onder. On one side were crowded all the Messenwah warriors, unarmed,
and as silent and disturbed as the Opekians. In the middle of the
plaza some twenty sailors were busy rearing and bracing a tall
flag-staff that they had shaped from a royal palm, and they did this as
unconcernedly and as contemptuously, and with as much indifference to
the strange groups on either side of them, as though they were working
on a barren coast, with nothing but the startled sea-gulls about them.
As Albert and Stedman came upon the scene, the flag-pole was in place,
and the halyards hung from it with a little bundle of bunting at the
end of one of them.

"We must find the King at once," said Gordon. He was terribly excited
and angry. "It is easy enough to see what this means. They are going
through the form of annexing this island to the other lands of the
German Government. They are robbing old Ollypybus of what is his.
They have not even given him a silver watch for it."

The King was in his bungalow, facing the plaza. Messenwah was with
him, and an equal number of each of their councils. The common danger
had made them lie down together in peace; but they gave a murmur of
relief as Gordon strode into the room with no ceremony, and greeted
them with a curt wave of the hand.

"Now then, Stedman, be quick," he said. "Explain to them what this
means; tell them that I will protect them; that I am anxious to see
that Ollypybus is not cheated; that we will do all we can for them."

Outside, on the shore, a second boat's crew had landed a group of
officers and a file of marines. They walked in all the dignity of full
dress across the plaza to the flag-pole, and formed in line on the
three sides of it, with the marines facing the sea. The officers, from
the captain with a prayer-book in his hand, to the youngest middy, were
as indifferent to the frightened natives about them as the other men
had been. The natives, awed and afraid, crouched back among their
huts, the marines and the sailors kept their eyes front, and the German
captain opened his prayer-book. The debate in the bungalow was over.

"If you only had your uniform, sir," said Bradley, Sr., miserably.

"This is a little bit too serious for uniforms and bicycle medals,"
said Gordon. "And these men are used to gold lace."

He pushed his way through the natives, and stepped confidently across
the plaza. The youngest middy saw him coming, and nudged the one next
him w