"Have you tried him by the signs?"
"I have, and he made no sign," laughed Pelham, who was not much enamoured of the cabalistic clap-trap of the Chain.
"Then, of course, he is not a member."
"He must be; he voted," replied Pelham, maliciously.
"How many more times will you say that?"
"Perhaps fifty; perhaps a hundred," answered the fourth lieutenant, coolly. "I shall say it until you are willing to acknowledge the trick you put upon me."
"What trick?"
"O, I know all about it! Didn't you tell Kendall, the captain, and seven or eight others, how to play 'Don't know Beans'?"
"If I did, it was to cheat them when they wanted to know what the beans meant."
"You saw that the fellows threw away the beans, instead of voting for you with them, and you invented your game to make the thing come out right. No matter, Shuffles; I am bound by the compact we made, but I shall persist in regarding Gordon, Kendall Foster, and others as members. As you made them vote, you are responsible for them. That's all."