The Reporter Who Made Himself King | Page 9

are the natives that live up there in the hills," Stedman
said, nodding his head toward the three high mountains at the other end
of the island, that stood out blackly against the purple, moonlit sky.
"There are nearly as many of them as there are Opekians, and they hunt
and fight for a living and for the pleasure of it. They have an old rascal
named Messenwah for a king, and they come down here about once
every three months, and tear things up."
Albert sprang to his feet.
"Oh, they do, do they?" he said, staring up at the mountain-tops. "They
come down here and tear up things, do they? Well, I think we'll stop
that, I think we'll stop that! I don't care how many there are. I'll get the
two Bradleys to tell me all they know about drilling, to-morrow
morning, and we'll drill these Opekians, and have sham battles, and
attacks, and repulses, until I make a lot of wild, howling Zulus out of
them. And when the Hillmen come down to pay their quarterly visit,
they'll go back again on a run. At least some of them will," he added,
ferociously. "Some of them will stay right here."
"Dear me, dear me!" said Stedman, with awe; you are a born fighter,
aren't you?"
"Well, you wait and see," said Gordon; maybe I am. I haven't studied
tactics of war and the history of battles, so that I might be a great

war-correspondent, without learning something. And there is only one
king on this island, and that is old Ollypybus himself. And I'll go over
and have a talk with him about it to-morrow."
Young Stedman walked up and down the length of the veranda, in and
out of the moonlight, with his hands in his pockets, and his head on his
chest. "You have me all stirred up, Gordon," he said; "you seem so
confident and bold, and you're not so much older than I am, either."
"My training has been different; that's all," said the reporter.
"Yes," Stedman said, bitterly. "I have been sitting in an office ever
since I left school, sending news over a wire or a cable, and you have
been out in the world, gathering it."
"And now," said Gordon, smiling, and putting his arm around the other
boy's shoulders, "we are going to make news ourselves."
"There is one thing I want to say to you before you turn in," said
Stedman. "Before you suggest all these improvements on Ollypybus,
you must remember that he has ruled absolutely here for twenty years,
and that he does not think much of consuls. He has only seen your
predecessor and yourself. He likes you because you appeared with such
dignity, and because of the presents; but if I were you, I wouldn't
suggest these improvements as coming from yourself."
"I don't understand," said Gordon; "who could they come from?"
"Well," said Stedman, "if you will allow me to advise--and you see I
know these people pretty well--I would have all these suggestions come
from the President direct."
"The President!" exclaimed Gordon; "but how? What does the
President know or care about Opeki? and it would take so long--oh, I
see, the cable. Is that what you have been doing?" he asked.
"Well, only once," said Stedman, guiltily; "that was when he wanted to
turn me out of the consul's office, and I had a cable that very afternoon,

from the President, ordering me to stay where I was. Ollypybus doesn't
understand the cable, of course, but he knows that it sends messages;
and sometimes I pretend to send messages for him to the President; but
he began asking me to tell the President to come and pay him a visit,
and I had to stop it."
"I'm glad you told me," said Gordon. "The President shall begin to
cable to-morrow. He will need an extra appropriation from Congress to
pay for his private cablegrams alone."
"And there's another thing," said Stedman. "In all your plans, you've
arranged for the people's improvement, but not for their amusement;
and they are a peaceful, jolly, simple sort of people, and we must please
them."
"Have they no games or amusements of their own?" asked Gordon.
"Well, not what we would call games."
"Very well, then, I'll teach them base-ball. Foot-ball would be too
warm. But that plaza in front of the King's bungalow, where his palace
is going to be, is just the place for a diamond. On the whole, though,"
added the consul, after a moment's reflection, "you'd better attend to
that yourself. I don't think it becomes my dignity as American consul to
take off my coat and give lessons to young Opekians in sliding to bases;
do you? No; I think you'd