algorithm.  MSVC 6 wasn't impressed <wink>.

Something odd:  the x_mul algorithm appears to get substantially worse
than quadratic time as the inputs grow larger:

bits in each input   x_mul time   k_mul time
------------------   ----------   ----------
             15360         0.01         0.00
             30720         0.04         0.01
             61440         0.16         0.04
            122880         0.64         0.14
            245760         2.56         0.40
            491520        10.76         1.23
            983040        71.28         3.69
           1966080       459.31        11.07

That is, x_mul is perfectly quadratic-time until a little burp at
2.56->10.76, and after that goes to hell in a hurry.  Under Karatsuba,
doubling the input size "should take" 3 times longer instead of 4, and
that remains the case throughout this range.  I conclude that my "be nice
to the cache" reworkings of k_mul() are paying.