Nation

like thieves. We have no right to it at all. But if we don’t act like stupid bullies, I’m sure they will be gracious.”
    “Gracious,” said her father, turning over the word in his mouth as if it was an unfamiliar biscuit.
    Daphne’s eyes narrowed. “Don’t go suggesting that grace is something you find only at the other end of the world, will you, Papa?”
    “No, you’re quite right. I will do what I can, of course. This is a very important place, I can see that.”
    She kissed him.
    When he spoke again, he sounded nervous and unsure of how to put things. “So you’ve been…all right here? Eating well? Finding things to do…um…apart from sawing legs off?”
    “It was only one leg, honestly. Oh, and a foot. I helped deliver two babies—well, to be honest I really only watched and sang a song the first time, and I’ve been learning about medicines from Mrs. Gurgle in exchange for chewing her pork for her—”
    “You…chew…her…pork for her…,” her father repeated, as if hypnotized.
    “Well, she hasn’t got any teeth, you see?”
    “Ah, yes, of course.” His Excellency shifted uneasily. “And did you have any other…adventures?”
    “Let me think…. I was saved from drowning by Mau, who is the chief now, and, oh yes, I met a cannibal chief who looked just like the prime minister!”
    “Really?” said her father. “Although, come to think of it, that’s not hard to imagine. And…er…and was anyone…did anyone…try to be…beastly to you?”
    It was said so carefully that she nearly laughed. Fathers! But she couldn’t tell him about the giggling maids and the kitchen gossip, let alone Cahle’s jokes. She had spent a lot of time at the Women’s Place. Surely he didn’t imagine she walked around with her eyes shut and her fingers in her ears?
    “There was a murderer. He was one of the crew of the Judy , I’m sorry to say,” she said. “He shot someone and then pointed a pistol at me.”
    “Great heavens!”
    “So I poisoned him. Well, sort of. But the Nation called it something like…what do you call it when a hangman hangs somebody?”
    “Er…a judicial execution?” said His Excellency, a man trying hard to keep up.
    “That’s right. And I broke another man’s nose with a clay bowl because he was going to shoot me.”
    “Really? Well, I suppose poison would have taken too long,” said His Excellency, attempting to make the best of it. His face was ghastly in the lamplight, and it looked to Daphne as if it was made of wax and was about to melt.
    “Now that I come to talk about it, it does all seem a bit …um…” She trailed off.
    “Busy?” her father suggested.
    And then she told him everything else—about the way the moon shone over the lagoon, and how bright the stars were, and the mutiny, and poor Captain Roberts, and the parrot, and the red crabs, and the pantaloon birds, and the tree-climbing octopi and First Mate Cox, while the gods looked down. She towed him past the hundreds of white slabs around the walls, talking all the time.
    “Look, that’s a giraffe. They knew about Africa! There’s an elephant farther on, but it may be Indian. This is clearly a lion. One of the stones that ended up on the beach has got a carving of a horse on it, and who would bring one here? But the carvings on these other panels don’t seem to show anything I can recognize, so I’m wondering if this section is some kind of alphabet—A is for apple and so on—but a lot of panels have these lines and dots around the edges, so I could be completely wrong. And see how often there is a hand somewhere in the carving! I’m positive it’s there as a guide to size. And over here…” And so on, until at last she finished with: “And I’m sure they had a telescope.”
    “Oh, surely not! Is there a carving of one?”
    “Well, no. But a lot of slabs are missing.” Then she told him about the sons of Jupiter and the snake around Saturn.
    He didn’t seem too impressed, but he patted her on the hand. “Or the skies were clearer once,” he said. “Or there was a man with extremely good eyesight.”
    “But I’ve come up with a good scientific explanation!”
    Her father shook his head. “Much as I love you, it’s a guess. And, may I say, a hope. You must work harder than that, my girl.”
    Ah, those arguments we used to have coming back from the society, Daphne thought. I’m going to have to fight. Good!
    She pointed to the gods. “They shine because they are