“He is quite ready to do so now.”

“If he will say as much as that to me, he shall be released at once.”

“He will, sir.”

“It is very strange to me that I noticed nothing peculiar in the boy’s speech or manner at the time,” added the principal.  “He certainly did not seem to be intoxicated.”

“Probably he had taken just enough to inflame his evil passions, without affecting his manner,” suggested the chaplain.

“I did not even discover the odor of wine upon him.”

“Perhaps you did not go near enough to him.  If you please, Mr. Lowington, we will go down and see him; and you can judge for yourself whether or not it is prudent to release him.”

“I will.”

“Thank you, sir.  I feel a deep interest in the young man, and I hope he may yet be saved.”

When Mr. Agneau left the brig, after his second visit, Wilton, who was very anxious to know what Shuffles meant by “making a chain,” came out of his mess room.  He had been watching the chaplain, and wondering what the prisoner could have to say to him.

“What’s up, Shuffles?” asked Wilton, when Mr. Agneau had left the steerage.

“I’ve been smoothing him down,” laughed Shuffles, with an audible chuckle.  “I have concluded not to stay in here any longer.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m coming out pretty soon, though it has cost me a bottle and a half of old sherry to get out,” laughed Shuffles.

“I don’t know what you mean.”

“I told the parson that I was drunk when I disobeyed orders, and that I was very sorry for it, and wouldn’t get drunk any more.”

“Did you tell him that?”

“I did; I assured him I was the worst fellow in the whole world, and ought to be hung, drawn, and quartered for my wickedness; and he swallowed it as a codfish does a clam.”

“And you gave him all the wine?”

“No, I didn’t; I gave him one full bottle, and what was left in the one from which we drank this afternoon.  I have two more.”

“We were going to have a good time with that wine.”

“I have enough left.”

“Where is it?”

“In my locker.”

“They may find it.”

“No, they won’t; I will put it in some other place before inspection day.  There is plenty of wine in the medical stores.  It was a good joke for the parson to suppose I was drunk.”

“Perhaps you were,” suggested Wilton.

“I felt good; but I was as sober as I am now.”

“The drink I took went into my head, and I felt as though I was going up in a ballon.”

“That was because you are not used to the article.  It waked me up a little, but I knew what I was about.”

“I think you were a confounded fool to do what you did.”

“Wilton, I’m not going to live in the steerage—­you may take my word for it.  I’ve been an officer too long to come down to that.  If we don’t succeed in making a chain, I shall quit the concern the first time I put my foot on shore in Ireland.”