"Do I ask any more of them than you do?" Dalzell retorted, a bit gruffly.
"You do," Barnes declared, "and that's one of them."
"If I thought I asked more foolish questions than you do, sir," Dan rejoined, laying down his coffee cup, "I'd—"
Here Dalzell paused.
"What would you do?" Barnes insisted.
"On second thought," Dan went on gravely, "I don't believe I'll tell you. It was something desperate that I was thinking of."
"Then drop the idea, Dalzell," scoffed Lieutenant Barnes lightly. "You're hardly the fellow we'd look to for desperate deeds."
"Oh, am I not?" demanded Dan, for once a bit miffed.
Several of the officers glanced up apprehensively. From necessity, life in the ward-room is an oppressively close one at best. A feud between two officers of the mess is enough to make all hands uncomfortable much of the time.
"Cut it, Barnes," ordered the officer sitting on the right-hand side of Lieutenant Barnes. "Don't start any argument."