led away, and the conference was
abruptly closed. The purport of the letter which the officer in charge
of the boat bore to the principal, was, that Mr. Fluxion did not desire
to leave the consort for his visit to Marseilles until the close of the
week. Howe was perhaps nearer the truth than he really believed when he
declared that Mr. Lowington would not dare to leave the runaways on
board of either vessel in charge of any other person than the
vice-principal. He had been strongly inclined to grant the petition of
Shuffles in their favor; but when it was almost proved that the party
were the cause of all the confusion which had occurred on board of the
ship during the afternoon, that they were in a mutinous frame of mind,
he was not willing to encourage their insubordination. He was much
disturbed by the difficult problem thus thrust upon him. Dr. Carboy,
the professor of natural philosophy and chemistry, who had spent
several years in Germany, had volunteered to take charge of the
runaways, and he seemed to be the only person who was available for
this duty. He was no sailor, and only a fair disciplinarian, and Mr.
Lowington had not entire confidence in his ability to manage thirty of
the wildest boys in the squadron--discontented under the punishment to
which they were subjected.

Though everything was orderly on board of the ship, there was a great
deal of suppressed excitement, not to say indignation, for the crew did
not like the idea of keeping watch and reefing topsails, instead of
voyaging down the beautiful Rhine. The movement looked like a
punishment, and many of the crew felt themselves to be entirely
innocent of the blunders and failures made in handling the ship. They
had done their best, and thought it was not fair to punish the innocent
with the guilty. Doubtless it was not fair; but it was a question which
related to the discipline of the crew, as a whole, and not a dozen of
those who had made the mischief could be identified, even by the seamen
who had worked in the rigging with them, much less by the officers.

The mischief-makers themselves did all they could to foment this spirit
of discontent among those who were ordinarily well disposed. They
assumed the responsibility of declaring that the trip into Germany had
been indefinitely postponed. Probably, with the self-conceit incident
to human nature, they really believed they were no worse than the best
of the crew, and they desired to involve all t