crowd round the Home? Mr. Bleak and I looked up there, and the
place is simply packed. You can't stay undiscovered long with all
those people around. Who are they, anyway?"

Quimbleton had to delay his reply until deglutition had mastered a
bulky consignment of shrimp. His large, resolute face, while
somewhat marred by hardships, showed no trace of panic.

"I know all about it," he said. "It is the latest step on the
route of all evil taken by that fanatical person whom I shall
presently call father-in-law. He is not content with arresting
people found drinking. This morning they began to seize people who
THINK about drinking. Any one who is guilty of thinking, in an
affirmative way, about liquor, is to be interned in the Federal
Home for a course in mental healing."

"But how can they tell?" asked Bleak, nervously.

"I don't know," said Quimbleton. "Perhaps they have a kind of
Third Degree, flash a seidel of beer on you suddenly, and if you
make an involuntary gesture of pleasure, you're convicted. Perhaps
they've invented an instrument that tells what you think about.
Perhaps they just arrest you on suspicion. At any rate all the
folks who have been thinking about booze are being collected and
sent over here. I know because I've seen most of my friends
arriving all morning. I suppose they'll get me next. I don't much
care as long as I've had something to eat."

"Virgil, dear," said Miss Chuff, "you MUSTN'T give up hope now,
after being so brave. You know I'll stand by you to the end--to