"There is no error in my ways, Mr. Agneau."
"You are unreasonable."
"No, I'm not. I only want what is fair and right."
"Was it right for you, Shuffles, to refuse obedience to the principal, when he told you to go aft?"
"I have always obeyed all proper orders; and under the circumstances, I think it was right for me to refuse."
"You fill me with amazement!" exclaimed the chaplain.
"You know it was not fair to give out the offices by last year's marks," protested Shuffles.
"On the contrary, I think it was entirely fair."
"I haven't anything more to say if it was," replied Shuffles, in surly tones.
The chaplain, finding the prisoner was not in a proper frame of mind for edifying conversation, left him, and returned to the professors' cabin. The boys had been forbidden to go near the brig, or to speak to the prisoner; and thus far no one had exhibited any disposition to disregard the order. Many of them, as they passed near the brig, glanced curiously at him. After the departure of the chaplain, Wilton sat down on a stool near the lock-up.