deep and
shadowy ravine, where the people of the town many years ago cut out the
calcareous material for their houses. There has been no stone cut here
for a long time, and the walls of the ravine, which stand up as straight
as the wall of a house, are darkened by age and a good deal covered up
by vines. At the bottom, on each side of the pathway which runs through
the ravine to the town, bushes and plants of various semi-tropical kinds
grow thick and close. At the top of the flight of stairs are open fields
and an old fort. Altogether, this was considered a quiet and suitable
place for a meeting of a band of revolutionists. We could not have met
in the silk-cotton tree, for we should have attracted too much
attention, and, besides, the hotel-clerk would have routed us out.

CHAPTER XII.

RECTUS LOSES RANK.

After supper, Rectus and I went to see the African governor, Goliah
Brown. He was a good-natured old colored man, who lived in a house a
trifle better than most of those inhabited by his fellow-countrymen. The
main room was of a fair size, and there was a centre-table, with some
books on it.

When we saw this, we hesitated. Could we ask a man who owned books, and
could probably read, to play second fiddle to a woman who could not
speak the English language, and who for years, perhaps, had devoted the
energies of her soul to the sale of pepper-pods?

However, the office of prime minister was no trifle, and many more
distinguished and more learned men than Goliah Brown have been glad to
get it. Besides this, we considered that blood is blood, and, in
monarchical countries, a queen is a queen. This was a colony of a
monarchy, and we would push forward the claims of Poqua-dilla the First.
We called her "The First," because, although she may have had a good
many ancestors of her name in Africa, she certainly started the line in
the Bahamas.

Goliah proved himself a steady-going talker. He seemed pleased to have
us call on him, and told us the whole story of the capture of himself
and the rest of the Africans. We had heard pretty much all of it before,
but, of course, we had to politely listen to it again.

When he finished, we asked a few questions about the queen, and finding
that Goliah admitted her claims to royal blood, we told him what we
proposed to do, and boldly asked him to take the position of prime
minister in the African community.

At first, he did not understand, and we had to go over the