ok places in the _Ida's_
lifeboat. The old man went into the largest of the island boats. He
stood in the stern, his hand on the carved end of her huge tiller. The
eight boats, tailing out in a long procession, rowed slowly towards
the castle steps.

"They must be your subjects," said Phillips. "They are coming to swear
allegiance."

"My!" said the Queen. "What shall I say? What shall I do? What will
they do? They can't all kiss my hand. There must be forty of them."

"I think," he said, "that you'd better stand beside the flagstaff.
It's a commanding sort of position. They'll have to climb up the steps
to get to you. I wish the breeze had not died away. The flag would
look ever so much better if it blew out."

The Queen climbed the steps and took her place beneath the limp royal
standard. Mr. Phillips bared his head and stood behind her.

The boats reached the steps. Mr. Donovan landed. Smith stepped ashore
after him. Captain Wilson bade his men push off. He remained, a
critical observer of the scene, some twenty or thirty yards from the
shore.

"Daisy," said Mr. Donovan, "there's going to be a pageant. The
inhabitants of this island are going to demonstrate."

"How shall I talk to them?" said the Queen. "What language do they
speak?"

"Don't you fret any about that. I've brought Smith along. Smith is the
only living Englishman who speaks the Megalian language. He's been
explaining the situation to the high priest of the island for the last
half-hour while we blew bugle calls on the syren to attract your
attention. Smith is a wonderful man, worth any salary to a firm with a
big foreign business."

Smith bowed.

"It's hardly a language, sir," he said. "A dialect, a patois. Partly
Turkish, partly Slavonic, with a Greek base."

"Some language that," said Mr. Donovan. "It would interest our college
professors. If you found a university on the island, Daisy, you must
institute a system of visiting lecturers from the colleges on our
side."

"Oh, here they are!" said the Queen. "How lovely! Look at all their
bright dresses. And the men are as gay as the women. Oh! there's the
dinkiest little baby with a brown face. He's smiling at me. I know I
shall just love them all, especially the brown babies."

The islanders were disembarking from their boats. They crowded
together on the lower steps of the staircase which led up to the
flagstaff. They talked rapidly in low voices and gazed with frank
curiosity at the