"Do so, Lieutenant."
"I will be back in a moment," muttered the Secretary of the Navy, rising, and hastily quitting the room.
The instant that high official was gone Eph caught at his sides with his hands.
"Oh, wow! Woof! Umpah!" chuckled young Somers, his face distorted with glee. "Some one catch me! I'm choking! Great Scott, what wouldn't I have given to see that? Hal, the quiet, the dignified? Oh, dear! Oh, dear. Hal pounces on the fellow, to arrest him, and Hal is the one who gets pinched Woo-oo! I can see Hal's face right now I'll wager an anchor to a fish-hook that the astonished look is stamped on Hal's face so hard that it won't come off for a week. Oh—woof!"
Eph was laughing so hard that the tears streamed down his face.
"Quit that!" commanded Jack, stepping over to his comrade, his own face stern. "It's no laughing matter."
"Why, they won't hang Hal!" sputtered Eph, as soon as he could talk. "Hal will be at liberty almost at once. But fancy the shock! Imagine the dear old fellow's astonishment, and the jolt to his feelings."
Again Eph Somers went off into a paroxysm of laughter. It seemed uncontrollable, for Eph had a strong sense of the ludicrous, and Hal's face, as Somers pictured it, must have been a tremendously funny sight at the instant when Millard so neatly turned the tables.
"Come, quit your nonsense!" grumbled Jack, disgustedly.
"I can't," roared Eph, going off into still another burst of laughter.