“For whom shall you vote, Wilton?” asked Shuffles in a group of half a dozen which had gathered around one of the mess tables.

“I don’t know? whom do you go for?” replied Wilton.

“I rather think I shall go for Bob Shuffles.  In my opinion, he is the best fellow on board,” replied the owner of that name.

“That’s modest,” laughed Wilton.

“Do you know of any fellow that would make a better captain than I should?”

“You don’t know the first thing about a ship.”

“What odds does that make?  I can learn as fast as anybody else.”

“Do you expect every fellow to vote for himself?” asked Howe, another of the group.

“Of course I don’t; I expect them to vote for me,” answered Shuffles, with great good-nature.

“You are rather cheeky, Shuffles.”

“What’s the use of mincing the matter?  Here we are, half a dozen of the best fellows in the ship.  We can’t all be captain; but one of us can be just as well as not.”

“That’s so,” added Howe, approvingly.  “But who shall that one be?”

“I am the one, without a doubt,” said Shuffles.

“I don’t see it,” interposed Monroe, shaking his head; and he was the young gentleman who had assisted the aspirant for the captaincy to rob Mr. Lowington’s favorite peach tree.

“What have you got to say about it, Ike Monroe?  Do you expect us to go for you?”

“I didn’t say so.”

“That’s what you meant.”

“I’ve just as much right to the place as you have, Bob Shuffles.”

“Do you think you could make the fellows stand round as I can?  But hold on; fellows, don’t let us fight about it.  We are just the best six fellows on board, and if we have a mind to do so, we can have this thing all our own way,” continued Shuffles.

“I don’t see how,” said Philip Sanborn.

“Don’t you know how the politicians manage these things?”

“I don’t.”

“I’ll tell you, then.”

“But the principal said we must go according to merit, and elect the fellows who were the best fitted for the offices,” interposed Howe.

“Exactly so; that’s just what we are going to do.  I’m going to be captain; can you tell me of any better fellow for the place?” demanded Shuffles, who, putting aside the jesting manner in which he had commenced the discussion, now assumed an earnest and impudent tone.

“Didn’t you hear what Lowington said when he wound up his speech?” asked Wilton.

“What?”

“About vetoing our choice if it was not a proper one.”

“What of it?” asked Shuffles, innocently.

“Don’t you think he would veto you?”

“Me!  Not he!  Lowington knows that I’m smart; I was too smart for him once, and he knows it.  He won’t veto me.  We have been the best of friends lately.”

“I don’t believe he’ll have a chance to veto you,” said Wilton.