by this time was
leaning back against the wall in his chair, the central figure of
present affairs, but apparently quite unconcerned.

"How you feelin' now?" Curly asked.

"Much better," replied the prisoner. "Thank you awfully. I was
beginning to feel deucedly seedy, you know."

"I'd like to know," inquired Curly, bluntly, "what in merry-hell you're
doing down in here, anyhow. Where'd you come from? Where've you been?"

A half-humorous smile came to the face of the captive. "You seem not
to know a Sandhurst man, gentlemen, when you see one," said he.

"I said he was from Arkansaw," remarked Uncle Jim.

"No foolin' now, young feller," said Curly, frowning. "You may have
more trouble than you're lookin' for. What's your name?"

"I really forget my first name," replied the prisoner, blandly, but not
discourteously. "Of late I have been customarily addressed as the King
of Gee-Whiz."

"Well, King," suggested the acting foreman, grimly, "you'd better turn
loose and tell us your story, about as soon as you know how."

"Very gladly," responded the other, "very gladly. You seem a good
sort, and you fought fair. I'll tell you the absolute truth.

"I came from England originally, and not from Arkansaw, as my friend
supposes, although I don't know where Arkansaw is, I'm sure. I was
long in the British Army, or Navy, I cawn't remember which. I'm quite
sure it was one or the other, possibly both."

"I wouldn't kid too much, friend," said Curly, warningly.

"I beg pardon?"

"Drop the foolishness!"

"You misunderstand me, I'm sure," said the King of Gee-Whiz. "At that
time it was quite customary, indeed very fashionable, for young
gentlemen to belong both to the Army and the Navy. Now, I remember
with perfect distinctness that I shipped before the mast on her
Majesty's submarine, the _Equator_."

Uncle Jim drew a long breath. "A submarine ain't _got_ no mast," said
he. "It crawls, on the bottom of the ocean."

"Don't mind him, friend," interrupted Curly. "He come from the
short-grass country of Kansas, and he don't know a submarine from a
muley cow. Go on, King."

"As I was saying," continued the latter, somewhat annoyed, "I shipped
before the mast on her Majesty's submarine, the _Equator_, Captain
Harry Oglethorpe commanding,--a great friend of mine, and a very brave
and clever fellow. I knew him well before I got so deucedly down on my
luck. But what was I saying?"

"About submarines--"