the Court of Mervo."

Thus did Prince John formally enter into his kingdom.




CHAPTER V

MR. SCOBELL HAS ANOTHER IDEA


Owing to collaboration between Fate and Mr. Scobell, John's state entry
into Mervo was an interesting blend between a pageant and a vaudeville
sketch. The pageant idea was Mr. Scobell's. Fate supplied the
vaudeville.

The reception at the quay, when the little steamer that plied between
Marseilles and the island principality gave up its precious freight,
was not on quite so impressive a scale as might have been given to the
monarch of a more powerful kingdom; but John was not disappointed.
During the voyage from New York, in the intervals of seasickness--for
he was a poor sailor--Mr. Crump had supplied him with certain facts
about Mervo, one of which was that its adult population numbered just
under thirteen thousand, and this had prepared him for any shortcomings
in the way of popular demonstration.

As a matter of fact, Mr. Scobell was exceedingly pleased with the scale
of the reception, which to his mind amounted practically to pomp. The
Palace Guard, forty strong, lined the quay. Besides these, there were