Page:Adrift in the Pacific, Sampson Low, 1889.djvu/84

  — the time had come to go to bed, when Briant begged to be allowed to speak.

"My friends," he said, "now that we have named our island, is it not fitting that we should choose a chief to rule it?"

"A chief?" asked Donagan.

"Yes. It seems to me that things would go better," continued Briant, "if one of us had authority over the others! What is done in every other country ought we not to do in Charman Island?"

"Yes! A chief! Let us have a chief!" said the little and the big together.

"Let us have a chief," said Donagan, "but on condition that it is only for some stated time — a year, for example — "

"And who can be re-elected," added Briant.

"Agreed! Who is it to be?" asked Donagan in an anxious tone. And it seemed that the jealous lad had only one fear, that in spite of him the choice of his companions would fall on Briant. He was wrong.

"Who is it to be?" replied Briant. "Why, the wisest of us to be sure, our friend Gordon!"

"Yes! Yes! Hurrah for Gordon!"

Gordon would at first have refused the honour they would have bestowed on him, saying that he was better fitted to organize than to command. But he foresaw the trouble that the passions of these young people might lead to in the future, and it appeared to him that his authority might not be without its value.

And that is how Gordon was proclaimed chief of the little colony of Charman Island.