at the soft, ripe fruit with his
bill and ate it up very quickly, because it was good.

Even before he had finished the berry they could see the Ork begin to
grow. In a few minutes he had regained his natural size and was
strutting before them, quite delighted with his transformation.

"Well, well! What do you think of me now?" he asked proudly.

"You are very skinny and remarkably ugly," declared Pessim.

"You are a poor judge of Orks," was the reply. "Anyone can see that I'm
much handsomer than those dreadful things called birds, which are all
fluff and feathers."

"Their feathers make soft beds," asserted Pessim. "And my skin would
make excellent drumheads," retorted the Ork. "Nevertheless, a plucked
bird or a skinned Ork would be of no value to himself, so we needn't
brag of our usefulness after we are dead. But for the sake of argument,
friend Pessim, I'd like to know what good you would be, were you not
alive?"

"Never mind that," said Cap'n Bill. "He isn't much good as he is."

"I am King of this Island, allow me to say, and you're intruding on my
property," declared the little man, scowling upon them. "If you don't
like me--and I'm sure you don't, for no one else does--why don't you go
away and leave me to myself?"

"Well, the Ork can fly, but we can't," explained Trot, in answer. "We
don't want to stay here a bit, but I don't see how we can get away."

"You can go back into the hole you came from."

Cap'n Bill shook his head; Trot shuddered at the thought; the Ork
laughed aloud.

"You may be King here," the creature said to Pessim, "but we intend to
run this island to suit ourselves, for we are three and you are one,
and the balance of power lies with us."

The little man made no reply to this, although as they walked back to
the shed his face wore its fiercest scowl. Cap'n Bill gathered a lot of
leaves and, assisted by Trot, prepared two nice beds in opposite
corners of the shed. Pessim slept in a hammock which he swung between
two trees.

They required no dishes, as all their food consisted of fruits and nuts
picked from the trees; they made no fire, for the weather was warm and
there was nothing to cook; the shed had no furniture other than the
rude stool which the little man was accustomed to sit upon. He called
it his "throne" and they let him keep it.

So they lived upon the island for three days, and rested and ate to
their hearts' content. Still, they were not at all happy in this life