bret harte-the queen of the pirate isle mobile

8/6/2019 Bret Harte-The Queen of the Pirate Isle Mobile

1/98

THE QUEEN OF THE

PIRATE ISLEBRET HARTE

1


2/98

An hour after luncheon, one day, Polly,Hickory Hunt, her cousin, and Wan Lee,a Chinese page, were crossing the nurseryfloor in a Chinese junk. The sea was calmand the sky cloudless. Any change in theweather was as unexpected as it is in books.Suddenly a West Indian Hurricane, purely

PDF created by pdfbooks.co.za

2


3/98

local in character and unfelt anywhere else,struck Master Hickory and threw him over-board, whence, wildly swimming for his lifeand carrying Polly on his back, he eventu-ally reached a Desert Island in the closet.Here the rescued party put up a tent madeof a table-cloth providentially snatched fromthe raging billows, and, from two oclockuntil four, passed six weeks on the island,

3


4/98

supported only by a piece of candle, a box ofmatches, and two peppermint lozenges. Itwas at this time that it became necessary toaccount for Pollys existence among them,and this was only effected by an alarmingsacrifice of their morality; Hickory and WanLee instantly became PIRATES, and at onceelected Polly as their Queen. The royal du-ties, which seemed to be purely maternal,

4


5/98

consisted in putting the Pirates to bed af-ter a day of rapine and bloodshed, and infeeding them with licorice water througha quill in a small bottle. Limited as herfunctions were, Polly performed them withinimitable gravity and unquestioned sincer-ity. Even when her companions sometimeshesitated from actual hunger or fatigue andforgot their guilty part, she never faltered.

5


6/98

It was her real existence; her other life ofbeing washed, dressed, and put to bed atcertain hours by her mother was the ILLU-SION.

Doubt and skepticism came at last,andcame from Wan Lee! Wan Lee of all crea-tures! Wan Lee, whose silent, stolid, me-chanical performance of a pirates dutiesa perfect imitation like all his household

6


7/98

workhad been their one delight and fas-cination!

It was just after the exciting captureof a merchantman, with the indiscriminateslaughter of all on board,a spectacle onwhich the round blue eyes of the plumpPolly had gazed with royal and maternaltolerance,and they were burying the b ooty,two tablespoons and a thimble, in the cor-

7


8/98

ner of the closet, when Wan Lee stolidlyrose.

Melican boy pleenty foolee! Melicanboy no Pilat! said the little Chinaman, sub-stituting ls for rs after his usual fash-ion.

Wotcher say? said Hickory, reddeningwith sudden confusion.

Melican boys papa heap lickee him8


9/98

spose him leal Pilat, continued Wan Leedoggedly. Melican boy Pilat INSIDE housee.Chinee boy Pilat OUTSIDE housee. Firstchop Pilat.

Staggered by this humiliating statement,Hickory recovered himself in character. Ah!Ho! he shrieked, dancing wildly on one leg,Mutiny and Splordinashun! Way with himto the yard-arm.

9


10/98

Yald-almheap foolee! Alee same clothes-horse for washee washee.

It was here necessary for the Pirate Queento assert her authority, which, as I have be-fore stated, was somewhat confusingly ma-ternal.

Go to bed instantly without your sup-per, she said seriously. Really, I neversaw such bad pirates. Say your prayers,

10


11/98

and see that youre up early to church to-morrow.

It should be explained that in deferenceto Pollys proficiency as a preacher, andprobably as a relief to their uneasy con-sciences, Divine Service had always beenheld on the Island. But Wan Lee continued:

Me no shabbee Pilat INSIDE housee;11


12/98

me shabbee Pilat OUTSIDE housee. Sposeyou lun away longside Chinee boyChineeboy make you Pilat.

Hickory softly scratched his leg; while abroad, bashful smile almost closed his smalleyes. Wot? he asked.

Mebbe you too flightened to lun away.Melican boys papa heap lickee.

This last infamous suggestion fired the12


13/98

corsairs blood. Dyar think we daresent?said Hickory desperately, but with an un-easy glance at Polly. Ill show yer to-morrow.

The entrance of Pollys mother at thismoment put an end to Pollys authority anddispersed the pirate band, but left Wan Leesproposal and Hickorys rash acceptance ring-ing in the ears of the Pirate Queen. Thatevening she was unusually silent. She would

13


14/98

have taken Bridget, her nurse, into her con-fidence, but this would have involved a longexplanation of her own feelings, from which,like all imaginative children, she shrank. She,however, made preparation for the proposedflight by settling in her mind which of hertwo dolls she would take. A wooden crea-ture with easy-going knees and movable hairseemed to be more fit for hard service and

14


15/98

any indiscriminate scalping that might turnup hereafter. At supper, she timidly askeda question of Bridget. Did ye ever hearthe loikes uv that, maam? said the Irishhandmaid with affectionate pride. Shurethe darlints head is filled noight and daywith ancient history. Shes after asking menow if Queens ever run away! To Pollysremorseful confusion here her good father,

15


16/98

equally proud of her precocious interest andhis own knowledge, at once interfered withan unintelligible account of the abdicationof various queens in history until Pollyshead ached again. Well meant as it was,it only settled in the childs mind that shemust keep the awful secret to herself andthat no one could understand her.

The eventful day dawned without any16


17/98

unusual sign of importance. It was one ofthe cloudless summer days of the Califor-nian foothills, bright, dry, and, as the morn-ing advanced, hot in the white sunshine.The actual, prosaic house in which the Pi-rates apparently lived was a mile from amining settlement on a beautiful ridge ofpine woods sloping gently towards a valleyon the one side, and on the other falling

17


18/98

abruptly into a dark deep olive gulf of pine-trees, rocks, and patches of red soil. Beauti-ful as the slope was, looking over to the dis-tant snow peaks which seemed to be in an-other world than theirs, the children founda greater attraction in the fascinating depthsof a mysterious gulf, or canyon, as it wascalled, whose very name filled their earswith a weird music. To creep to the edge

18


19/98

of the cliff, to sit upon the brown branchesof some fallen pine, and, putting aside thedried tassels, to look down upon the backsof wheeling hawks that seemed to hang inmid-air was a never-failing delight. HerePolly would try to trace the winding redribbon of road that was continually losingitself among the dense pines of the oppo-site mountains; here she would listen to the

19


20/98

far-off strokes of a woodmans axe, or therattle of some heavy wagon, miles away,crossing the pebbles of a dried-up water-course. Here, too, the prevailing colors ofthe mountains, red and white and green,most showed themselves. There were nofrowning rocks to depress the childrens fancy,but everywhere along the ridge pure whitequartz bared itself through the red earth

20


21/98

like smiling teeth; the very pebbles theyplayed with were streaked with shining micalike bits of looking-glass. The distance wasalways green and summer-like, but the colorthey most loved, and which was most famil-iar to them, was the dark red of the groundbeneath their feet everywhere. It showeditself in the roadside bushes; its red dustpervaded the leaves of the overhanging lau-

21


22/98

rel; it colored their shoes and pinafores; Iam afraid it was often seen in Indian-likepatches on their faces and hands. That itmay have often given a sanguinary tone totheir fancies I have every reason to believe.

It was on this ridge that the three chil-dren gathered at ten oclock that morning.An earlier flight had been impossible on ac-count of Wan Lee being obliged to perform

22


23/98

his regular duty of blacking the shoes ofPolly and Hickory before breakfast,a me-nial act which in the pure republic of child-hood was never thought inconsistent withthe loftiest piratical ambition. On the ridgethey met one Patsey, the son of a neigh-bor, sun-burned, broad- brimmed hatted,red-handed, like themselves. As there wereafterwards some doubts expressed whether

23


24/98

he joined the Pirates of his own free will, orwas captured by them, I endeavor to givethe colloquy exactly as it occurred:

Patsey: Hallo, fellers.The Pirates: Hello!Patsey: Goin to hunt bars? Dad seed

a lot o tracks at sun-up.The Pirates (hesitating): NooPatsey: I am; know where I kin get a

24


25/98

six-shooter?The Pirates (almost ready to abandon

piracy for bear-hunting, but preserving theirdignity): Cant! Weve runnd away forreal pirates.

Patsey: Not for good!The Queen (interposing with sad dig-

nity and real tears in her round blue eyes):Yes! (slowly and shaking her head). Cant

25


26/98

go back again. Never! Never! Never! Thetheeye is cast!

Patsey (bursting with excitement): No-o! Shoo! Wanter know.

The Pirates (a little frightened them-selves, but tremulous with gratified vanity):The Perleese is on our track!

Patsey: Lemme go with yer!Hickory: Wotll yer giv?

26


27/98

Patsey: Pistol and er bananer.Hickory (with judicious prudence): Lets

see em.Patsey was off like a shot; his bare lit-

tle red feet trembling under him. In a fewminutes he returned with an old-fashionedrevolver known as one of Allens pepper-boxes and a large banana. He was at onceenrolled, and the banana eaten.

27


28/98

As yet they had resolved on no definitenefarious plan. Hickory, looking down atPatseys bare feet, instantly took off his ownshoes. This bold act sent a thrill throughhis companions. Wan Lee took off his clothleggings, Polly removed her shoes and stock-ings, but, with royal foresight, tied them upin her handkerchief. The last link betweenthem and civilization was broken.

28


29/98

Lets go to the Slumgullion.Slumgullion was the name given by

the miners to a certain soft, half-liquid mud,formed of the water and finely powderedearth that was carried off by the sluice-boxesduring gold-washing, and eventually collectedin a broad pool or lagoon before the outlet.There was a pool of this kind a quarter ofa mile away, where there were diggings

29


30/98

worked by Patseys father, and thither theyproceeded along the ridge in single file. Whenit was reached they solemnly began to wadein its viscid paint-like shallows. Possiblyits unctuousness was pleasant to the touch;possibly there was a fascination in the factthat their parents had forbidden them togo near it, but probably the principal ob-ject of this performance was to produce a

30


31/98

thick coating of mud on the feet and an-kles, which, when dried in the sun, was sup-posed to harden the skin and render theirshoes superfluous. It was also felt to be thefirst real step towards independence; theylooked down at their ensanguined extremi-ties and recognized the impossibility of theirever again crossing (unwashed) the familythreshold.

31


32/98

Then they again hesitated. There wasa manifest need of some well-defined pirat-ical purpose. The last act was reckless andirretrievable, but it was vague. They gazedat each other. There was a stolid look of re-signed and superior tolerance in Wan Leeseyes.

Pollys glance wandered down the sideof the slope to the distant little tunnels or

32


33/98

openings made by the miners who were atwork in the bowels of the mountain. Idlike to go into one of them funny holes,she said to herself, half aloud.

Wan Lee suddenly began to blink hiseyes with unwonted excitement. Catcheetunnelheap gold, he said quickly. Whenmanee come outside to catchee dinnerPilatsgo inside catchee tunnel! Shabbee! Pilats

33


34/98

catchee gold allee samee Melican man!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. The eyes of the four chil-dren became rounder and rounder. Theyseized each others hands and swung them

34


35/98

backwards and forwards, occasionally lift-ing their legs in a solemn rhythmic move-ment known only to childhood.

Its orful far off! said Patsey with asudden look of dark importance. Pap saysits free miles on the road. Take all day terget there.

The bright faces were overcast.Less go down er slide! said Hickory

35


36/98

boldly.They approached the edge of the cliff.

The slide was simply a sharp incline zigzag-ging down the side of the mountain usedfor sliding goods and provisions from thesummit to the tunnel-men at the differentopenings below. The continual traffic hadgradually worn a shallow gully half filledwith earth and gravel into the face of the

36


37/98

mountain which checked the momentum ofthe goods in their downward passage, butafforded no foothold for a pedestrian. Noone had ever been known to descend a slide.That feat was evidently reserved for the Pi-rate band. They approached the edge ofthe slide, hand in hand, hesitated, and thenext moment disappeared.

Five minutes later the tunnel-men of the37


38/98

Excelsior mine, a mile below, taking theirluncheon on the rude platform of debris be-fore their tunnel, were suddenly driven toshelter in the tunnel from an apparent rainof stones, and rocks, and pebbles, from thecliffs above. Looking up, they were star-tled at seeing four round objects revolv-ing and bounding in the dust of the slide,which eventually resolved themselves into

38


39/98

three boys and a girl. For a moment thegood men held their breath in helpless ter-ror. Twice one of the children had struckthe outer edge of the bank, and displacedstones that shot a thousand feet down intothe dizzy depths of the valley; and now oneof them, the girl, had actually rolled out ofthe slide and was hanging over the chasmsupported only by a clump of chamisal to

39


40/98

which she clung!Hang on by your eyelids, sis! but dont

stir, for Heavens sake! shouted one of themen, as two others started on a hopelessascent of the cliff above them.

But a light childish laugh from the cling-ing little figure seemed to mock them! Thentwo small heads appeared at the edge ofthe slide; then a diminutive figure, whose

40


41/98

feet were apparently held by some invisi-ble companion, was shoved over the brinkand stretched its tiny arms towards the girl.But in vain, the distance was too great. An-other laugh of intense youthful enjoymentfollowed the failure, and a new insecuritywas added to the situation by the unsteadyhands and shoulders of the relieving party,who were apparently shaking with laugh-

41


42/98

ter. Then the extended figure was seen todetach what looked like a small black ropefrom its shoulders and throw it to the girl.There was another little giggle. The faces ofthe men below paled in terror. Then Polly,for it was she,hanging to the long pigtailof Wan Lee, was drawn with fits of laugh-ter back in safety to the slide. Their child-ish treble of appreciation was answered by

42


43/98

a ringing cheer from below.Darned ef I ever want to cut off a Chi-

namans pigtail again, boys, said one ofthe tunnel-men as he went back to dinner.

Meantime the children had reached thegoal and stood before the opening of oneof the tunnels. Then these four heroes whohad looked with cheerful levity on the deadlyperil of their descent became suddenly fright-

43


44/98

ened at the mysterious darkness of the cav-ern and turned pale at its threshold.

Mebbee a wicked Joss backside holee,he catchee Pilats, said Wan Lee gravely.

Hickory began to whimper, Patsey drewback, Polly alone stood her ground, albeitwith a trembling lip.

Lets say our prayers and frighten itaway, she said stoutly.

44


45/98

No! no! said Wan Lee, with a suddenalarm. No frighten Spillits! You waitee!Chinee boy he talkee Spillit not to frightenyou.

The Chinese pray devoutly to the EvilSpirits NOT to injure them.

Tucking his hands under his blue blouse,Wan Lee suddenly produced from some mys-terious recess of his clothing a quantity of

45


46/98

red paper slips which he scattered at theentrance of the cavern. Then drawing fromthe same inexhaustible receptacle certainsquibs or fireworks, he let them off and threwthem into the opening. There they went offwith a slight fizz and splutter, a momentaryglittering of small points in the darkness,and a strong smell of gunpowder. Pollygazed at the spectacle with undisguised awe

46


47/98

and fascination. Hickory and Patsey breathedhard with satisfaction: it was beyond theirwildest dreams of mystery and romance. EvenWan Lee appeared transfigured into a supe-rior being by the potency of his own spells.But an unaccountable disturbance of somekind in the dim interior of the tunnel quicklydrew the blood from their blanched cheeksagain. It was a sound like coughing, fol-

47


48/98

lowed by something like an oath.Hes made the Evil Spirit orful sick,

said Hickory in a loud whisper.A slight laugh, that to the children seemed

demoniacal, followed.See! said Wan Lee. Evil Spillet he

likee Chinee; try talkee him.The Pirates looked at Wan Lee, not with-

out a certain envy of this manifest favoritism.48


49/98

A fearful desire to continue their awful ex-periments, instead of pursuing their pirati-cal avocations, was taking possession of them;but Polly, with one of the swift transitionsof childhood, immediately began to extem-porize a house for the party at the mouthof the tunnel, and, with parental foresight,gathered the fragments of the squibs to builda fire for supper. That frugal meal, con-

49


50/98

sisting of half a ginger biscuit divided intofive small portions, each served on a chip ofwood, and having a deliciously mysteriousflavor of gunpowder and smoke, was soonover. It was necessary after this that the pi-rates should at once seek repose after a dayof adventure, which they did for the spaceof forty seconds in singularly impossible at-titudes and far too aggressive snoring. In-

50


51/98

deed, Master Hickorys almost upright pose,with tightly folded arms and darkly frown-ing brows, was felt to be dramatic, but im-possible for a longer period. The brief in-terval enabled Polly to collect herself andto look around her in her usual motherlyfashion. Suddenly she started and uttereda cry. In the excitement of the descent shehad quite overlooked her doll, and was now

51


52/98

regarding it with round-eyed horror.Lady Marys hairs gone! she cried,

convulsively grasping the Pirate Hickoryslegs.

Hickory at once recognized the battereddoll under the aristocratic title which Pollyhad long ago bestowed upon it. He staredat the bald and battered head.

Ha! ha! he said hoarsely; skelped by52


53/98

Injins!For an instant the delicious suggestion

soothed the imaginative Polly. But it wasquickly dispelled by Wan Lee.

Lady Maleys pigtail hangee top sidehillee. Catchee on big quartz stone alleesame Polly; me go fetchee.

No! quickly shrieked the others. Theprospect of being left in the proximity of

53


54/98

Wan Lees evil spirit, without Wan Leesexorcising power, was anything but reassur-ing. No, dont go! Even Polly (droppinga maternal tear on the bald head of LadyMary) protested against this breaking upof the little circle. Go to bed! she saidauthoritatively, and sleep till morning.

Thus admonished, the Pirates again re-tired. This time effectively; for, worn by

54


55/98

actual fatigue or soothed by the deliciouscoolness of the cave, they gradually, oneby one, succumbed to real slumber. Polly,withheld from joining them by official andmaternal responsibility, sat and blinked atthem affectionately.

Gradually she, too, felt herself yieldingto the fascination and mystery of the placeand the solitude that encompassed her. Be-

55


56/98

yond the pleasant shadows where she sat,she saw the great world of mountain andvalley through a dreamy haze that seemedto rise from the depths below and occasion-ally hang before the cavern like a veil. Longwaves of spicy heat rolling up the moun-tain from the valley brought her the smellof pine-trees and bay, and made the land-scape swim before her eyes. She could hear

56


57/98

the far-off cry of teamsters on some unseenroad; she could see the far-off cloud of dustfollowing the mountain stagecoach, whoserattling wheels she could not hear. She feltvery lonely, but was not quite afraid; shefelt very melancholy, but was not entirelysad; and she could have easily awakened hersleeping companions if she wished.

No; she was a lone widow with nine chil-57


58/98

dren, six of whom were already in the lonechurchyard on the hill, and the others ly-ing ill with measles and scarlet fever besideher. She had just walked many weary milesthat day, and had often begged from doorto door for a slice of bread for the starv-ing little ones. It was of no use nowtheywould die! They would never see their dearmother again. This was a favorite imagina-

58


59/98

tive situation of Pollys, but only indulgedwhen her companions were asleep, partlybecause she could not trust confederates withher more serious fancies, and partly becausethey were at such times passive in her hands.She glanced timidly around. Satisfied thatno one could observe her, she softly visitedthe bedside of each of her companions, andadministered from a purely fictitious bot-

59


60/98

tle spoonfuls of invisible medicine. Phys-ical correction in the form of slight taps,which they always required, and in whichPolly was strong, was only withheld nowfrom a sense of their weak condition. Butin vain; they succumbed to the fell disease,they always died at this juncture,and Pollywas left alone. She thought of the littlechurch where she had once seen a funeral,

60


61/98

and remembered the nice smell of the flow-ers; she dwelt with melancholy satisfactionof the nine little tombstones in the grave-yard, each with an inscription, and lookedforward with gentle anticipation to the longsummer days when, with Lady Mary in herlap, she would sit on those graves clad in thedeepest mourning. The fact that the un-happy victims at times moved as it were un-

61


62/98

easily in their graves, or snored, did not af-fect Pollys imaginative contemplation, norwithhold the tears that gathered in her roundeyes.

Presently, the lids of the round eyes be-gan to droop, the landscape beyond beganto be more confused, and sometimes to dis-appear entirely and reappear again with startlingdistinctness. Then a sound of rippling wa-

62


63/98

ter from the little stream that flowed fromthe mouth of the tunnel soothed her andseemed to carry her away with it, and theneverything was dark.

The next thing that she remembered wasthat she was apparently being carried alongon some gliding object to the sound of rip-pling water. She was not alone, for herthree companions were lying beside her, rather

63


64/98

tightly packed and squeezed in the samemysterious vehicle. Even in the profounddarkness that surrounded her, Polly couldfeel and hear that they were accompanied,and once or twice a faint streak of light fromthe side of the tunnel showed her gigan-tic shadows walking slowly on either sideof the gliding car. She felt the little handsof her associates seeking hers, and knew

64


65/98

they were awake and conscious, and she re-turned to each a reassuring pressure fromthe large protecting instinct of her maternallittle heart. Presently the car glided intoan open space of bright light, and stopped.The transition from the darkness of the tun-nel at first dazzled their eyes. It was like adream.

They were in a circular cavern from which65


66/98

three other tunnels, like the one they hadpassed through, diverged. The walls, lit upby fifty or sixty candles stuck at irregularintervals in crevices of the rock, were of glit-tering quartz and mica. But more remark-able than all were the inmates of the cav-ern, who were ranged round the walls,menwho, like their attendants, seemed to beof extra stature; who had blackened faces,

66


67/98

wore red bandana handkerchiefs round theirheads and their waists, and carried enor-mous knives and pistols stuck in their belts.On a raised platform made of a packing-boxon which was rudely painted a skull andcross-bones, sat the chief or leader of theband covered with a buffalo robe; on eitherside of him were two small barrels markedGrog and Gunpowder. The children stared

67


68/98

and clung closer to Polly. Yet, in spiteof these desperate and warlike accessories,the strangers bore a singular resemblance toChristy Minstrels in their blackened facesand attitudes that somehow made them seemless awful. In particular, Polly was impressedwith the fact that even the most ferocioushad a certain kindliness of eye, and showedtheir teeth almost idiotically.

68


69/98

Welcome! said the leader,welcometo the Pirates Cave! The Red Rover of theNorth Fork of the Stanislaus River salutesthe Queen of the Pirate Isle! He rose upand made an extraordinary bow. It wasrepeated by the others with more or lessexaggeration, to the point of one humoristlosing his balance!

Oh, thank you very much, said Polly69


70/98

timidly, but drawing her little flock closer toher with a small protecting arm; but couldyouwould youpleasetell uswhat time itis?

We are approaching the middle of NextWeek, said the leader gravely; but whatof that? Time is made for slaves! TheRed Rover seeks it not! Why should theQueen?

70


71/98

I think we must be going, hesitatedPolly, yet by no means displeased with therecognition of her rank.

Not until we have paid homage to YourMajesty, returned the leader. What ho!there! Let Brother Step-and-Fetch-It passthe Queen around that we may do her honor.Observing that Polly shrank slightly back,he added: Fear nothing; the man who hurts

71


72/98

a hair of Her Majestys head dies by thishand. Ah! ha!

The others all said ha! ha! and dancedalternately on one leg and then on the other,but always with the same dark resemblanceto Christy Minstrels. Brother Step-and-Fetch-It, whose very long beard had a confusingsuggestion of being a part of the leadersbuffalo robe, lifted her gently in his arms

72


73/98

and carried her to the Red Rovers in turn.Each one bestowed a kiss upon her cheek orforehead, and would have taken her in hisarms, or on his knees, or otherwise lingeredover his salute, but they were sternly re-strained by their leader. When the solemnrite was concluded, Step-and-Fetch-It paidhis own courtesy with an extra squeeze ofthe curly head, and deposited her again in

73


74/98

the truck, a little frightened, a little aston-ished, but with a considerable accession toher dignity. Hickory and Patsey looked onwith stupefied amazement. Wan Lee aloneremained stolid and unimpressed, regardingthe scene with calm and triangular eyes.

Will Your Majesty see the Red Roversdance?

No, if you please, said Polly, with gen-74


75/98

tle seriousness.Will Your Majesty fire this barrel of

gunpowder, or tap this breaker 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 Your Majesty deign to75


76/98

cast your royal eyes on this?He drew from under his buffalo robe what

seemed like a long tress of blond hair, andheld it aloft. Polly instantly recognized themissing scalp of her hapless doll.

If you please, sir, its Lady Marys. Sheslost it.

And lost itYour Majestyonly to findsomething more precious. Would Your Majesty

76


77/98

hear the story?A little alarmed, a little curious, a lit-

tle self-anxious, and a little induced by thenudges and pinches of her companions, theQueen blushingly signified her royal assent.

Enough. Bring refreshments. Will YourMajesty prefer wintergreen, peppermint, rose,or acidulated drops? Red or white? Orperhaps Your Majesty will let me recom-

77


78/98

mend these bulls-eyes, said the leader, asa collection of sweets in a hat were suddenlyproduced from the barrel labeled Gunpow-der and handed to the children.

Listen, he continued, in a silence bro-ken only by the gentle sucking of bulls-eyes. Many years ago the old Red Roversof these parts locked up all their treasuresin a secret cavern in this mountain. They

78


79/98

used spells and magic to keep it from beingentered or found by anybody, for there wasa certain mark upon it made by a peculiarrock that stuck out of it, which signifiedwhat there was below. Long afterwards,other Red Rovers who had heard of it camehere and spent days and days trying to dis-cover it, digging holes and blasting tunnelslike this, but of no use! Sometimes they

79


80/98

thought they discovered the magic marks inthe peculiar rock that stuck out of it, butwhen they dug there they found no trea-sure. And why? Because there was a magicspell upon it. And what was that magicspell? Why, this! It could only be discov-ered by a person who could not possiblyknow that he or she had discovered it; whonever could or would be able to enjoy it;

80


81/98

who could never see it, never feel it, never,in fact, know anything at all about it! Itwasnt a dead man, it wasnt an animal, itwasnt a baby!

Why, said Polly, jumping up and clap-ping her hands, it was a Dolly.

Your Majestys head is level! Your Majestyhas guessed it! said the leader, gravely. Itwas Your Majestys own dolly, Lady Mary,

81


82/98

who broke the spell! When Your Majestycame down the slide, the doll fell from yourgracious hand when your foot slipped. YourMajesty recovered Lady Mary, but did notobserve that her hair had caught in a pe-culiar rock, called the Outcrop, and re-mained behind! When, later on, while sit-ting with your attendants at the mouth ofthe tunnel, Your Majesty discovered that

82


83/98

Lady Marys hair was gone, I overheard YourMajesty, and dispatched the trusty Step-and-Fetch-It to seek it at the mountain side.He did so, and found it clinging to the rock,and beneath itthe entrance to the SecretCave!

Patsey and Hickory, who, failing to un-derstand a word of this explanation, hadgiven themselves up to the unconstrained

83


84/98

enjoyment of the sweets, began now to ap-prehend that some change was impending,and prepared for the worst by hastily swal-lowing what they had in their mouths, thusdefying enchantment, and getting ready forspeech. Polly, who had closely followed thestory, albeit with the embellishments of herown imagination, made her eyes rounderthan ever. A bland smile broke on Wan

84


85/98

Lees face, as to the childrens amazement,he quietly disengaged himself from the groupand stepped before the leader.

Melican man plenty foolee Melican chillern.No foolee China boy! China boy knoweeyou. YOU no Led Lofer. YOU no Pilatyou allee same tunnel-manyou Bob John-son! Me shabbee you! You dressee up alleesame as Led Loferbut you Bob Johnson

85


86/98

allee same. My fader washee washee foryou. You no payee him. You owee himfolty dolla! Me blingee you billee. You nopayee billee! You say, Chalkee up, John.You say, Bimeby, John. But me no catcheefolty dolla!

A roar of laughter followed, in whicheven the leader apparently forgot himselfenough to join. But the next moment spring-

86


87/98

ing to his feet he shouted, Ho! ho! Atraitor! Away with him to the deepest dun-geon beneath the castle moat!

Hickory and Patsey began to whimper,but Polly, albeit with a tremulous lip, steppedto the side of her little Pagan friend. Dontyou dare touch him, she said with a shakeof unexpected determination in her littlecurly head; if you do, Ill tell my father,

87


88/98

and he will slay you! All of youthere!Your father! Then you are NOT the

Queen!It was a sore struggle to Polly to abdi-

cate her royal position; it was harder to doit with befitting dignity. To evade the directquestion she was obliged to abandon her de-fiant attitude. If you please, sir, she saidhurriedly, with an increasing color and no

88


89/98

stops, were not always Pirates, you know,and Wan Lee is only our boy what brushesmy shoes in the morning, and runs of er-rands, and he doesnt mean anything bad,sir, and wed like to take him back homewith us.

Enough, said the leader, changing hisentire manner with the most sudden andshameless inconsistency. You shall go back

89


90/98

together, and woe betide the miscreant whowould prevent it! What say you, brothers?What shall be his fate who dares to separateour noble Queen from her faithful Chinesehenchman?

He shall die! roared the others, withbeaming cheerfulness.

And what say youshall we see themhome?

90


91/98

We will! roared the others.Before the children could fairly compre-

hend what had passed, they were again liftedinto the truck and began to glide back intothe tunnel they had just quitted. But notagain in darkness and silence; the entireband of Red rovers accompanied them, illu-minating the dark passage with the candlesthey had snatched from the walls. In a few

91


92/98

moments they were at the entrance again.The great world lay beyond them once morewith rocks and valleys suffused by the rosylight of the setting sun. The past seemedlike a dream.

But were they really awake now? Theycould not tell. They accepted everythingwith the confidence and credulity of all chil-dren who have no experience to compare

92


93/98

with their first impressions and to whomthe future contains nothing impossible. Itwas without surprise, therefore, that theyfelt themselves lifted on the shoulders of themen who were making quite a processionalong the steep trail towards the settlementagain. Polly noticed that at the mouth ofthe other tunnels they were greeted by menas if they were carrying tidings of great joy;

93


94/98

that they stopped to rejoice together, andthat in some mysterious manner their con-ductors had got their faces washed, and hadbecome more like beings of the outer world.When they neared the settlement the ex-citement seemed to have become greater;people rushed out to shake hands with themen who were carrying them, and overpow-ered even the children with questions they

94


95/98

could not understand. Only one sentencePolly could clearly remember as being theburden of all congratulations. Struck theold lead at last! With a faint conscious-ness that she knew something about it, shetried to assume a dignified attitude on theleaders shoulders, even while she was be-ginning to be heavy with sleep.

And then she remembered a crowd near95


96/98

her fathers house, out of which her fathercame smiling pleasantly on her, but not in-terfering with her triumphal progress un-til the leader finally deposited her in hermothers lap in their own sitting-room. Andthen she remembered being cross, and de-clining to answer any questions, and shortlyafterwards found herself comfortably in bed.Then she heard her mother say to her father:

96


97/98

It really seems too ridiculous for any-thing, John; the idea of those grown mendressing themselves up to play with chil-dren.

Ridiculous or not, said her father, thesegrown men of the Excelsior mine have juststruck the famous old lode of Red Moun-tain, which is as good as a fortune to ev-

97


98/98

erybody on the Ridge, and were as wild asboys! And they say it never would havebeen found if Polly hadnt tumbled over theslide directly on top of the outcrop, and leftthe absurd wig of that wretched doll of hersto mark its site.

And that, murmured Polly sleepily toher doll as she drew it closer to her breast,is all that they know of it.

98

bret harte-the queen of the pirate isle mobile

Documents