ich I am not--I think it is treating them
like babies to do so. It is punishing the innocent with the guilty."

"Mr. Lowington said, in so many words, that the measure was not
intended as a punishment; that it was purely a matter of discipline,
intended to meet certain evils which must appear when we landed in
Europe, as well as to prevent gambling."

Paul certainly had the best of the argument; but Shuffles was not
convinced, because he did not wish to be convinced.

At eight bells, when the first part of the port watch went on duty, the
wind had shifted from west to north; the studding-sails had been taken
in, the spanker, main spencer, and all the staysails had been set, and
the ship, close-hauled, was barely laying her course. The wind was
fresh, and she was heeled over on the starboard side, so that her decks
formed a pretty steep inclined plane. Under these circumstances, it
required a great deal of skill and watchfulness on the part of the
wheelmen to keep the sails full, and at the same time to lay the course.
As the ship's head met the heavy seas, a great deal of spray was dashed
on deck, and the position of the lookout-men on the top-gallant
forecastle was not as comfortable as if the weather had been warmer.
There was no dodging; every student was obliged to stand at his post,
wet or dry, blow high or blow low.

Wilton had been discharged from confinement in the brig, where Mr.
Agneau had visited him, giving him good advice and religious
instruction, as he did to all who were punished in any manner, and was
now with his watch on deck. The new regulation was particularly odious
to "our fellows," and Wilton regarded himself as a martyr to the popular
cause, forgetting that he had been punished for the lies he had told.
He and twenty others were forward to say they "wouldn't stand it;" and
the indignation seemed to be increasing rather than subsiding.

"Well, Wilton, how do you like the inside of the brig?" asked Shuffles,
when they met in the maintop, having been sent aloft to clear away the
bowline bridle on the main-topsail.

"I like it well enough," replied Wilton. "I wasn't going to blow on the
fellows; I would stay in there a month first."

"Did you give up your money?"

"Of course I did; I couldn't help myself."

"How do you like the new regulation?"

"I don't like it any better than the rest of the fellows do," answered
Wilton, in surly tones. "I won't stand it, either."

"O, I guess you wil