"Of course she could," said Corny. "Queens work. Queen Victoria etches
on steel."

"I don't believe Porker-miller can do that," said Rectus, "but I guess
she can pad her chair."

"Do thrones rock?" asked Corny.

"Some of 'em do," I said. "There was the throne of France, you know."

"Well, then, that will be all right," said Corny; "and how about a crown
and sceptre?"

"Oh, we wont want a sceptre," I said; "that sort of thing's pretty
old-fashioned. But we ought to have a crown, so as to make a difference
between her and the other people."

"How much are crowns?" asked Corny, in a thoughtful tone.

"Various prices," I answered; "but I think we can make one, that will do
very well, for about fifty cents. I'll undertake to make the brass part,
if you'll cushion it."

"Brass!" exclaimed Corny, in astonishment.

"You don't suppose we can get gold, do you?" I asked, laughing.

"Well, no," she said, but not quite satisfied.

"And there must be a flag and a flag-pole," said Rectus. "But what sort
of a flag are we going to have?"

"The African flag," said Corny, confidently.

None of us knew what the African flag was, although Corny suggested that
it was probably black. But I told her that if we raised a black flag
before the queen's palace, we should bring down the authorities on us,
sure. They'd think we had started a retail piratical establishment.

We now took leave of the queen, and enjoined her neighbor to impress on
her mind the necessity of not using her capital to lay in a new stock
of goods. Leaving a quarter of a dollar with her, for contingent
expenses during the day, we started for home.

"I'll tell you what it is," said I, "we must settle this matter of
revenue pretty soon. If she don't sell peppers and sugar-cane, she'll
have to be supported in some way, and I'm sure we can't do it."

"Her subjects ought to attend to that," said Rectus.

"But she hasn't got any yet," I answered.

"That's a fact," said Corny. "We must get her a few, to start with."

"Hire 'em, do you mean?" asked Rectus.

"No; call upon them in the name of their country and their queen," she
replied.

"I think it would be better, at first," said I, "to call upon them in
the name of about twopence a head. Then, when we get a nice little body
of adherents to begin with, the other subjects will fall in, of their
own accord, if we manage the thing right."

"There's where the emissary will come in," said Rectus. "She can coll