"Why, listen! If I once got to New York I should want to stay there," replied Mimika, helping herself to a large piece of candy. "Ah, what a clever sister you have, my dear Roy!" said Vandermeer, and both his red streaked paws descended approvingly on Mimika's white shoulders. "How beautifully we compose this tale together, heh? But he has not yet reached America, and he has a submarine full of diamonds on his hands; also a crew of twenty men; also his orders as an officer in the German Navy. "Well, let us suppose he has come safely through the ring of the enemy, after several nightmares. He runs on the surface almost always now, and he is losing his bad dreams for a time. "One night he is on deck looking at the stars and thinking, who knows what thoughts, when the youngest engineer, a nice little fellow, a Bavarian, you might say, with flaxen hair and blue eyes, just as pretty as a girl, comes up to him. His face is as white and smooth as Mimika's shoulders--but there is no powder on it, heh? And his blue eyes are frightened. "'Captain,' he says, 'I want to warn you. There is a plot among the men to kill you.' "'To kill me!' the captain says. 'Why should they wish to kill me, Otto?' "'They've gone crazy about the diamonds. They say they have had enough of this life, and they will never go back to Germany. They mean to take the diamonds and sell them a few at a time in America. Then they will live like princes. They think I'm joining them.' "'Is there nobody but yourself on my side?' says the captain. "'Nobody now,' says Otto. "'Very well. Thank you, my boy. I will see that you are rewarded for this. When are they going to do it?' "'When we are submerged and nearing the three-mile limit.' "'Thank you, Otto,' says the captain again. "And there's your third chapter; and your fourth, too, Roy--a dramatic situation, heh?" Roy appeared to think so, and on the strength of it he filled Vandermeer's glass again. He was anxious to help the creative impulse. "What follows?" continued Vandermeer. "In your tales to-day you must have psychology. The captain is a clever man. What would you do in that position, Roy? He cannot fight them all. I will tell you what he does. He is a diplomatist. He shapes his policy, standing there on the deck of the submarine all alone, under the stars. "The next evening he orders rum all round, just like this--good rum, from his own little cask, which he keeps for the sake of his stomach. It is a beautiful evening, a sea like oil, and the setting sun makes a road of gold to the shores of America. They are approaching the happy land. The men themselves are more cheerful, and like a good diplomatist he seizes the cheerful moment. "Not only does he give them rum but he gives them cigars, also from his private box--expensive cigars, just like these. "'I have a proposition to make,' he says. 'We are all sick of the war, and I myself am more sick of it than anybody.'