"Your Majesty," said the Court Detective, "I regret very much to state that I was hungry and ate the sandwich and the tinned herring; but if I had had more plaster-of-paris, I could have made you an excellent cast of the tins." [Illustration: The King could bound as high as the tallest palms _Page 99_] "It seems to me," said the King, "that you are not really accomplishing much toward taking the criminals." "But, consider, your Majesty," said the Court Detective, "the handicap under which I labor. A detective without plaster-of-paris is almost helpless, and there is no more plaster-of-paris on the Island. This which I have used was left to me by my father, the Court Detective to your Majesty's grandfather, and it was a most superior article, which can not be replaced." At this time the King looked at the palace clock. "Very well," said he, "it will not matter, for, as I perceive, it is now half-past two; so I presume I may as well behead you now." "Your Majesty," said the Court Detective, "I respectfully request that you do not behead me." "I am sure you can do quite as well without your head," said the King. "No," replied the Court Detective, "that I respectfully deny, your Majesty; and I request that you leave the matter of the legality of my execution to the Court Lawyer. I maintain that the lack of plaster-of-paris is the cause of my failure, and that lack was not my own fault." "Oh, very well," said the King, "I always wish to be just. Send for the Court Lawyer, and let us ask him about it; though thus far I can not see that we have learned more than we knew before." The Private Secretary went after the Court Lawyer, who was asleep in his office, but who awoke and accompanied him to the palace. The Court Lawyer was a small man, but very wise indeed. He, too, was old and he, too, wore a long, flowing robe of black, and a high, pointed hat with narrow rim, which made him look taller than he really was. He carried a black bag under his arm, in which were many wise and learned books of the law. To him the King of Gee-Whiz stated the case as it had been submitted, saying that he would very much like to behead the Court Detective, but that he did not wish to do anything illegal. "What do you think in regard to this," asked the King, "and how quickly can you give me a decision upon this question of law?" "Your Majesty," said the Court Lawyer, "I have known less knotty questions than this one to remain in the Courts of Chancery for over a hundred years; but such is my own great personal skill in this branch of the law, that I make no doubt I can deliver your Majesty an opinion of several hundred pages and of great importance in less than half that time." "That," said the King, "is absurd, for it would be of no use to the Court Detective, if he were beheaded now, to learn fifty years hence that his execution had been illegal."