"If one may enquire?" he said again, with polite and jovial satire. "I am as a child in your hands, and, 'pon my word, you've done uncommonly well. What happened after I was knocked over? Tell me, do. I am still left gaping at the fact that a moment ago, as it seems to me, I was crouching beside a wall waiting for a shell to wreak its vengeance upon this unfortunate city. The very next, I appear to be in clover, reclining on a most comfortable divan, and--er--er--watching you two munching your rations. Now." They told him all that had happened with a gusto there was no denying. "And so you see, sir, here we are," added Dick, his mouth occupied with a hunch of bread and cheese which the thoughtful Sergeant Evans had provided. "Precisely! Here we are. Afterwards, what? That's where I'm vastly interested. We appear to have got into a charming little pickle. How do we emerge from it?" Neither Dick nor Alec could give him the smallest indication, for they themselves were nonplussed by the curious situation into which they had tumbled. Not that they had not given vast thought to the matter; for even then Dick had risen from the divan and was staring through the window, the noise of people moving down the cobbled street having attracted him. He swung round after a while, reseated himself, and took an enormous bite from the hunch of bread he was holding. The Commander watched him as he ate it, watched him critically and with some amusement. "Come," he said after a while. "What's the manoeuvre?" Alec shook his head violently; Dick stood up, still munching, and once more stared through the window. He did not mean to be disrespectful to his senior, but, to be precise, his thoughts were so fully occupied at that particular moment that he hardly heard the sentence. Presently he turned again. "I'm going out, sir," he said. "Out! Impossible! You'd be spotted," cried the officer, his joviality gone instantly. "Hardly, sir. You see, or perhaps I should say, you will see the reason. I can speak these fellows' lingo quite a little." "Turkish?" "Yes, sir. Father was quartered at Constantinople, at the British Embassy. I was there a good five years, and so learnt to know all about 'em. If I was disguised I could pass easily, and so I'm going in the gear of that officer." "But--but why?" demanded the Commander. "First, to find a more suitable crib for us, sir. That officer fellow may recover consciousness just as quickly as you have done, and then he may very well return to these quarters. That'd be bad for us. Next, there's Major Harvey and his friend to be thought of. We couldn't very well return aboard the airship without them." "Certainly not. If they're to be found, then we find them," came from the officer. "But--look here, Dick, this idea means danger, don't it?" "Risk, perhaps, sir. Nothing more." "Supposing you were spotted?" The Commander sat up quickly and looked anxiously at the midshipman.