"Various prices," I answered; "but I think we can make one, that will do very well, for about fifty cents. I'll undertake to make the brass part, if you'll cushion it."
"Brass!" exclaimed Corny, in astonishment.
"You don't suppose we can get gold, do you?" I asked, laughing.
"Well, no," she said, but not quite satisfied.
"And there must be a flag and a flag-pole," said Rectus. "But what sort of a flag are we going to have?"
"The African flag," said Corny, confidently.
None of us knew what the African flag was, although Corny suggested that it was probably black. But I told her that if we raised a black flag before the queen's palace, we should bring down the authorities on us, sure. They'd think we had started a retail piratical establishment.
We now took leave of the queen, and enjoined her neighbor to impress on her mind the necessity of not using her capital to lay in a new stock of goods. Leaving a quarter of a dollar with her, for contingent expenses during the day, we started for home.
"I'll tell you what it is," said I, "we must settle this matter of revenue pretty soon. If she don't sell peppers and sugar-cane, she'll have to be supported in some way, and I'm sure we can't do it."
"Her subjects ought to attend to that," said Rectus.