THE QUEEN OF THE PIRATE ISLE BY BRET HARTE ILLUSTRATED BY KATE GREENAWAY A FACSIMILE FROM THE ORIGINAL PUBLICATION OF 1885 [Illustration] UNIVERSAL BOOKS LTD, LONDON, ENGLAND Harte, Bret, 1836-1902. ISBN 0 86441 018 2. LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS PAGE MRS SMITH 7 POLLY 10 BEGGAR CHILD 12 SCHOOL MISTRESS 12 INDIAN MAIDEN 13 PROUD LADY 14 CHINESE JUNK 15 SWIMMING FOR HIS LIFE 16 A TENT 17 CAPTURE OF MERCHANTMAN 18 AT SUPPER 20 POLLY IN THE BRANCHES 23 PATSEY 25 SLUMGULLION 28 EACH OTHER'S HANDS 30 EDGE OF CLIFF 31 SLIDING DOWN HILL 32 PIG TAIL ROPE 34 FIREWORKS IN CAVE 37 LADY MARY'S HAIR GONE 39 INVISIBLE MEDICINE 42 CLAD IN DEEPEST MOURNING 44 BROTHER STEP-AND-FETCH-IT 48 WAN LEE 54 NOT ALWAYS PIRATES 56 POLLY BROUGHT HOME 58 ASLEEP WITH DOLL 60 [Illustration] THE QUEEN OF THE PIRATE ISLE. I first knew her as the Queen of the Pirate Isle. To the best of myrecollection she had no reasonable right to that title. She was onlynine years old, inclined to plumpness and good humour, deprecatedviolence and had never been to sea. Need it be added that she did_not_ live in an island and that her name was "Polly. " [Illustration] [Illustration] Perhaps I ought to explain that she had already known otherexperiences of a purely imaginative character. Part of her existencehad been passed as a Beggar Child--solely indicated by a shawltightly folded round her shoulders and chills, --as a Schoolmistress, unnecessarily severe; as a Preacher, singularly personal in hisremarks, and once, after reading one of Cooper's novels, as anIndian Maiden. This was, I believe, the only instance when she hadborrowed from another's fiction. Most of the characters that sheassumed for days and sometimes weeks at a time were purely originalin conception; some so much so as to be vague to the generalunderstanding. I remember that her personation of a certain Mrs. Smith, whose individuality was supposed to be sufficientlyrepresented by a sun-bonnet worn wrong side before and a weeklyaddition to her family, was never perfectly appreciated by her owncircle although she lived the character for a month. Anothercreation known as "The Proud Lady"--a being whose excessive andunreasonable haughtiness was so pronounced as to give her featuresthe expression of extreme nausea, caused her mother so much alarmthat it had to be abandoned. This was easily effected. The ProudLady was understood to have died. Indeed, most of Polly'simpersonations were got rid of in this way, although it by no meansprevented their subsequent reappearance. "I thought Mrs. Smith wasdead, " remonstrated her mother at the posthumous appearance of thatlady with a new infant. "She was buried alive and kem to!" saidPolly with a melancholy air. Fortunately, the representation of aresuscitated person required such extraordinary acting, and was, through some uncertainty of conception, so closely allied in facialexpression to the Proud Lady, that Mrs. Smith was resuscitated onlyfor a day. [Illustration] [Illustration] The origin of the title of the Queen of the Pirate Isle, may bebriefly stated as follows:-- An hour after luncheon, one day, Polly, Hickory Hunt, her cousin, and Wan Lee, a Chinese page, were crossing the nursery floor in aChinese junk. The sea was calm and the sky cloudless. Any change inthe weather was as unexpected as it is in books. Suddenly a WestIndian Hurricane, purely local in character and unfelt anywhereelse, struck Master Hickory and threw him overboard, whence, wildlyswimming for his life and carrying Polly on his back, he eventuallyreached a Desert Island in the closet. Here the rescued party put upa tent made of a table cloth providentially snatched from the ragingbillows, and from two o'clock until four, passed six weeks on theisland supported only by a piece of candle, a box of matches, andtwo peppermint lozenges. It was at this time that it becamenecessary to account for Polly's existence among them, and this wasonly effected by an alarming sacrifice of their morality; Hickoryand Wan Lee instantly became _Pirates_, and at once elected Polly astheir Queen. The royal duties, which seemed to be purely maternal, consisted in putting the Pirates to bed after a day of rapine andbloodshed, and in feeding them with liquorice water through a quillin a small bottle. Limited as her functions were, Polly performedthem with inimitable gravity and unquestioned sincerity. Even whenher companions sometimes hesitated from actual hunger or fatigue andforgot their guilty part, she never faltered. It was her _real_existence--her other life of being washed, dressed, and put to bedat certain hours by her mother was the _illusion_. [Illustration] [Illustration] [Illustration] Doubt and scepticism came at last, --and came from Wan Lee! Wan Leeof all creatures! Wan Lee, whose silent, stolid, mechanicalperformance of a Pirate's duties--a perfect imitation like all hishousehold work--had been their one delight and fascination! It was just after the exciting capture of a merchantman with theindiscriminate slaughter of all on board--a spectacle on which theround blue eyes of the plump Polly had gazed with royal and maternaltolerance, and they were burying the booty--two table spoons and athimble in the corner of the closet, when Wan Lee stolidly rose. [Illustration] "Melican boy pleenty foolee! Melican boy no Pilat!" said the littleChinaman, substituting "l's" for "r's" after his usual fashion. "Wotcher say?" said Hickory, reddening with sudden confusion. "Melican boy's papa heap lickee him--spose him leal Pilat, "continued Wan Lee, doggedly. "Melican boy Pilat _inside_ housee;Chinee boy Pilat _outside_ housee. First chop Pilat. " Staggered by this humiliating statement, Hickory recovered himselfin character. "Ah! Ho!" he shrieked, dancing wildly on one leg, "Mutiny and Splordinashun! Way with him to the yard arm. " "Yald alm--heap foolee! Allee same clothes hoss for washee washee. " It was here necessary for the Pirate Queen to assert her authority, which, as I have before stated was somewhat confusingly maternal. "Go to bed instantly without your supper, " she said, seriously. "Really, I never saw such bad pirates. Say your prayers, and seethat you're up early to church to-morrow. " It should be explainedthat in deference to Polly's proficiency as a preacher, and probablyas a relief to their uneasy consciences, Divine Service had alwaysbeen held on the Island. But Wan Lee continued:-- "Me no shabbee Pilat _inside_ housee; me shabbee Pilat _outside_housee. Spose you lun away longside Chinee boy--Chinee boy makee youPilat. " [Illustration] Hickory softly scratched his leg while a broad, bashful smile, almost closed his small eyes. "Wot!" he asked. "Mebbee you too frightened to lun away. Melican boy's papa heaplickee. " This last infamous suggestion fired the corsair's blood. "Dy'arthink we daresent, " said Hickory, desperately, but with an uneasyglance at Polly. "I'll show yer to-morrow. " The entrance of Polly's mother at this moment put an end to Polly'sauthority and dispersed the pirate band, but left Wan Lee's proposaland Hickory's rash acceptance ringing in the ears of the PirateQueen. That evening she was unusually silent. She would have takenBridget, her nurse, into her confidence, but this would haveinvolved a long explanation of her own feelings, from which, likeall imaginative children, she shrank. She, however, made preparationfor the proposed flight by settling in her mind which of her twodolls she would take. A wooden creature with easy going knees andmoveable hair seemed to be more fit for hard service and anyindiscriminate scalping that might turn up hereafter. At supper, shetimidly asked a question of Bridget. "Did ye ever hear the loikes uvthat, Ma'am, " said the Irish handmaid with affectionate pride, "Shure the darlint's head is filled noight and day with ancienthistory. She's after asking me now if Queen's ever run away!" ToPolly's remorseful confusion here her good father equally proud ofher precocious interest and his own knowledge, at once interferedwith an unintelligible account of the abdication of various Queensin history until Polly's head ached again. Well meant as it was, itonly settled in the child's mind that she must keep the awful secretto herself and that no one could understand her. [Illustration] The eventful day dawned without any unusual sign of importance. Itwas one of the cloudless summer days of the Californian foot hills, bright, dry, and as the morning advanced, hot in the white sunshine. The actual, prosaic house in which the Pirates apparently lived, wasa mile from a mining settlement on a beautiful ridge of pine woodssloping gently towards a valley on the one side, and on the otherfalling abruptly into a dark deep olive gulf of pine trees, rocks, and patches of red soil. Beautiful as the slope was, looking over tothe distant snow peaks which seemed to be in another world thantheirs, the children found a greater attraction in the fascinatingdepths of a mysterious gulf, or "cañon, " as it was called, whosevery name filled their ears with a weird music. To creep to the edgeof the cliff, to sit upon the brown branches of some fallen pine, and putting aside the dried tassels to look down upon the backs ofwheeling hawks that seemed to hang in mid-air was a never failingdelight. Here Polly would try to trace the winding red ribbon ofroad that was continually losing itself among the dense pines of theopposite mountains; here she would listen to the far off strokes ofa woodman's axe, or the rattle of some heavy waggon, miles away, crossing the pebbles of a dried up water course. Here, too, theprevailing colours of the mountains, red and white and green, mostshowed themselves. There were no frowning rocks to depress thechildren's fancy, but everywhere along the ridge pure white quartzbared itself through the red earth like smiling teeth, the verypebbles they played with were streaked with shining mica like bitsof looking-glass. The distance was always green and summer-like, butthe colour they most loved, and which was most familiar to them, wasthe dark red of the ground beneath their feet everywhere. It showeditself in the roadside bushes; its red dust pervaded the leaves ofthe overhanging laurel, it coloured their shoes and pinafores; I amafraid it was often seen in Indian like patches on their faces andhands. That it may have often given a sanguinary tone to theirfancies, I have every reason to believe. [Illustration] It was on this ridge that the three children gathered at ten o'clockthat morning. An earlier flight had been impossible on account ofWan Lee being obliged to perform his regular duty of blacking theshoes of Polly and Hickory before breakfast, --a menial act which inthe pure Republic of childhood was never thought inconsistent withthe loftiest piratical ambition. On the ridge they met one "Patsey, "the son of a neighbour, sun burned, broad-brimmed hatted, redhanded, like themselves. As there were afterwards some doubtsexpressed whether he joined the Pirates of his own free will, orwas captured by them, I endeavour to give the colloquy exactly as itoccurred:-- _Patsey. _ "Hallo, fellers. " _The Pirates. _ "Hello!" _Patsey. _ "Goin' to hunt bars? Dad seed a lot o' tracks at sun up. " _The Pirates_ (hesitating). "No--o--" _Patsey. _ "I am; know where I kin get a six-shooter. " _The Pirates_ (almost ready to abandon piracy for bear hunting, butpreserving their dignity). "Can't! We've runn'd away for realpirates. " _Patsey. _ "Not for good!" _The Queen_ (interposing with sad dignity and real tears in herround blue eyes). "Yes!" (slowly and shaking her head). "Can't goback again. Never! Never! Never! The--the--eye is cast!" _Patsey_ (bursting with excitement). "No'o! Sho'o! Wanter know. " _The Pirates_ (a little frightened themselves, but tremulous withgratified vanity). "The Perleese is on our track!" _Patsey. _ "Lemme go with yer!" _Hickory. _ "Wot'll yer giv?" _Patsey. _ "Pistol and er bananer. " _Hickory_ (with judicious prudence). "Let's see 'em. " Patsey was off like a shot; his bare little red feet trembling underhim. In a few minutes he returned with an old fashioned revolverknown as one of "Allen's pepper boxes" and a large banana. He was atonce enrolled and the banana eaten. As yet they had resolved on no definite nefarious plan. Hickorylooking down at Patsey's bare feet instantly took off his own shoes. The bold act sent a thrill through his companions. Wan Lee took offhis cloth leggings, Polly removed her shoes and stockings, but withroyal foresight, tied them up in her handkerchief. The last linkbetween them and civilization was broken. "Let's go to the Slumgullion. " [Illustration] "Slumgullion" was the name given by the miners to a certain soft, half-liquid mud, formed of the water and finely powdered earth thatwas carried off by the sluice boxes during gold washing, andeventually collected in a broad pool or lagoon before the outlet. There was a pool of this kind a quarter of a mile away, where therewere "diggings" worked by Patsey's father, and thither theyproceeded along the ridge in single file. When it was reached theysolemnly began to wade in its viscid paint-like shallows. Possiblyits unctuousness was pleasant to the touch; possibly there was afascination in the fact that their parents had forbidden them to gonear it, but probably the principal object of this performance wasto produce a thick coating of mud on the feet and ankles, which, when dried in the sun, was supposed to harden the skin and rendertheir shoes superfluous. It was also felt to be the first real steptowards independence; they looked down at their ensanguinedextremities and recognized the impossibility of their ever againcrossing (unwashed) the family threshold. Then they again hesitated. There was a manifest need of some welldefined piratical purpose. The last act was reckless andirretrievable, but it was vague. They gazed at each other. There wasa stolid look of resigned and superior tolerance in Wan Lee's eyes. Polly's glance wandered down the side of the slope to the distantlittle tunnels or openings made by the miners who were at work inthe bowels of the mountain. "I'd like to go into one of them funnyholes, " she said to herself, half aloud. Wan Lee suddenly began to blink his eyes with unwonted excitement. "Catchee tunnel--heap gold, " he said, quickly. "When manee comeoutside to catchee dinner--Pilats go inside catchee tunnel! Shabbee!Pilats catchee gold allee samee Melican man!" [Illustration] "And take perseshiun, " said Hickory. "And hoist the Pirate flag, " said Patsey. "And build a fire, and cook, and have a family, " said Polly. The idea was fascinating to the point of being irresistible. Theeyes of the four children became rounder and rounder. They seizedeach other's hands and swung them backwards and forwards, occasionally lifting their legs in a solemn rhythmic movement knownonly to childhood. "Its orful far off!" said Patsey, with a sudden look of darkimportance. "Pap sez its free miles on the road. Take all day terget there. " The bright faces were overcast. "Less go down er slide!" said Hickory, boldly. [Illustration] They approached the edge of the cliff. The "slide" was simply asharp incline zigzagging down the side of the mountain used forsliding goods and provisions from the summit to the tunnel men atthe different openings below. The continual traffic had graduallyworn a shallow gulley half filled with earth and gravel into theface of the mountain which checked the momentum of the goods intheir downward passage, but afforded no foothold for a pedestrian. No one had ever been known to descend a slide. That feat wasevidently reserved for the Pirate band. They approached the edge ofthe slide hand in hand, hesitated--and the next moment disappeared! [Illustration] * * * * * Five minutes later the tunnel men of the Excelsior mine, a milebelow, taking their luncheon on the rude platform of _débris_ beforetheir tunnel, were suddenly driven to shelter in the tunnel from anapparent rain of stones, and rocks, and pebbles, from the cliffsabove. Looking up, they were startled at seeing four round objectsrevolving and bounding in the dust of the slide, which eventuallyresolved themselves into three boys and a girl. For a moment thegood men held their breath in helpless terror. Twice, one of thechildren, had struck the outer edge of the bank and displaced stonesthat shot a thousand feet down into the dizzy depths of the valley!and now, one of them, the girl, had actually rolled out of the slideand was hanging over the chasm supported only by a clump of chimasalto which she clung! "Hang on by your eyelids, Sis! but don't stir for Heaven's sake!"shouted one of the men, as two others started on a hopeless ascentof the cliff above them. [Illustration] But a light childish laugh from the clinging little figure seemed tomock them! Then two small heads appeared at the edge of the slide;then a diminutive figure whose feet were apparently held by someinvisible companion, was shoved over the brink and stretched itstiny arms towards the girl. But in vain, the distance was too great. Another laugh of intense youthful enjoyment followed the failure, and a new insecurity was added to the situation by the unsteadyhands and shoulders of the relieving party who were apparentlyshaking with laughter. Then the extended figure was seen to detachwhat looked like a small black rope from its shoulders and throw itto the girl. There was another little giggle. The faces of the menbelow paled in terror. Then Polly--for it was she--hanging to thelong pig-tail of Wan Lee, was drawn with fits of laughter back insafety to the slide. Their childish treble of appreciation wasanswered by a ringing cheer from below. "Darned ef I ever want to cut off a Chinaman's pig-tail again, boys, " said one of the tunnel men as he went back to dinner. Meantime the children had reached the goal and stood before theopening of one of the tunnels. Then these four heroes who had lookedwith cheerful levity on the deadly peril of their descent becamesuddenly frightened at the mysterious darkness of the cavern andturned pale at its threshold. "Mebbee a wicked Joss backside holee, He catchee Pilats, " said WanLee, gravely. Hickory began to whimper, Patsey drew back, Polly alone stood herground, albeit with a trembling lip. "Let's say our prayers and frighten it away, " she said, stoutly. "No! No!" said Wan Lee, with sudden alarm. "No frighten Spillits!You waitee! Chinee boy he talkee Spillit not to frighten you. "[A] [Footnote A: The Chinese pray devoutly to the Evil Spirits _not_ toinjure them. ] Tucking his hands under his blue blouse, Wan Lee suddenly producedfrom some mysterious recess of his clothing a quantity of red paperslips which he scattered at the entrance of the cavern. Then drawingfrom the same inexhaustible receptacle certain squibs or fireworks, he let them off and threw them into the opening. There they went offwith a slight fizz and splutter, a momentary glittering of smallpoints in the darkness and a strong smell of gunpowder. Polly gazedat the spectacle with undisguised awe and fascination. Hickory andPatsey breathed hard with satisfaction; it was beyond their wildestdreams of mystery and romance. Even Wan Lee appeared transfiguredinto a superior being by the potency of his own spells. But anunaccountable disturbance of some kind in the dim interior of thetunnel quickly drew the blood from their blanched cheeks again. Itwas a sound like coughing followed by something like an oath. "He's made the Evil Spirit orful sick, " said Hickory, in a loudwhisper. A slight laugh that to the children seemed demoniacal, followed. "See, " said Wan Lee, "Evil Spillet be likee Chinee, try talkee him. " [Illustration] The Pirates looked at Wan Lee not without a certain envy of thismanifest favouritism. A fearful desire to continue their awfulexperiments, instead of pursuing their piratical avocations, wastaking possession of them; but Polly, with one of the swifttransitions of childhood, immediately began to extemporise a housefor the party at the mouth of the tunnel, and, with parentalforesight, gathered the fragments of the squibs to build a fire forsupper. That frugal meal consisting of half a ginger biscuit, divided into five small portions each served on a chip of wood, andhaving a deliciously mysterious flavour of gunpowder and smoke, wassoon over. It was necessary after this, that the Pirates should atonce seek repose after a day of adventure, which they did for thespace of forty seconds in singularly impossible attitudes and fartoo aggressive snoring. Indeed, Master Hickory's almost upright_pose_, with tightly folded arms, and darkly frowning brows was feltto be dramatic, but impossible for a longer period. The briefinterval enabled Polly to collect herself and to look around her inher usual motherly fashion. Suddenly she started and uttered a cry. In the excitement of the descent she had quite overlooked her doll, and was now regarding it with round-eyed horror! "Lady Mary's hair's gone!" she cried, convulsively grasping thePirate Hickory's legs. [Illustration] Hickory at once recognised the battered doll under the aristocratictitle which Polly had long ago bestowed upon it. He stared at thebald and battered head. "Ha! ha!" he said, hoarsely; "skelped by Injins!" For an instant the delicious suggestion soothed the imaginativePolly. But it was quickly dispelled by Wan Lee. "Lady Maley's pig-tail hangee top side hillee. Catchee on big quartzstone allee same Polly, me go fetchee. " "No!" quickly shrieked the others. The prospect of being left in theproximity of Wan Lee's evil spirit, without Wan Lee's exorcisingpower, was anything but reassuring. "No, don't go!" Even Polly(dropping a maternal tear on the bald head of Lady Mary) protestedagainst this breaking up of the little circle. "Go to bed, " shesaid, authoritatively, "and sleep until morning. " Thus admonished, the pirates again retired. This time effectively, for worn by actual fatigue or soothed by the delicious coolness ofthe cave, they gradually, one by one, succumbed to real slumber. Polly withheld from joining them, by official and maternalresponsibility sat and blinked at them affectionately. [Illustration] Gradually she, too, felt herself yielding to the fascination andmystery of the place and the solitude that encompassed her. Beyondthe pleasant shadows where she sat, she saw the great world ofmountain and valley through a dreamy haze that seemed to rise fromthe depths below and occasionally hang before the cavern like aveil. Long waves of spicy heat rolling up the mountain from thevalley brought her the smell of pine trees and bay and made thelandscape swim before her eyes. She could hear the far off cry ofteamsters on some unseen road; she could see the far off cloud ofdust following the mountain stage coach, whose rattling wheels shecould not hear. She felt very lonely, but was not quite afraid; shefelt very melancholy, but was not entirely sad. And she could haveeasily awakened her sleeping companions if she wished. [Illustration] No! She was a lone widow with nine children, six of whom werealready in the lone churchyard on the hill, and the others lying illwith measles and scarlet fever beside her. She had just walked manyweary miles that day, and had often begged from door to door for aslice of bread for the starving little ones. It was of no usenow--they would die! They would never see their dear mother again. This was a favourite imaginative situation of Polly's, but onlyindulged when her companions were asleep, partly because she couldnot trust confederates with her more serious fancies, and partlybecause they were at such times passive in her hands. She glancedtimidly round; satisfied that no one could observe her, she softlyvisited the bedside of each of her companions, and administered froma purely fictitious bottle spoonfuls of invisible medicine. Physicalcorrection in the form of slight taps, which they always required, and in which Polly was strong, was only withheld now from a sense oftheir weak condition. But in vain, they succumbed to the felldisease--(they always died at this juncture)--and Polly was leftalone. She thought of the little church where she had once seen afuneral, and remembered the nice smell of the flowers; she dweltwith melancholy satisfaction on the nine little tombstones in thegraveyard, each with an inscription, and looked forward with gentleanticipation to the long summer days when, with Lady Mary in herlap, she would sit on those graves clad in the deepest mourning. The fact that the unhappy victims at times moved as it were uneasilyin their graves or snored, did not affect Polly's imaginativecontemplation, nor withhold the tears that gathered in her roundeyes. [Illustration] Presently the lids of the round eyes began to droop, the landscapebeyond began to grow more confused, and sometimes to disappearentirely and reappear again with startling distinctness. Then asound of rippling water from the little stream that flowed from themouth of the tunnel soothed her and seemed to carry her away withit, and then everything was dark. The next thing she remembered was that she was apparently beingcarried along on some gliding object to the sound of rippling water. She was not alone, for her three companions were lying beside her, rather tightly packed and squeezed in the same mysterious vehicle. Even in the profound darkness that surrounded her, Polly could feeland hear that they were accompanied, and once or twice a faintstreak of light from the side of the tunnel showed her giganticshadows walking slowly on either side of the gliding car. She feltthe little hands of her associates seeking hers, and knew they wereawake and conscious, and she returned to each a reassuring pressurefrom the large protecting instinct of her maternal little heart. Presently the car glided into an open space of bright light, andstopped. The transition from the darkness of the tunnel at firstdazzled their eyes. It was like a dream. They were in a circular cavern from which three other tunnels likethe one they had passed through, diverged. The walls, lit up byfifty or sixty candles stuck at irregular intervals in crevices ofthe rock, were of glittering quartz and mica. But more remarkablethan all were the inmates of the cavern, who were ranged round thewalls; men, who like their attendants, seemed to be of extrastature; who had blackened faces, wore red bandanna handkerchiefsround their heads and their waists, and carried enormous knives andpistols stuck in their belts. On a raised platform made of a packingbox, on which was rudely painted a skull and cross bones, sat thechief or leader of the band covered with a buffalo robe; on eitherside of him were two small barrels marked "Grog" and "Gunpowder. "The children stared and clung closer to Polly. Yet, in spite ofthese desperate and warlike accessories, the strangers bore asingular resemblance to "Christy Minstrels" in their blackened facesand attitudes that somehow made them seem less awful. In particular, Polly was impressed with the fact that even the most ferocious had acertain kindliness of eye, and showed their teeth almostidiotically. "Welcome, " said the leader. "Welcome to the Pirate's Cave! The RedRover of the North Fork of the Stanislaus River salutes the Queen ofthe Pirate Isle!" He rose up and made an extraordinary bow. It wasrepeated by the others with more or less exaggeration to the pointof one humourist losing his balance! "O, thank you very much, " said Polly, timidly, but drawing herlittle flock closer to her with a small protecting arm; "but couldyou--would you--please--tell us--what time it is?" "We are approaching the Middle of Next Week, " said the leader, gravely; "but what of that? Time is made for slaves! The Red Roverseeks it not! Why should the Queen?" "I think we must be going, " hesitated Polly, yet by no meansdispleased with the recognition of her rank. "Not until we have paid homage to your Majesty, " returned theleader. "What ho! there! Let Brother Step-and-Fetch-It pass theQueen around that we may do her honour. " Observing that Polly shrankslightly back, he added: "Fear nothing, the man who hurts a hair ofHer Majesty's head, dies by this hand. Ah! ha!" [Illustration] The others all said, ha! ha! and danced alternately on one legand then on the other, but always with the same dark resemblanceto Christy Minstrels. Brother Step-and-Fetch-It, whose very longbeard had a confusing suggestion of being a part of the leader'sbuffalo robe, lifted her gently in his arms and carried her tothe Red Rovers in turn. Each one bestowed a kiss upon her cheekor forehead, and would have taken her in his arms, or on hisknees, or otherwise lingered over his salute, but they were sternlyrestrained by their leader. When the solemn rite was concluded, Step-and-Fetch-It paid his own courtesy with an extra squeeze ofthe curly head, and deposited her again in the truck--a littlefrightened, a little astonished, but with a considerable accessionto her dignity. Hickory and Patsey looked on with stupefiedamazement. Wan Lee alone remained stolid and unimpressed, regardingthe scene with calm and triangular eyes. "Will Your Majesty see the Red Rover's dance?" "No, if you please, " said Polly, with gentle seriousness. "Will Your Majesty fire this barrel of Gunpowder, or tap thisbreaker of Grog?" "No, I thank you. " "Is there no command Your Majesty would lay upon us?" "No, please, " said Polly, in a failing voice. "Is there anything Your Majesty has lost? Think again! Will YourMajesty deign to cast your royal eyes on this?" He drew from under his buffalo robe what seemed like a long tress ofblond hair, and held it aloft. Polly instantly recognized themissing scalp of her hapless doll. "If you please, Sir, it's Lady Mary's. She's lost it. " "And lost it--Your Majesty--only to find something more precious!Would Your Majesty hear the story?" A little alarmed, a little curious, a little self-anxious, and alittle induced by the nudges and pinches of her companions, theQueen blushingly signified her royal assent. "Enough. Bring refreshments. Will Your Majesty prefer winter-green, peppermint, rose, or accidulated drops? Red or white? Or perhapsYour Majesty will let me recommend these bull's eyes, " said theleader, as a collection of sweets in a hat were suddenly producedfrom the barrel labelled "Gunpowder" and handed to the children. "Listen, " he continued, in a silence broken only by the gentlesucking of bull's eyes. "Many years ago the old Red Rovers of theseparts locked up all their treasures in a secret cavern in thismountain. They used spells and magic to keep it from being enteredor found by anybody, for there was a certain mark upon it made by apeculiar rock that stuck out of it, which signified what there wasbelow. Long afterwards, other Red Rovers who had heard of it, camehere and spent days and days trying to discover it; digging holesand blasting tunnels like this, but of no use! Sometimes theythought they discovered the magic marks in the peculiar rock thatstuck out of it, but when they dug there they found no treasure. Andwhy? Because there was a magic spell upon it. And what was thatmagic spell? Why, this! It could only be discovered by a person whocould not possibly know that he or she had discovered it, who nevercould or would be able to enjoy it, who could never see it, neverfeel it, never, in fact know anything at all about it! It wasn't adead man, it wasn't an animal, it wasn't a baby!" "Why, " said Polly, jumping up and clapping her hands, "it was aDolly. " "Your Majesty's head is level! Your Majesty has guessed it!" saidthe leader, gravely. "It was Your Majesty's own dolly, Lady Mary, who broke the spell! When Your Majesty came down the slide, the dollfell from your gracious hand when your foot slipped. Your Majestyrecovered Lady Mary, but did not observe that her hair had caught ina peculiar rock, called the 'Outcrop, ' and remained behind! When, later on, while sitting with your attendants at the mouth of thetunnel, Your Majesty discovered that Lady Mary's hair was gone; Ioverheard Your Majesty, and despatched the trusty Step-and-Fetch-Itto seek it at the mountain side. He did so, and found it clinging tothe rock, and beneath it--the entrance to the Secret Cave!" Patsey and Hickory, who, failing to understand a word of thisexplanation, had given themselves up to the unconstrained enjoymentof the sweets, began now to apprehend that some change wasimpending, and prepared for the worst by hastily swallowing whatthey had in their mouths, thus defying enchantment, and gettingready for speech. Polly, who had closely followed the story, albeitwith the embellishments of her own imagination, made her eyesrounder than ever. A bland smile broke on Wan Lee's face, as, to thechildren's amazement, he quietly disengaged himself from the groupand stepped before the leader. "Melican man plenty foolee Melican chillern. No foolee China boy!China boy knowee you. _You_ no Led Lofer. _You_ no Pilat--you alleesame tunnel man--you Bob Johnson! Me shabbee you! You dressee upallee same as Led Lofer--but you Bob Johnson--allee same. My faderwashee washee for you. You no payee him. You owee him folty dolla!Me blingee you billee. You no payee billee! You say, 'Chalkee up, John. ' You say, 'Bimeby, John. ' But me no catchee folty dolla!" [Illustration] A roar of laughter followed, in which even the leader apparentlyforgot himself enough to join. But the next moment springing to hisfeet, he shouted, "Ho! ho! A traitor! Away with him to the deepestdungeon beneath the castle moat!" Hickory and Patsey began to whimper. But Polly, albeit with atremulous lip, stepped to the side of her little Pagan friend. "Don't you dare to touch him, " she said, with a shake of unexpecteddetermination in her little curly head; "if you do, I'll tell myfather, and he will slay you! All of you--there!" "Your father! Then you are _not_ the Queen!" It was a sore struggle to Polly to abdicate her royal position, itwas harder to do it with befitting dignity. To evade the directquestion she was obliged to abandon her defiant attitude. "If youplease, Sir, " she said, hurriedly, with an increasing colour and nostops, "we're not always pirates, you know, and Wan Lee is only ourboy what brushes my shoes in the morning, and runs of errands, andhe doesn't mean anything bad, Sir, and we'd like to take him backhome with us. " "Enough, " said the leader, changing his entire manner with the mostsudden and shameless inconsistency. "You shall go back together, andwoe betide the miscreant who would prevent it. What say youbrothers? What shall be his fate who dares to separate our nobleQueen from her faithful Chinese henchman?" "He shall die!" roared the others, with beaming cheerfulness. "And what say you--shall we see them home?" "We will!" roared the others. [Illustration] Before the children could fairly comprehend what had passed, theywere again lifted into the truck and began to glide back into thetunnel they had just quitted. But not again in darkness and silence;the entire band of Red Rovers accompanied them, illuminating thedark passage with the candles they had snatched from the walls. In afew moments they were at the entrance again. The great world laybeyond them once more with rocks and valleys suffused by the rosylight of the setting sun. The past seemed like a dream. But were they really awake now? They could not tell. They acceptedeverything with the confidence and credulity of all children whohave no experience to compare with their first impressions and towhom the future contains nothing impossible. It was withoutsurprise, therefore, that they felt themselves lifted on theshoulders of the men who were making quite a procession along thesteep trail towards the settlement again. Polly noticed that at themouth of the other tunnels they were greeted by men as if they werecarrying tidings of great joy; that they stopped to rejoicetogether, and that in some mysterious manner their conductors hadgot their faces washed, and had become more like beings of the outerworld. When they neared the settlement the excitement seemed tohave become greater; people rushed out to shake hands with the menwho were carrying them, and overpowered even the children withquestions they could not understand. Only one sentence Polly couldclearly remember as being the burden of all congratulations. "Struckthe old lead at last!" With a faint consciousness that she knewsomething about it, she tried to assume a dignified attitude on theleader's shoulders even while she was beginning to be heavy withsleep. [Illustration] And then she remembered a crowd near her father's house, out ofwhich her father came smiling pleasantly on her, but not interferingwith her triumphal progress until the leader finally deposited herin her mother's lap in their own sitting room. And then sheremembered being "cross" and declining to answer any questions, andshortly afterwards found herself comfortably in bed. Then she heardher mother say to her father:-- "It really seems too ridiculous for any thing, John, the idea ofthese grown men dressing themselves up to play with children. " "Ridiculous or not, " said her father, "these grown men of the'Excelsior' mine have just struck the famous old lode of RedMountain, which is as good as a fortune to everybody on the Ridge, and were as wild as boys! And they say it never would have beenfound if Polly hadn't tumbled over the slide directly on top of theoutcrop, and left the absurd wig of that wretched doll of hers tomark its site. " "And that, " murmured Polly sleepily to her doll as she drew itcloser to her breast, "is all that they know of it. " [Illustration]