"Three cheers for Captain Kendall!" shouted a daring fellow. "One!"
They were given, in spite of Paul's cry for "silence," and then the crew scattered. The young commander looked very pale, and went below attended by Terrill, who had noticed his ghastly expression. He retired to his state-room, and but for his friend's efforts would have fainted away, so terribly had he suffered during the painful scene.
CHAPTER XI.
ON THE WAY TO GHENT.
"You have made a very great mistake, Mr. Hamblin," said Professor Stoute, when they reached their state-room.
"Do you take part with the students, Mr. Stoute?" snapped the angry savant.
The good-natured instructor concluded that it would be useless for him to say anything while his associate continued in such an unhappy frame of mind; and he condemned himself to silence for the present. It was plain enough to him that the crew of the Josephine were in a state of mutiny, so far as Mr. Hamblin was concerned, and, that the academic discipline of the vessel was at an end. If he understood the humor of the boys, they would refuse to obey the professor of Greek. There must be a settlement of this serious difficulty before anything more could be done.
Mr. Hamblin was silent also for a time. It would have been curious to know what he thought of himself at that particular moment, though doubtless he fully justified his conduct and regarded himself as an injured man. A gentleman so profoundly skilled in Greek as he was, with an invitation in his pocket to visit the king's chief minister, ought not to be expected to submit to the snubbing of a mere boy. The two professors sat in the state-room till the silence became painful, and till the anger of Mr. Hamblin had in a measure subsided.
"I did not expect to see you take part with the boys, Mr. Stoute," said the learned gentleman, in a grieved tone.