an interesting character, and since no great damage has
been done, his drunken frolic hardly comes within my sphere. Of Mr. De
Lana, of the Stock Exchange, I never heard, unless he happens to be a
member of the firm of De Lana and Day?"

"He's not a member of that firm, sir," shouted the Major. "He was, up to
six o'clock this evenin'."

"What do you mean exactly?" inquired Harley, and the tone of his voice
suggested that he was beginning to entertain doubts of the Major's
sanity or sobriety; then:

"He's dead!" declared the latter. "Dead as the Begum of Bangalore! He
died at six o'clock. I've just spoken to his widow on the telephone."

I suppose I must have been staring very hard at the speaker, and
certainly Harley was doing so, for suddenly directing his fierce gaze
toward me:

"You're completely treed, sir, and so's your friend!" shouted Major
Ragstaff.

"I confess it," replied Harley quietly; "and since my time is of some
little value I would suggest, without disrespect, that you explain the
connection, if any, between yourself, the drunken Bampton, and Mr. De
Lana, of the Stock Exchange, who died, you inform us, at six o'clock
this evening as the result, presumably, of injuries received in an
accident."

"That's what I'm here for!" cried Major Ragstaff. "In the first place,
then, I am the party, although I saw to it that my name was kept out of
print, whom the drunken lunatic assaulted."

Harley, pipe in hand, stared at the speaker perplexedly.

"Understand me," continued the Major, "I am the person--I, Jack
Ragstaff--he assaulted. I was walkin' down from my quarters in Maddox
Street on my way to dine at the club, same as I do every night o' my
life, when this flamin' idiot sprang upon me, grabbed my hat"--he took
up his white hat to illustrate what had occurred--"not this one, but one
like it--pitched it on the ground and jumped on it!"

Harley was quite unable to conceal his smiles as the excited old
soldier dropped his conspicuous head-gear on the floor and indulged in a
vigorous pantomime designed to illustrate his statement.

"Most extraordinary," said Harley. "What did you do?"

"What did I do?" roared the Major. "I gave him a crack on the head with
my cane, and I said things to him which couldn't be repeated in court.
I punched him, and likewise hoofed him, but the hat was completely done
in. Damn crowd collected, hearin' me swearin' and bellowin'. Police and
all that; names an' addresses an