ouched his cap, and passed on. The devoted admirer of
Shuffles's nobleness and goodness was greatly disconcerted by the blunt
statements of the second master, who had declared that the ship's
company were almost in a state of mutiny against the captain. She
continued her inquiries among other officers; but, though some of them
thought it was quite unnecessary to go to sea, they all spoke very
handsomely of Shuffles. It was plain enough that Perth had injured
himself more than the object of his calumny, by what he had said.

"Are you ready to go to sea, Miss Arbuckle?" asked the captain, as he
came on deck, and touched his cap to her.

"I am quite ready; indeed, I am afraid I am more ready than many others
on board of this ship," she replied. "I am sorry to hear that some of
the officers and seamen are very much displeased at the idea of going
to sea."

"So far as the seamen are concerned, it is their own fault, for they
have not done their duty," added the captain.

"Not the fault of all of them, I hope."

"Not all, certainly; but if they don't know their stations, they must
learn them. If you are all ready to go, I think we will be off," said
Shuffles, as he glanced at his watch. "You will get the ship under way,
if you please, Mr. Goodwin," he added, addressing the first lieutenant,
who was standing near him.

"I really hope there will be no trouble, Captain Shuffles," continued
Grace.

"There can be no trouble. All sailors grumble, you know, Miss Arbuckle,
and our boys imitate their elders in this respect. They will growl for
a while, but just as soon as they work the ship with skill and
promptness, we shall put into Brest, and make our trip down the Rhine.
I think we shall not be at sea beyond a couple of days."

"I hope not, for the sake of the crew."

"All hands, weigh anchor, ahoy!" shouted the boatswain, as his sharp
pipe rang through the ship.

Less than thirty of the seamen answered to the call, and it was
apparent that a very large majority of them had chosen to follow the
evil counsels of the runaways, or the foolish counsels of other
discontented spirits. It was the first time since the ship went into
commission that any considerable number of the crew had failed to
respond to the call. Shuffles was confounded, and the first lieutenant
actually turned pale. It looked like such a mutiny as the Chain League
had planned.

"Pipe again," said Shuffles, as quietly as he could.

Again the boatswain