"Certainly not. I will hear your complaint now, Mr. Hamblin," replied the principal.
The learned gentleman stated his grievance in about the same terms as on the day before.
"You say that a message was sent down to the captain. Do you know what that message was?" asked the principal.
"I do not remember it precisely. It was something about a squall."
"Very likely it was," answered Mr. Lowington, dryly. "There was a squall coming up at the time—was there not?"
"I knew there was a shower coming up."
"You declined to let him go on deck?"
"I did, sir. The recitation in Greek was not half finished," replied the professor, who deemed this a sufficient reason for declining.
"Captain Kendall did not go on deck when the first message was sent down?"
"No, sir; we continued the recitation for half an hour longer without interruption. Then the messenger came again. I told Mr. Kendall not to leave the class; but, in direct opposition to my order, he went on deck. Not satisfied with this, though he knew that half the students were engaged in the recitations, he ordered all hands to be called. Of course the students were glad enough to get away from their lessons; and all of them stampeded from the steerage, in spite of my protest, and without even a word of apology."