wim down, down for more shells. I was King of the great
out-of-doors; a reincarnated primordial monster, holding high carnival
with the elements!

Smilax, having come in search of me and seeing my head far from shore,
followed at once. It was then, as he approached, that I received my
first disillusionment of being king by the right of muscle, because he
sped through the water as an oiled torpedo, putting to shame my skill
that had been somewhat thought of in the Athletic Club tank at home.
Almost immediately followed my second jolt, as he glanced over his
shoulder, saying:

"Lookout, maybe whole lot shark!"

King or no king, I went shoreward like a scared cat. Anyone could have
had my crown then for the mere trouble of picking it up. Curiously,
there flashed into my mind a game I used to play as a youngster:
What-Would-You-Rather-Be-Eaten-Up-By! We boys would pompously answer
lions, puffing ourselves out bravely and pretending we didn't care, but
I remembered one little girl who aroused our contemptuous laughter by
answering "goldfish." And now, after all these years, for the first time
I found myself marveling at her sagacity. Indeed, she was off and on in
my thoughts until I had clothed myself in dry garments and partaken of
a grown man's breakfast; after which I dropped into a state of
retrospective contentment, divided between the annoyances that beset
kings, Azurian princesses, and the culinary skill of Smilax.

That ebony giant of strength was not aware of my mission here, nor,
indeed, of anything that had passed aboard the _Whim_, so when he had
cleaned the dishes I lit my pipe and called to him. It seemed but fair
that he should know the dangers of our expedition before joining it. His
perception was quicker than his speech, and more than once he
anticipated my narrative with some word suitable to its climax.

"We get lady," he said, at last.

"After a while," I corrected. "Just now we're to see where she is, how
she's guarded, and how many guards there are. But we're not to start
anything till the others get back. You don't happen to know this
country, I suppose?"

"Not right here; but two day walk there," he pointed a little east of
north, "yes, good. Mother live with Seminole one time, over there."

"I thought you were from Jamaica," I said; for, indeed, we had got that
impression.

"No, me nigger raised by Seminoles. Been to Jamaica on ship, heap time."

"Then you speak Seminole?"

"Some," he