"For whom shall you vote, Wilton?" asked Shuffles in a group of half a
dozen which had gathered around one of the mess tables.

"I don't know? whom do you go for?" replied Wilton.

"I rather think I shall go for Bob Shuffles. In my opinion, he is the
best fellow on board," replied the owner of that name.

"That's modest," laughed Wilton.

"Do you know of any fellow that would make a better captain than I
should?"

"You don't know the first thing about a ship."

"What odds does that make? I can learn as fast as anybody else."

"Do you expect every fellow to vote for himself?" asked Howe, another of
the group.

"Of course I don't; I expect them to vote for me," answered Shuffles,
with great good-nature.

"You are rather cheeky, Shuffles."

"What's the use of mincing the matter? Here we are, half a dozen of the
best fellows in the ship. We can't all be captain; but one of us can be
just as well as not."