Explore "A British Resident" by John Arthur Barry on Textopian. Read with annotations and highlights.
God save our gracious Queen. Send her victorious, Happy and glorious, Long to reign over us, God save the Queen.
As the full-throated chorus burst on their ears, the fierce-looking islanders surrounding the hollow square of marines and bluejackets moved uneasily in their places and seemed half inclined to bolt. But curiosity kept them steady to the end of the verse. Then the captain of the Cassowary, drawing his sword, gave it a flourish, and the seaman at the flagstaff halliards with a jerk broke the ball on the summit of the tall pole, loosing the Union Jack to the soft land breeze. Then, as a royal salute thundered from the man-o'-war just inside the reef, answered by three hearty cheers ashore, the natives took to their heels in earnest, and the annexation of Mahmee to the British Empire was an established fact.