"Don't ask me."
"You jumped in after him, and saved him, they say," added Wilton; "so, I suppose, it was really an accident."
Shuffles still made no reply.
CHAPTER XX.
THE END OF THE CHAIN LEAGUE.
The fact that Shuffles had plunged into the sea, and labored so effectively for the rescue of the fourth lieutenant, blinded the eyes of "our fellows," who, knowing the penalty of treachery to the "Chain," might otherwise have suspected that he had "fallen overboard accidentally," or, in other words, that he had been pushed into the water by his unscrupulous rival. Wilton, Monroe, and Adler, had discussed the matter, and reached the conclusion that Pelham had been knocked over by the shaking of the staysail sheet, or that he had really fallen accidentally. They had been appalled and horrified by the event; and those who were disgusted with the League were not disposed to betray its secrets; for it was possible, though not probable, that the mishap which had befallen Pelham was an incident in the history of the "Chain."
When a wicked man or a wicked boy exceeds his average wickedness, the excess sometimes produces a moral reaction. A person who tipples moderately may have the drunkard's fate vividly foreshadowed to him by getting absolutely drunk himself, and thus be induced to abandon a dangerous practice. That loathsome disease, small pox, sometimes leaves the patient better than it finds him; and through, and on account of, the vilest sin may come the sinner's reformation.