'em in the dark.

"But her majesty thought they was lovely, and set and grinned proud at
'em for hours at a stretch. And the wizards was untied and fed up and
given the best house in town to live in. And Cap'n George and Julius and
the cook got to feeling so cheerful and happy that they begun to kick
Rosy again, just out of habit. And so it went on for three days.

"Then comes the Kanaka interpreter--grinning kind of foolish.

"'Cappy,' says he, 'queen, she likes you. She likes you much lot.'

"'Well,' says the skipper, modest, 'she'd ought to. She don't see a man
like me every day. She ain't the first woman,' he says.

"'She like all you gentlemen,' says the Kanaka. 'She say she want witch
husband. One of you got marry her."

"'HEY?' yells all hands, setting up.

"'Yes, sir. She no care which one, but one white man must marry her
to-morrow. Else we all go chop plenty quick.'

"'Chop' is Kanaka English for 'eat.' There wa'n't no need for the boy to
explain.

"Then there was times. They come pretty nigh to a fight, because Teunis
and Jule argued that the skipper, being such a ladies' man, was the
natural-born choice. Just as things was the warmest; Cap'n George had an
idea.