--What's that? says Joe.
So the citizen takes up one of his paraphernalia papers and he starts
reading out:
--A delegation of the chief cotton magnates of Manchester was presented
yesterday to His Majesty the Alaki of Abeakuta by Gold Stick in Waiting,
Lord Walkup of Walkup on Eggs, to tender to His Majesty the heartfelt
thanks of British traders for the facilities afforded them in his
dominions. The delegation partook of luncheon at the conclusion
of which the dusky potentate, in the course of a happy speech,
freely translated by the British chaplain, the reverend Ananias
Praisegod Barebones, tendered his best thanks to Massa Walkup and
emphasised the cordial relations existing between Abeakuta and the
British empire, stating that he treasured as one of his dearest
possessions an illuminated bible, the volume of the word of God
and the secret of England's greatness, graciously presented to him by
the white chief woman, the great squaw Victoria, with a personal
dedication from the august hand of the Royal Donor. The Alaki then drank a
lovingcup of firstshot usquebaugh to the toast BLACK AND WHITE from the
skull of his immediate predecessor in the dynasty Kakachakachak,
surnamed Forty Warts, after which he visited the chief factory of
Cottonopolis and signed his mark in the visitors' book, subsequently
executing a charming old Abeakutic wardance, in the course of which he
swallowed several knives and forks, amid hilarious applause from the girl
hands.
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