"Well, I'm not particular. I'll make a bully bo'sun, sir."
"Very well. We'll be sailing some day next week and you can sign up before the Commissioner any time you're ready. By the way, what's your name?"
"Gibney, sir. Adelbert P. Gibney."
"Any experience in the South Seas?"
"Heaps of it. I was mate for three years with Bull McGinty in the old Dashin' Wave more'n twenty years ago."
The master of the Tropic Bird blinked. "Gibney! Gibney!" he murmured. "Why, I wonder if you're the same man. Are you the chap that was king of Aranuka for six months and then abdicated for no reason at all?"
"I was, sir," Mr. Gibney confessed shamefacedly. "I'm King Gibney of Aranuka."
"What was your wife's name?"
"I called her Pinky for short."
"By Neptune, what a coincidence! Why, Gibney, I saw Her Majesty on our last trip, less than two months ago, and she was telling me all about you. Great old girl, Pinky, and mighty proud of the fact that once she had a white husband. So you're King Gibney, eh? Well, well! The world is certainly small." The skipper chuckled, nor noticed Mr. Gibney's bulging eyes and hanging jaw. "Going back to take over your kingdom again, Gibney?" he demanded jocosely.