"No matter, lad; you're an ammytoor first mate, an' pr'aps a poet may
count for somethin' here. They lead poetical lives and are fond o'
poetry."

"Perhaps that accounts for the fondness you say they have for you,
father."

"Just so, lad. See!--there's a boat puttin' off already: the king, no
doubt."

He was right. Mr. Ross, the appointed governor, and "King of the Cocos
Islands," was soon on deck, heartily shaking hands with and welcoming
Captain Roy as an old friend. He carried him and his son off at once to
breakfast in his island-home; introduced Nigel to his family, and then
showed them round the settlement, assuring them at the same time that
all its resources were at their disposal for the repair of the
_Sunshine_.

"Thank 'ee kindly," said the captain in reply, "but I'll only ask for a
stick to rig up a foretop-mast to carry us to Batavia, where we'll give
the old craft a regular overhaul--for it's just possible she may have
received some damage below the water-line, wi' bumpin' on the mast and
yards."

The house of the "King" was a commodious, comfortable building in the
midst of a garden, in which there were roses in great profusion, as well
as fruit-trees and flowering shrubs. Each Keeling family possessed a
neat well-furnished plank cottage enclosed in a little garden, besides a
boat-house at the water-edge on the inner or lagoon side of the reef,