excitement, he fairly yelled:

"Great geewhilikin! Think of that ice, and that salt, and that climate!
Now if a fellow only had a drove of Giganticus cows, with old Olympus
for 'em to run over free, where would the other ice-cream fellows be?
Free ice, free salt, free cream, free fodder, and no end of 'em all,
too! Why, in that hot hole a man 'ud be a ice-cream king in no time.
Well, now! doesn't that make your windows bulge? You're a shoutin', Doc.
Please don't speak again in the same language till I rest my mind, if
you love me!"

I could not stop him. Frowning had no effect, and toward the end of his
outburst I even protested in words. But it was no use. He spoke quickly,
and he spoke very loudly, and not a word was lost on Bainbridge.
Bainbridge had a fine sense of humor; but like many other humorists, he
did not relish jocosities of which he was the subject. Any levity in any
manner connected with Hili-li, I knew would be to him unendurable. He
had from the beginning taken the Peters disclosures, and even the old
sailor himself, very seriously. Little happenings during our stay at the
old sailor's home, which had brought a smile to my own face, had never
for a moment altered the countenance of Bainbridge from the stern
seriousness becoming that of one who is gathering facts of the most
solemn import. I am positive that he would have taken with a poor grace
the slightest levity from even myself on the subject of Hili-li. But
from the bell-boy of a hotel! Olympus to become a pasture field for
mastodon cows! Its ice and its saline wonders to be employed in the
making of ice-cream!

Well, I just sat, and said nothing, and blamed myself. The thing was
done, as it is said, and could not be undone. Doctor Bainbridge looked