onal fortunes
were much involved, as you may understand.

"Sir Harry explained that while he wished to be quite the gentleman
about it, and accord me every courtesy, he'd be obliged if I'd be the
sacrifice, and leave him to represent her Majesty in the new territory.
We talked it over a bit, but came to no conclusion about the matter.
It was at this time that one of the most remarkable portions of our
experience occurred.

"One morning Sir Harry and I were standing in front of our residence,
in our part of the island, talking over matters. Sir Harry was taking
a bawth in a wash-hand basin--"

"What's that?" asked Uncle Jim.

"I reckon he means a wash-pan," explained Billy Hudgens.

"At least, Sir Harry was making a deuce of a row with the soap, and
he'd the wash-hand basin quite full of bubbles. Just then the King of
Gee-Whiz came by, and chawnced to notice the bubbles. You should have
seen his expression!

"You must remember he'd never seen a bit of soap in all his life; and
no one who has been without it--like the King and myself--can tell what
that means. He was deucedly infatuated with the bubbles. In short, he
valued them at once far more than all the gold in the valley; and he
wound up by telling us flat, that so long as we could make bubbles for
him, there would be no sacrifice. He commanded us to appear before him
every day and make these bubbles--Sir Harry showed him how to do it
with his pipe--every morning and awfternoon.

"Awfter he'd gone, Sir Harry and I looked at each other. 'It's death
or bubbles,' said he to me. I pointed out to him that it was either
death or no bawth. He was much shocked. Evidently the thing could not
go on, for our soap was already very near exhausted. Sir Harry was a
sad dog. Said he to me, 'While there is soap there is life,' meaning
to say, you see, that while there was life there was hope. Ha, ha!"

"Leave that out," admonished Curly. "Go on."

"About now there went ashore on the island the private yacht of a
gentleman whom we found to be Sir Isaac Morgenstern. He was a retired
soap-maker, of wealth and station, and was on a voyage to Samoa with
his daughter, his household servants, and the like. He'd with him, as
chaplain, a missionary, William Cook, a person of very fat habit of
body.

"When the boat went ashore, Sir Isaac, his daughter, Lady Sophie, her
maid, a Miss Eckerstrom, Mr. Cook, and one or two others were saved,
together with certain of th