He pushed his way through the natives, and stepped confidently across the plaza. The youngest middy saw him coming, and nudged the one next him with his elbow, and he nudged the next, but none of the officers moved, because the captain had begun to read. “One minute, please,” called Gordon. He stepped out into the hollow square formed by the marines, and raised his helmet to the captain. “Do you speak English or French?” Gordon said in French; “I do not understand German.” The captain lowered the book in his hands and gazed reflectively at Gordon through his spectacles, and made no reply. “If I understand this,” said the younger man, trying to be very impressive and polite, “you are laying claim to this land, in behalf of the German government.” The captain continued to observe him thoughtfully, and then said, “That iss so,” and then asked, “Who are you?” “I represent the King of this island, Ollypybus, whose people you see around you. I also represent the United States government that does not tolerate a foreign power near her coast, since the days of President Monroe and before. The treaty you have made with Messenwah is an absurdity. There is only one king with whom to treat, and he--” The captain turned to one of his officers and said something, and then, after giving another curious glance at Gordon, raised his book and continued reading, in a deep, unruffled monotone. The officer whispered an order, and two of the marines stepped out of line, and dropping the muzzles of their muskets, pushed Gordon back out of the enclosure, and left him there with his lips white, and trembling all over with indignation. He would have liked to have rushed back into the lines and broken the captain’s spectacles over his sun-tanned nose and cheeks, but he was quite sure this would only result in his getting shot, or in his being made ridiculous before the natives, and that was almost as bad, so he stood still for a moment, with his blood choking him, and then turned and walked back where the King and Stedman were whispering together. Just as he turned, one of the men pulled the halliards, the ball of bunting ran up into the air, bobbed, twitched, and turned, and broke into the folds of the German flag. At the same moment the marines raised their muskets and fired a volley, and the officers saluted and the sailors cheered. “Do you see that?” cried Stedman, catching Gordon’s humor, to Ollypybus; “that means that you are no longer king, that strange people are coming here to take your land, and to turn your people into servants, and to drive you back into the mountains. Are you going to submit? are you going to let that flag stay where it is?” Messenwah and Ollypybus gazed at one another with fearful, helpless eyes. “We are afraid,” Ollypybus cried; “we do not know what we should do.” “What do they say?” asked Gordon. “They say they do not know what to do.”