XI
Ka-kee-ta with his ax and a proud tilt to his frizzled head became afamiliar sight in Waloo. He caused more excitement and roused moreinterest than the queen.
"Bring your bodyguard with you," begged the president of the Home forAged Women, when Tessie consented to appear at an entertainment thedirectors had arranged to increase its revenue.
"And do please have your picturesque guard come, too," coaxed thecommittee from the Junior League, which had invited Tessie to open theball which the League gave every year to raise funds for itsphilanthropic work.
So Ka-kee-ta, in his blue clothes, his hair freshly oiled, his tattooedface oiled also, so that he was redolent of rancid cocoanut, his ax inhis hand, stood in the back of the royal box, where Granny, in smartblack lace and jet beads, and Johnny, in a new scout uniform, andTessie, wearing a wonderful dancing frock of blue and silver, were thecynosure of all eyes.
When Tessie was asked by a giggling committee if she wished to followthe royal custom and choose her partners, she had blushed and exclaimedfervently, "Gracious! I should say not! I want to be just like the othergirls!"
There was a rush when her wish was made known, for every man in theballroom wanted to be able to tell his friends that he had danced with aqueen. Granny beamed at the pushing throng.
"The Gilfoolys always stood well with their friends," she said to noless a person than Mr. Kingley, who had stopped for a word with hisformer humble employee, and who remained to listen to Granny as shebragged of the Gilfoolys.
Tessie had never imagined there were so many attractive men in the worldas she met at the Junior League ball. She was unable to dance a dozensteps with one before another cut in. It was confusing, if flattering,and she gave a little sigh of relief when Bert Douglas swung her througha doorway into a little ante-room.
"Lucky for me I know this place as well as my hat," grinned Bert, whenhe and Tessie were seated on a red velvet sofa. "Say," he went on evenmore radiantly, "is this evening real? Am I actually twosing here with aqueen?"
"It doesn't seem real, does it?" murmured Tessie, her eyes shining.
"I hope that special representative never comes," went on Bert. "I'llhate to have you go to the Sunshine Islands!"
"I'll hate to go," confessed Tessie. She could never tell him how shewould hate to leave Waloo. "I'm having such a good time here!"
"There was a funny thing happened to-day," Bert said lazily. "Did Mr.Marvin tell you about it? A man came into the office and wanted to buyyour kingdom."
"My kingdom!" Tessie was astonished and indignant. The idea of any onewanting to buy her kingdom before she had seen it.
"Yes. The Sunshine Islands. He said you might as well sell them becausea white woman would never be allowed to reign over them."
"The idea!" Tessie was on her feet staring at him. "The very idea! Iguess if my Uncle Pete could reign over them, Granny and Johnny and Ican look after them! What did Mr. Marvin say?"
"He said he would take the matter under advisement and present it toyou. That doesn't mean anything," he added hastily--for Tessie frownedand exclaimed again, "The very idea!"--"It's what lawyers always say.They have to say something!"
"I don't like it! I mean I don't like any one wanting to buy my islands.You can tell Mr. Marvin that the very first thing in the morning. TheSunshine Islands aren't for sale!"
"I was a fool to speak of it," mumbled Bert regretfully. He had notthought that she would be so concerned. "And don't think about it again.No one can buy your islands if you won't sell them, you know. That's apeach of a frock!" He changed the subject abruptly and gazed admiringlyat Tessie's blue-and-silver dancing frock. "And awfully becoming!" Hisadmiration shifted to her puzzled little face. "You look like a--a--" hestammered as he tried to tell Tessie what she resembled--"a dream!" hefinally decided. "Is that the royal jewel?" He bent forward to look atthe Tear of God as it hung around Tessie's white neck. "Some pearl,isn't it?"
Tessie shook her head. "I have to wear it, but I don't like it, not abit. It's beautiful, of course, and different, but it makes me think ofall the kings and queens who must have worn it. I don't mind Uncle Pete,but some of those old cannibals before Uncle Pete civilized the islandsmake me shiver. But if I don't wear it Ka-kee-ta has a fit. H-sh! Someone is looking for me!" For in the hall she heard a voice call, "Tessie!Tessie! Where has the child gone?"
And there in the doorway stood Granny in her black lace and jet, as finea Gilfooly as ever was.
"Tessie, Tessie," she scolded. "This is no way for a queen to behave.Queens don't go lalligaging with lawyers! They have to stay where folkscan see them. Come right back to the ballroom with me. Ka-kee-ta hasbeen in such a way. He missed you at once and made such a fuss I had tolook for you."
"I wish Ka-kee-ta was in the Pacific Ocean," murmured Tessie, as shemeekly followed Granny, for well she knew that Granny only told thetruth when she said that queens did not lalligag with young lawyers.
"You've got a nerve, Bert Douglas!" exclaimed Mr. Bill, who met them atthe ballroom door. "What do you mean by running away with Her Majesty?You should be shot at sunrise!"
"Shoot if you please!" Bert looked triumphantly at Mr. Bill. "The queenand I had our little tete-a-two. Didn't we, Miss Gilfooly?"
"You must dance with every one," scolded Granny. "You can't pick andchoose." Her fingers straightened the lace shoulder-straps of Tessie'sfrock.
"What's the good of being a queen," muttered Tessie, but she soundedmore rebellious than she acted. She obediently danced with every one.
It was not until the ball was over, and a maid was throwing her wrap ofvelvet and fur over her shoulders that she missed something. She put herhand to her neck. Where was the Tear of God? The royal jewel no longerhung from her white neck. She turned deathly pale and ran from thecoatroom.
"Mr. Bill! Mr. Douglas!" she stammered. "I've been robbed!"
"Robbed!" They gathered about her. It was true. They could see forthemselves that the royal jewel was no longer around her neck.
"You never left the room but once," Mr. Bill remembered quickly. "AndBert was with you!"
Bert bristled indignantly. "What do you mean?" he wanted to know atonce.
"The pearl was taken while Miss Gilfooly was dancing, or it dropped fromher neck. You know where you took her. Suppose you look there,"suggested Mr. Bill.
For a moment Bert looked as if he would refuse to follow Mr. Bill'ssuggestion, but if Mr. Bill meant what he said he meant, and not whatBert might think he meant, there was nothing to resent, and Bert hurriedto the ante-room, keeping a sharp lookout in the corridor. He examinedthe ante-room carefully. He even slipped his hand down back of the seatof the red velvet sofa where he and Tessie had had such a pleasantlittle chat. He found several hairpins, a button, a nickel, and twodusty lemon drops, but not one pearl. He had to go back to Tessieempty-handed. There were tears in her eyes.
"I don't dare tell Granny," she gulped. "She'll think I've beencareless. And Ka-kee-ta!" She was frightened when she rememberedKa-kee-ta and his shining ax. "What do they do to queens who lose thecrown jewels?" she wailed.
Mr. Bill put his hand on her arm. "Buck up," he begged earnestly. "Itmust be somewhere! We'll find it. Don't you worry! Who could have takenit?"
That was the question. Who could have taken it? A sudden thought madeTessie clutch Mr. Bill's sleeve, and stare at him and at Bert withfrightened eyes.
"You know," she said, the words treading on each other in their haste tobe spoken, "that there is a party in the Sunshine Islands that doesn'twant me to be the queen! And you know the natives are awfullysuperstitious and won't have anybody for their ruler unless he has theTear of God. Do you suppose one of those rebels could have been hereto-night and stolen the jewel so that the natives will refuse to have mefor their queen?" Her blue eyes were very, very big and frightened, andher face was very white.
"Well, I'll be darned!" muttered Mr. Bill.
"That's it! That's it!" cried Bert eagerly. "You remember thatwhite-he
aded, big-nosed chap who stole the record of your father's andmother's marriage from the Mifflin Court House?" he asked Tessiequickly. "Perhaps he was here and stole the jewel."
"He was freckled!" remembered Tessie with a gasp. "The clerk said he wasfreckled! I remember I thought that was funny, for men don't freckle.It's boys. I danced with a freckled man this very night!" She gaspedagain. "And he asked a lot of questions about the islands. I neverthought about it then. I thought he was just trying to be pleasant. Whata fool I was!"
"That's the chap!" declared Mr. Bill.
"Who was he? What was his name?" demanded Bert.
"I don't remember," faltered Tessie. "I met so many men to-night. Idon't remember any of their names. Oh, dear! What shall I do?" Shelooked from Bert to Mr. Bill, and when neither of them could tell herwhat to do she wished with all her heart that Joe Cary was there. Joewould tell her in a minute what to do.
"Well, Tessie, the party's over. It's time to go home." And Granny, whohad been talking to the president of the Junior League, came toward themfollowed by Ka-kee-ta. Tessie shrank away as she saw the gleam ofKa-kee-ta's ax. "Had a good time, dearie?" Granny asked affectionately.Granny had had a wonderful time herself. She was sure that no Gilfoolyhad ever had a better time.
"Oh, Granny!" Tessie threw her arms around Granny's neck, and hid herface in the soft lace of Granny's gown.
Granny was startled and a bit frightened. "What is it? What is it?" Shelooked at Mr. Bill and at Bert. "What has happened to my lamb?"
"It's--it's the Tear of God!" sobbed Tessie. "I've--I've lost i-it!"
"Lost it! Stand up, Tessie Gilfooly, and remember queens don't crybefore folks. Lost! Nothing of the sort! Ka-kee-ta!" And when Ka-kee-tahad stepped forward with a salute of his ax, she said imperiously, "TheTear of God!"
Ka-kee-ta held out his left hand and opened it, and there on his yellowbrown palm was the Tear of God.
"Well, I'll be darned!" exclaimed Mr. Bill.
"My word!" muttered Bert Douglas.
"Oh!" squealed Tessie, absolutely forgetting Granny's hint that queensmust keep their emotions to themselves. "Where did Ka-kee-ta get it?"Her face was as pink now as it had been white a moment before.
"I took it off your neck, my dear, when you were dancing," explainedGranny proudly. "The folks here were all strangers to me," she told theastonished officers of the Junior League, "and though I knew of coursethey would be all right or they wouldn't be here, I thought it was justas well not to take any chances. So when Tessie was dancing I slippedthe Tear of God from her neck and gave it to Ka-kee-ta to hold. With hisax in his other hand, I knew he could take care of it. It wasn't lost atall, you see, dearie," she smiled at Tessie. "I took it after you cameback to the ballroom with Mr. Douglas."
"Oh!" exclaimed Tessie, feeling rather flat and small because she hadmade such a fuss over a robbery that was not a robbery at all.