neer Commander came in, glancing at the clock. "Five minutes
more and the _What Ho's_ will be here. Bunje, my lad, you were
responsible for this _entente_--have you any idea what we are going to
do with them after dinner?"

"None," replied the Indiarubber Man; "none whatever. It will come to
me sudden-like. I might dress up as a bogey, and frighten you all--or
shall we try table-turning? Or we could dope their liquor and send
them all back insensible. Wouldn't that be true Oriental hospitality!
They'd wake up to-morrow morning under the impression that they'd had
the night of their lives."

The members of the mess began to collect round the fireplace with the
funereal expressions customary whenever a mess-dinner is impending.

"Which of the _What Ho's_ are coming?"

"Where're they going to sit?"

"Who asked them?"

"Why?"

"Are drinks going down to the mess?"

And then the door opened and the guests arrived, smiling, a little shy,
as the naval officer is wont to be when he finds himself in a strange
mess.

They were relieved of caps and cloaks, and, under the mellowing
influence of sherry and bitters, began to settle down.

"Jolly good of you fellows to ask us to dinner," said the First
Lieutenant, an officer with a smiling cherubic visage and a choleric
blue eye. "We were getting a bit bored with our hooker. A fortnight
of looking for _Der Tag_ gets a bit wearisome. D'you think the devils
are ever coming out?"

"We didn't want to ask you a bit, really," explained one of the hosts
(the advantage of having a chummy-ship is that you can insult them in
your own mess). "It's only a scheme of Bunje's for drinking
intoxicating liquor to excess at the expense of his messmates."

The guests grinned sympathetically. As a matter of fact, most of the
company drank little else than water during those days of strain and
vigil. Frequent references to indulgence might, therefore, be regarded
as comic, in a sense.

"We thought of bringing our own chairs," added one, "in case you'd
landed all your spare ones."

"Yes," chimed in a third politely. "We didn't expect to find such a
wealth of furniture--it's like a Model Homes Exhibition. You should
see our mess!"

The Gunnery Lieutenant made a gesture of deprecation. "The
watchkeepers insist on keeping the settee to caulk on in the intervals
of hogging in their cabins. The piano was retained for the benefit of
the Young Doctor. He can play _Die Wacht am