Part 11

"He wouldn't be lent!" declared Mr. Bill hastily, for in spite of his words, he did not want Ka-kee-ta at his heels for a minute. It was all right for Tessie to have a bodyguard, but it would be far from all right for the basement floorwalker of the Evergreen to be so attended. "What was your uncle afraid of in his islands that he trained a man to stand beside him with an ax in his hand?" he asked curiously.

"The people!" Tessie told him in a whisper. "That's another reason why I'm not so crazy over this queen business as I was. I never used to be afraid of anything, and now I'm afraid of almost everything!"

Mr. Bill laughed indulgently because he was not afraid of anything, and admiringly because Tessie was so adorable when she was afraid of almost everything. He took her hand and pressed it. Immediately Ka-kee-ta, who stood in the open door watching them with the wide questioning eyes of a child, gave another howl. Mr. Bill hastily jumped away from Tessie.

"The dickens!" he exclaimed.

"You see how it is!" Tessie shrugged her shoulders as she clasped the hand Mr. Bill had squeezed. "He is just impossible! Sometimes," she lowered her voice as if she would not for the world let Ka-kee-ta hear what she was going to say, "I have a mind to give the whole thing up!"

Mr. Bill stared at her in horrified astonishment. "Your kingdom?" he gasped.

She nodded.

"You couldn't do it!"

"Why couldn't I?"

Mr. Bill's reason was not a very good one. "Because," he said vaguely. But when Tessie showed an impatient dissatisfaction with it he found another reason. "It isn't done, you know! Kings and queens have to stay on their thrones as long as the people want them there."

"That's exactly the idea," mourned Tessie. "As long as the people want them on thrones! But suppose the people don't want them?" She shivered as she remembered what Mr. Pracht had said happened when the Sunshine Islanders did not want the king who was on their throne.

Mr. Bill was puzzled. "What is it?" he demanded sharply. "What's happened? I could see all evening that something was the matter. When we played hearts you acted as if your mind was miles away. You let dad give you every heart in the pack. What is it? Has the special representative come? What makes you talk as if your people didn't want you for their queen?" He started to go closer and then remembered the watch-dog and walked to the door and shut it almost on Ka-kee-ta's tattooed nose. "What is it?" he asked again, and now he was very close to Tessie. He looked anxiously into her troubled face. He wanted to help her. He had never wanted to help a girl as he wanted to help Tessie.

Tessie's voice shook as she answered him. "The special representative is a prisoner in the islands. The Sons of Sunshine--I told you about them?--have captured him and locked him up. They don't want a white ruler--a white queen! And I heard to-day that when the Sunshine Islands people don't like their king, they boil him in oil!" Her lip quivered. Her eyes were big and frightened as she looked at Mr. Bill.

"I don't believe it!" declared Mr. Bill quickly. "I don't believe a word of it! Such things aren't done now! Maybe in the Dark Ages, but not now! Take it from me! It sounds like a rank movie!" he insisted.

Tessie smiled wanly. It was cheering to hear Mr. Bill declare with so much warm emphasis that he did not believe the Sunshine Islanders kept up their ancient customs. "It made me want to sell the islands right away," she faltered.

"Sell the islands!" He was shocked. "You can't do that!" he exclaimed. "Dad wouldn't let you!"

Tessie looked at him quickly, almost suspiciously. "What do you mean? What has your father and the Evergreen to do with my islands?"

Mr. Bill flushed and stammered. "Nothing of course," he said. "Only he is awfully interested! He's tried to help you in every way, given you unlimited credit and advice and everything. And he wouldn't like you to do anything without his per--I mean without talking to him. I wouldn't want you to sell your islands, either. I like to think of you as a queen! You are such a peach! You should be a queen!" And his hand shot out again, and it would have found her fingers if she had not moved away from him.

"I think," she said with a quick catch of her breath, "you had better go. It must be Ka-kee-ta's bedtime!" she insisted, when he showed no sign of going.

"Darn Ka-kee-ta!" he exclaimed somewhat rudely.

But he had to go away, and when he had reluctantly said good night and disappeared down the corridor, Tessie turned impatiently to her bodyguard, who was yawning beside the door.

"You see, Ka-kee-ta," she said slowly and distinctly so that he would be sure to understand her, "nothing happened to me when I went away without you. I think I shall leave you at home often."

Ka-kee-ta shook his frizzled head and waved his ax. "The Tear of God!" he rumbled. "The king's jewel!"

Tessie looked at him, and her eyes widened. "If I leave the Tear of God with you will it be all right?" she guessed. "You aren't looking after me, are you, Ka-kee-ta? It's the king's jewel you are taking care of." And when he said never a word, but just stood and gaped at her, she plucked courage to ask him in a frightened whisper; "Ka-kee-ta, did you ever see any one boiled in oil?"

The words were scarcely across her lips before she discovered that she did not want to hear what Ka-kee-ta had seen. She did not want to know how savage her people could be. She shut the door and went to her own room, the most puzzled little queen in the world.

There were many questions to puzzle her, questions concerning the islands and Joe Cary, who was so anxious for her to abandon the islands, and Mr. Bill, and old Mr. Kingley, who was so eager for her to keep her inheritance. What difference did it make to old Mr. Kingley whether she was a queen or not? She could understand why Joe Cary wanted her to abdicate. Joe didn't believe in queens nor in kings. But Mr. Kingley-- What business was it of his? And Mr. Bill! He had said he didn't believe the Sunshine Islanders were savage or cannibal. She would believe Mr. Bill, she decided with a fluttering heart. Of course he knew. And he was right! So long as she remained in Waloo the Sunshine Islanders--even the revolutionary Sons of Sunshine--could not harm her. But she couldn't remain in Waloo forever and be the queen of the Sunshine Islands, too! That wouldn't be fair. Joe Cary said it wouldn't be fair. She would ask Mr. Bill the very first thing in the morning. Mr. Bill really knew more about kings and queens than Joe Cary anyway. He had seen some of them. Mr. Bill's own mother had told her that he had seen Queen Mary of England. Oh, dear! Wouldn't she ever go to sleep?

It was a long time before her busy little brain would let her go to sleep, and it seemed no time at all after she was asleep before she was wakened by Granny, who handed her a letter. The sun was streaming through the open window with a dash and a vigor which made Tessie's sleepy eyes blink. So she had slept after all, for it was black night when she had closed her eyes and now it was bright day. She looked at the letter.

"What is it?" she asked sleepily.

"It was just sent up from the office. And it's marked important." Granny sounded important as she showed Tessie the word scrawled on the envelope. "I thought perhaps it might be something about that special representative. Maybe he has escaped from those rebels!" suggested Granny, eager to know what was inside the letter which was so important on the outside. "Really, Tessie, when I think of those Sons of Sunshine I wish Johnny was here instead of at that Boy Scout camp. I've got more confidence in a good strong American boy than I have in all the frizzle-headed, tattooed natives in the world! Even if they do carry axes in their hand."

Tessie scarcely heard Granny. She had opened the letter, but something in the black writing made her face turn white.

"What is it, Tessie?" Granny caught her shoulder. "Tell Granny what it is? Drat that Pete!" she murmured under her breath. "I wish he had run away with a circus, instead of to sea to be washed up on that island and make trouble for us all."

"It's--it's from that Mr. Pracht!" gulped Tessie. "And he says I can have until night to make up my mind to sell the islands. And he says he forgot to say that sometimes usurpers are sent to live in a leper colony. I don't want to be a leper, Granny!" And she clung to the strong hands which had reached out to clasp her.

"There, there, my lamb!" crooned Granny. "Of course you don't! And you shan't be a leper! You leave it to Granny, and get up and get dressed so you'll be ready for what comes. And that Pracht might as well understand that he's going the wrong way. He can't scare a Gilfooly. Maybe he can surprise 'em, but he can't scare 'em! Look at your Uncle Pete! Died a king! All the rebels in six cannibal islands didn't scare him a mite! If those Sunshine Islands are worth buying, they're worth holding on to until we know more about them. You just write this Pracht man a letter and tell him you aren't selling any islands to-day. Perhaps then he'll offer more," she added shrewdly.

"I don't care what he offers, he can't buy my islands!" exclaimed Tessie, gathering courage from Granny's proud boast that a Gilfooly was not to be frightened. "A queen can't resign her job unless her people ask her to, and Mr. Pracht isn't one of my people. He's a Pennsylvania German. He said so."

"That's it! That's it!" declared Granny, delighted to see that Tessie's white face had turned pink again. "You just put that in the letter! What we got to do, Tessie Gilfooly, is to find out why he wants to buy those islands, and then we'll know more about selling them."

Tessie slipped into her gorgeous negligée of pink georgette and lace, thrust her feet into pink satin mules, and sat at her desk to write to Mr. Pracht that she would never think of selling her islands to anybody, that she hoped he would say no more about it. As for leper colonies and shark's oil, she was not afraid. She was a Gilfooly, of the same blood as King Pete, and the Gilfoolys were not afraid of anything or anybody.

"That's right!" indorsed Granny, who was looking over Tessie's shoulder. "They aren't!"

"E-ven reb--" Tessie's hurried pen halted, and Tessie looked at Granny. "One l or two in rebels, Granny?" she asked uncertainly.

"It don't make any difference," exclaimed Granny, "so long as there's plenty of courage in the Gilfoolys."

"Perhaps I'd better let Norah Lee write it on the typewriter." Tessie eyed her letter dubiously.

"Don't you do it, dearie! Just sign your name and put it in this envelope. There are some letters that secretaries shouldn't write. You just finish it as good as you begun it, and I guess Mr. Pracht will understand it, no matter how many l's you put in rebels."

Tessie sighed gently. "I often wish I'd finished high school, Granny," she said slowly. "Mr. Bill went to college," she added sadly as she signed her letter "Queen Teresa of the Sunshine Islands." "There!" she slipped the letter into an envelope and ran her pink tongue over the gummed flap. "If you'll give that to Ka-kee-ta and ask him to take it to Mr. Pracht. To Mr. Pracht himself!" she insisted. "When Mr. Pracht sees Ka-kee-ta and his ax, perhaps he won't be so free with his words. And while Ka-kee-ta is out, tell him to buy me some chocolates. He might as well get a five-pound box, and they can put it on the bill," she said with a right royal disregard for payment.

As she went back to her room, she passed a long mirror which flashed her a picture of a slim little girl in a lovely pink negligée, with a tousled head and a flushed face. She went back and looked in the mirror again. Suddenly she remembered that a month ago she had no lovely pink negligée, no pink satin mules, and that at this time of the morning she would have been selling aluminum in the Evergreen basement for hours. How wonderful it was! She smiled radiantly and blew a kiss to the girl in the mirror, who was smiling, too.

"Oh, Granny!" Tessie hugged her Granny. "Can you believe it? Isn't it great to be a queen?"

Granny hugged her. "I wonder," she said absently, "what Mr. Pracht will say when he reads your letter?"

Tessie snapped her fingers. She was a Gilfooly, you know, and the Gilfoolys were a fearless race.

"That for Mr. Pracht!" she exclaimed. "And that for his threats!" She snapped her fingers again. "Isn't there a law, Granny," she asked suddenly, "that protects people from threats? I'm going to ask Mr. Bill!"

"Ask Joe Cary," advised Granny. "He'll know more about law than Mr. Bill. I wouldn't be surprised if there was such a law, Tessie, and if there ain't there ought to be. It was like your wise little head to think of it. Mr. Pracht will feel smart if he finds himself in jail, won't he? Now what are you going to have for breakfast? I had some strawberries, some ham and eggs and some hot cakes."

"I'll have some, too," Tessie said, after she had giggled at the attractive picture Granny had painted of the disturbing Mr. Pracht tightly locked in jail. "And don't forget the cream! I like a lot of cream."

XVII

Ka-kee-ta should have made the round trip to Mr. Pracht in the Pioneer Hotel, which was one block from the Waloo, before Tessie was bathed, dressed and breakfasted, but he did not return by the time she had finished the last of the hot cakes. He did not return for lunch. Tessie, who had a thousand-and-one things to do, began to wonder.

"Where do you suppose he is?" she asked Granny. "What do you suppose has happened to him?"

"Maybe he met a friend," suggested Granny, who was wondering herself what had detained the queen's messenger. "I hope you'll give him a good piece of your mind when he does come back, Tessie. He shouldn't loaf when you send him on an errand. Maybe he went to lunch with a friend."

Tessie laughed to think of frizzled Ka-kee-ta and his ax going to lunch with a friend, but her face sobered when she remembered that, so far as she knew Ka-kee-ta had no friends in Waloo.

"I'm worried," she told Granny, and she looked worried. "I suppose I'm responsible for Ka-kee-ta. Do you suppose Mr. Pracht could have done anything to him?"

"I wouldn't be surprised," confessed Granny with grim reluctance. "A man who will threaten a little girl like you would do anything. Why don't you call up Joe Cary and ask him what he thinks?" Granny had called on Joe for so long that it had become a habit to consult him on every occasion.

"I'll call up Mr. Bill! He knows more than Joe Cary. Joe Cary never went to college. He only went to an art school!"

"There are some things you learn without going to college," murmured Granny, as Tessie flew to the telephone.

"Lost Ka-kee-ta!" repeated Mr. Bill over the wire, and he laughed. "I thought that was what you wanted to do."

"I never wanted to lose him!" Tessie declared indignantly. "I just wanted him to leave me alone once in awhile. I'm afraid something has happened to him."

"What could have happened to a big strong native with an ax in his hands?" Mr. Bill laughed again. He sounded anything but sympathetic. "Have you reported it to the hotel detective? He would know how to trail your bodyguard. Or the police? A man like Ka-kee-ta couldn't disappear without leaving some clue. I'll bring the store detective around if you say so?"

"You needn't bother!" There was a bit of an edge in Tessie's voice, even if it was tremulous. It hurt Tessie to have her call for help regarded as a joke. "I'll speak to the hotel detective. And I'll ask Joe Cary to help me find Ka-kee-ta. But as long as your father is so interested in my islands, I wish you would ask him why the syndicate that wants to buy them stole my bodyguard?"

"Tessie!" exclaimed Mr. Bill. He stopped laughing as soon as he heard the edge in Tessie's voice. Perhaps the edge was sharp enough to cut him. "Tessie!" he said again, but she did not answer him. He hung up the receiver and hurried to get his hat. He would go right over to the Waloo and see what was the matter with Tessie. He met his father at the door.

"Where are you going?" old Mr. Kingley asked young Mr. Kingley.

"To the Waloo!" Mr. Bill answered hurriedly. "Tessie Gilfooly has lost that native bodyguard of hers."

"Lost--" Mr. Kingley caught his son by the sleeve and held him tight--"wait a minute, Bill, and tell Gray. He might as well use the story." He rubbed his hands together in his satisfaction. "My soul! We must have had a million dollars' worth of good publicity out of Queen Teresa already! Tell Gray all about it before you go, Bill. He will just have time to catch the afternoon papers."

"Darn the papers!" cried Mr. Bill, trying to free himself from the paternal clutch on his sleeve. But whether he wanted to or not, he had to wait and tell Mr. Gray what Tessie had told him.

"Perhaps you shouldn't publish it yet," he said doubtfully, when at last he was free to go.

"Not publish it!" His father was shocked at such a thought. "Of course it should be published. Why not? Queen Teresa wants to find her bodyguard, doesn't she? If the story is published, all Waloo will help her. It can't hurt her to have it published. What could happen?" He looked hungrily at his son as if, perhaps, he scented more publicity.

"She could be boiled in oil if the Sons of Sunshine got hold of her," muttered Mr. Bill, as he remembered what Tessie told him was sometimes done to monarchs in the Sunshine Islands.

"Bill! Don't be flippant as well as foolish," counseled his disgusted father. "Queens aren't boiled in oil now. That makes a fine story, Gray. A fine story! I bet the other stores, the Bon Ton and the Mammoth, envy us our queen!" He laughed with good-natured triumph. "You can run along now, Bill, and tell Queen Teresa we want to help her in every way we can. Be sure and put that in your story, Gray, that we are helping the queen in every way we can to find her bodyguard."

But Mr. Bill had delayed too long. By the time he told the story to Mr. Gray, Joe Cary had taken his hat and gone to the Waloo. Joe found only Granny in the big sunny room, for Tessie had gone over to Marvin, Phelps & Stokes, to ask Mr. Marvin if there wasn't a law which would make Mr. Pracht stop threatening her, and stop stealing Ka-kee-ta. Tessie knew that Mr. Pracht had stolen Ka-kee-ta.

"I wanted her to wait until you came," Granny said. "But she wouldn't do it. She feels responsible for Ka-kee-ta. She said if it hadn't been for her, he would be in the Sunshine Islands this minute, safe and sound."

"He would probably have been killed by the Sons of Sunshine," corrected Joe. "You know I think I'm getting a line on this, Granny. And it's bigger than I thought. I made it my business to talk to that Pracht last night, and something he said roused my suspicions. If I'm right, Tessie has a big power against her. She wants to be careful."

"What is it, Joe?" begged Granny. "What was Pete up to before he died?" She was sure that Pete had been up to something, and her voice shook as she begged Joe to tell her what it was.

"I'll tell you just as soon as I'm sure," promised Joe. "I'm going after Tessie now. She shouldn't have gone out alone, not after defying Pracht as she did."

"She wasn't alone. Johnny came back from camp this morning, and he went with her."

"Johnny!" Joe laughed as if a Boy Scout would be little protection against the power he feared. When he saw Granny's worried face, he patted her arm comfortingly. "Don't you worry, Granny. Everything's all right!" he declared. "I'll bring Tessie right back!"

But when he reached the sumptuous offices of Marvin, Phelps & Stokes, Tessie had left.

"About five minutes ago," Bert Douglas told him. "Rum story she had to tell, wasn't it? Of course Mr. Marvin is going to make that Pracht stop frightening her. We don't stand for that sort of thing in this country. She was as pretty as a picture when she told her story. But, Cary, there must be something queer about those islands. Mr. Marvin thinks so, too, but Mr. Phelps is nuts for them. He says it takes him back to the days when he wanted to be a pirate."

"Were they able to help Tessie at all?" asked Joe. What did he care about Mr. Marvin--or even Mr. Phelps?

"Not much. We've had a wire from Pitts, the special representative, from San Francisco. I suppose when he comes the mystery will be cleared." And he chuckled. The mystery intrigued Bert as much as the islands did Mr. Phelps.

"San Francisco!" exclaimed Joe. "I thought he was a prisoner on the islands?"

"I rather think Pracht sent us that word to scare the queen. Anyway, Mr. Marvin had a wire this morning that seems all right. I was just going to tell Miss Gilfooly when she came in, the Boy Scout at her heels. She mustn't do anything until Pitts arrives. But I expect, and I know Mr. Marvin thinks so, too, that Ka-kee-ta lost his way. Miss Gilfooly probably found him at the hotel when she went back."

Joe looked at him. "You don't think there is anything in Pracht's threat to make trouble for Tessie if she doesn't sell the islands to his syndicate, do you?" he asked bluntly.

Bert regarded him with amused surprise. "My dear fellow, what could he do? Use your gray matter! Those islands are in the Pacific Ocean, two hundred and eighty-seven miles south of Honolulu. They are very beautiful and may be very valuable, but Pracht wouldn't resort to crime to get them. No syndicate would. It's ridiculous!"

"Two hundred and eighty-seven miles south of Honolulu," repeated Joe. "And much nearer to the United States than Honolulu. Don't forget that! There are people, Douglas, who would be glad to get control of a group of islands near the United States."

Bert jumped to his feet and stared at Joe. "What do you mean, Cary? What do you mean?" he demanded.

But Joe would not tell him what he meant. "Think it over," he advised, instead. "Think several things over, and perhaps you'll understand that Pracht means all, and more, than he threatens, that he is determined to get possession of those islands. We've got to find Ka-kee-ta. I'll trot back to the Waloo. Perhaps Tessie will be there by the time I am."

"Sure to be," agreed puzzled Bert. "She left a good ten minutes ago. But I wish you'd make your meaning a little clearer, Joe. I'd like to have it a little clearer before I speak to Mr. Marvin."

Joe was halfway to the elevator before Bert finished, and he did not turn back to explain his meaning. He hurried to the hotel, but Tessie was not there. Johnny was on the davenport with a big box of chocolates.

"I don't know where Tessie went," he told Joe languidly. "She asked me to go in the Bon Bon Box, and buy her five pounds of chocolates, and I did. I saw her get into a car and----"

"What car?" snapped Joe. "It wasn't her own car! Her own car was standing in front of the hotel. I saw it when I came in."

"Not her own car!" cried Granny, and her face turned a pasty gray as she stared at Joe. "Not her own car, Joe! Then somebody's kidnaped her! I know they have! Poor little Tessie!"

XVIII

"Bless me!" Mr. Kingley stared unbelievingly into Joe Cary's excited face. "Queen Teresa kidnaped? Nonsense, Cary! Such things aren't done in Waloo in broad daylight. You say it's true? What a story! I must have Gray telephone the _Gazette_ that we have a front page story for them. Bless me!"

"Never mind the publicity end of this now, Mr. Kingley!" exclaimed Joe, so disgusted that he could scarcely speak calmly. "Let's think of Tessie first and the Evergreen second for a change."

Mr. Kingley opened his mouth to say that the Evergreen must always come first, and people, no matter who they were, second, but as he looked at Joe, he suddenly decided that some explanations were better left unmade.