the commodore and the past officers, were appropriated to their use.

If Raymond, and such as he, were not willing to listen to the mutinous
counsels of the runaways, he was not the less dissatisfied and
discontented. The arrival of the Arbuckles, with their baggage,
indicated that the trip to the Rhine had been abandoned. Perhaps the
well-disposed students could have submitted to this disappointment, if
it had not been inflicted upon them as a punishment. It seemed to them
that they were to suffer for a whim of Shuffles. The runaways had taken
pains to disseminate this idea among the crew, as they had also
succeeded in involving the whole of them in the mischief which induced
the principal to go to sea that night.

All over the deck and throughout the steerage, the boys were grumbling
and growling like regular old salts, whose prerogative it is to find
fault. When Howe and Spencer returned in the barge, they readily
perceived the state of feeling on board. Little told them what he had
said and done, and convinced them that the whole crew were ripe for a
strike. The entire ship's company were discussing their grievances, and
even a large portion of the officers were dissatisfied. Very likely the
sudden elevation of Shuffles had created a feeling of jealousy in the
minds of a portion of them.

The mischief-makers were prompt in taking advantage of this state of
feeling in the crew. They fanned the flame of discontent, and it was
not difficult to convince their shipmates that they were very hardly
used; that the new captain was imposing a heavy burden upon them. Some
of the best disposed of them were in favor of waiting upon the
principal, and representing their view of the case to him; but the more
impetuous ones laughed at this plan. Shuffles was the principal's pet,
and he would support his _protege_ against everybody else on board. The
students talked as boys talk, and acted as boys act. At that moment
Shuffles was the most unpopular fellow on board, for it was understood
that he had proposed and advocated the obnoxious measure. The ship's
company were willing to believe that Mr. Lowington had yielded his
assent to please the new captain, rather than because he deemed it
necessary to go to sea himself.

By the time the first cutter returned, a large majority of the students
had decided that something should be done. They could not agree upon
the precise step to be taken. Some advocated a protest, others a
respect