De Forrest opened his theory to another officer of the squadron. He had already spoken to half a dozen of them, and created as many advocates of his plan, each of whom, interested in the scheme, went to work upon as many more of the unconverted. In another half hour there were a dozen who were entirely satisfied that the Academy Squadron would be utterly ruined if Cantwell was elevated to the rank of captain. This dozen were in turn soon at work upon another dozen, and the converts increased as a continued proportional. This process, so often repeated, soon stirred up a lively agitation among the crowd of students on the island. The principal, the instructors, and the party from the yachts, with Captain Lincoln and two other officers, were seated on a rock apart from the others, engaged in conversation. They did not observe anything unusual among the students, who seemed to be remarkably quiet, considering that they were at liberty to follow their own inclinations. The agitators had an excellent opportunity to carry on their operations without attracting the attention of the principal and his assistants. The subject under discussion concerned the young officers even more than the seamen, and De Forrest's plan seemed to be so fair and so practical that most of them gave in their adherence without much hesitation. The crew, who were farther removed from the glittering prizes, which were to be limited to the inferior officers of the cabin, were not so readily converted. "I don't see it," said Scott, the joker, when Beckwith approached him on the subject. "You want to make a little one-horse aristocracy in the cabin, and shut out us fellows in the steerage from any chance at the big things." "Not at all," replied the first master. "Yes, you do. Take my own case, if you please. I'm a genius of the first water. I got a pile of merit marks for getting tight on finkel, and making an excursion to Stockholm. During all this time, of course I was marked high on all studies. I used to talk Greek when I was a baby, and nobody could understand me. And of course I am marked high in that branch now. In Latin I always could decline faster than any other fellow. French and German I learned of my nurse, who was brought up in an Irish Canadian family, and married a Dutchman. None of these things ever give me any trouble, you see, and I am marked high. In seamanship I got a hundred and fifty for topping up the spanker boom in a seaman-like manner. Now, I expect to be captain on the first of next month, and you cabin nobs are getting up a conspiracy to deprive me of my rights. I won't stand it, Mr. Beckwith. I am an American citizen in embryo. My fathers and mothers all fought, bled, and died for the dearest rights of man. My grandfather was killed in battle six months before he was married; and I should be a degenerate son of a glorious sire if I permitted you to pull wool over my optical members in this horrible manner."