"That's all," I said.

"All right, then, boss," said Priscilla. "I'll do it. What you want me
to do?"

The colored people generally gave the name "boss" to all white men, and
I was pleased to see that Priscilla said boss to me much more frequently
than to Rectus.

We had a talk with her about her duties, and each of us had a good deal
to say. We made her understand--at least we hoped so--that she was to be
on hand, every afternoon, to go with Corny, if necessary, whenever we
went out on our trips to the African settlement; and, after giving her
an idea of what we intended doing with the queen,--which interested her
very much indeed, and seemed to set her on pins and needles to see the
glories of the new reign,--we commissioned her to bring together about
twenty sensible and intelligent Africans, so that we could talk to them,
and engage them as subjects for the re-enthroned queen.

"What's ole Goliah Brown goin' to say 'bout dat?" said Priscilla.

"Who's he?" we asked.

"He's de Afrikin gubner. He rule 'em all."

"Oh!" said Rectus, "he's all right. We're going to make him prime
minister."

I was not at all sure that he was all right, and proposed that Rectus
and I should go to his house in the evening, when he was at home, and
talk to him about it.

"Yes, and we'll all go and see the head governor to-morrow morning,"
said Corny.

We had our hands completely full of diplomatic business.

The meeting of the adherents was appointed for the next afternoon. We
decided to have it on the Queen's Stair-way, which is a long flight of
steps, cut in the solid limestone, and leading up out of a deep and
shadowy ravine, where the people of the town many years ago cut out the
calcareous material for their houses. There has been no stone cut here
for a long time, and the walls of the ravine, which stand up as straight
as the wall of a house, are darkened by age and a good deal covered up
by vines. At the bottom, on each side of the pathway which runs through
the ravine to the town, bushes and plants of various semi-tropical kinds
grow thick and close. At the top of the flight of stairs are open fields
and an old fort. Altogether, this was considered a quiet and suitable
place for a meeting of a band of revolutionists. We could not have met
in the silk-cotton tree, for we should have attracted too much
attention, and, besides, the hotel-clerk would have routed us out.




CHAPTER XII.

RECTUS LOSES RANK.


After supper, Rectus and I went to see the African governor, Goliah
Brown. He was a good-natured old colored man, who lived in a house a
trifle better than most of those inhabited by his fellow-countrymen. The
main room was of a fair size, and there was a centre-table, with some
books on it.

When we saw this, we hesitated. Could we ask a man who owned books, and
could probably read, to play second fiddle to a woman who could not
speak the English language, and who for years, perhaps, had devoted the
energies of her soul to the sale of pepper-pods?

However, the office of prime minister was no trifle, and many more
distinguished and more learned men than Goliah Brown have been glad to
get it. Besides this, we considered that blood is blood, and, in
monarchical countries, a queen is a queen. This was a colony of a
monarchy, and we would push forward the claims of Poqua-dilla the First.
We called her "The First," because, although she may have had a good
many ancestors of her name in Africa, she certainly started the line in
the Bahamas.

Goliah proved himself a steady-going talker. He seemed pleased to have
us call on him, and told us the whole story of the capture of himself
and the rest of the Africans. We had heard pretty much all of it before,
but, of course, we had to politely listen to it again.

When he finished, we asked a few questions about the queen, and finding
that Goliah admitted her claims to royal blood, we told him what we
proposed to do, and boldly asked him to take the position of prime
minister in the African community.

At first, he did not understand, and we had to go over the thing two or
three times before he saw into it. Then, it was evident that he could
not see what business this was of ours, and we had to explain our
motives, which was some trouble, because we had not quite straightened
them out in our own minds.

Then he wanted to know which was the head person, a queen or a prime
minister. We set forth the strict truth to him in this matter. We told
him that although a queen in a well-regulated monarchy actually occupies
the highest place, that the prime minister is the fellow who does the
real governing. He thought this might all be so, but he did not like the
idea of having any one, especially Jane Henderson, as he called her, in
a position higher than his own. We did not say anything to him, then,
about giving the queen her English name, because we supposed that he
had been used to speak of her in that way, to white people, but we
determined to refer to this when matters should be settled.

He was so set in his own opinion on this point of position, that we were
afraid we should be obliged to give the thing up. He used very good
arguments, too. He said that he had been elected to his present office
by his fellow Africans; that he had held it a long time; that he didn't
think the rest of his people wanted him to give it up, and he didn't
think he wanted to give it up himself. A prime minister might be all
very well, but he didn't know anything about it. He knew what it was to
be governor, and was very well satisfied to leave things as they were.

This was dampening. Just as the old fellow thought he had settled the
matter, a happy thought struck me: we might make the monarchy an
independent arrangement. Perhaps Goliah would have no objection to that,
provided we did not interfere with his governorship. If Poqua-dilla
should be recognized as a queen, and crowned, and provided with an
income sufficient to keep her out of any retail business, it was about
all she could expect, at her time of life. She certainly would not care
to do any governing. The few subjects that we should enlist would be
more like courtiers than anything else.

I called Rectus to the door, and suggested this arrangement to him. He
thought it would be better than nothing, and that it would be well to
mention it.

We did this, and Goliah thought a while.

"Ef I lets her be call' queen," he said, "an' she jist stay at home an'
min' her own business, an' don' run herse'f agin me, no way, how much
you s'pose she able to gib fur dat?"

[Illustration: "'ALL RIGHT,' SAID GOLIAH, WITH A SMILE."]

Rectus and I went again to the front door to consult, and when we came
back, we said we thought she would be able to give a dollar.

"All right," said Goliah, with a smile. "She kin jist go ahead, and be
queen. Only don' let her run herse'f ag'in me."

This suited us, and we paid the dollar, and came away.

"More cash!" said Rectus, as we walked home.

"Yes," said I, "but what troubles me is that queen's income. I don't see
now where it's to come from, for old Goliah wont allow his people to be
taxed for her, that's certain."

Rectus agreed that things looked a little bluish, but he thought we
might pay the income ourselves, until after the coronation, and then we
could see what else could be done. This wasn't much of a plan, but I
couldn't think of anything better.

The next day, about noon, we all went to see the real governor of the
colony. Rectus and I didn't care much about doing this, but Corny
insisted on it. She was afraid of the police,--and probably of the army
and navy, although she made light of them,--and so she thought it would
be a good thing to see whether or not we should have to combat with all
these forces, if we should carry out our plans. We took Priscilla along
with us on Corny's account. It would look respectable for her to have an
attendant. This being an extra job, Priscilla earned two sixpences that
day.

The governor lived in a fine house, on the hill back of the town, and
although we all knew where it was, Priscilla was of great use to us
here, for she took us in at a side gate, where we could walk right up to
the door of the governor's office, without going to the grand entrance,
at the front of the house, where the English flag was flying. There was
a red-coated soldier standing just in the door-way, and when we saw him,
we put ourselves on our stiffest behavior. We told Priscilla to wait
outside, in the path, and try and behave so that people would think
there was a pretty high-toned party inside. We then went up to the
red-coat, and asked to see the governor. The soldier looked at us a
little queerly, and went back into the house.

He staid a good while, but when he came out he told us to follow him,
and took us through a hall into a room where two gentlemen were sitting
at desks. One of these jumped up and came to meet us.

"There is the secretary," said the soldier, in a low voice to me, and
then he left us.

We now had to ask the secretary if we could see the governor. He
inquired our business, but we didn't seem anxious to tell him.

"Anything private?" he said, with a smile.

"Well, sir," said I, "it's not exactly private, but it's not a very easy
thing to put straight before anybody, and if it don't make any
difference, we'd rather not have to tell it twice."

He hesitated for a minute, and then he said he'd see, and went into
another room.

"Now, look here," I whispered to Rectus, "if you're captain, you've got
to step up and do the talking. It isn't my place."

The secretary now returned, and said the governor could give us a few
minutes. I think the probability was that he was curious to know what
two boys and a girl could want with him.

The governor's office, into which we now were shown, was a large room,
with plenty of book-cases and shelves against the walls, and in the
middle of the floor a big table, which was covered with papers, packages
of manuscript tied up with tape, and every kind of thing necessary to
make matters look as if business was brisk in these islands. The
governor himself was a tall, handsome gentleman, not old a bit, as Corny
put it afterward, and dressed all in white linen, which gave him an air
of coolness and cleanness that was quite agreeable to us after our walk
in the sun. He was sitting at one end of the long table, and he politely
motioned us to seats at one side of him. I expect the secretary arranged
the chairs before we came in. We made our manners and sat down.

"Well," said he, "what can I do for you?"

If Corny hadn't been along, I don't believe he would have seen us at
all. There can be nothing attractive to a governor about two boys. But
almost any one would take an interest in a girl like Corny. The
secretary was very polite to her.

Rectus now gave his throat a little clearing, and pushed off.

"Our business with you, sir, is to see about doing something for a poor
queen, a very good and honest woman----"

"A poor but honest queen!" interrupted the governor, with a smile.

"Oh, he don't mean a common queen," said Corny, quickly. "He means a
black queen,--an African,--born royal, but taken prisoner when young,
and brought here, and she lives over there in the African settlements,
and sells peppers, but is just as much a queen as ever, you know, sir,
for selling things on a door-step can't take the royal blood out of a
person."

"Oh no, indeed!" said the governor, and he looked very much tickled.

"And this poor woman is old, now, and has no revenue, and has to get
along as well as she can, which is pretty poorly, I know, and nobody
ever treats her any better than if she had been born a common person,
and we want to give her a chance of having as many of her rights as she
can before she dies."

"At any rate," said Rectus, who had been waiting for a chance to make a
fresh start, "if we can't give her all her royal rights, we want to let
her know how it feels to be a queen, and to give her a little show among
her people."

"You are talking of an old native African woman?" said the governor,
looking at Corny. "I have heard of her. It seems to be generally agreed
that she belonged to a royal family in one of the African tribes. And
you want to restore her to her regal station?"

"We can't do that, of course," said Corny; "but we do think she's been
shamefully used, and all we want to do is to have her acknowledged by
her people. She needn't do any ruling. We'll fix her up so that she'll
look enough like a queen for those dreadfully poor people."

"Yes," put in Rectus, who had been getting warm on the subject, "they
are dreadfully poor, but she's the poorest of the lot, and it's a shame
to see how she, a regular queen, has to live, while a governor, who
wasn't anybody before he got his place, lives in the best house, with
tables and books, and everything he wants, for all I know, and a big
flag in front of his door, as if he was somebody great, and----"

"What?" said the governor, pretty quick and sharp, and turning around
square on Rectus.

"Oh, he don't mean you!" said Corny. "He's talking about the black
governor, Goliah Brown."

"Ah, indeed!" said he, turning away from Rectus as if he didn't like his
looks. "And what does Brown think of all this?"

I thought I'd better say a word or two now, because I didn't know where
Rectus would fetch us up next, if we should give him another chance, and
so I said to the governor that I knew Goliah Brown would make no
objections to the plan, because we had talked it over with him, and he
had agreed to it.

"Well, then, what do you want that I should do for you?" said the
governor to Corny.

"Oh, nothing sir," said she, "but just to make it all safe for us. We
didn't know exactly what the rules were on this island, and so we
thought we'd come and see you about it. We don't want the policemen, or
the soldiers or sailors, or anybody, to get after us."

"There is no rule here against giving a queen her rights," said the
governor, who seemed to be in a good humor as long as he talked to
Corny, "and no one shall interfere with you, provided you do not commit
any disorder, and I'm sure you will not do that."

"Oh, no!" said Corny; "we just intend to have a little coronation, and
to ask the people to remember that she's a queen and not a pepper-pod
woman; and if you could just give us a paper commission, and sign it, we
should--at least I should--feel a good deal easier."

"You shall have it," said the governor, and he took some paper and a
pen.

"It seems a little curious," said he to Corny, as he dipped his pen in
the ink, "that I should serve a queen, and have a queen under me at the
same time, doesn't it?"

"Kind o' sandwiched," remarked Rectus, who had a face like frozen brass.

The governor went on writing, and Corny and I looked at Rectus as if we
would singe his hair.

"You are all from the States, I suppose," said the governor.

I said we were.

"What are your names?" he asked, looking at Corny first.

"Cornelia V. Chipperton," said Corny, and he wrote that down. Then he
looked at me.

"William Taylor Gordon," said I. When the governor had put that on his
paper, he just gave his head a little wag toward Rectus. He didn't look
at him.

"My name is Samuel Colbert," said Rectus.

Corny turned short on him, with eyes wide open.

"Samuel!" she said, in a sort of theatre-whisper.

"Now, then," said the governor, "this paper will show that you have full
permission to carry out your little plans, provided that you do nothing
that may create any disorder. If the woman--your queen, I mean--has been
in the habit of earning her own livelihood, don't make a pauper of her."
And he gave us a general look as if the time had come to say good-bye.
So we got up and thanked him, and he shook hands with us, Rectus and
all, and we came away.

We found Priscilla sitting cross-legged on the grass outside, pitching
pennies.

"That thar red-coat he want to sen' me off," said she, "but I tole him
my missy and bosses was inside, and I boun' to wait fur 'em, or git
turned off. So he le' me stay."

Corny, for a wonder, did not reprove Priscilla for giving the sentinel
the idea that her employers hired penny-pitchers to follow them around,
but she walked on in silence until we were out of the grounds. Then she
turned to Rectus and said:

"I thought your name was Rectus!"

"It isn't," said he. "It's Samuel."

This was no sort of an answer to give Corny, and so I explained that
Rectus was his school name; that he was younger than most of us, and
that we used to call him Young Rectus; but that I had pretty much
dropped the "young" since we had been travelling together. It didn't
appear to be needed.

"But why did you call him Rectus, when his name's Samuel?" asked Corny.

"Well," said I, laughing, "it seemed to suit him."

This was all that was said about the matter, for Priscilla came up and
said she must hurry home, and that she'd like to have her sixpence, and
that changed the subject, for we were out of small money and could only
make up eleven half-pence among us. But Priscilla agreed to trust us
until evening for the other "hoppenny."

Corny didn't say much on the way home, and she looked as if she was
doing some private thinking. I suppose, among other things, she thought
that as I considered it all right to call Rectus Rectus, she might as
well do it herself, for she said:

"Rectus, I don't think you're as good at talking as Will is. I move we
have a new election for captain."

"All right," said Rectus; "I'm agreed."

You couldn't make that boy angry. We held a meeting just as we got to
the hotel, and he and Corny both voted for me.




CHAPTER XIII.

THE CORONATION.


In the afternoon, we had our grand rally at the Queen's Stair-way. Corny
couldn't come, because her mother said she must not be running around so
much. So she staid at home and worked on the new flag for the
coronation. We designed this flag among us. It had a black ground, with
a yellow sun just rising out of the middle of it. It didn't cost much,
and looked more like a yellow cog-wheel rolling in deep mud than
anything else. But we thought it would do very well.

Rectus and I had barely reached the stairs, by the way of the old fort,
when Priscilla made her appearance in the ravine at the head of a crowd
of whooping barefooted young rascals, who came skipping along as if they
expected something to eat.

"I'd never be a queen," said Rectus, "if I had to have such a lot of
subjects as that."

"Don't think you would," said I; "but we mustn't let 'em come up the
stairs. They must stay at the bottom, so that we can harangue 'em." So
we charged down the stairs, and made the adherents bunch themselves on
the level ground.

Then we harangued them, and they laughed, and hurrahed, and whistled,
and jumped, while Priscilla, as an active emissary, ran around among
them, punching them, and trying to make them keep still and listen.

But as they all promised to stick to us and the royal queen through
thick and thin, we didn't mind a little disorder.

The next day but one was to be coronation day, and we impressed it on
the minds of the adherents that they must be sure to be on hand about
ten in the morning, in front of the queen's hut. We concluded not to
call it a palace until after the ceremony.

When we had said all we had to say, we told the assemblage that it might
go home; but it didn't seem inclined to do anything of the kind.

"Look a here, boss," said one of them,--a stout, saucy fellow, with the
biggest hat and the biggest feet on the island,--"aint you agoin' to
give us nothin' for comin' round here?"

"Give you anything!" cried Rectus, blazing up suddenly. "That's a pretty
way to talk! It's the subjects that have to give. You'll see pretty
soon----"

Just here I stopped him. If he had gone on a few minutes longer, he
would have wound up that kingdom with a snap.

"We didn't bring you here," said I, "to give you anything, for it ought
to be enough pay to any decent fellow to see a good old person like
Queen Poqua-dilla get her rights."

"Who's him?" asked several of the nearest fellows.

"He means Jane Henderson," said Priscilla. "You keep quiet."

"Jane Henderson! Dat's all right. Don' call her no names. Go ahead,
boss!" they cried, laughing and shouting. I went ahead.

"We can't pay you any money; but if you will all promise again to be on
hand before ten o'clock day after to-morrow, we'll take you down to the
harbor now and give you a small dive."

A wild promise rang up the sides of the ravine.

A "small dive" is a ceremony somewhat peculiar to this island. A
visitor--no native white man would ever think of such a thing--stands on
the edge of a pier, or anywhere, where the water is quite deep, and
tosses in a bit of money, while the darkey boys--who are sure to be all
ready when a visitor is standing on a pier--dive for it. It's a lot of
fun to see them do this, and Rectus and I had already chucked a good
deal of small change into the harbor, and had seen it come up again,
some of it before it got to the bottom. These dives are called "small,"
because the darkeys want to put the thing mildly. They couldn't coax
anybody down to the water to give them a big dive.

"You see," said I to Rectus, as we started down the ravine toward the
river, with the crowd of adherents marching in front, "we've got to have
these fellows at the coronation. So it wont do to scare 'em off now."

We went down to a little public square in front of the town, where there
was a splendid diving-place. A good many people were strolling about
there, but I don't suppose that a single person who saw those darkey
fellows, with nothing on but their cotton trousers,--who stood in a line
on the edge of the sea-wall, and plunged in, head foremost, like a lot
of frogs, when I threw out a couple of "big coppers,"--ever supposed
that these rascals were diving for monarchical purposes. The water was
so clear that we could see them down at the bottom, swimming and
paddling around after the coppers. When a fellow found one he'd stick it
in his mouth, and come up as lively as a cricket, and all ready for
another scramble at the bottom.

Sometimes I threw in a silver "check," which is no bigger than a
three-cent piece; but, although the water was about fifteen feet deep,
it was never lost. The fellows seemed just as much at home in the water
as on land, and I suppose they don't know how to get drowned. We tried
to toss the money in such a way that each one of them would have
something, but some of them were not smart enough to get down to the
bottom in time; and when we thought we had circulated enough specie, we
felt sure that there were two or three, and perhaps more, who hadn't
brought up a penny.

So when they all climbed out, with their brown shoulders glistening, I
asked which one of them had come out without getting anything. Every
man-jack of them stepped forward and said he hadn't got a copper. We
picked out three little fellows, gave them a few pennies apiece, and
came home.

[Illustration: A FAMILY DIVE]

The next day we were all hard at work. Corny and her mother went down to
the queen's house, and planned what they could get to fit up the place
so that it would be a little more comfortable. Mrs. Chipperton must have
added something to our eight dollars, for she and Corny came up into the
town, and bought a lot of things, which made Poqua-dilla's best room
look like another place. The rocking-chair was fixed up quite royally.
Mrs. Chipperton turned out to be a better kind of a woman than I
thought she was at first.

We hired a man to cut a pole and set it up in the queen's front yard,
for the flag; and then Rectus and I started out to get the crown. I had
thought that if we could find some sheet-brass, I could manage to make a
pretty good crown, but there didn't seem to be anything of the kind in
the place. But, after a good deal of looking, we found a brass saucepan,
in a store, which I thought would do very well for the foundation of a
crown. We bought this, and took it around to a shop where a man mended
pots and kettles. For a shilling we hired the use of his tools for an
hour, and then Rectus and I went to work. We unriveted the handle, and
then I held the bottom edge of the saucepan to the grindstone, while
Rectus turned, and we soon ground the bottom off. This left us a deep
brass band, quite big enough for a crown, and as the top edge was
rounded off, it could be turned over on a person's head, so as to sit
quite comfortably. With a cold-chisel I cut long points in what would be
the upper part of the crown, and when I had filed these up a little, the
crown looked quite nobby. We finished it by punching a lot of holes in
the front part, making them in the form of stars and circles. With
something red behind these, the effect would be prodigious.

At ten o'clock, sharp, the next morning, we were all at the queen's
house. Mrs. Chipperton was with us, for she wished very much to see the
ceremony. I think Mr. Chipperton would have been along, but a gentleman
took him out in his yacht that morning, and I must admit that we all
breathed a little bit freer without him. There was a pretty fair crowd
sitting around in the front yard when we reached the house, and before
long a good many more people came to see what was going on. They were
all negroes; but I don't believe half of them were genuine native
Africans. The queen was sitting inside, with a red shawl on, although it
was a pretty warm day, and wearing a new turban.

We had arranged, on the way, to appoint a lot of court officials,
because there was no use of our being stingy in this respect, when it
didn't cost anything to do up the thing right. So we picked out a good
looking man for Lord High Chancellor, and gave him a piece of red ribbon
to tie in his button-hole. He hadn't any button-hole anywhere, except in
his trousers, so he tied it to the string which fastened his shirt
together at the collar. Four old men we appointed to be courtiers, and
made them button up their coats. For a wonder, they all had coats. We
also made a Lord High Sheriff and a Royal Beadle, and an Usher of the
White Wand, an officer Mrs. Chipperton had read about, and to whom we
gave a whittled stick, with strict instructions not to jab anybody with
it. Corny had been reading a German novel, and she wanted us to appoint
a "Hof-rath," who is a German court officer of some kind. He was a nice
fellow in the novel, and so we picked out the best-looking young darkey
we could find, for the position.

We each had our posts. Corny was to do the crowning, and I was to make
the speech. Rectus had his place by the flag, which he was to haul up at
the proper moment. Mrs. Chipperton undertook to stand by the old
lady,--that is, the queen,--and give her any support she might happen to
need during the ceremony.

We intended having the coronation in the house; but we found the crowd
too large for this, so we brought the rocking-chair out-of-doors, and
set it in front of the only window in the palace. The yard was large
enough to accommodate a good many people, and those who could not get in
had plenty of room out in the road. We tried to make Poqua-dilla take
off her turban, because a crown on a turban seemed to us something
entirely out of order; but she wouldn't listen to it. We had the
pleasant-faced neighbor-woman as an interpreter, and she said that it
wasn't any use; the queen would almost as soon appear in public without
her head as without her turban. So we let this pass, for we saw very
plainly that it wouldn't do to try to force too much on Poqua-dilla, for
she looked now as if she thought we had come there to perform some
operation on her,--perhaps to cut off her leg.

About half-past ten, we led her out, and made her sit down in the
rocking-chair. Mrs. Chipperton stood on one side of her, holding one of
her hands, while the neighbor-woman stood on the other side, and held
the other hand. This arrangement, however, did not last long, for
Poqua-dilla soon jerked her hands away, thinking, perhaps, that if
anything was done that hurt, it might be better to be free for a jump.

Corny stood in front, a little at one side, holding the crown, which she
had padded and lined with red flannel. I took my place just before Mrs.
Chipperton, facing the crowd. Rectus was at the flag-pole, near the
front of the yard, holding the halyards in his hands, ready to haul. The
_Hof-rath_ was by him, to help if anything got tangled, and the four
courtiers and the other officials had places in the front row of the
spectators, while Priscilla stood by Corny, to be on hand should she be
needed.

When all was ready, and Corny had felt in her pocket to see that the
"permission paper" was all right, I began my speech. It was the second
regular speech I had ever made,--the first one was at a school
celebration,--and I had studied it out pretty carefully. It was
intended, of course, for the negroes, but I really addressed the most of
it to Mrs. Chipperton, because I knew that she could understand a speech
better than any one else in the yard. When I had shown the matter up as
plainly as I knew how, and had given all the whys and wherefores, I made
a little stop for applause. But I didn't get any. They all stood waiting
to see what would happen next. As there was nothing more to say, I
nodded to Corny to clap on the crown. The moment she felt it on her
head, the queen stood up as straight as a hoe-handle, and looked quickly
from side to side. Then I called out in my best voice:

"Africans! Behold your queen!"

At this instant Rectus ran up the black flag with the yellow cog-wheel,
and we white people gave a cheer. As soon as they got a cue, the darkeys
knew what to do. They burst out into a wild yell, they waved their hats,
they laid down on the grass and kicked, they jumped, and danced, and
laughed, and screamed. I was afraid the queen would bolt, so I took a
quiet hold of her shawl. But she stood still until the crowd cooled down
a little, and then she made a courtesy and sat down.

"Is that all?" asked the neighbor-woman, after she had waited a few
moments.

"Yes," said I. "You can take her in."

When the queen had been led within doors, and while the crowd was still
in a state of wild commotion, I took a heavy bag of coppers from my
coat-pocket--where it had been worrying me all through the ceremony--and
gave it to Priscilla.

"Scatter that among the subjects," said I.

"Give 'em a big scr_ah_mble in the road?" said she, her eyes crackling
with delight.

"Yes," said I, and out she ran, followed by the whole kingdom. We white
folk stood inside to watch the fun. Priscilla threw out a handful of
pennies, and the darkeys just piled themselves up in the road on top of
the money. You could see nothing but madly waving legs. The mass heaved
and tossed and moved from one side of the road to the other. The Lord
High Chancellor was at the bottom of the heap, while the _Hof-rath_
wiggled his bare feet high in the air. Every fellow who grabbed a penny
had ten fellows pulling at him. The women and small fry did not get
into this mess, but they dodged around, and made snatches wherever they
could get their hands into the pile of boys and men.

They all yelled, and shouted and tussled and scrambled, until Priscilla,
who was dancing around with her bag, gave another throw into a different
part of the road. Then every fellow jerked himself loose from the rest,
and a fresh rush was made, and a fresh pile of darkeys arose in a
minute.

We stood and laughed until our backs ached, but, as I happened to look
around at the house, I saw the queen standing on her door-step looking
mournfully at the fun. She was alone, for even her good neighbor had
rushed out to see what she could pick up. I was glad to find that the
new monarch, who still wore her crown,--which no one would have imagined
to have ever been a saucepan,--had sense enough to keep out of such a
scrimmage of the populace, and I went back and gave her a shilling. Her
face shone, and I could see that she felt that she never could have
grabbed that much.

When there had been three or four good scrambles, Priscilla ran up the
road, a little way, and threw out all the pennies that were left in the
bag. Then she made a rush for them, and, having a good start, she got
there first, and had both hands full of dust and pennies before any one
else reached the spot. She was not to be counted out of that game.

After this last scramble, we came away. The queen had taken her throne
indoors, and we went in and shook hands with her, telling her we would
soon come and see how she was getting along. I don't suppose she
understood us, but it didn't matter. When we had gone some distance, we
looked back, and there was still a pile of darkeys rolling and tumbling
in the dust.




CHAPTER XIV.

A HOT CHASE.


That afternoon, Rectus and I went over to the African settlement to see
how the kingdom worked. It was rather soon, perhaps, to make a call on
the new queen, but we were out for a walk, and might as well go that way
as any other.

When we came near the house, we heard a tremendous uproar, and soon saw
that there was a big crowd in the yard. We couldn't imagine what was
going on, unless the queen had changed her shilling, and was indulging
in the luxury of giving a scramble. We ran up quickly, but the crowd was
so large that we could not get into the yard, nor see what all the
commotion was about. But we went over to the side of the yard,
and--without being noticed by any of the people, who seemed too much
interested to turn around--we soon found out what the matter was.

Priscilla had usurped the throne!

The rocking-chair had been brought out and placed again in front of the
window, and there sat Priscilla, leaning back at her ease, with the
crown on her head, a big fan--made of calf-skin--in her hand, and a
general air of superiority pervading her whole being. Behind her, with
her hand on the back of the chair, stood Poqua-dilla, wearing her new
turban, but without the red shawl. She looked as if something had
happened.

In front of the chair was the Lord High Chancellor. He had evidently
gone over to the usurper. His red ribbon, very dusty and draggled, still
hung from his shirt-collar. The four courtiers sat together on a bench,
near the house, with their coats still buttoned up as high as
circumstances would allow. They seemed sad and disappointed, and
probably had been deprived of their rank. The _Hof-rath_ stood in the
front of the crowd. He did not appear happy; indeed, he seemed a good
deal ruffled, both in mind and clothes. Perhaps he had defended his
queen, and had been roughly handled.

Priscilla was talking, and fanning herself, gracefully and lazily, with
her calf-skin fan. I think she had been telling the people what she
intended to do, and what she intended them to do; but, almost
immediately after our arrival, she was interrupted by the _Hof-rath_,
who said something that we did not hear, but which put Priscilla into a
wild passion.

She sprang to her feet and stood up in the chair, while poor Poqua-dilla
held it firmly by the back so that it should not shake. I supposed from
this that Priscilla had been standing up before, and that our old friend
had been appointed to the office of chair-back-holder to the usurper.

Priscilla waved her fan high in air, and then, with her right hand, she
took off the crown, held it up for a minute, and replaced it on her
head.

"Afrikins, behole yer queen!" said she, at the top of her voice, and
leaning back so far that the rightful sovereign had a good deal of
trouble to keep the chair from going over.

"Dat's me!" she cried. "Look straight at me, an' ye see yer queen. An'
how you dar', you misribble Hop-grog, to say I no queen! You 'serve to
be killed. Take hole o' him, some uv you fellers! Grab dat Hop-grog!"

At this, two or three men seized the poor _Hof-rath_, while the crowd
cheered and laughed.

"Take him an' kill him!" shouted Priscilla. "Chop his head off!"

At this, a wild shout of laughter arose, and one of the men who held the
_Hof-rath_ declared, as soon as he got his breath, that they couldn't do
that,--they had no hatchet big enough.

Priscilla stood quiet for a minute. She looked over the crowd, and then
she looked at the poor _Hof-rath_, who now began to show that he was a
little frightened.

"You, Hop-grog," said she, "how much money did you grab in dem
scrahmbles?"

The _Hof-rath_ put his hand in his pocket and pulled out some pennies.

"Five big coppers," said he, sullenly.

"Gim me dem," said she, and he brought them to her.

"Now den, you kin git out," said she, pocketing the money. Then she
again raised her crown and replaced it on her head.

"Afrikins, behole your queen!" she cried.

This was more than we could stand. To see this usurpation and robbery
made our blood boil. We, by ourselves, could do nothing; but we could
get help. We slipped away and ran down the road in the direction of the
hotel. We had not gone far before we saw, coming along a cross-road, the
two yellow-leg men. We turned, hurried up to them, and hastily told them
of the condition of things, and asked if they would help us put down
this usurpation. They did not understand the matter, at first, but when
we made them see how it stood, they were greatly interested, and
instantly offered to join us.

"We can go down here to the police-station," said I, "and get some
help."

"No, no!" said the tall yellow-leg. "Don't tell those fellows. They'll
only make a row of it, and get somebody into trouble. We're enough to
capture that usurper. Let's go for her."

And we went.

When we neared the crowd, the shorter yellow-leg, Mr. Burgan, said that
he would go first; then his friend would come close behind him, while
Rectus and I could push up after them. By forming a line we could rush
right through the crowd. I thought I ought to go first, but Mr. Burgan
said he was the stoutest, and could better stand the pressure if the
crowd stood firm.

But the crowd didn't stand firm. The moment we made our rush, and the
people saw us, they scattered right and left, and we pushed right
through, straight to the house. Priscilla saw us before we reached her,
and, quick as lightning, she made a dive for the door. We rushed after
her, but she got inside, and, hurling the crown from her head, dashed
out of a back-door. We followed hotly, but she was out of the yard, over
a wall, and into a side lane, almost before we knew it.

Then a good chase began. Priscilla had a long start of us, for we had
bungled at the wall, but we were bound to catch her.

I was a good runner, and Rectus was light and active, although I am not
sure that he could keep up the thing very long; but the two yellow-legs
surprised me. They took the lead of us, directly, and kept it. Behind us
came a lot of darkeys, not trying to catch Priscilla, but anxious, I
suppose, to see what was going to happen.

Priscilla still kept well ahead. She had struck out of the lane into a
road which led toward the outskirts of the town. I think we were
beginning to gain on her when, all of a sudden, she sat down. With a
shout, we rushed on, but before we reached her she had jerked off both
her shoes,--she didn't wear any stockings,--and she sprang to her feet
and was off again. Waving the shoes over her head, she jumped and leaped
and bounded like an India-rubber goat. Priscilla, barefooted, couldn't
be caught by any man on the island: we soon saw that. She flew down the
road, with the white dust flying behind her, until she reached a big
limestone quarry, where the calcareous building-material of the town is
sawn out in great blocks, and there she made a sharp turn and dashed
down in among the stones. We reached the place just in time to see her
run across the quarry, slip in between two great blocks that were
standing up like statue pedestals on the other side, and disappear.

We rushed over, we searched and looked, here and there and everywhere,
and all the darkeys searched and looked, but we found no Priscilla. She
had gone away.

Puffing and blowing like four steam-fire-engines, we sat down on some
stones and wiped our faces.

"I guess we just ran that upstart queen out of her possessions," said
the tall yellow-legs, dusting his boots with his handkerchief. He was
satisfied.

We walked home by the road at the edge of the harbor. The cool air from
the water was very pleasant to us. When we reached the hotel, we found
Mr. and Mrs. Chipperton and Corny sitting outside, in the entrance
court, waiting for supper-time. A lot of arm-chairs always stood there,
so that people might sit and wait for meals, or anything else that they
expected. When Corny heard the dreadful news of the fall of our kingdom,
she was so shocked that she could scarcely speak; and as for Mrs.
Chipperton, I thought she was going to cry. Corny wanted to rush right
down to Poqua-dilla's house and see what could be done, but we were all
against that. No harm would come to the old woman that night from the
loss of her crown, and it was too near supper-time for any attempt at
restoration, just then.

"Only to think of it!" said Mrs. Chipperton. "After all we did for her!
I don't believe she was queen more than an hour. It's the shortest reign
I ever heard of."

"And that Priscilla!" cried Corny. "The girl we trusted to do so much,
and----"

"Paid every night," said I.

"Yes," she continued, "and gave a pair of mother's shoes to, for the
coronation! And to think that _she_ should deceive us and do the
usurping!"

The shorter yellow-legs, who had been standing by with his friend, now
made a remark. He evidently remembered Corny, on the Oclawaha
steam-boat, although he had never become acquainted with her or her
family.

"Did your queen talk French?" he asked, with a smile; "or was not that
the language of the Court?"

"No, it wasn't," said Corny, gravely. "African was the language of the
Court. But the queen was too polite to use it before us, because she
knew we did not understand it, and couldn't tell what she might be
saying about us."

"Good!" said the tall yellow-legs. "That's very good indeed. Burgan, you
owe her one."

"One what?" asked Corny.

"Another answer as good as that, if I can ever think of it," said Mr.
Burgan.

Corny did not reply. I doubt if she heard him. Her soul still ached for
her fallen queen.

"I tell you what it is," said Mr. Chipperton, who had kept unaccountably
quiet, so far. "It's a great pity that I did not know about this. I
should have liked nothing better than to be down there when that usurper
girl was standing on that throne, or rocking-chair, or whatever it
was----"

"Oh, my dear!" said Mrs. Chipperton. "It would never have done for you
to have exposed your lung to such a scene of turmoil and confusion."

"Bother my lung!" cried Mr. Chipperton, who was now growing quite
excited. "I would never have stood tamely by, and witnessed such vile
injustice----"

"We didn't stand tamely by," said I. "We ran wildly after the unjust
one."

"I would have stood up before that crowd," continued Mr. Chipperton,
"and I would have told the people what I thought of them. I would have
asked them how, living in a land like this, where the blue sky shines on
them for nothing, where cocoa-nut and the orange stand always ready for
them to stretch forth their hands and take them, where they need but a
minimum of clothes, and where the very sea around them freely yields up
its fish and its conchs,--or, that is to say, they can get such things
for a trifling sum,--I would have asked them, I say, how--when free
citizens of a republic, such as we are, come from our shores of liberty,
where kings and queens are despised and any throne that is attempted to
be set up over us is crushed to atoms,--that when we, I say, come over
here, and out of the pure kindness and generosity of our souls raise
from the dust a poverty-stricken and down-trodden queen, and place her,
as nearly as possible, on the throne of her ancestors, and put upon her
head a crown,--a bauble which, in our own land, we trample under
foot----"

At this I shuddered, remembering the sharp points I had filed in our
crown.

"And grind into the dust," continued Mr. Chipperton,--"I would ask them,
I say, how they could think of all this, and then deliberately subvert,
at the behest of a young and giddy colored hireling, the structure we
had upraised. And what could they have said to that, I would like to
know?" he asked, looking around from one to another of us.

"Give us a small dive, boss?" suggested Rectus.

"That's so," said Mr. Chipperton, his face beaming into a broad smile;
"I believe they would have said that very thing. You have hit it
exactly. Let's go in to supper."

The next day, Rectus and I, with Corny and Mrs. Chipperton, walked down
to the queen's house, to see how she fared and what could be done for
her.

When we reached Poqua-dilla's hut, we saw her sitting on her door-step.
By her side were several joints of sugar-cane, and close to them stood
the crown, neatly filled with scarlet pepper-pods, which hung very
prettily over the peaked points of brass. She was very still, and her
head rested on her breast.

"Asleep!" whispered Corny.

"Yes," said Mrs. Chipperton, softly, "and don't let's waken her. She's
very well off as she is, and now that her house is a little more
comfortable, it would be well to leave her in peace, to peddle what she
pleases on her door-step. Her crown will worry her less where it is than
on her head."

Corny whispered to her mother, who nodded, and took out her pocket-book.
In a moment, Corny, with some change in her hand, went quietly up to the
yard and put the money in the queen's lap. Then we went away and left
her, still asleep.

A day or two after this, the "Tigress" came in, bringing the mail. We
saw her, from one of the upper porticoes, when she was just on the edge
of the horizon, and we knew her by the way she stood up high in the
water, and rolled her smoke-stack from side to side. She was the
greatest roller that ever floated, I reckon, but a jolly good ship for
all that; and we were glad enough to see her.

There were a lot of letters for us in her mail. I had nine from the boys
at home, not to count those from the family.

We had just about finished reading our letters when Corny came up to us
to the silk-cotton tree, where we were sitting, and said, in a doleful
tone:

"We've got to go home."

"Home?" we cried out together. "When?"

"To-morrow," said Corny, "on the 'Tigress.'"

All our good news and pleasant letters counted for nothing now.

"How?--why?" said I. "Why do you have to go? Isn't this something new?"

Rectus looked as if he had lost his knife, and I'm sure I had never
thought that I should care so much to hear that a girl--no relation--was
going away the next day.

"Yes, it is something new," said Corny, who certainly had been crying,
although we didn't notice it at first. "It's a horrid old lawsuit.
Father just heard of it in a letter. There's one of his houses, in New
York, that's next to a lot, and the man that owns the lot says father's
house sticks over four inches on his lot, and he has sued him for
that,--just think of it! four inches only! You couldn't do anything with
four inches of dirt if you had it; and father didn't know it, and he
isn't going to move his wall back, now that he does know it, for the
people in the house would have to cut all their carpets, or fold them
under, which is just as bad, and he says he must go right back to New
York, and, of course, we've all got to go, too, which is the worst of
it, and mother and I are just awfully put out."

"What's the good of his going," asked Rectus. "Can't he get a lawyer to
attend to it all?"

"Oh, you couldn't keep him here now," said Corny. "He's just wild to be
off. The man who sued him is a horrid person, and father says that if he
don't go right back, the next thing he'll hear will be that old Colbert
will be trying to get a foot instead of four inches."

"Old Colbert!" ejaculated Rectus, "I guess that must be my father."

If I had been Rectus, I don't think I should have been so quick to guess
anything of that kind about my father; but perhaps he had heard things
like that before. He took it as coolly as he generally took everything.

Corny was as red as a beet.

"Your father!" she exclaimed. "I don't believe it. I'll go this very
minute and see."

Rectus was right. The stingy hankerer after what Corny called four
inches of dirt was his father. Mr. Chipperton came up to us and talked
about the matter, and it was all as plain as daylight. When he found
that Mr. Colbert was the father of Rectus, Mr. Chipperton was very much
surprised, and he called no more names, although I am sure he had been
giving old Colbert a pretty disagreeable sort of a record. But he sat
down by Rectus, and talked to him as if the boy were his own father
instead of himself, and proved to him, by every law of property in
English, Latin, or Sanscrit, that the four inches of ground were
legally, lawfully, and without any manner of doubt, his own, and that it
would have been utterly and absolutely impossible for him to have built
his house one inch outside of his own land. I whispered to Rectus that
the house might have swelled, but he didn't get a chance to put in the
suggestion.

Rectus had to agree to all Mr. Chipperton said--or, at least, he
couldn't differ with him,--for he didn't know anything on earth about
the matter, and I guess he was glad enough when he got through. I'm sure
I was. Rectus didn't say anything except that he was very sorry that the
Chipperton family had to go home, and then he walked off to his room.

In about half an hour, when I went upstairs, I found Rectus had just
finished a letter to his father.

"I guess that'll make it all right," he said, and he handed me the
letter to read. It was a strictly business letter. No nonsense about the
folks at home. He said that was the kind of business letter his father
liked. It ran like this: