the business of the chain had been managed with extreme caution by the conspirators, and more than one third of the crew had been initiated without the knowledge of the principal and professors, or of the officers and seamen who were not members. pelham and shuffles ordered the affairs of the league, and no "link" was allowed to approach an outsider for the purpose of inducing him to join without the consent of one of these worthies.
as the scheme progressed, various modifications had been made in the plan to adapt it to circumstances, the principal of which was the choice of two "shackles," who should be deemed the officers of the league until a regular election had taken place. by this invention, shuffles and pelham had been enabled to compromise their differences, for they assumed the newly-created offices, and labored as equals in the bad cause. each endeavored to make as many new "links" as possible, for already the conspirators consisted of two factions, one of which favored the election of shuffles, and the other that of pelham, to the captaincy. each, in a measure, controlled his own {264} recruits, and was reasonably sure of their votes when the election should be ordered.
these young gentlemen were not only plotting to take the ship, but to "take in" each other. while both worked for the league as a whole, each worked for himself as an individual. shuffles was much more thorough than his rival in the making of his converts. he told them the whole story, and taught them to look full in the face the extreme peril of the undertaking. he did not conceal anything from them. on the other hand, pelham merely represented the project as a means of redressing the grievances of the officers and crew; of having their money restored to them, and abolishing certain portions of the regulations which pressed hard upon those who were disposed to be unruly.
though the number of "links" in the "chain" has been mentioned, it was not known to either of the rivals. each knew his own peculiar followers, but he did not know how many the other could muster. though there were signs and passwords by which the members could know each other, there were no means by which any one could precisely sum up the whole number of "links." shuffles could count thirteen including his rival, while pelham could number nineteen without his coequal in authority. the former believed the list to consist of about twenty four, while the latter estimated it above thirty. with them it was a struggle for an office, as well as to redress their fancied wrongs, and they mutually deceived each other in order to obtain the advantage.
"how many do you suppose we can muster now?" {265} asked shuffles, on the evening of the eighteenth day out, as they met in the waist, when both were off duty.
"about twenty," replied pelham.
"there are more than that."
"perhaps there are."
"but it is time to stretch the chain," added shuffles, in a whisper.
"not yet."
"if we are ever going to do anything, we must begin soon. we have so many members now that the danger of exposure increases every day."
"we can't do anything here. besides, i am not in favor of having the time or the manner of accomplishing the work talked about among the members. i believe in one-man power in an affair of this sort. there should be one head, who should plan and command; all the rest should obey. if every step in the thing must be discussed and agreed upon, we shall never do anything. one fellow will want it done in one way, and another in some other way."
"i think you are more than half right," replied shuffles, who was confident that he should be the person chosen to arrange the plans and issue the commands.
"i know i am wholly right," added pelham, who was equally confident that he should enjoy the undivided sway of the league. "if you are chosen captain i will cheerfully obey your orders. i go a step farther: whoever is elected captain should appoint his own officers."
"i will agree to that also," replied the complaisant shuffles.{266}
"very well, then; the understanding is, that when one of us is elected captain, he shall appoint his own officers, and do all the planning and all the commanding," answered pelham.
"exactly so; we are now in about longitude thirty-one, and cork harbor is in longitude eight, according to bowditch, for i was looking the matter up in the steerage to-day. we have to make about twenty-three degrees more. a degree of longitude, in latitude fifty-one, is thirty-seven and three quarters miles, which would make it eight hundred and sixty-eight miles more to run in order to reach queenstown. you see i am posted," said shuffles.
"i see you are. by the way, had you noticed that queenstown is not in the navigator, or on the older maps?" added pelham.
"yes; the place was called the cove of cork until 1849, when, in honor of her majesty's visit to the town, the name was changed to queenstown."
"all right," said pelham.
it need not be supposed that the distance to queenstown and the change in the name of that place had anything to do with the league. the fact was, that mr. fluxion had passed near the conspirators, and had paused a moment in the waist to glance up at the fore-top-gallant sail, which was not in good trim; and the conversation had been changed to suit the occasion. in talking of the affairs of the "chain," it was required that one of the party should look forward, and the other aft, if there were two of them; and that the third, if there were three, should stand back to the nearest rail. it was further required that the conversation {267} should not take place in a situation where it would be possible for any one to overhear them. the lee side of the waist,—the midshipman of the watch always being on the weather side,—the top-gallant forecastle, and the tops were the favorite resorts of the conspirators. if any one approached, the parties in conversation were instantly to change the topic, as shuffles had done.
"i think it is about time for the election to take place," continued shuffles, when mr. fluxion had gone aft.
"whenever you are ready, i am," replied pelham.
"i am ready now."
"so am i."
"very well; it shall come off to-morrow, say."
"to-morrow it is, then."
"but how shall it be conducted?" asked shuffles.
"that will not be an easy matter. i think, however we can hit upon some plan for having it fairly done."
"of course the matter lies between you and me," added shuffles.
"to be sure."
"i suppose both of us are ready to abide the issue, whatever it may be," said shuffles, who was not a little fearful that his powerful rival would refuse to acknowledge him when he was chosen, as he confidently expected to be.
"i pledge you my word and honor, that i will obey you in all things if you are fairly elected captain," replied pelham, who was equally sure of being chosen himself.{268}
"fairly? who is to decide whether it is fairly done or not?" demanded shuffles, unwilling to leave a loop-hole through which his companion could crawl out of the bargain.
"when we have agreed upon the means of electing the captain, the choice shall be final."
"good! you and i shall have no difficulty!" exclaimed shuffles, rather astonished to find his rival so easily managed, as he regarded it.
"we will make it a little more binding, if you choose," suggested pelham, who, the reader has already been assured by the figures given, was completely outwitting the author and inventor of the chain league.
"with all my heart!"
"we will toggle each other on this special question if you like."
"the stronger we make the bond the better," said shuffles. "repeat after me."
"not here, shuffles. there is a steamer on our weather bow. let's go up into the mizzentop, and have a look at her with a night glass."
mr. haven, the first lieutenant, who was in charge of the deck, permitted them to go aloft with the glass, for the officers were empowered to grant small favors. on reaching the top, they glanced at the steamer, and then resumed the conversation which had been suspended on deck, it being too dark for the officers below to see what they were doing.
"now go ahead," said pelham.
"repeat after me."
"all right." {269}
"i promise, without any reservation, to acknowledge shuffles as captain, if he is chosen, and faithfully to obey his orders, on penalty of falling overboard accidentally."
pelham repeated these words, and then "toggled" his rival in the same manner.
"now we understand each other perfectly, and there will be no chance of dragging the anchor," said shuffles, satisfied that his sway would be undisputed. "let me say, in addition to this, that if i should happen to be chosen, i shall make you my first officer, pelham."
"and i will make you my first officer, if i should happen to be chosen," replied the obliging pelham. "of course i don't expect to be chosen; you have had the swing of this affair, and you will have all the advantage."
"no, i think not; you are an officer now, and you have more influence than i have," added the modest shuffles.
if both had been laboring for the organization of the league on the same terms, shuffles would certainly have the better chance of an election; but pelham had been taking in members on false pretences, merely representing to those whom he approached that the league was an association having for its object the redress of their grievances. to only a few had he mentioned the fact that a regular mutiny was contemplated; that the ship was to be taken out of the hands of the principal, and an independent cruise commenced. he was afraid the whole truth would be more than some of them could bear; and perhaps {270} he had so little faith in the extreme measures to be carried out by the league, that he was unwilling even to mention them.
those who serve the evil one can neither trust each other nor trust their master.
the only real confidence in each other which can exist among men or boys must be based on moral and religious principle.
the man who pays his debts, or who performs his obligations to his fellow-men, for his reputation's sake, rather than from devotion to pure principle, will fail of his duty when he can conceal his infidelity, or when his reputation will not suffer from his acts.
a man or a boy without principle is not to be trusted out of the line of his own interest.
while shuffles and pelham were pledging themselves to a kind of romantic fidelity, they were plotting each against the other, each being satisfied that he had the advantage of the other.
"now, i'm afraid the election will give us some trouble," continued shuffles. "it will not be an easy matter to conduct it fairly—not that any fellow means to cheat, but it must be conducted with so much secrecy that we can't superintend the ballot properly."
"i know there is all that difficulty, but i have thought of a method which i believe will give us a fair election," replied pelham.
"have you? so have i."
"well, what is your plan? if it is better than mine, i am willing to adopt it."
"i was thinking, as you and i are the only candidates that each of us might be represented by one side {271} of the ship. you shall be port, and i will be starboard then every link in the chain shall hand his vote, on which shall be written the single word port or starboard either to you or me; and if there are more port than starboard, you will be captain; if more starboard than port, i shall be captain! how does that idea strike you?"
"pretty well; but the fellows have all got to write their votes, and others will want to know what it means. it will set outsiders to thinking, and i don't believe the plan is quite safe."
"well, what is your method?" asked shuffles, who was willing to acknowledge the force of his rival's objections.
"perhaps my plan is as open to objection as yours," answered pelham; "but it will require no writing. each of us shall get a handful of beans and a handful of peas. we can easily obtain them when the store rooms are opened. you shall be beans, and i will be peas."
"how are you, peas?" said shuffles, laughing at the idea.
"how are you, beans?" added pelham.
"go on with your soup."
"we will give to every fellow belonging to the chain one pea and one bean."
"i understand the plan now; but where are the fellows to deposit their vegetable ballots?"
"we can have a receiver; appoint some good fellow for the purpose—say, greenway, the captain of the forecastle; or tom ellis, the third master."
"tom ellis! does he belong?" {272}
"of course he does," laughed pelham, who realized that he had been a little too fast in betraying the strength of his faction.
"i wouldn't appoint an officer."
"well, you mention some fellow," said the politic pelham.
"say wilton."
"mention another."
"lynch."
"no; try again."
"grossbeck."
"very well; i will agree to him."
"but he might make some mistake."
"if he does, it will be in your favor, i suppose; for you nominated him, and, of course, he will give you the benefit of any doubt," replied pelham.
"i want a fellow who will do it fairly. i don't wish to get in by any mistake," said shuffles, magnanimously.
"neither do i? and i don't think there will be any mistakes."
"there is a chance for a great many. the fellows may get mixed between beans and peas. when they come to vote, there will be some who don't know beans," laughed shuffles.
"well, if they don't, they will know peas, which will do just as well," replied pelham.
"it would not be pleasant for me to have them know peas, when they ought to know beans."
"we will give them p.p. as a clew to the whole thing."
"p.p.? that means p's, i suppose." {273}
"it means that, and more. p. for pelham, and p. for peas. if they get one right, they can't very well get the other wrong."
"that's true," answered shuffles, silenced, rather than convinced, by the tactics of his fellow-conspirator.
it was settled that he who knew peas must certainly "know beans."
"when shall the fellows vote?" asked shuffles.
"after dinner to-morrow afternoon. every fellow will be off duty an hour in the first or second dog watch," replied pelham, who seemed to have an answer ready for every question. "the polls shall be kept open till eight o'clock. the peas and beans shall be distributed before eight bells in the forenoon watch, so that every fellow will be ready to vote."
"where will grossbeck stand when he receives the ballots?"
"he won't stand anywhere in particular. we will see him together, and give him his instructions. i think it will be better for him to walk about the ship, and let the fellows hand him the votes on the sly, which he must put in his pocket. he shall count them in the presence of both of us."
"suppose he should lose some of them?" suggested shuffles.
"if he does, he is as likely to lose peas as beans."
"i don't want to be chosen in any such manner as by the loss of the votes."
"i can't see that there is any more danger of his losing them than there is of his losing his head. i see you are not entirely satisfied with the plan." {274}
"to tell you the truth, pelham, i am not. there is, at least, a chance for mistakes."
"i'm willing to do anything you like, that will make the election a fairer one."
"i have it!" exclaimed shuffles. "we can give each fellow two peas and two beans, and let him vote twice."
"what good will that do?"
"i'll tell you. we want another receiver; then let each fellow vote twice, giving a pea or a bean to both of the receivers. if the two results don't agree, it shall not be an election."
"that's a first-rate idea, shuffles, and i go in for it with all my might," replied pelham, with so much warmth that his companion was put in the best of humor. "who shall be the other receiver?"
"name some one," said shuffles, generously conceding the nomination to his confederate.
"perth."
"no."
shuffles objected because pelham had done so when he had mentioned two names.
"richton."
"once more."
"mckeon."
"right. mckeon is an honest, careful fellow," added shuffles. "now i think there can be no mistake."
the minor details of the election were carefully arranged, and the boys went below again. they gave satisfactory replies to the first lieutenant, who questioned them in regard to the steamer they had gone {275} aloft to examine. pelham thought she was a "cunarder," but shuffles was confident she belonged to the inman line; and it is quite certain neither of them had any opinion whatever in regard to her, except that she was going west; for the red light on her port side was visible.
on the following day, grossbeck and mckeon, the receivers who had been appointed, were waited upon, separately, by the two "shackles." they accepted the important trust which was confided to them, and each was duly and solemnly admonished of the necessity of entire fairness. they were informed that any discrepancy in the number of ballots in the hands of the two receivers would cause the vote to be rejected; and they individually promised to be both faithful and careful.
the beans and the peas were readily obtained, and were distributed among the members of the league, with the necessary secrecy. some of the independent voters needed a little persuasion to induce them to vote, when informed that the choice was between the "shackles" only; but they yielded the point, and entered heartily into the excitement of the event; for, secret as were the proceedings, they were attended with no little exhilaration of feeling.
the voting commenced in the afternoon watch. the second part of the starboard watch, being off duty, gave in their peas and beans first. the receivers, without even knowing all the members of the league, took whatever was handed to them "on the sly," and looked as careless and indifferent as though nothing was going on. the only responsibility that rested {276} upon them, besides the general duty of carefulness and fidelity, was to see that no one voted twice. "vote early and vote often" was not countenanced; and one receiver acted as a check upon the other.
the election progressed so secretly that no occasion for suspicion was given; and though the ballots were deposited under the eyes of the principal and the professors they saw nothing, and had not the remotest idea that anything wrong was in progress.
in the last half of the first dog watch, shuffles began to be excited. he was too much of a politician to be idle while any voting was going on? and so far as his duty would permit, he had watched the receivers since the balloting commenced. he had seen seven or eight vote of whose membership in the chain he had no previous knowledge. he saw that pelham had made more initiates than he had been willing to acknowledge, apparently concealing the facts for the purpose of favoring his own election. he observed that all the officers of his rival's quarter watch voted, and he was almost certain that he had been defeated.
shuffles was angry and indignant when he discovered the treacherous shrewdness of his fellow-conspirator; but he had solemnly promised to abide the result of the election, and he could not recede from his position without a violation of the "honor among thieves" which is said to exist. the poll would not be closed for half an hour; and as he had been cheated he deemed it quite right to restore the equilibrium by a resort to the same policy.
"wilton, i have been cheated," said he, angrily, as he met his old crony in the waist. {277}
"how do you know you have?"
"i know it. i will explain by and by. something must be done. i am beaten as sure as you live."
"well, i can't help it if you are. you and pelham have fixed things to suit yourselves, and now you must fight it out between you," replied wilton, as he turned on his heel, and left the mighty mischief-maker alone and disconcerted.
"where do all these beans come from?" said paul kendall, as he noticed the rejected ballots of the pelhamites, which they had not even taken the trouble to throw over the rail.
"it's a new game the fellows are playing," replied shuffles, with apparent indifference, as he walked aft with the second lieutenant.
"what's that?" asked paul, curiously.
"it's called 'don't know beans,'" answered shuffles in deep thought. "the fellows have a good deal of sport out of it in the off-time."
"'don't know beans!' i never heard of such a game before. tell me about it."
"you see grossbeck and mckeon?"
"yes."
"well, they are the butts, as we call them. all the fellows in our watch have some beans," added shuffles, taking a handful of them from his pocket.
"what do they do with them?"
"you try it yourself. take two of these beans."
paul took them.
"now you must give one to grossbeck, and the other to mckeon, without letting any fellow see you {278} do it. if any fellow does see you give it to either of them, he will say, in a low tone, 'don't know beans,' and then the butt must drop it on deck. when the even bell strikes, grossbeck and mckeon must count their beans. the one who has the most must appoint the next two bean-pots, or butts; and the one who has the smaller number must pick up all the beans that have been dropped on the deck. there is fun in it; though, perhaps, you wouldn't think so."
"i will try it, at any rate."
paul did try it, and succeeded, as all others did, in giving the beans to the receivers without any one uttering the warning words. he was rather pleased with the game, so suddenly invented, and the two officers of his watch were induced to try the experiment. then blackburn, endicott, and bennington were supplied with beans by shuffles, who instructed his auditors that not a word must be said about the matter to the "butts," or to any one in the waist. the last three were as successful as the first three. then thompson and cartwright were equally fortunate. finally, captain gordon's attention was attracted, and he descended so far from his dignity as to deposit the beans.
shuffles was satisfied. he had procured nine votes, and he was confident that he had thus defeated his rival. as a matter of precaution, he directed mckeon to pick up the beans scattered in the waist; and the "outsiders" who had cast the nine votes believed that he was the unlucky butt, who had been beaten in the game.{279}
"the captain and half the officers voted," whispered grossbeck at four bells.
"certainly; that's all right. you and mckeon will meet pelham and me in the waist at eight bells," replied shuffles, as he went below.
