ll the rest of us."

"No doubt you are," Captain O'Moore said, stiffly.

"And one has just as much right as another to claim that he is the
heir, in a direct line."

"I suppose so, Burke," the officer said, "though, for the life of
me, I can't see what you are driving at."

"What I mean is this. Suppose Adam and the O'Moore started at the
same time, one in Ireland and the other in Eden; and they had an
equal number of children, as was likely enough. Half the people in
the world would be descendants of Adam, and the other half of the
O'Moore and, you see, instead of your being the O'Moore--the
genuine descendant, in the direct line, from the first of the
family--half the world would have an equal claim to the title."

Captain O'Moore reflected for a minute or two.

"You are right, Dr. Burke," he said. "I never saw it in that light.
It is clear enough that you are right, and that the less we say
about the O'Moores before the first Irish king of that name, the
better. There must have been some mistake about that tree I spoke
of.

"Captain O'Halloran, I apologize. I was wrong."

The two officers shook hands, and peace was restored; but Captain
O'Moore was evidently a good deal puzzled, and mortified, by the
problem the doctor had set before him and, after remaining silent
for some time, evidently in deep thought, he left the room. Some of
the others watched him from the window, until he had entered the
door of his own quarters; and then there was a general shout of
laughter.

"The O'Moore will be the death of me!" Teddy Burke exclaimed, as he
threw himself back in a chair, exhausted. "He is one of the best
fellows going, but you can lead him on into anything. I don't
suppose he ever gave a thought to the O'Moores, anywhere further
back than those kings. He had a vague idea that they must have been
going on, simply because it must have seemed to him that a world
without an O'Moore in it would be necessarily imperfect. It was Bob
Repton's questions, as to what they were doing at the time of the
flood, that brought him suddenly up; then he didn't hesitate for a
moment in taking them back to Adam, or before him. Just on the
ancestry of the O'Moores, Phelim has got a tile a little loose; but
on all other points, he is as sensible as anyone in the regiment."

"I wonder you didn't add, 'and that is not saying much,' doctor,"
one of the lieutenants said.

"I may have thought it, youngster; but you see, I must have ma