"In that case, I should not object; for a secret society in the steerage is no worse than one in the cabin."
"But what is the society for?" asked De Forrest, dissatisfied with the situation.
"Simply for fun, for amusement—nothing else." replied Wainwright.
"Where do you meet?" asked the principal, curiously.
"We met in that old fish-house on the island. We have no place in the ship. I was going to ask you, sir, if we might fit up a place in the hold," added Wainwright.
"The hold is not a fit place for any meeting. I can do better, if assured that your society is a proper one."
"I think it is, sir. There is nothing in it contrary to the rules of the ship. In all the colleges there are secret societies, such as the Φ. Β. Κ."
"You may have the main cabin one evening in a week."
"Thank you, sir. We shall be very grateful to you," replied Wainwright, utterly confounded by the generosity of the principal.
De Forrest was disgusted, and went away with "a flea in his ear." Of course the action of the principal was immediately known among all the officers. Cumberland only laughed, while others looked grave, and proposed that they should get up a society among the officers. The proposition was hailed with a shout of satisfaction, and a committee appointed to prepare a plan. Wainwright hastened to Scott with the pleasant news he had to tell, and the main cabin was obtained for that evening. As the instructors spent most of their unoccupied time on deck, this was no hardship to them. The lodge opened again, with those present who had taken the second degree. In older to make the thing more ludicrous than before, the officers enveloped themselves in blankets, sheets, and such other fantastic apparel as they could lay hands upon, and each one placed his small tin wash-bowl on his head, the handle of which stuck out like a queue behind. The curtain over the skylight was drawn so that no one on deck could see into the cabin. The pantry was built out from the bulkhead, which separated it from the main cabin, into the steerage, forming a space, or gangway, four feet wide, between the pantry and the mess-rooms, from winch one of the doors opened into the cabin. A blanket was extended across from the front of the pantry, before the starboard door, making an apartment four feet square, in which the O. L. M. was stationed. The candidate was admitted to this place, and when the bag was drawn over his head, he was conducted into the lodge. The ceremonies were performed with even more spirit than in the old fish-house, and the roars of laughter that went up from the main cabin assured those within hearing that the members were having a good time. All the rest in the ship who had taken their first degree were "elevated" to the second on this occasion. At the close of the initiation, a vote of thanks to the principal was unanimously passed, for his kindness in granting the society the use of the cabin; and after some debate, he was also elected an honorary member of the order, with the privilege of attending any and all its meetings—a privilege of which, however, he magnanimously declined to avail himself.