didn't know when I was well off. If there'd only been some
good-hearted lad to advise me, I wouldn't be a-settin' here on a
hemp hawser, a blasted beachcombin' bucko mate and out of a job.
No, siree. I'd 'a' still been King Gibney, Mac, with power o'
life an' death over two thousand odd blackbirds, an' I'd 'a' had
a beautiful wife an' a dozen kids maybe, with pigs an' chickens
an' copra an' shell an' a big bungalow an' money. _That's_ what I
chucked away when I was young an' nobody to advise me."

McGuffey made no comment on Mr. Gibney's outburst. There are
moments in life when silence is the greatest sympathy one can
offer, and intuitively McGuffey felt that he was face to face
with a tragedy. When a shipmate's soul lay bare it was not for
the McGuffey to inspect it too closely.

"Yes, McGuffey, I was a king once. Some people might try to make
out as how I was only a chief, but you take it from me, Mac, I
was a king. I was King Gibney, the first, of Aranuka, in the
Gilberts, with the seat of government at Nonuti, which is a
blackbird village right under Hakatuea. No matter which way you
approach, you can't miss it. Hakatuea's a dead volcano, with
ashes on top and just enough fire inside to cast a glow against
the sky at night. There's a fair anchorage inside the reef, but
it takes a good man to land through the surf at high tide in a
whaleboat. I used to do it regular. Aranuka was a nice place,
with plenty of fresh water, and some of the Island schooners, and
once in a while a British gunboat would stop there. Gawd,
McGuffey, but when I was king, they used to pay dear for their
fresh water, except the gunboats, which of course came on and
helped themselves without askin' no questions of me and