as annoying as a mosquito or a gnat.

"I beg your pardon, but your plans seem rather at loose ends, don't
they? What are you crossing for?"

"To drive an ambulance!" I answered as curtly as the words could be
said.

I saw his face soften and humanize at the information. For once I had
made a satisfactory response, it seemed. But on the heels of my answer
there rose the voice of Mr. McGuntrie, sensational, accusing, pitched
almost at a shriek.

"Look here, lieutenant," he was crying, "don't you let that fellow fool
you. I asked him the first night out if he was an ambulance boy, and
he denied it to me, up and down. I thought all along he was too smart,
hooting like he did at submarines. Guess he knew one would pick him up
all right if the rest of us did sink."

"How about that, Mr. Bayne?" asked the Englishman, his uncordial self
once more.

It was maddening. One would have thought them all in league to prove me
an atrocious criminal.

"Simply this," I replied with the iciness of restrained fury, "that this
gentleman has been the steamer's pest ever since the night we sailed. If
I had answered his questions, every one, down to the ship's cat, would
have shared his knowledge within the hour. I did not deny anything; I
simply did not assent. You are an officer in authority; I am answering