Ki-Ram is interrupted in his proposal of marriage to the four schoolma'ams by the preparations for the inaugural. One of the preliminaries is the presentation of a silk hat as the insignia of office. All the characters pre viously introduced enter, the Sultan assumes the hat and the band plays " The Star Spangled Banner." Act II opens on the hanging gardens of the palace. The natives are singing a lullaby to Ki-Ram, who is over sleeping himself in the apartment below. While they are singing, Ki-Ram appears in his pajamas. His head is wrapped in a large towel. He carries in one hand a water pitcher, and in the other his silk hat. The expression on his face is one of extreme misery. He dips the towel in the ice-water and holds it against his throbbing brow. Discovering numerous specimens of the insect family dis porting themselves about him, he does battle with them and then breaks forth into a doleful song whose burden is " R-E-M-O-R-S-E." It appears that Ki-Ram has com muned with the cocktail on the preceding night and has absorbed twenty-three of these concoctions. His dejection is not lessened by Judge Jackson's information that seven of his wives have been granted divorces and that he may keep only one. He is trying to decide which one to 'keep when Henrietta Budd appears in a stunning outfit, with her arms full of roses, and he resolves not to keep any of them. When he makes violent love to her, she warns him as a titled foreigner, that although she is an American girl she is not an heiress. " Henrietta," returns Ki-Ram, " you wrong me. I am Sulu, not English." Pamela pursues Ki-Ram like Nemesis and informs him that he must keep one wife and that one must be the first one, who is Galula. He is further overwhelmed by the news that according to the law he will have to pay each wife alimony equivalent to one-half his income. Hadji suggests as a way out of this financial difficulty that Datto Mandi recapture the wives. Overjoyed at the suggestion, Ki-Ram immediately appoints the unwilling Hadji bearer of the message to Mandi that, while the Imperial Guards arc over at the north wall repulsing an imaginary attack, he can come in by the south gate and get his nieces. Soon
after Hadji's departure rifle-shots are heard and he is brought in between two marines " badly mussed up," the traitorous message having been found upon his person. Ki-Ram pleads ignorance as to who sent it but Pamela's legal mind has its suspicions. Reminding him that he hasn't paid his alimony on time, she has him handcuffed to Hadji and put under guard. The two, having oppor tunity to cogitate, hatch up a scheme to marry off the wives. Budd and Chiquita fall easily into the net and gradually the rest of the harem pair off with members of the Imperial Guard. They are looking for someone to perform the ceremony when the unpleasant Pamela again spoils things by the decision that a divorcee cannot remarry within the year. Meantime, a fierce and bearded warrior, none other than the Datto Mandi of Parang, approaches stealthily and is about to despatch Ki-Ram with his long sword, when that worthy is saved by Jones, who has just insured his life for 50,000 pesos.
There is a sound of brass band music and the Sulu Democratic and Republican marching clubs arrive with their candidates, the dusky waiters Didymos and Rastos. The disgusted Ki-Ram is about to go voluntarily to jail for the rest of his natural life, when a despatch-boat arrives with orders announcing among other things the Supreme Court's decision that the constitution follows the flag only on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays, in which case Ki Ram is no longer convict number 47. He is the Sultan and his first act of regained authority is to send Pamela Frances Jackson back to Boston.
" The Sultan of Sulu " derives its importance not so much from its music as from the fact that in subject-matter it is probably the most national of all the comic operas written by an American. National weaknesses and idiosyncrasies are drawn with the peculiar dry humor best understood and enjoyed by a citizen of the republic.
Among the most successful songs in the opera are " Since I First Met You," " R-e-m-o-r-s-e," " Hike " (sol diers' song), " Rosabella Clancey," " Delia " and " Oh What a Bump."