er way, and
there was more trouble. Finally Julius come to the rescue.

"'I tell you,' says he. 'We'll be square and draw straws!'

"'W'at?' hollers George. 'Well, I guess not!'

"'And I'll hold the straws,' says Jule, winking on the side.

"So they drew straws, and, strange as it may seem, Rosy got stuck. He
cried all night, and though the others tried to comfort him, telling him
what a lucky man he was to marry a queen, he wouldn't cheer up a mite.

"And next day the wedding took place in the temple in front of a wood
idol with three rows of teeth, and as ugly almost as the bride, which
was saying a good deal. And when 'twas over, the three shipmates come
and congratulated the groom, wishing him luck and a happy honeymoon and
such. Oh, they had a bully time, and they was still laughing over it
that night after supper, when down comes a file of big darkies with
spears, the Kanaka interpreter leading 'em.

"'Cappy,' says he. 'The king say you no stay in this house no more. He
say too good for you. Say, bimeby, when the place been clean up, maybe
he use it himself. You got to go.'

"'Who says this?' roars Cap'n George, ugly as could be.

"'The king, he say it.'

"'The queen, you mean. There ain't no king.'

"'Yes, sir. King AND queen now. Mr. Rosy he king. All tribe proud to
have witch king.'

"The three looked at each other.

"'Do you mean to say,' says the skipper, choking so he could hardly
speak, 'that we've got to take orders from 'IM?'

"'Yes, sir. King say you no mind, we make.'

"Well, sir, the language them three used must have been something awful,
judging by Jule's tell. But when they vowed they wouldn't move, the
spears got busy and out they had to get and into the meanest, dirtiest
little hut in the village, one without hardly any sides and great holes
in the roof. And there they stayed all night in a pouring rain, the kind
of rains you get in them islands.

"'Twa'n't a nice night. They tried huddling together to keep dry, but
'twa'n't a success because there was always a row about who should be in
the middle. Then they kept passing personal remarks to one another.

"'If the skipper hadn't been so gay and uppish about choosing Rosy,'
says Julius, 'there wouldn't have been no trouble. I do hate a smart
Aleck.'

"'Who said draw straws?' sputters George, mad clean through. 'And who
'eld 'em? 'Ey? Who did?'

"'Well,' says Teunis, '_I_ didn't do it. You can't blame me.'

"'No. You set ther