Part 32 (1/2)

Gorman received him with great respect and led him up to Donovan's room.

The admiral saluted Donovan gravely, and held out a large paper carefully folded and sealed. Donovan offered him a cigar and a drink, in a perfectly friendly way. The admiral replied by pus.h.i.+ng his paper forward towards Donovan. He knew no English. That was the only possible way of explaining the fact that he ignored the offer of a drink. Donovan nodded towards Gorman, who took the doc.u.ment from the admiral and opened it.

”Seems to me to be a kind of state paper,” he said. ”Rather like an Act of Parliament to look at; but it's written in a language I don't know. Suppose we send for the King and get him to translate.”

”If it's an Act of Parliament,” said Donovan, ”we'd better have Daisy up too. She's responsible for the government of this island.”

The admiral guessed that his doc.u.ment was under discussion. He did not know English, but he knew one word which was, at that time, common in all languages.

”Ultimatum,” he said solemnly.

”That so?” said Donovan. ”Then we must have Daisy.”

I am inclined to think that Miss Donovan will never be a first-rate queen. She is const.i.tutionally incapable of that particular kind of stupidity which is called dignity. In that hour of her country's destiny, her chief feeling was amus.e.m.e.nt at the appearance of the admiral. She did not know, perhaps, that the guns of the Megalian navy were trained on her palace. But she ought to have understood that dignified conduct is desirable in dealing with admirals. She sat on the corner of the table beside her father's chair and swung her legs.

She smiled at the admiral. Now and then she choked down little fits of laughter.

King Konrad Karl took the matter much more seriously.

He unfolded the paper which Gorman handed to him. He frowned fiercely and then became suddenly explosive.

”Deuce and Jove and d.a.m.n!” he said. ”This is the limitation of all.

Listen, my friends, to the cursed jaw--no, the infernal cheek, of this: 'The Megalian Government requires----'”

He stopped, gasped, struck at the paper with his hand.

”Go on,” said Gorman. ”There's nothing very bad so far. There is a Megalian Government, I suppose?”

”But I--I am the Megalian Government,” said the King.

”It will be time enough to take up those points of const.i.tutional law afterwards. Let's hear what's in the paper first.”

The King read on. His anger gave way by degrees to anxiety and perplexity.

”I cannot translate,” he said. ”The English language does not contain words in which to express the d.a.m.ned cheek of these flounders. They say that you,” he pointed to the Queen, ”and you, Donovan, and you, my friend Gorman, must go at once on the Megalian navy. It will carry you to Sicily. It will put you there in a dump, and you must embark before noon. Great Scott!”

”Oh, but that's just silly,” said the Queen. ”We shan't take any notice of it.”

”In that case the admiral shoots,” said the King. ”At noon, sharp up to time, precise.”

”Well,” said Donovan, ”I guess I don't mean to move.”

”But,” said the King, ”he can shoot. The navy of Megalia has sh.e.l.ls for its guns. It has six. I know it, for I bought them myself when I sat on that cursed throne. Six, my friends.”

”That's a comfort, anyway,” said Donovan. ”According to my notion of the efficiency of that navy it will miss the island altogether with the first five and be darned lucky if it knocks a chip off a cliff with the sixth.”

The Queen stopped swinging her feet and laughing at the admiral. She was much more serious now. There was a gleam in her eyes which caught Gorman's attention.

”Father,” she said, ”I'm going to hoist the American flag. I have one in my room.”