"And why should you in preference to any other fellow? If you want to carry your ticket, you must nominate the other candidate from the steerage. That's fair."
"I don't believe in it," protested De Forrest. "I won't vote for a fellow in the steerage."
"Precisely so. Then you, and such fellows as you, will throw the election into the hands of the secret society. That's the whole of it. Be fair, and the steerage will go with you."
"Whom do you say in the steerage?" asked Beckwith.
"Any good fellow; say Scott."
"No, sir!" exclaimed De Forrest, decidedly. "I would jump overboard before I would vote for him."
"Suppose the captain should select Lincoln," continued Sheridan, his eye still twinkling merrily.
"Then we should have to take some other fellow from the cabin," replied Beckwith.
"There your chance comes in, De Forrest," winked the fourth lieutenant.
"I think I have just as good a right to go as any other fellow."