Nation

“No, sire, you are the king, sire, ” said Mr. Black patiently. “You are, like us, underneath it. Subject to it. ”

“But surely I can give you orders? ”

“You can certainly make requests, sire, and we will do our very best to help. But, alas, you cannot give us orders. My word, we would be in a bad way if we took orders from kings. Isn’t that so, Mr. Brown? ”

One of the men working on the crate looked up briefly. “It would be Charles the First all over again, Mr. Black. ”

“You never said a truer word, Mr. Brown, ” said Mr. Black. “It would be Charles the First all over again, and I don’t think any of us want to see Charles the First all over again, do we? ”

“Why not? ” asked Daphne.

Mr. Black turned to her and looked for a moment as if he was giving her a very quick examination.

“Because his arrogance and stupidity nearly lost England for the Crown, Your Royal Highness, ” he said eventually.

Oh dear, thought Daphne, I am a princess now. Cor blimey. And I don’t think it’s the kind of thing you can resign from! A princess! Did you hear that, Mr. Foxlip, wherever you are? Ha!

“But wasn’t it Oliver Cromwell who had him executed? ” she managed, trying to sound regal.

“Certainly, ma’am. But Oliver Cromwell wasn’t the problem. Charles the First was the problem. Oliver Cromwell was the solution. I’ll grant you he was a bit of a nuisance for a while afterward, but at least his unpleasant rule made people happy to see a king again. The Crown knows how to wait. ”

“Charles the First’s head was cut off, ” said Daphne, watching the new boat hit the sand.

“Clearly another reason for not wanting to see him, ” said Mr. Black smoothly. “We wouldn’t be able to understand what he was saying. ”

A plump man in clerical clothing, except possibly for the sarong, was helped out of the boat, and he in turn offered his hand to, yes, her grandmother. She was carrying an umbrella. An umbrella! It wasn’t to keep the rain off, of course. It was for prodding people, Daphne knew.

“Ah, and here is Her Ladyship now, ” said Mr. Black, quite unnecessarily in Daphne’s view. He added: “She was wonderful company on the voyage out here. The nautical miles just flew past. ” The little smile on his face was a masterpiece.

Grandmother looked around at the island, as if inspecting it for dust, and sighed. “One would have thought that we could have found somewhere cleaner, ” she said. “Never mind. I trust you are well, Henry, and ready for the responsibility that has been thrust upon us by Divine Providence? ”

“You mean all those people dying was provident? ” said Daphne sharply. In her mind’s eye, ancestors toppled like dominoes… 138 of them.

“That is no way to speak to your grandmother, Daphne, ” said her father.

“Daphne? Daphne? What is this ‘Daphne’? ” said Her Ladyship. “Ridiculous name. Don’t be silly, Ermintrude. Now, can we get on with things before we get eaten, for goodness’ sake? ”

Daphne blushed in anger and embarrassment. “How dare you! Some of these people can speak English! ”

Daphne took a deep breath, and then her father’s hand was laid gently on her shoulder just as she opened her mouth. She shut it again, letting the rage seethe inside.

“That’s not the way, dear, ” he said. “And we must get on. ” He left her and shook hands with the bishop. “Ah, Charlie, good to see you. Your pointy hat not here? ”

“Lost at sea, old boy. And when I picked up my crosier, it was full of blasted termites! Sorry about the sarong, couldn’t find m’ trousers, ” said the bishop, shaking the king’s hand. “Wretched shame about what’s been happening, of course. Bit of a shock all around. Still, it’s not given to us to know the way the ways of Prov — of the Almighty. ”

“It was probably an Act of God, ” said Daphne.

“Indeed, indeed, ” said the bishop, fumbling in his bag.

“Or a miracle, ” Daphne went on, defying her grandmother to take her by the ear on her beach. But Grandmother did not take defiance lightly, or at all.

“I shall talk to you later about this wayward behavior, Ermintrude — ” she began, striding forward. But two gentlemen were suddenly in her way.

“Ah, here it is, ” said the bishop very loudly, and he straightened up. “Of course we don’t generally carry royal anointing oil out here, but my lads make a coconut oil that keeps cricket bats nice and supple. I hope that will be sufficient. ” This was to Mr. Black, who worried him even more than her ladyship.

“That will be fine, Your Grace, ” said Mr. Black. “Miss… Daphne, would you be so kind as to ask the islanders if we may use one of these ceremonial stones as a throne? ”

Daphne looked at the scattered god stones. They’d gotten rather unnoticed in the past week.

“Mau, can they —? ” she began.

“Yes, they can, ” said Mau. “But tell them they don’t work. ”

It was, according to the history books, the fastest coronation since Bubric the Saxon crowned himself with a very pointy crown on a hill during a thunderstorm, and reigned for one and a half seconds.

Today, a man sat down. He was handed a golden orb and a golden scepter, which the watching islanders approved of because, when you got right down to it, a scepter was just a shiny club. Mau was happy with his fish spear, but in their hearts the islanders knew that a chief should have a really big club. Later on, some of them had had a go with it, however, and considered it a bit cumbersome for a real fight. They found it far more interesting than the crown, which sparkled in the sunlight but didn’t do anything useful. But because of it, and after a certain amount of talking, a man stood up who ruled so many places on the planet that mapmakers often ran out of red ink.

At this point the men in black produced some small versions of the trouserman flag, raised them enthusiastically, and shouted: “Hurrah. ”