The people were
in a state of mind for a miracle, and they hailed the joyful wonder with
shouts of triumph. The State was placed under the provisional care of
the Aboriginal. All arrangements for its superintendence were left to
his discretion, and its advice was instantly to be taken upon that
subject which at present was nearest the people's hearts.
But that subject was encompassed with difficulties. Pine-apples could
only be again procured by an application to the Prince of the World,
whose connection they had rejected, and by an introduction into the
island of those foreign agents, who, now convinced that the
Vraibleusians could not exist without their presence, would be more
arrogant and ambitious and turbulent than ever. Indeed, the Aboriginal
feared that the management of the Statue would be the sine qua non of
negotiation with the Prince. If this were granted, it was clear that
Vraibleusia must in future only rank as a dependent state of a foreign
power, since the direction of the whole island would actually be at the
will of the supplier of pine-apples.
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