A Jolly Fellowship

  CHAPTER XI.

  REGAL PROJECTS.

  The next morning, we all went around to see the queen, and on the way wetried to arrange our affair. I was only sorry that my old school-fellowswere not there, to go into the thing with us. There couldn't have beenbetter fun for our boys, than to get up a revolution and set up adethroned queen. But they were not there, and I determined to act astheir representative as well as I could.

  We three--Corny, Rectus and I--were agreed that the re-enthronement--wecould think of no better word for the business--should be done asquietly and peacefully as possible. It was of no use, we thought, tomake a great fuss about what we were going to do. We would see that thisAfrican ex-sovereigness was placed in a suitable regal station, and thenwe would call upon her countrymen to acknowledge her rank.

  "It isn't really necessary for her to do any governing," said Rectus."Queens do very little of that. Look at Queen Victoria! Her PrimeMinister and Parliament run the country. If the African governor here isa good man, the queen can take him for a Prime Minister. Then he canjust go along and do what he always did. If she is acknowledged to bethe queen, that's all she need want."

  "That's so," said Corny. "And, above all, there must be no blood shed."

  "None of yours, any way," said I; and Rectus tapped his bean,significantly.

  Rectus had been chosen captain of this revolutionary coalition, becauseCorny, who held the controlling vote, said that she was afraid I had notgone into the undertaking heart and soul, as Rectus had. Otherwise, shewould have voted for me, as the oldest of the party. I did not make anyobjections, and was elected Treasurer. Corny said that the only officeshe had ever held was that of Librarian, in a girls' society, but as wedid not expect to need a Librarian in this undertaking, we made herSecretary and Manager of Restoration, which, we thought, would give herall the work that she could stand under.

  I suggested that there was one sub-officer, or employe, that we shouldbe sure to need, and who should be appointed before we commencedoperations. This was an emissary. Proper communications betweenourselves and the populace would be difficult, unless we obtained theservice of some intelligent and whole-souled darkey. Myfellow-revolutionists agreed with me, and, after a moment of reflection,Corny shouted that she had thought of the very person.

  "It's a girl!" she cried. "And it's Priscilla!"

  We all knew Priscilla. It would have been impossible to be at the hotelfor a week and not know her. After breakfast, and after dinner, therewas always a regular market at the entrance of the hotel, under thegreat arched porch, where the boarders sat and made themselvescomfortable after meals. The dealers were negroes of every age,--men,women, boys, and girls, and they brought everything they could scrapeup, that they thought visitors might buy,--fruit, shells, sponges,flowers, straw hats, canes, and more traps than I can remember. Some ofthem had very nice things, and others would have closed out their stockfor seven cents. The liveliest and brightest of all these was a tall,slim, black, elastic, smooth-tongued young girl, named Priscilla. Shenearly always wore shoes, which distinguished her from herfellow-countrywomen. Her eyes sparkled like a fire-cracker of a darknight, and she had a mind as sharp as a fish-hook. The moment Cornymentioned her she was elected emissary.

  We determined, however, to be very cautious in disclosing our plans toher. We would sound her, first, and make a regular engagement with her.

  "It will be a first-rate thing for me," said Corny, "to have a girl togo about with me, for mother said, yesterday, that it wouldn't do for meto be so much with boys. It looked tomboyish, she said, though shethought you two were very good for boys."

  "Are you going to tell your father and mother about this?" askedRectus.

  "I think I'll tell mother," said Corny, "because I ought to, and I don'tbelieve she'll object, if I have a girl along with me. But I don't thinkI'll say anything to father just yet. I'm afraid he'd join."

  Rectus and I agreed that it might be better to postpone saying anythingto Mr. Chipperton.

  It was very true that the queen did not live in a palace. Her house wasnearly large enough to hold an old-fashioned four-posted bedstead, suchas they have at my Aunt Sarah's. The little room that was cut off fromthe main apartment was really too small to count. The queen was hard atwork, sitting on her door-stone by the side of her bits of sugar-caneand pepper-pods. There were no customers. She was a good-looking oldbody, about sixty, perhaps, but tall and straight enough for all queenlypurposes.

  She arose and shook hands with us, and then stepped into her door-wayand courtesied. The effect was very fine.

  "This is dreadful!" said Corny. "She ought to give up this pepper-podbusiness right away. If I could only talk to her, I'd make herunderstand. But I must go get somebody for an interpreter."

  And she ran off to one of the neighboring huts.

  "If this thing works," said Rectus, "we ought to hire a regularinterpreter."

  "It wont do to have too many paid officials," said I, "but we'll seeabout that."

  Corny soon returned with a pleasant-faced woman, who undertook tosuperintend our conversation with the queen.

  "What's her name--to begin with?" asked Corny, of the woman.

  "Her African name is Poqua-dilla, but here they call her Jane Henderson,when they talk of her. She knows that name, too. We all has to haveEnglish names."

  "Well, we don't want any Jane Henderson," said Corny. "Poqua-dilla!that's a good name for a queen. But what we first want is to have herstop selling things at the front door. We'll do better for her thanthat."

  "Is you goin' to sen' her to the 'sylum?" asked the woman.

  "The asylum!" exclaimed Corny. "No, indeed! You'll see. She's to livehere, but she's not to sell pepper-pods, or anything else."

  "Well, young missy," said the woman, "you better buy 'em of her. Ireckon she'll sell out for 'bout fourpence."

  This was a sensible proposition, and, as treasurer, I bought the stock,the queen having signified her willingness to the treaty by a dignifiednod and a courtesy. She was very much given to style, which encouragedus a good deal.

  "Now, then," said Rectus, who thought it was about time that the captainshould have something to say, "you must tell her that she isn't to layin any more stock. This is to be the end of her mercantile life."

  I don't believe the woman translated all of this speech, but the queengave another nod and courtesy, and I pocketed the peppers to keep astrophies. The other things we kept, to give to the children and makeourselves popular.

  "How much do you think it would cost," asked Corny of me, "to make thisplace a little more like a palace?"

  I made a rough sort of a calculation, and came to the conclusion thatthe room could be made a little more like a palace for about eightdollars.

  "That's cheap enough," said Rectus to me. "You and I will each give fourdollars."

  "No, indeed!" said Corny. "I'm going to give some. How much is threeinto eight?"

  "Two and two-thirds," said I, "or, in this case, two dollars, sixty-sixcents and some sixes over."

  "All right!" said Corny; "I'll ask father for three dollars. There oughtto be something for extras. I'll tell mother what I want it for, andthat will satisfy him. He can know afterward. I don't think he ought toworry his lung with anything like this."

  "She wont want a throne," said Rectus, turning the conversation from Mr.Chipperton, "for she has a very good rocking-chair, which could be fixedup."

  "Yes," said I, "it could be cushioned. She might do it herself."

  At this, the colored woman made a remark to the queen, but what it waswe did not know.

  "Of course she could," said Corny. "Queens work. Queen Victoria etcheson steel."

  "I don't believe Porker-miller can do that," said Rectus, "but I guessshe can pad her chair."

  "Do thrones rock?" asked Corny.

  "Some of 'em do," I said. "There was the throne of France, you know."

  "Well, then, that will be all right," said Corny; "and how about a crownand sc
eptre?"

  "Oh, we wont want a sceptre," I said; "that sort of thing's prettyold-fashioned. But we ought to have a crown, so as to make a differencebetween her and the other people."

  "How much are crowns?" asked Corny, in a thoughtful tone.

  "Various prices," I answered; "but I think we can make one, that will dovery well, for about fifty cents. I'll undertake to make the brass part,if you'll cushion it."

  "Brass!" exclaimed Corny, in astonishment.

  "You don't suppose we can get gold, do you?" I asked, laughing.

  "Well, no," she said, but not quite satisfied.

  "And there must be a flag and a flag-pole," said Rectus. "But what sortof a flag are we going to have?"

  "The African flag," said Corny, confidently.

  None of us knew what the African flag was, although Corny suggested thatit was probably black. But I told her that if we raised a black flagbefore the queen's palace, we should bring down the authorities on us,sure. They'd think we had started a retail piratical establishment.

  We now took leave of the queen, and enjoined her neighbor to impress onher mind the necessity of not using her capital to lay in a new stockof goods. Leaving a quarter of a dollar with her, for contingentexpenses during the day, we started for home.

  "I'll tell you what it is," said I, "we must settle this matter ofrevenue pretty soon. If she don't sell peppers and sugar-cane, she'llhave to be supported in some way, and I'm sure we can't do it."

  "Her subjects ought to attend to that," said Rectus.

  "But she hasn't got any yet," I answered.

  "That's a fact," said Corny. "We must get her a few, to start with."

  "Hire 'em, do you mean?" asked Rectus.

  "No; call upon them in the name of their country and their queen," shereplied.

  "I think it would be better, at first," said I, "to call upon them inthe name of about twopence a head. Then, when we get a nice little bodyof adherents to begin with, the other subjects will fall in, of theirown accord, if we manage the thing right."

  "There's where the emissary will come in," said Rectus. "She can collectadherents."

  "We must engage her this very day," said Corny. "And now, what about theflag? We haven't settled that yet."

  "I think," said I, "that we'd better invent a flag. When we get back tothe hotel, we can each draw some designs, and the one we choose caneasily be made up. We can buy the stuff anywhere."

  "I'll sew it," said Corny.

  "Do you think," said Rectus, who had been reflecting, "that theauthorities of this place will object to our setting up a queen?"

  "Can't tell," I said. "But I hardly think they will. They don't objectto the black governor, and our queen wont interfere with them in any waythat I can see. She will have nothing to do with anybody but thosenative Africans, who keep to themselves, anyway."

  "If anybody should trouble us, who would it be? Soldiers or thepolicemen? How many soldiers have they here?" asked Corny.

  "There's only one company now in the barracks," said Rectus. "I was downthere. There are two men-of-war in the harbor, but one of them's aSpanish vessel, and I'm pretty sure she wouldn't bother us."

  "Is that all?" said Corny, in a tone of relief.

  I didn't want to dash her spirits, but I remarked that there were a goodmany policemen in the town.

  "And they're all colored men," said Corny. "I'd hate to have any of themcoming after us."

  "The governor of the colony is at the head of the army, police and all,isn't he?" said Rectus.

  "Yes," I answered.

  "And I know where he lives," put in Corny. "Let's go and see him,sometime, and ask him about it."

  This was thought to be a good idea, and we agreed to consider it at ournext meeting.

  "As to revenue," said Rectus, just before we reached the hotel, "I don'tbelieve these people have much money to give for the support of aqueen, and so I think they ought to bring in provisions. The whole thingmight be portioned out. She ought to have so many conchs a week, so manysticks of sugar-cane, and so many yams and other stuff. This might befixed so that it wouldn't come hard on anybody."

  Corny said she guessed she'd have to get a little book to put thesethings down, so that we could consider them in order.

  I could not help noticing that there was a good deal of differencebetween Corny and Rectus, although they were much alike, too. Corny hadnever learned much, but she had a good brain in her head, and she couldreason out things pretty well, when she had anything in the way of asolid fact to start with. Rectus was better on things he'd heardreasoned out. He seemed to know a good thing when it came before him,and he remembered it, and often brought it in very well. But he hadn'thad much experience in reasoning on his own account, although he wasgetting more in practice every day.

  Corny was just as much in earnest as she was the first day we saw her,but she seemed to have grown more thoughtful. Perhaps this was onaccount of her having important business on hand. Her thoughtfulness,however, did not prevent her from saying some very funny things. Shespoke first and did her thinking afterward. But she was a good girl, andI often wished my sister knew her. Helen was older, to be sure, but shecould have learned a great deal from Corny.

  That afternoon, we had a meeting up in the silk-cotton tree, andPriscilla, who had sold out her small stock of flowers in the hotel-doormarket, was requested to be present. A variety-show, consisting of abouta dozen young darkeys with their baskets and strings of sponges,accompanied her up the steps; but she was ordered to rout them, and shedid it in short order. When we were alone, Rectus, as captain, began tostate to her what we desired of her; but he was soon interrupted byCorny, who could do a great deal more talking in a given time than hecould, and who always felt that she ought to begin early, in order toget through in good season.

  "Now, Priscilla," said Corny, "in the first place, you must promisenever to tell what we are going to say to you."

  Priscilla promised in a flash.

  "We want you, then," continued Corny, "to act as our emissary, orgeneral agent, or errand-girl, if you don't know what the other twothings mean."

  "I'll do dat, missy," said Priscilla. "Whar you want me to go?"

  "Nowhere just now," said Corny. "We want to engage you by the day, to dowhatever we tell you."

  "Cahn't do dat, missy. Got to sell flowers and roses. Sell 'em for defam'ly, missy."

  "But in the afternoon you can come," said Corny. "There isn't anyselling done then. We'll pay you."

  "How much?" asked Priscilla.

  This question was referred to me, and I offered sixpence a day.

  The money in this place is English, of course, as it is an Englishcolony; but there are so many visitors from the United States, thatAmerican currency is as much in use, for large sums, as thepounds-shillings-and-pence arrangement. But all sums under a quarter arereckoned in English money,--pennies, half-pennies, four, six andeight-pences, and that sort of thing. One of our quarters passes for ashilling, but a silver dime wont pass in the shops. The darkeys willtake them--or almost anything else--as a gift. I didn't have to get ourmoney changed into gold. I got a draft on a Nassau house, and generallydrew greenbacks. But I saw, pretty plainly, that I couldn't draw verymuch for this new monarchical undertaking, and stay in Nassau as long aswe had planned.

  "A whole afternoon," exclaimed Priscilla, "for sixpence!"

  "Why not?" I asked. "That's more than you generally make all day."

  "Only sixpence!" said Priscilla, looking as if her tender spirit hadbeen wounded. Corny glanced at me with an air that suggested that Iought to make a rise in the price, but I had dealt with these darkeysbefore.

  "That's all," I said.

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

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

  We had a talk with her about her duties, and each of us
had a good dealto say. We made her understand--at least we hoped so--that she was to beon hand, every afternoon, to go with Corny, if necessary, whenever wewent out on our trips to the African settlement; and, after giving heran idea of what we intended doing with the queen,--which interested hervery much indeed, and seemed to set her on pins and needles to see theglories of the new reign,--we commissioned her to bring together abouttwenty 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 primeminister."

  I was not at all sure that he was all right, and proposed that Rectusand I should go to his house in the evening, when he was at home, andtalk 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. Wedecided to have it on the Queen's Stair-way, which is a long flight ofsteps, cut in the solid limestone, and leading up out of a deep andshadowy ravine, where the people of the town many years ago cut out thecalcareous material for their houses. There has been no stone cut herefor a long time, and the walls of the ravine, which stand up as straightas the wall of a house, are darkened by age and a good deal covered upby vines. At the bottom, on each side of the pathway which runs throughthe ravine to the town, bushes and plants of various semi-tropical kindsgrow thick and close. At the top of the flight of stairs are open fieldsand an old fort. Altogether, this was considered a quiet and suitableplace for a meeting of a band of revolutionists. We could not have metin the silk-cotton tree, for we should have attracted too muchattention, and, besides, the hotel-clerk would have routed us out.