The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1909-02-05

Working as a stevedore on the Ho-
noluiu wat arfront IL a man who might
today have been a king upon his
throne, with real crown to wear, if
he had not taken it into his head to
60 adventuring in his youth. He
might be king yet if he went back to
his island birthplace and asserted his
claim He might also be a cold, cold
corpse if he did. and this is the very
reason why he prefers to help shift
cargo to running chances of making
good in his assertions to royalty.
Bob Samoa, known to his intimate
friends as Bob Tonga, is the one in
whose veins riots the blood of kings
and the particular royal fluid spilled
by him in the various waterfront
scraps is that of the House of Tonga
By divine right and that of primogeni-
ture, Bob is the sovereign of the Ton
gans today and His Majesty King
George ii, who sits upon the throne,
is base usurper. Bob is satisfied to
let him usurp, however, so long as he
can rustic sugar bags and get his three
squares a day.
In days gone by, Bob's father was
the monarch of all he surveyed from
one end of the Tongan group to the
other. He had his own ideas about
how the heir to the throne should be
brought up and these ideas and those
Of the heir apparent failed to gibe.
D. Io+ - 41a ! ha
royal father used to descend upon the
royal son and whale the royal stuffing
| out of him got to be more than Robert
thought he could put up with, even
with a crown at the end of his lane
Of fiIial martyrdom 1t was all right
to be looked up, to as the future ruler
! and guider of his people, but another
thing to nurse sore spots in excess of
the average.
There appeared to be no royal road
f.! to escape, but there was always the
same way for the Prince Royal to
make a get away as there was for any
other truant in the Friendlies. That
was nv slowing away aboard enc OF
| the trading sehooners that traded in
and around the islands Bob slowed
| away, was taken to Australia, shipped
| for the north and landed on the beach
at Honolulu Here he found a kindred
| people. a friendly people who talked
| the same language he did, and land
that resembled the land he had fed
| from and for which his simple nature
| was homesiek. He couldn t go home
| because he had an idea of what was
| saiting tor him there, So he stayed
| in the place that was likest to home to
/ him. That was Honolulu.
| That is why scion of royalty Is
a stevedore today on the front. If he
eouldn t be king, for reasons he appre-
eiates. he could at least be good
| stevedore. and he is that. Mayor Fern,
who had him in one of his gangs, tes-
tifes TO his worth in a ships hold.
| AS time passed. the royal father was
/ gathered to the great majority.t There
was no son upon whom the mantle OF
sovereignty could fall, unless it fell
| away up to Honolulu and no one knew
that it had any disposition to fall this
| way. Bob had long since been given
up for dead. To cousin, the known
next of kin. the crown was rendered
! This is King George II. now firmly
/ seated on the throne. Bob has an
| idea the seat Is so firm that if he dared
| approach. the welcome he would get
/ would be 4'Off with his head. Ii
seems hardly worth while going so faI
To hear such stereotyped phrase
/ therefore His Majesty Bob | stays in
| Honolulu and works on steamer days