"That explains everything." Kirk sighed thankfully and closed his eyes
once more, for the doctor had begun to revolve slowly, with the bed as
an axis. "How are the other boys coming on?"
"Everybody is laid out. It's a bad night."
"Night? It must be nearly daylight by this time."
"Oh no! It is not midnight yet."
"Not midnight? Why, I didn't turn in until--" Anthony raised himself
suddenly. "Good Lord! have I slept all day?"
"You certainly have."
"Whose room is this?"
"Your room, of course. Here, take one of these capsules; it will settle
your stomach."
"Better give me something to settle my bill if I've been here that
long. I'm broke again."
"You're not fully awake yet," said the doctor. "People have funny ideas
when they're sick."
"Well, I know I'm broke, anyhow! That's no idea; it's a condition. I
went through my clothes just now and I'm all in. I must get back to the
Astor, too, for I had arranged to motor up to New Haven at noon."
"Let me feel your pulse," said the doctor, quietly.
"The boys will think I'm lost. I never did such a thing before."
"Where do you think you are?" inquired the physician.
"I don't know. It's a nice little hotel, but--"
"This isn't a hotel. This is a ship."
Anthony was silent for a moment. Then he sighed feebly and said:
"Doctor, you shouldn't make fun of a man at the point of death. It
isn't professional."
"Fact," said the doctor, abstractedly gazing at his watch, while he
held Anthony's wrist between his fingers. "We are one hundred and fifty
miles out of New York. The first officer told me you were considerably
intoxicated when you came aboard, but," he continued brusquely, rising
and closing his watch with a snap, "you will remember it all in a
little while, Mr. Locke."
"What did you call me?"
"Locke. You haven't forgotten your name, too?"
"Wait!"
Again Anthony pressed his throbbing temples with both hot hands and
strove to collect his whirling wits. At last he began to speak,
measuring his words with care.
"Now, I KNOW you are wrong, Doctor, and I'll tell you why. You see, my
name isn't Locke; it's Anthony. Locke went away on a ship, but _I_
stayed in New York; understand? Well, he's the fellow you're talking to
and I'm asleep somewhere down around the Bowery. I'm not here at all.
_I_ didn't want to go anywhere on a ship; I couldn't go; I didn't have
the price. That supper was a hundred and seventy."
"Nevertheless, this is a ship," the physician patiently explained, "and
you're on it and I'm talking to you. What is more, you have not
exchanged identities with your friend Anthony, for your ticket reads
'Jefferson Locke.' You'll be all right if you will just go to sleep and
give that capsule a chance to operate."
"Ask Higgins or Ringold who I am."
"There's no one aboard by either of those names."
"Say!" Anthony raised himself excitedly on one arm, but was forced to
lie down again without delay. "If this is a ship, I must have come
aboard. How did I do it? When? Where?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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