The Island Queen, Robert Michael Ballantyne [best books to read for women .txt] 📗

and strength, while a group of their elders stood, sat, or reclined on a bank, discussing the affairs of the nation, and some of them enjoying their pipes--for, you see, everything in the wreck having been saved, they had, among other bad things, plenty of tobacco.

Dr Marsh sat among the elders, for, although several weeks on shore had greatly restored his health, he was still too weak to join in the athletics. A few of the women and children also looked on, but they stood aside by themselves, not feeling very much interested in the somewhat heated discussions of the men.

By degrees these discussions degenerated into disputes, and became at last so noisy that the young athletes were attracted, and some of them took part in the debates.

"I tell 'ee what it is," exclaimed Nobbs, the blacksmith, raising his powerful voice above the other voices, and lifting his huge fist in the air, "something'll have to be done, for I can't go on workin' for nothin' in this fashion."

"No more can I, or my mates," said Abel Welsh, the carpenter.

"Here comes the Prime Minister," cried Teddy Malone.

"To _be_--he ain't Prime Minister yet," growled Jabez Jenkins, who, being a secret ally of Hugh Morris, was one of the disaffected, and had, besides, a natural tendency to growl and object to everything.

"He _is_ Prime Minister," cried the fiery little Buxley, starting up and extending his hand with the air of one who is about to make a speech. "No doubt the Queen ain't crowned yet, an' hasn't therefore appointed any one to be her Minister, but we know she means to do it and we're all agreed about it."

"No we ain't," interrupted Jenkins, angrily.

"Well, the most on us, then," retorted Buxley.

"Shut up, you radical!" said Nobbs, giving the tailor a facetious slap on the back, "an' let's hear what the Prime Minister himself has got to say about it."

"What is the subject under discussion?" inquired Dominick, who, with Otto, joined the group of men at the moment and flung down a basket of fine fish which he had just caught in the lagoon.

He turned to Dr Marsh for an answer.

"Do _you_ explain your difficulties," said the doctor to the blacksmith.

"Well, sir," said Nobbs, "here's where it is. When I fust comed ashore an' set up my anvil an' bellows I went to work with a will, enjyin' the fun o' the thing an' the novelty of the sitivation; an' as we'd lots of iron of all kinds I knocked off nails an' hinges an' all sorts o' things for anybody as wanted 'em. Similarly, w'en Abel Welsh comed ashore he went to work with his mates at the pit-saw an' tossed off no end o' planks, etceterer. But you see, sir, arter a time we come for to find that we're workin' to the whole population for nothin', and while everybody else is working away at his own hut or garden, or what not, _our_ gardens is left to work themselves, an' _our_ huts is nowhere! Now, as we've got no money to pay for work with, and as stones an' shells won't answer the purpus--seein' there's a sight too much of 'em-- the question is, what's to be done?"

"Not an easy question to answer, Nobbs," said Dominick, "and one that requires serious consideration. Perhaps, instead of trying to answer it at present, we might find a temporary expedient for the difficulty until a Committee of the House--if I may say so--shall investigate the whole problem." (Hear, hear from Malone, Redding, and Buxley, and a growl from Jenkins.) "I would suggest, then, in the meantime, that while Nobbs and Welsh,--who are, perhaps, the most useful men among us--continue to ply their trades for the benefit of the community, every man in the community shall in turn devote a small portion of time to working in the gardens and building the huts of these two men." (Hear, hear, from a great many of the hearers, and dissenting growls from a few.) "But," continued Dominick, "as there are evidently some here who are not of an obliging disposition, and as the principle of willing service lies at the root of all social felicity, I would further suggest that, until our Queen is crowned and the Government fairly set up, all such labour shall be undertaken entirely by volunteers."

This proposal was agreed to with boisterous acclaim, and nearly the whole community volunteered on the spot. While this little difficulty was being overcome, Pauline lay sleeping in the palace hard by, and the enthusiastic cheer with which the conclusion of Dominick's speech was received awoke her.

"There--I know'd they'd do it!" exclaimed the lady of the bedchamber fiercely; "lie still, cushla! an' shut your purty eyes. Maybe you'll drop off again!"

A humorous smile beamed in Pauline's countenance and twinkled in her eyes.

"Thank you, dear nurse, I've had enough of sleep. Indeed, I begin to feel so strong that I think I shall very soon be able to undergo that--"

Pauline stopped and burst into a fit of merry laughter.

"It's that caronation, now, ye'll be thinkin' av?" said the widow Lynch, with a reproving look. "Faix, it's no laughin' matter ye'll find it, dear. It's onaisy is the hid as wears a crown."

"Why you talk, nurse, as if you had worn one yourself, and knew all about its troubles."

"Sure, av I didn't, me progenissors did, in Munster, before you English konkered us an' turned us topsy-turvy. But nivver mind. I don't bear no ill-will to 'ee, darlint, bekaise o' the evil deeds o' yer forefathers. I'm of a forgivin' disposition. An' it's a good quane you'll make, too, av ye don't let the men have too much o' their own way. But I do think that you an' me togither'll be more than a match for them all. D'ee think ye could stand the caronation now, dear?"

"Yes, I think I could. But really, you know, I find it so hard to believe it is not all a joke, despite the grave deputations that have waited on me, and the serious arguments they have used. The idea of making me--_Me_--a Queen!"

Again Pauline Rigonda gave way to merry laughter, and again did her lady of the bedchamber administer a reproof by expressing the hope that she might take the matter as lightly a year hence.

This pertinacious reference to possible trouble being mingled with the contemplated honour checked Pauline's disposition to laugh, and she had quite recovered her gravity when her brother Otto entered.

"Pina, I've come to tell you that they've fixed the coronation for Monday next if you feel up to it, and that the new palace is begun--a very different one, let me tell you, from this wretched affair with its tumble-down walls and low roof."

"Indeed--is it so very grand?"

"Grand! I should think it is. Why, it has got three rooms--_three_ rooms--think o' that! Not countin' a splendid out-house stuck on behind, about ten feet square and over six feet high. Each of the three rooms is twelve feet long by ten broad; seven feet high, and papered with palm leaves. The middle one is the hall of Audience and Justice-- or injustice if you like--the Council Chamber, the House of Parliament, the mess-room, and the drawing-room. The one on the right with two windows, from which are magnificent views, is your Majesty's sleeping-room and boudoir; that on the left is the ditto of Prime Minister Dominick and his Chief Secretary Prince Otto. The sort of hen-coop stuck on behind is to be the abode of the Court Physician, Dr John Marsh--whom, by the way, you'll have to knight--and with whom is to be billeted the Court Jester, Man-at-Arms, Man-of-all-work and general retainer, little Buxley. So, you see, it's all cut and dry, though of course it will take some little time to finish the palace in all its multitudinous details. Meanwhile I have been sent to sound you as to Monday next. Will you be able and ready?"

"If I could only get myself to believe," answered Pauline, as she leaned on one elbow on her couch, and toyed contemplatively with a fold of the shawl that covered her, "that the people are really in earnest, I--"

"Really in earnest!" repeated Otto. "Why, Pina, never were people more in earnest in this world. If you'd heard and seen them talking about it as I have, you'd not doubt their earnestness. Besides, you have no idea how needful you are to the community. The fact is, it is composed of such rough and rowdy elements--though of course there are some respectable and well-principled fellows among them--that nothing short of a power standing high above them and out o' their reach will have any influence with them at all. There are so many strong, determined, and self-willed men amongst them that there's no chance of their ever agreeing to submit to each other; so, you see, you are a sort of good angel, before whom they will be only too glad to bow--a kind of superior being, whom they will reverence, and to whom they will submit--a human safety-valve, in short, to prevent the community from blowing up--a species of--of--"

Here Pauline burst into another of her irrepressible fits of laughter, and being joined therein by Prince Otto, called forth a remonstrance from Mrs Lynch, who declared that if that was the way they were goin' to manage the affairs of state, she would be obliged to advise the settlers to change their minds and set up a republic.

"An' sure, mother," said Otto, who was a privileged favourite, "nothing could be better, with yourself as President."

"Go along wid ye, boy, an' do yer dooty. Tell the people that Miss Pauline will be ready--wind an' weather permittin'."

"Am I to take back that message, Pina?" asked Otto, with a look of glee.

"Well, I suppose you may."

It was not in the nature of things that a coronation in the circumstances which we have described should take place without being more or less intermingled with the unavoidable absurdities which mark the coronations of older and more densely peopled lands. It was felt that as the act was a seriously meant reality, and no mere joke, it should be gone about and accomplished with all due solemnity and proper ceremonial, somewhat after the pattern--as Teddy Malone suggested--of a Lord Mayor's Show; a suggestion, by the way, which did not conduce to the solemnity of the preliminary discussions.

There was one great difficulty, however, with which the embryo nation had to contend, and this was that not one of the community had ever seen a coronation, or knew how the details of the matter should be arranged.

In these circumstances an assembly of the entire nation was convened to consider the matter. As this convention embraced the women (except, of course, the queen elect), it included the babies, and as most of these were self-assertive and well-developed in chest and throat, it was found necessary to relegate them and the women to an outer circle, while the men in an inner circle tackled the problem.

The widow Lynch, being quite irrepressible except by physical force, and even by that with difficulty, was admitted on sufferance to the inner circle, and took part in the discussions.

Like most large assemblies, this one was found so