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,
which was almost as bad; so he stood still for a moment, with his
blood choking him, and then turned and walked back to where the King
and Stedman were whispering together. Just as he turned, one of the
men pulled the halyards, 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?"
"They say they do not know what to do.
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