en Hilbert came to draw, the merriment
was redoubled. Some called on the Colonel to hold down the cap lower, so
that Bob could reach it. Others said that he was sure to get the lucky
number, and that there was no chance at all for the rest of them.
Others, still, were asking him what he would take for his ticket, or for
half of it, quarter of it, and so on. Hilbert was half pleased and half
ashamed at being the object of so much coarse notoriety; while Rollo,
who had drawn up toward the place, and was looking on from a safe
distance as the proceedings that were going on, was very glad that he
was not in Hilbert's place.

[Footnote B: Gentlemen always wear caps on board ship. Hats are in the
way, and would, moreover, be in danger of being blown off by the wind;
in which case, as they would go overboard at once, there would be no
possibility of recovering them.]

The ticket that Hilbert drew was marked 67. It denoted, of course, the
number 267; and that, being pretty near to the number of miles which it
was thought the ship would probably make, was considered quite a
valuable ticket. The owners of the several tickets, as soon as the
drawing was completed, began to compare them and talk about them, and to
propose bargains to one another for buying and selling them, or
exchanging them. In these negotiations each man was endeavoring to
outwit and circumvent his friend, in hopes of buying his ticket for a
moderate sum, and drawing the whole prize with it. Others were engaged
in betting on particular tickets. These bets, when they were made, they
recorded in little memorandum books kept for the purpose. In fact, a
very noisy and tumultuous scene of bargaining, and betting, and barter
ensued.

Hilbert was very much pleased with his ticket. He went to show it to
Rollo. He said he verily believed that he had got the exact ticket to
draw the prize. He did not think the ship would go quite 270 miles.

"And if she does not," said he, "and should happen to go only 267 miles,
then I shall have ten pounds; and that is almost fifty dollars."

So saying, Hilbert began to caper about the deck in the exuberance of
his joy.

His antics were, however, suddenly interrupted by the Colonel, who just
then came up to him and asked to see his ticket. Hilbert held it up so
that the Colonel could see the number upon it.

"Sixty-seven," said the Colonel. "That is not worth much. Nobody thinks
she'll go less than 270. However," he added, in a