_ CHAPTER III. THE STARTLER AT MONTE CARLO
Danny turns a trick on a brother officer. Ashore at Monte Carlo the young ensigns find the makings of future trouble. The frowning crags of Monaco confronted the United States battleship "Hudson."
Here and there the rocky eminences were broken by tiny strips of white beach. In comparison with the crags the great, floating fighting machine looked like a pigmy, indeed.
It was toward evening, and the day was Tuesday. Darrin and Dalzell, both off duty for the time being, strolled along the battleship's quarter-deck, gazing shoreward.
"It's almost too bad that the times are so civilized," murmured Danny Grin. "That little toy principality would make an ideal pirates' nest."
"I fancy Monaco has done duty enough in that line in the past centuries," smiled Darrin. "I have been reading up a bit on the history of Monaco. Piracy flourished here as late as the fourteenth century. Even rather late in the eighteenth century every ship passing close to this port had to pay toll. And to-day, through its vast gambling establishments, visited by thousands every week, Monaco reaches out and still takes its toll from all the world."
"It won't take any from me," smiled Dalzell.
"That is because you're a disciplined human being, and you've too much character and honesty to gamble," Darrin went on. "But think, with a pitying sigh, of the thousands of poor wretches who journey to Monaco, enter the Casino at Monte Carlo, part with their money and their honor, and then pass into one of the gardens, there to blow their brains out.
"We shall get a glimpse of the place to-night," Dave continued. "I will admit that I have a good deal of curiosity to see it. So I am glad that we have shore leave effective after dinner. Still, we shan't see anything like the crowd or the picture that we might see if Europe were at peace."
"This is Tuesday night," Dan warned his chum.
"Yes; the night to avoid dangerous questions at mess," Dave smiled. "Dan, are you still going to try to catch Barnes?"
"Watch me," winked Dalzell.
"Look out, Dan! Such a trap may be set at both ends."
But Dalzell winked once more, then allowed his mouth to expand in that contortion which had won him the nick name of "Danny Grin."
Dave soon forgot Dalzell's threat of trouble for the evening. It had passed out of his mind by the time that Ensign Darrin entered the ward-room. Yet soon after the officers had seated themselves the executive officer announced:
"In the interest of fair play to all I deem it best to warn you, gentlemen, that to-night is the night when the first gentleman who asks a question that he cannot himself answer is liable to a penalty of thirty-three dollars to make up the deficit in the mess treasury."
There were nods and grins, and shakings of heads. Not an officer present had any idea that _he_ could be caught and made to pay the penalty.
As the meal progressed Lieutenant Commander Wales finally turned to one of the Filipino waiters and inquired:
"Is there any of the rare roast beef left?"
"Don't you know yourself, Wales?" demanded Totten quickly.
"Why, er--no-o," admitted Mr. Wales, looking much puzzled. "Why should I?"
"Then haven't you asked a question that you can't answer?" demanded Totten mischievously.
"That's hardly a fair catch, is it?" demanded the navigating officer, looking annoyed.
"It is not a fair catch," broke in the executive officer incisively. "Any gentleman here has a perfect right to ask the waiter questions about the food supply without taking chances of being subjected to a penalty."
"I bow to the decision, sir," replied Lieutenant Totten. "I merely wished to have the question settled."
Some of those present breathed more easily; others yet dreaded to become victims of a penalty proposition that many now regretted having voted for.
As the dessert came on Dan Dalzell turned to Dave.
"Darrin," he said, "can you tell me why it is that a woodchuck never leaves any dirt heaped up around the edge of his hole?"
Dave reflected, looking puzzled for a moment. Then he shook his head as he answered:
"Dalzell, I'm afraid I don't know why."
"Of course _you_ know why, Dalzell," broke in Lieutenant Barnes warningly.
"Perhaps I do know," Dan replied, nodding his head slowly. "However, perhaps some other gentleman would like the chance of answering the question."
Instantly a dozen at least of the officers became interested in answering the question. To each reply or guess, however, Dalzell shook his head.
"If everyone who wants it has had a try at the answer," suggested the executive officer, "then we will call upon Mr. Dalzell to inform us why a woodchuck, in digging his hole, leaves no dirt piled up around the entrance."
There was silence while Dan replied easily:
"It's perfectly simple. Instead of beginning at the surface of the ground and digging downward, the woodchuck begins at the bottom of the hole and digs up toward the light and air."
As Dalzell offered this explanation he faced Lieutenant Barnes, who was eying him scoffingly.
When Dan had finished his explanation there was a puzzled silence for an instant. But Dan's half-leer irritated Lieutenant Barnes. Then came the explosion.
"Shaw!" snorted Barnes. "That's an explanation that doesn't explain anything. It's a fool answer. How does the woodchuck, if he digs up from the bottom of the hole, ever manage to get to the bottom of the hole to make his start there?"
"Oh, well," answered Dan slowly, "that's your question, Mr. Barnes."
"My question?" retorted the lieutenant. "What do you mean?"
"If I understand aright," Dan went on, "you asked how the woodchuck manages to get to the bottom of the hole before he begins to dig."
"That's right," nodded the lieutenant, stiffly.
"That's just the idea," Dan grinned. "I am calling upon you to answer the question that you just asked. You must tell us how the woodchuck manages to get to the bottom of the hole in order to start digging upward."
It required perhaps two seconds for the joke to dawn on the other officers at the long mess table. Then an explosion of laughter sounded, and every eye was turned toward Lieutenant Barnes.
"That isn't fair!" roared the lieutenant, leaping to his feet. "That was a trap! It wasn't a fair catch."
Barnes's face was very red. His voice quivered with indignation.
But Dan Dalzell was smiling coolly as he retorted:
"I'll leave it to the mess if Barnes hasn't asked a question that he can't answer."
"You're caught, Barnes!" roared half a dozen voices, and more laughter followed.
"You asked a question, Barnes, and you can't answer it," came from others.
"That thirty-three dollars will come in handy," called another.
"Pay up like a man, Barnes."
"That's right. Pay up! You're caught."
The lieutenant's face grew redder, but he sat down and tried to control his wrath.
"It doesn't seem like a fairly incurred penalty," declared Barnes, as soon as he could make himself heard, "but of course I'll abide by the decision of the mess."
"Then I move," suggested Wales, "that we leave the question to a committee of three to decide whether Mr. Barnes has been properly caught in the fine that he himself was the one to propose. For committee I would suggest the executive officer, the paymaster and the chaplain."
Informally that suggestion was quickly adopted. The three officers named withdrew to a corner of the ward-room, where they conversed in low tones, after which they returned to their seats.
"Gentlemen," announced the executive officer, "the committee has discussed the problem submitted to it, and the members of the committee are unanimously agreed that Mr. Barnes fairly and fully incurred the penalty that he himself suggested the other morning."
Barnes snorted, but was quick to recover sufficiently to bow in the direction of the executive officer.
"Then I accept the decision, sir," announced the lieutenant huskily. "At the close of the meal I will pay thirty-three dollars into the mess treasury."
Barnes tried to look comfortable, but he refused to glance in the direction of Danny Grin.
"Did I catch him?" whispered Dalzell to his chum.
"You did," Dave agreed quickly. "Barnes must feel pretty sore over the way his plan turned out."
There was much laughter during the rest of the meal, and Barnes had to stand for much chaffing, which he bore with a somewhat sullen look. As the officers rose none offered to leave the ward-room. All stood by waiting to see Barnes hand thirty-three dollars to the paymaster.
"Here is the money," announced Barnes, handing a little wad of bills to the paymaster.
"Count it, Pay!" piped a voice from the rear of the crowd, but it was not Dan who spoke.
Lieutenant Barnes had the grace to leave the ward-room without stamping, but in the nearest passageway he encountered Ensigns Darrin and Dalzell.
"I suppose you are chuckling over the way I dropped right into your trap," snapped Barnes to Dan. "But do you call it a fair kind of trap?"
"What was the committee's decision on the subject?" inquired Dan, softly.
"Oh, I'll admit that the decision went against me," answered the lieutenant, scowling. "How will you like it if I promise to pay you back fully for that trick? Are you willing that I should?"
"If your mind is set on paying me back," Danny Grin responded, "then my willingness would have very little to do with your conduct. But I am willing to make you a promise, sir."
"What is that?" asked the lieutenant, quite testily.
"If you attempt to pay me back, sir, and succeed, I'll agree to take my medicine with an appearance of greater good humor than you displayed a few minutes ago."
"Huh!" sniffed Mr. Barnes.
"Danny boy," broke in Dave, "I don't want to spoil a pleasant conversation, but I would like to remind you that, if we are to make much of our evening ashore, we shall do well to change to 'cits' at once. The launch leaves the side in fifteen minutes."
"You'll excuse me, won't you, sir?" begged Dalzell, favoring the lieutenant with an extremely pleasant smile.
The chums went to their respective cabins, where they quickly made the change from uniform to citizen's dress, commonly called "cits."
Promptly the launch left the "Hudson's" side, but both young ensigns were aboard. At least a dozen other officers and a score of seamen were also aboard the launch, which was to return for forty more seamen who held the coveted shore leave.
Yet the reader is not to suppose that either officers or men were going ashore with any notion of gambling. An American naval officer, with his status of "officer and gentleman," would risk a severe rebuke from his commanding officer if he were to seat himself to play in any gambling resort. As for the enlisted men, the "jackies," they are not of the same piece of cloth as the jovial, carousing seamen of the old-time Navy. The "jackies" of to-day are nearly all extremely youthful; they are clean-cut, able, ambitious young fellows, much more inclined to study than to waste their time in improper resorts.
So, while most of the officers and men now going ashore were likely to drop in at the Casino, for the sake of seeing the sights there, it was not in the least to be feared that any would engage in the gambling games.
When the launch landed in the little harbor, drivers of automobiles and carriages clamored for fares.
"Are we going to ride up to the Casino?" Dan asked his chum.
"If you'd rather," Dave assented. "But, unless you feel tired, let us stroll along and see every bit of the way."
"These natives are all jabbering French," complained Dalzell, as the chums set out to walk over the steep, well-worn roads, "but it isn't the kind of French we were taught at Annapolis."
"Can't you understand them?" asked Dave.
"Hardly a word."
"If you have to talk with any of the natives," Dave advised, "speak your French slowly, and ask the person you're addressing to do the same."
Though the way was steep, it was not a long road. Dave and Dan soon reached the upper, rocky plain, edged by cliffs, on which the Casino and some of the hotels and other buildings stand.
"If it weren't for the gambling," murmured Dan to his friend, "I'd call this a beautiful enough spot to live and die in."
"As it is, a good many men and women manage to die here," Darrin returned gravely.
The Casino was surrounded by beautiful gardens, in which were many rare tropical trees and shrubs. From the Casino came the sound of orchestral music. Throngs moved about on the verandas; couples or little groups strolled through the gardens. Inside, the play had hardly begun. Gambling does not reach its frantic height until midnight.
"We shall feel out of place," mused Dave aloud. "Dan, we really should have known better than to come here in anything but evening dress. You see that every one else is in full regalia."
"Perhaps we'd better keep on the edge of the crowd," responded Danny Grin. "There is enough to be seen here, for one evening, without entering the Casino."
Though Dave intended to enter the Casino later, he decided, for the present, to take in the full beauty of the night in the gardens. There were electric lights everywhere, which outshone the brilliance of the moon.
"Hello!" whispered Dan, suddenly. "There's an old friend of ours."
"Who?"
"Mr. Green Hat," Dan whispered impressively.
Instantly Dave Darrin became intensely interested, though he had no intimation of what this second meeting portended. That Mr. Green Hat was destined to play a highly tragic role in his life, Darrin, of course, had no inkling at that moment.
"There he is!" whispered Dalzell, pointing, as the chums stood screened by a flowering bush.
"We'll watch that rascal!" Dave proposed promptly. "I wonder if he has followed the 'Hudson' here with a view to attempting more mischief against our Government. Whatever his game is, I am going to take a peep at the inside of it if a chance comes my way!" _