rollo?" said he, turning to Rollo.

"No, sir," said Rollo.

"I have a great mind to give it to you, then."

"No, sir," said Rollo; "I would rather not have it."

"That is right," said Mr. Chauncy. "I like you the better for that. I know what I will do with it. Do you remember an Irishwoman that you see sitting on the forward deck sometimes with her two children?"

"Yes," said Rollo; "she is there now."

"Very well," said Mr. Chauncy; "carry this to her, and tell her it is a ticket in a lottery, and it may possibly draw a prize. Have you any conscientious scruples about doing that?"

"No, sir," said Rollo.

"Then take the ticket and go," added Mr. Chauncy. "Tell her she had better sell the ticket for two shillings, if she gets a chance. There may be somebody among the gamblers that will buy it."

So Rollo took the ticket and carried it to the Irishwoman. She was a woman who was returning to Ireland as a deck pa.s.senger. She was quite poor. When Rollo tendered her the ticket, she was, at first, much surprised. Rollo explained the case fully to her, and concluded by repeating Mr. Chauncy's advice--that she should sell the ticket, if she could get a chance to sell it for as much as two shillings. The woman, having been at sea before, understood something about such lotteries, and seemed to be quite pleased to get a ticket. She asked Rollo to tell such gentlemen as he might meet that she had 99 to sell for two shillings. This, however, Rollo did not like to do; and so he simply returned to the settee and reported to Mr. Chauncy that he had given the woman the ticket and delivered the message.

Mr. Chauncy said he was very much obliged to him; and then, rising from his seat, he walked slowly away, and descended into the cabin.

[Ill.u.s.tration]

CHAPTER X.

THE END OF THE LOTTERY.

In almost all cases of betting and lotteries, the operation of the system is, that certain persons, called the knowing ones, contrive to manage the business in such a way, by secret manoeuvres and intrigues, as to make the result turn out to their advantage, at the expense of those parties concerned who are ignorant and inexperienced, or, as they term it, "green." Very deep plans were laid for accomplishing this object in respect to the lottery described in the last chapter; though, as it happened in this case, they were fortunately frustrated.

The princ.i.p.al of these manoeuvres were the work of the man whom they called the Colonel. He had formed the plan, with another man, of secretly watching the operation of heaving the log every time it was performed, and making a note of the result. By doing this, he thought he could calculate very nearly how many miles the ship would make, while all the other pa.s.sengers would have nothing to guide them but such general estimates as they could make from recollection. He accordingly arranged it with his confederates that one or the other of them should be on deck whenever the men were called to heave the log, and, without appearing to pay any particular attention to the operation, carefully to obtain the result, and make a memorandum of it. This plan was sufficient for the daytime. For the night--inasmuch as it might excite suspicion for them to be up at unseasonable hours to watch the operation--they resorted to another method. They bribed one of the seamen of each watch to find out the result of each trial during his watch, and to give them the answers in the morning. When the last time for heaving the log, previous to making up the accounts for the day, came, which was at ten o'clock, they took that result, and then, shutting themselves up in their state room, they made a calculation, and ascertained pretty certainly, as they thought, that the distance would be about 267 miles.

It might possibly be 266, or 268; but they thought that they were sure that it would be one of those three numbers. The next thing was to circulate statements, and to express opinions in private conversation here and there among the pa.s.sengers, in a careless sort of way, to produce a general impression that the rate of the ship would be not less than 270 miles. This was to lead the owners of the tickets, and the betters generally, not to attach a high value to the numbers below 270.

By doing this, they expected to depress the value of these tickets in the general estimation, so that they could buy then easily. They calculated that, if their plans succeeded, they could buy 266, 267, and 268 for about a sovereign apiece--the holders of them being made to suppose, by their manoeuvres that those numbers would have very little chance of obtaining the prize.

The plan was very deeply laid, and very skilfully executed; and the men were so far successful in their efforts that they did produce a general impression that the ship's run could not be below 270. They also bought ticket 268, though they had to give two sovereigns for it. It has already been shown how their attempts to get possession of 267 failed, by Hilbert's refusal to sell it. They of course also failed to get 266, for that ticket was not to be found. They could not make any very open and public inquiries for it, as it was necessary that every thing which they did should be performed in a very unconcerned and careless manner.

They, however, made repeated inquiries privately for this ticket but could not get any tidings of it. A certain sailor told some of the betters that an Irishwoman on the forward deck had a ticket which she offered to sell for two shillings; but when, on being asked what the number was, he answered 99, they laughed at him, supposing that somebody had been putting a hoax upon the poor Irishwoman, as there was no such number as that in the lottery.

Besides the manoeuvres of these two confederates, there was another man who was devising a cunning scheme for obtaining the prize. This was the mate of a merchant ship that had put into the port of New York in a damaged condition, and had there been sold. The mate, being thus left without a vessel, was now returning as a pa.s.senger in the steamer, to Scotland, where he belonged.

This man was accustomed to navigation; and he had the necessary books for making the computations in his trunk. He conceived the idea of being present on deck at twelve o'clock, when the captain made his observation, and of learning from him, as it were accidentally, what the sun's alt.i.tude was observed to be. This he could very easily do, for it was customary to have the observation made not only by the captain, but by one or two of the chief officers of the ship also, at the same time, who are all always provided with s.e.xtants for the purpose. The results, when obtained, are compared together, to see if they agree--each observer telling the others what alt.i.tude he obtains. Thus they are more sure of getting the result correctly. Besides, it is important that these officers should have practice, so that they may be able to take the observation when the captain is sick, or when they come to command ships themselves.

Now, the mate above referred to thought that, by standing near the captain and his officers when they made the observations, he could overhear them in comparing their results, and then that he could go down into his state room immediately; and that there, by working very diligently, he could ascertain the run of the ship before it should be reported on the captain's bulletin, and so know beforehand what ticket would gain the prize. Or, if he could not determine absolutely what the precise ticket would be,--since his computation might not agree precisely with that made by the captain,--he could determine within two or three of the right one, and then buy three tickets--that is, the one which agreed with his calculation, and also the one above and below it--for perhaps a sovereign or so apiece: he would thus get the ten sovereigns by an expenditure of three or four. His plan, in fact, was similar to that of the Colonel; only his estimate was to be based on the observation, while that of the Colonel was based on the dead reckoning.

They both performed their computations in a very skilful manner, and they came to nearly the same result. The mate came to the conclusion that the run of the ship would be 266 miles; while the Colonel, as has already been stated, made it 267. While, therefore, the Colonel, to make sure of the prize, wished to buy tickets 266, 267, and 268, the mate wished to secure 265, 266, and 267. The mate, after making some inquiry, found who had 265; and, after some bargaining, succeeded in buying it for two sovereigns and a half. But he could not hear any thing of 266.

As for 267, he discovered that Hilbert had it, just as the bell rang for luncheon. He told Hilbert that if he wished to sell his ticket he would give him thirty shillings for it, which is a sovereign and a half. But Hilbert said no.

It is, however, time that this story of the lottery should draw to a close; were it not so, a great deal more detail might have been given of the manoeuvres and contrivances which both the Colonel and the mate resorted to, to induce Hilbert to sell his ticket. These efforts attracted no special attention, for all the others were buying and selling tickets continually, and making offers for those which they could not buy. Some were put up at auction, and sold to the highest bidder, amid jokes, and gibes, and continual shouts of laughter.

At length, when the time drew nigh for the captain's bulletin to appear, the mate offered Hilbert _three pounds_ for his ticket, and Hilbert went and asked his father's advice about accepting this offer. His father hesitated for some time, but finally advised him not to sell his ticket at all. Hilbert was satisfied with this advice, for he now began to be quite sure that he should get the prize.

At length, about fifteen minutes after the party had come up from luncheon, and were all a.s.sembled around the paddle-box settee, a gentleman came up one of stairways with a slip of paper in his hands, and, advancing to the group, he attempted to still the noise they were making, by saying,--

"Order, gentlemen, order! I've got the bulletin."

Every body's attention was arrested by these words, and all began to call out "Order!" and "Silence!" until at length something like quiet was restored. The persons a.s.sembled were all very much interested in learning the result; for, in addition to the prize of the lottery, there were a great many bets, some of them quite large, pending, all of which were to be decided by the bulletin.

When, at length, the gentleman found that he could be heard, he began to read in a very deliberate voice,--

"Lat.i.tude forty-eight, thirty-one."