"Work for it! That's played out. I must stay in the steerage three months, at any rate; and that while the burden of the fun is going on. If we were going to lie in harbor, or cruise along the coast, I would go in for my old place."
"But Carnes is out of the way now, and your chance is better this year than it was last," suggested Monroe.
"I know that, but I can't think of straining every nerve for three months, two of them while we are going from port to port in Europe. When we go ashore at Queenstown, I shall have to wear a short jacket, instead of the frock coat of an officer; and I think the jacket would look better on some younger fellow."
"What are you going to do, Shuffles?" asked Wilton.
"I'd rather be a king among hogs, than a hog among kings."
"What do you mean by that?"
"No matter; there's time enough to talk over these things."
"Do you mean a mutiny?" laughed Wilton.
"Haven't you forgotten that?"
"No."