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“Huh! That’s nothing,” said Terry. “I know a movie actor in California that’s got a million acres. ”

“Oh, he has not!” protested Max.

“He has, too. And I’m going to have a million million acres and grow bees, when I grow up. ”

“Oh, you will not!” complained Max. “Besides, I’ll mobilize my army and conquer Roumania and Bulgaria and a lot of countries, and then I’ll have a million trillion billion acres! And another of my ancestors was Seljuk. ”

“Never heard of him. Jever hear of Seljuk, Ginger?”

“Now! Never ‘eard of ’im!”

“And one of my ancestors,” continued Terry, “was sheriff of Cattaraugus County, New York!”

“Me uncle ‘Ennery was a sergeant major in Boolgaria,” Ginger confided.

“Oh, say, let’s play soldiers!” cried Terry. “Which of you has the most military training?”

“I almost joined the Boy Scouts once. There was a curate ast me to join ’em,” reflected Ginger. “But you, Mixy, a king must ‘ave bushels of military training. ”

Max confessed, “Not really. Just fencing and riding as yet. Oh, I am a field marshal in the Slovarian Army, and I’m a colonel in the British Army, and in Italy I’m an admiral and a general, but I wouldn’t say I was a soldier. ”

“I know all about militaries. I saw ’em making some of the film of ‘The Big Parade,’” boasted Terry; and Max, who had been faintly irritated at their ignorance of his renowned ancestor, Seljuk, rose again to admiration for his hero, the great Terry Tait, and murmured, “Oh, I saw that picture. And you saw them makingit? That must have been priceless! You be the captain on one side, and Ginger can be it on the other. ”

And that was a very nice war. There were any number of hand-to-hand combats, as well as a devastating machine gun produced by Ginger’s winding his 3/6 watch and remarking, “Brrrrrrr!”

When the war ended they lay in the long grass again while Ginger modestly admitted that during the World War his uncle ‘Ennery had single-handed captured sixteen Germans.

Terry interrupted, to shout, “Oh, I’ve got a dandy game. Let’s play king!”

“Oh, that’s no fun!” protested Max.

“I don’t mean like any of these ole kings they got today—I mean like there used to be in the Olden Times. I’ll show you. You’ll like it, Mixy. I’ll be king, and Ginger, you’re Lord High Executioner. ”

“Kings don’t have Lord High Executioners!” protested Max.

“They do too! Anyway, they always usta have! And Ginger is my Lord High Executioner, and you’re a rebel, Mixy; you’re leading a band of brigands. ”

“Who’s the brigands?” said Max darkly.

“Josephus, of course, you poor boob. Now, look. See, here’s my throne. ” Terry had found a beautiful rock on the heath.

H. R. M. Terry sat down, very royal, his left hand on his hip, his right waving an object which resembled a weed but which to him was a golden scepter.

“Now, you and Josephus go and hide off there over the hill,” he ordered Max, “and begin to sneak up on us. You’re a band of rebellious peasants. And you, Ginger, you’re my Commander in Chief. ”

“But you said I was Lord Executioner, ‘ooever ‘e is!”

“You’re going to be, later, stupid! Now you beat it, Max! That’s it, hide!”

As Max and Josephus began a most realistic creep through the grass, glaring their hatred of all monarchial institutions, King Terry reasonably addressed his Commander in Chief, together with hordes of other courtiers who were standing behind the commander:

“What ho, my lieges! Trusty messengers, coming apace, do give me informations that hell is let loose in our mountaineous domains and a band of rebels is now approaching. Gwan out, then, my brave troops, and capture ’em. Seek to the nor-nor-east, I bid thee…. Now you go capture ’em, Ginger; but you put up a fierce battle, Max. ”

Fierce battle.

During it, King Terry bounced with excitement, demanding, “Lookit, Ginger, you gotta keep running in—you’re a messenger—telling me how the battle is going; see, I’m standing up here at the window of a tower looking across my royal plains. ”

The trusty commander brought in the rebels, and despite a plaintive “Ouch!” from Max, cast them roughly down before the king, who climbed from the tower (which resembled a hummock of grass), seated himself on his throne again, and addressed the traitor: