"Come, Scott, be reasonable."
"That's the very thing I ask of you—be reasonable, and don't try to cut my out of my chance of being Captain next month."
"Of course you haven't any more chance of being captain than you have of being Czar of Russia next month."
"Don't you think I should make a good czar?"
"No doubt of it," laughed Beckwith.
"Are you quite sure the Russians won't get up a revolution after they have seen me?"
"If they only knew what a jolly good fellow you were, they would be likely to do so."
"That's sensible; and I may go into the czar business, after all. And I may be captain next month, if you nobs don't cut me out of my rights."
"But it is no worse for you than for any other fellow in the steerage. I may be where you are next month; then it will hit me as hard as it does you."