Outward Bound Or, Young America Afloat: A Story of Travel and Adventure by Optic (popular e readers .TXT) 📗

chart, and the "dead reckoning" compared with the result obtained by calculation.

At one bell in the afternoon watch, all hands were piped to muster, and the gamblers readily understood that this call was for their especial benefit.

"Wilton," said Mr. Lowington, from his usual position.

The culprit came forward.

"With whom were you gambling in mess room No. 8, this forenoon?" asked the principal.

Wilton looked up at the stern dispenser of discipline. If he did not know, it was not his business to tell. {200}

"Answer me."

"I don't know."

"You are telling a falsehood."

"I don't remember their names now," said Wilton.

"You do remember them; and for each falsehood you utter you shall suffer an additional penalty."

"I'm not a tell-tale, sir," answered Wilton, doggedly. "I don't want to tell who they were."

"Very well; why didn't you say that at first? I have some respect for the student who dislikes to betray even his companions in error; none at all for a liar. Adler and Sanborn," added the principal; and the two gamblers stepped up to the hatch. "Young gentlemen, you are charged with gambling. Have you anything to say?"

"Nothing sir," they all replied.

"Wilton, how much money have you lost at play?"

"None, sir."

"How much have you made?"

"Ten shillings—half a sovereign."

"From whom did you win it?"

"From Sanborn."

"Return it to him."

Wilton obeyed. Adler had won about a dollar from Sanborn, which he was also compelled to restore. Mr. Lowington was satisfied that others had gained or lost by gambling, but as he did not know who the other gamblers were, he did not attempt to have the ill-gotten money restored; for he never made himself ridiculous to the students by endeavoring to do what could not be done.

Mr. Lowington then made a very judicious address {201} upon the evil of gambling, pointing out its dangerous fascination, and the terrible consequences which sooner or later overtook its victims. He illustrated his remarks by examples drawn from real life. The chaplain followed him, detailing the career of a young man whom he had attended in prison, and who had been utterly ruined by the habit of gaming, contracted before he was of age.

These addresses seemed to produce a deep impression on the boys, and one would have judged by their looks that they all regarded the dangerous practice with well-grounded horror. Mr. Lowington took the stand again, and followed with another address upon "the root of all evil;" adding that, having money in their possession, they would be tempted to gamble.

"Now, young gentlemen, I propose that you all deliver your funds to me, taking my receipt for whatever amount you deliver to me. When you have any real need of money, apply to me, and I will restore it," added Mr. Lowington.

"Take our money from us!" exclaimed several; and it was evident that the proposition was creating a tremendous sensation among the students.

CHAPTER XIII.

{202}

PIPING TO MISCHIEF.

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After the offensive announcement that the students were to deliver up their money to the principal, and take his receipt for it, the crew were dismissed from muster, after being informed that the business of receiving the funds would be immediately commenced in the steerage. The three gamblers were not punished, except by the mortification of the exposure, even by the loss of their marks, though Wilton was confined in the brig one hour for each falsehood he had uttered. Mr. Lowington knew that at least a dozen of the boys were guilty of gambling; and as the matter now came up for the first time, he did not deem it expedient to punish those who had been discovered hoping that the preventive measures he had adopted would effectually suppress the evil.

Many of the students regarded the taking of their money as an indignity. Only a few of them, comparatively, had engaged in gambling, though many of the occupants of the steerage knew of the existence of the practice on board the ship. They were willing to believe, and did believe, after the impressive addresses to which they had listened, that games of chance were a perilous amusement, but they were not quite {203} willing to acknowledge the justice of Mr. Lowington's measures.

Most of the officers, and many of the crew, cheerfully complied with the new regulation. They handed their money to the pursers, and received a receipt for the amount, signed by the principal. Others emptied the contents of their exchequer sullenly, and under protest; while not a few openly grumbled in the presence of Mr. Lowington. Some of "our fellows" attempted to keep back a portion of their funds, and perhaps a few succeeded, though the tact of the principal exposed the deceit in several instances. Whatever may be thought of the justice or the expediency of depriving the students of their money, it was evidently an exceedingly unpopular step.

In the second dog watch, when Shuffles and Paul Kendall were off duty, they happened to meet in the waist; and the exciting topic of the day came up for discussion, as it had in every little group that collected that afternoon. Shuffles had accomplished his purpose; he had accomplished far more than he intended. He had expected nothing more than a general onslaught upon gambling, followed by increased stringency in the regulations, and a closer watch over the students in their rooms, which would produce sufficient irritation among the boys to suit his purposes. Now the crew, and even some of the officers, were in a ferment of indignation, and ripe for a demonstration of any kind.

"The business is done," said Paul Kendall, as he met the conspirator.

"I'm afraid it's overdone," answered Shuffles, seri {204}ously, though he was actually in a state of exultation over the effect which had been produced by the new regulation.

"I hope not. I did not mention your name to the principal in connection with the matter," added Paul.

"Didn't he ask you?"

"He did? but when I stated the case to him, and told him the person who had given me the information had let it out accidentally, and did not wish to be known, he asked no more questions."

"Thank you, Mr. Kendall. This last measure is so unpopular that I should have been cast out like an unclean bird, if it were known that I gave the hint."

"No one shall know anything about it from me, Shuffles. You did a good thing for the ship, and for every fellow in it."

"They wouldn't be willing to believe that just now," said Shuffles, laughing.

"Perhaps not? but it is a fact, none the less."

"I didn't think Mr. Lowington would go it quite so strong. If I had, I shouldn't have told you what I did."

"Why, are you not satisfied with what has been done?" asked Kendall, with some astonishment.

"No, I am not. I am glad enough to see the gambling stopped, but I don't think the principal had any more right to take my money away from me than he had to take my head off," replied Shuffles, earnestly.

"Don't you think it will be better for the fellows to be without money than with it?"

"Perhaps it will; I don't know about that. Your neighbor might be a better man if he were poor than {205} if he were rich: does that make it that you have any right to take his property from him?"

"I don't think it does," replied Paul.

"The State of Massachusetts, for instance, or the State of Ohio, makes laws against games of chance. Why not make a law, if a man gambles, that all his money shall be taken from him?"

"The state has no right to make such a law, I suppose."

"But the principal goes a long reach beyond that. He takes every man's money away from him, whether he is accused of gambling or not. Do you think he had any right to do that?"

"He hasn't made any law; but if you want law, I'll give you some!" laughed Paul, who was disposed to treat the subject very good-naturedly, especially as there was so much loose indignation floating about the decks.

"I don't mean law alone, but justice," added Shuffles. "I call it high-handed injustice to take the fellows' money away from them."

"Let me give you a little law, then," persisted Paul. "How old are you, Shuffles?"

"Eighteen."

"Good! You are an infant."

"In law, I am."

"Suppose your uncle, or somebody else, should die to-day, and leave you fifty thousand dollars: wouldn't you have a good time with it?"

"I should, as soon as I got hold of it, you had better believe," replied Shuffles.

"As soon as you got hold of it!" exclaimed Paul. {206}

"I suppose I should have a guardian till I became of age."

"Who would appoint your guardian?"

"The court, I believe."

"Exactly so! The law! What, take your money away from you, or not let you touch it!"

"That's law, certainly."

"Well, wouldn't the law have just as much right to take off a fellow's head, as to take his money?" demanded Paul, triumphantly.

"Mr. Lowington is not our guardian."

"Yes, he is, for the time being; and I hold that he has just as much right to take your money from you as your father would have."

"I don't see it; I don't believe it. The money was given us by our fathers to spend in Europe when we get there."

"Mr. Lowington is to pay all our expenses on shore, by the terms of the contract. Besides, the regulations of the Academy Ship, to which all the parents assented, require that the control of the boys shall be wholly given up to the principal. It's a plain case, Shuffles."

Mr. Lowington and his policy had an able and zealous defender in the person of Paul Kendall, who, by his arguments, as well as his influence, had already reconciled several of the students to the new regulation.

"If I were willing to grant the right of the principal to take the fellows' money from them—which I am not—I think it is treating them like babies to do so. It is punishing the innocent with the guilty."

"Mr. Lowington said, in so many words, that the {207} measure was not intended as a punishment; that it was purely a matter of discipline, intended to meet certain evils which must appear when we landed in Europe, as well as to prevent gambling."

Paul certainly had the best of the argument; but Shuffles was not convinced, because he did not wish to be convinced.

At eight bells, when the first part of the port watch went on duty, the wind had shifted from west to north; the studding-sails had been taken in, the spanker, main spencer, and all the staysails had been set, and the ship, close-hauled, was barely laying her course. The wind was fresh, and she was heeled over on the starboard side, so that her decks formed a pretty steep inclined plane. Under these circumstances, it required a great deal of skill and watchfulness on the part of the wheelmen to keep the sails full, and at the same time to lay the course. As the ship's head met the heavy seas, a great deal of spray was dashed on deck, and the position of the lookout-men on the top-gallant forecastle was not as comfortable as if the weather had been warmer. There was no dodging; every student was obliged to stand at his post, wet or dry, blow high or blow low.

Wilton had been discharged from confinement in the brig, where Mr. Agneau had visited him, giving him good advice and religious instruction, as he did to all who were punished in any manner, and was now with his watch on deck. The new regulation was particularly odious to "our fellows," and Wilton regarded himself as a martyr to the popular cause, forgetting that he had been punished for the lies he had {208} told. He and twenty others were forward to say they "wouldn't stand it;" and the indignation seemed to be increasing rather than subsiding.

"Well, Wilton, how do you like the inside of the brig?" asked Shuffles, when they met in the maintop, having been sent aloft to clear away the bowline bridle on the main-topsail.

"I like it well enough," replied Wilton. "I wasn't going to blow on the fellows; I would stay in there a month first."

"Did you give up your money?"

"Of course I did; I couldn't help myself."

"How do you like the new regulation?"

"I don't like it any better than the rest of the fellows do," answered Wilton, in surly tones. "I won't stand it, either."

"O, I guess you will," laughed Shuffles. "I told you Lowington was a tyrant, but you wouldn't believe me."

"Yes, I would; and I did."

"The fellows will find out what he is before they are many days older."

"I think they have found out now, I say, Shuffles, was this the row you spoke about last night?"

"Yes; only there's more of it than I expected."

"How did you know anything about it beforehand?"

"I have a way of finding out these things," replied the artful conspirator, mysteriously. "I have one or two friends at court."

"Is Paul Kendall one of them?"

"No;