"Your father told me, if any serious difficulty occurred on board, to return home without delay. These fellows have chosen to disobey orders the first day out; and I think that is a serious matter."
"Do you hear that, Tom?" said Frank, in a whisper, to his fellow-prisoner.
"I don't care; the sooner he goes home the sooner will he be discharged."
"But we shall lose all our fun, any way."
"Can't help it; I won't be treated like a servant by my father's servant," replied Tom, loud enough to be heard by the captain.
"Your father can do what he thinks best when I get home, but while I command a vessel all hands obey orders."
"Come, Tom, don't let us spoil all the fun. We will pay him off at another time. Don't let us break up the cruise," whispered Frank. "He's got us where the hair is short, and we can't help ourselves."
Tom at first refused to "back down," as he and his party elegantly expressed it; but Frank's suggestion to pay him off at another time at last prevailed with him, and he consented to join with his companions in trouble in an apology to Captain Gordon, and a promise to obey orders without grumbling in future. Frank therefore made overtures for a capitulation; but the captain at first declined to listen to them, and it was only upon the urgent request of the rest of the party that he finally consented to pardon the offenders and continue the cruise. It was only because he did not like to punish the innocent with the guilty, he declared, that he reversed his former decision; but if any further difficulty occurred, they would know what to expect.