CHAPTER XII.
RECTUS LOSES RANK.
After supper, Rectus and I went to see the African governor, Goliah Brown.

He was a good-natured old colored man, who lived in a house a trifle better than most of those inhabited by his fellow-countrymen.

The main room was of a fair size, and there was a centre-table, with some books on it.
When we saw this, we hesitated.

Could we ask a man who owned books, and could probably read, to play second fiddle to a woman who could not speak the English language, and who for years, perhaps, had devoted the energies of her soul to the sale of pepper-pods?
However, the office of prime minister was no trifle, and many more distinguished and more learned men than Goliah Brown have been glad to get it.

Besides this, we considered that blood is blood, and, in monarchical countries, a queen is a queen.