The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1907-07-14
The Waterloo Of King Jedediah |.
By John Fleming Wilson.

kick that sent the sailor on whose
shoulder ne mounted bowling into the
bottom of the boat. Once on the plankS
and firm on his feet he pulled his cap
hard down over his eyes, scowled at
the unfortunate Kanaka now giggling
lamong his companions, and peered out
under the sun at his schooner. Salts
fed, apparently. that this ancient craft
was secure, the King of Enid advanced
towards US. The King of Kohala was
the first to greet him: Hello, Jede-
diah,' he said hoarsely. Thought you
quit this part of the world and gone
! TO the Colonies
! They shook hands solemnIy, without
further words and my companion ad-
roitly thrust me in among those pres
| ent. Royalty squeezed my hand in an
immense paw and Immediately turned
up and away from the wharf. The
! rest of US followed, a taciturn process
sion stringing out over the coral like
men following a boss to work, each
of us stamping along industriously in
the rear of this determined figure.
1t was not to Andrews that we went
this time. We did not even pass the
place; instead we turned at Queen
Street, shuffled down an alley bordered
with lean palms and into the cool court
of Cunha's, quencher of Equa tOrial
thirsts, blender of savory connections
fit for threats parched through long
seasons.
It is not for a scribbler of paragraphs
to depict the solemn, almost melan-
choly gusto with VIII CHI the kings drank,
nor the amelioration of their manners
as the strong waters had their effect,
nor the expansion of Jedediah I.
In due time the ceremony was over.
dozen questions had been propound-
ed and answered and the Press ad-
vanced and made it's queries in the
name of the anxious and expectant
public, while the kings departed with
'retreating cries and CALCULATIONS till the
last vanished out into the afternoon
and the bartender returned to his nook
by the refrigerator.
Nothing to say much said the king.
Enid is still there, or was fifty-four
days ago when we sailed. I'm here
and you're here and Hawaii has gone
over to Uncle Sam and [ want another
drink and a cigar and a piece of pie"
'Pie!' I exclaimed, as we drank;
that's a funny thing to ask for"
rs ito" the king returned simply. Il
haven't had piece of pie in eleven
years. I was brought up on it. They
don't make pie down in my district.
Where can we get some?"
We went companionably to Georges
and sat down under a fan. The king
looked at it and then looked at me.
Queer sort of punkah, that. Run by
clockwork?''
Electricity" I informed him.
Sure enough" he said readily. II
got a paper year ago from Sydney
that told about what electricity was
doing. But 1 want pie
He got it, and as he went into it
mentioned again the fact that desired
to know the purpose of this visit and
the news of Enid, that the public might
be informed of it's princes arrival in
due form.
He stopped politely and gave me
briefly what I thought I desired.
thanked him and he resumed his pie as
I left. I looked back when I reached
the street The king was ordering
more pie.
i In the evening. when the lights blaze
on King street and creep out of the
foliage of Punchbowl, when the breeze
that has roared all the hot day be-
comes only a perfumed sigh, Honolulu
wakes to her varied life and enjoys
her kings. On this occasion they stroll
led up and down the thoroughfares,
dividing the polyglot, laughing, singing
throng with vast shoulders, calling over
the garlanded heads in deep-sea tones,
scattering the largess of their treas
uries with lavish hands. But the King
of Enid was not among them. From
the river to the quiet reaches of the
palace grounds he was not visible and
T. being a seeker after the wisdom of
crowned heads as expounded by the
lords of the sea-girt isles, sought him
elsewhere.
1 found him in one corner Of Cunha's,
a bottle and a glass at his hand. his
face to the ceiling, his eyes fixed upon
a nvmph that disported herself in the