"They won't want to be shot, if they have been in the navy all their lives."
"Then you mean to shoot them?"
"They will think we do, and it will be all the same."
"I don't know about this business. I'm afraid the pistol might go off, and hurt somebody."
"I suppose you could raise objections all night," added Shuffles, contemptuously. "I'm not going to have any man tyrannize over me, Wilton. I suppose if Lowington wants to pull every fellow's teeth out, you won't object."
"I'm as much opposed to his tyranny as you are, and I will do anything that is reasonable; but I want to know whether the water is hot or cold before I put my fingers into it. What's the use of blundering into an enterprise, and making a failure of it?"
"I have no idea of making a failure of it. Did you ever know me to make a failure of anything that I attempted?"
"Yes, I have."
"What?"
"You failed to get elected captain when we first came aboard of the ship."