el west of
London and somewhere below Sumatra--several weeks' march from Calcutta,
I should say. We'd never seen the place nor heard of it, but were
jolly well pleased to alight upon it, under the circumstances. Of the
rest of the ship's company we never heard.

"It was a baddish fix, I must say, for to be marooned on a desert
island is serious; and it's still more serious to lose one's ship in
the British Army. Presently, however, we composed ourselves. 'I say,'
said Sir Harry, 'this is a great go, isn't it? Here I am with no
luggage whatever except one bar of soap!'

"Presently I saw approaching a band of natives, headed by a large
person, who was apparently their leader or king."

"Then that was the real King of Gee-Whiz?" asked Doc Tomlinson.

"At that time, but not permanently, as I shall presently show you."

"I explained the situation to the King, who turned out to be a very
good sort. 'God bless my soul!' said he. 'My dear sir, there's not
the slightest occasion for uneasiness, there really isn't, indeed.'

"You may fawncy the situation! As it was, Sir Harry and I were obliged
to make the best of it. We concluded to remain and to take possession
of the region in the name of her Britennic Majesty."

"That's the most natural part of your story!" affirmed Uncle Jim, with
conviction.

"Thank you. But I must tell you of the complications which now arose.
You will see that all these people were sun-worshippers, or something
of the sort, and they'd a beastly unpleasant habit, you know, of
offering up a sacrifice now and again to appease the spirits, or the
like. We learned they'd a valley of gold hidden away somewhere back in
the island, and from this the King got all his gold, though even under
these circumstances not so much as he wanted at all times. He'd the
trouble of most royal families.

"The ruler of this golden valley was some sort of a princess, and she
was downright niggardly with her money, as some of these heiresses are,
you know. She'd promise the King to bring him an apronful of gold if
he'd give her a sacrifice to offer up, but he had no way of providing
an offering. No one had come for years in the line of a sacrifice,
excepting ourselves. You can imagine the awkwardness this created.
The King wanted to sacrifice us, one or both, directly. The princess,
who by the by was a regular ripper in her way, was quite gone on Sir
Harry, and he on her as well. At this point my own pers