"Then he is one of your friends, Shuffles," continued Pelham, who was beginning to understand how his rival had been elected.
"I don't claim him."
"Did you take the captain into the Chain, Shuffles?"
"I won't answer," replied the captain elect.
"If Captain Gordon and Paul Kendall are members, I would like to know it. I am first officer of the ship under the new order of things, and if I command Gordon to do anything, I mean that he shall obey me."
"Of course you will give him no orders till we are in possession of the ship," added Shuffles, not a little alarmed.
"Well, as Gordon and Kendall are members of the Chain—of course they are, or they wouldn't have voted—we can talk over the matter freely with them," said Pelham, chuckling.
"If you make the signs, and they make them, of course you can," replied Shuffles. "No member can speak to another about the business of the Chain until both of them have proved that they belong, by giving the required signals."
"Shuffles, do you suppose Captain Gordon knows the signs?"
"How should I know? I never tried him. I don't know why he shouldn't make them as well as Tom Ellis."