With an accusing finger pointing at the disfigurement, Jimmie snapped out in crisp accents that indicated plainly his excitement:
"That's the same hand that tied and gagged me in the warehouse in Amsterdam, and the same hand that I saw shoved into the window of the frontier hut to get the 'U-13' package. Deny it if you can!"
"I am not going to deny anything, you know!" returned the other coolly. "You seem so positive about it there's little use denying!"
"You bet there's no use denying anything like that!" declared Jimmie with some heat. "You can't deny that you tried to sic the German torpedo boat destroyer onto us, either. You can't deny that you sneaked away from this very submarine when I was painting the name on the bow. You'd better not try to deny that you showed us to the British gunboat a while ago and got them to fire at us. If you start denying anything," the boy went on, "I'm going to deny that I'm neutral!"
With a laugh the newcomer threw back his head in amused fashion.
"Have your own way about it, you know," he replied, "but I'm going to tell you one thing. I'm not Mackinder!"
The surprise of the lads at this declaration of their visitor was profound. They stared at the stranger who bore such a striking resemblance to Mackinder and who had just declared that he was not that person. Speechless at the apparent untruth, they could only stare.
Seeing their looks of astonishment at his declaration, the man laughed loudly, apparently enjoying hugely the joke that the boys could not see. Supporting himself against the rail, he gave vent to peals of merriment at the expense of the five young lads.
"So you don't believe me, eh?" he inquired at length, controlling himself with an effort. "I can't blame you, don't you know!"
"Say, Mackinder, you ought to be in vaudeville!" declared Jimmie in reply. "For a lightning change artist, you're decidedly it!"
"Thank you!" acknowledged Mackinder, choosing to accept the boy's words as a compliment. "You're almost too kind, don't you know!"
"And then," the boy went on, "as a monologue artist, you'd certainly have them all backed off the boards. I know a place in New York where you could draw down your two fifty per without half trying!"