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You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: The Enchanted Island + +Author: Fannie Louise Apjohn + +Release Date: September 24, 2007 [EBook #22756] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ENCHANTED ISLAND *** + + + + +Produced by Al Haines + + + + + +</pre> + + +<A NAME="img-front"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-front.jpg" ALT=""With these on you will see everything as it really is, no matter how it may look to other people."" BORDER="2" WIDTH="476" HEIGHT="674"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 476px"> +"With these on you will see everything as it really is, <BR> +no matter how it may look to other people." +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<BR><BR> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +THE ENCHANTED ISLAND +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +BY +</H3> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +FANNIE LOUISE APJOHN +</H2> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H4 ALIGN="center"> +NEW YORK +<BR> +E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY +<BR> +681 FIFTH AVENUE +</H4> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H5 ALIGN="center"> +Copyright 1919 +<BR> +By E. P. DUTTON & COMPANY +<BR> +All rights reserved +</H5> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +CONTENTS +</H2> + +<TABLE ALIGN="center" WIDTH="100%"> +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="25%"> +<A HREF="#chap01">CHAPTER I</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="25%"> +<A HREF="#chap02">CHAPTER II</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="25%"> +<A HREF="#chap03">CHAPTER III</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top" WIDTH="25%"> +<A HREF="#chap04">CHAPTER IV</A> +</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap05">CHAPTER V</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap06">CHAPTER VI</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap07">CHAPTER VII</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap08">CHAPTER VIII</A> +</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap09">CHAPTER IX</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap10">CHAPTER X</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap11">CHAPTER XI</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap12">CHAPTER XII</A> +</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap13">CHAPTER XIII</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap14">CHAPTER XIV</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap15">CHAPTER XV</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap16">CHAPTER XVI</A> +</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap17">CHAPTER XVII</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap18">CHAPTER XVIII</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap19">CHAPTER XIX</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap20">CHAPTER XX</A> +</TD> +</TR> + +<TR> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap21">CHAPTER XXI</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> +<A HREF="#chap22">CHAPTER XXII</A> +</TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +<TD ALIGN="left" VALIGN="top"> </TD> +</TR> + +</TABLE> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<H2 ALIGN="center"> +ILLUSTRATIONS +</H2> + +<BR> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-front"> +"With these on you will see everything as it really is, +no matter <BR> +how it may look to other +people" . . . <I>Frontispiece</I> +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-110"> +The toucan . . . seized the basket by the handle +and flew away +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-148"> +Up sprang the lid, and there behold! were the +wonderful big pellets +</A> +</H3> + +<H3> +<A HREF="#img-234"> +He was trying to induce her to make an effort to +pass the dead tigers +</A> +</H3> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap01"></A> + +<H1 ALIGN="center"> +THE ENCHANTED ISLAND +</H1> + +<BR> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER I +</H3> + +<P> +Once upon a time many years ago there lay five islands in the South +Pacific ocean where the weather was always fine. +</P> + +<P> +Four of them were set in a kind of square, but the fifth, which was +much smaller than any of the others, stood in the center of the group +so that it was nearer to each island than they were to each other, for +they were all so many miles apart that they could not see each other's +shores. +</P> + +<P> +The little island in the middle was not inhabited, but was surrounded +by very dangerous reefs. It was called the Island of Despair, though +nobody seemed to know how it got its name, and was supposed to be +haunted. +</P> + +<P> +It had not always been there, and that was another reason why it was +looked upon as an uncanny place, for all the grandmothers and +grandfathers could remember when there had been nothing but the great +sea between the four islands, and then suddenly one morning a ship had +come upon the small island and nearly wrecked itself on the great rocks +about it. After that of course it was put on all the charts, but even +so, many a ship had since gone on the rocks in a storm and been lost. +</P> + +<P> +Each of the four big islands was a separate kingdom, and had nothing to +do with the others. The largest of all was called the Island of Sunne +because it was the nicest and had the finest weather. It never rained +there in the day time, but only at night, which you must admit was very +convenient. +</P> + +<P> +However, every place has disadvantages, and instead of mothers telling +their children that it was not fine enough to go for a picnic they +often said it was too fine, which meant that the very bright sunshine +and blue sky would be apt to dazzle them, and then they would have to +sit in a dark room every day for a week before they would be able to +see anything again. +</P> + +<P> +The King of Sunne was a good, kind man, who never made war with any of +the other kingdoms, and was quite satisfied with all that he had. The +Queen was very nice too, and gave a great deal of money to the poor, so +it was not to be wondered at that the country was very prosperous, and +the people thought their rulers the best in the world. +</P> + +<P> +The King and Queen had only one son, who was called Daimur. When +Prince Daimur was sixteen years of age his father gave him the most +beautiful horse he could find in the kingdom, and the Prince was so +delighted with his present that he used to ride all day long in the +forests, sometimes with his servants, and sometimes alone. +</P> + +<P> +One day, as he was returning from a long ride, he passed a small hut +deep in a wood, which he did not remember ever having seen there +before. He dismounted, and going up to the door asked for a drink of +water. +</P> + +<P> +An old man opened the door and asked him to come in. He did so, and +the old man got him a pitcher of water from the well, but did not offer +him anything to eat. The Prince wondered at this, as it was nearly +noontime, and the people of the forest were extremely hospitable. +</P> + +<P> +"You are wondering, my dear young Prince," said he, "why I have no +dinner cooking. It is because I am so poor that I have nothing to eat +in the house, and I do not know what is to become of me." +</P> + +<P> +Thereupon the Prince pulled out of his knapsack a package of meat, some +bread and butter, cakes, and a big piece of fine cheese. +</P> + +<P> +"Poor old man," he cried, "take this food, which I will not need, and I +will send you some more to-morrow." +</P> + +<P> +The old man thanked him with tears in his eyes, and the Prince rode +away. +</P> + +<P> +Next day, when Daimur was again setting out to ride he called some of +his servants and bade them fill up several baskets with food and +provisions of various kinds, which he intended to give to the old man +at the cottage. +</P> + +<P> +When all was ready they set out, and soon reached the wood, but what +was Daimur's surprise to find the cottage door broken down and the poor +old man lying upon the floor. +</P> + +<P> +Daimur ran forward and attempted to raise him. +</P> + +<P> +"Tell me what has happened, my poor old friend," he cried, "who has +done this?" +</P> + +<P> +"Alas, my enemy has found me," whispered the old man, "and I am dying." +</P> + +<P> +Then he motioned to Daimur to send the servants away from the room, as +he had something he wished to tell him. As soon as Daimur had shut the +door the old man said: +</P> + +<P> +"Prince Daimur, I am not merely the old man you see lying here; I am +also a fairy, and am called the Good Old Man of Sunne. By my powers I +have been able to keep away all evil and unhappiness from this island, +and at one time from all the other islands in this Land of Brightness. +But I have had for the last two hundred years a very powerful enemy who +is known as the Evil Man of Despair. He makes his home now upon the +Island of Despair, and wicked men consult him when they have deeds of +treachery to do. +</P> + +<P> +"He has a great many chemical secrets which he learned in foreign +lands, and as I am older than he and not so clever he has outwitted me +many times upon the other islands, and evil times have followed, with +wars and bloodshed. I have always lived upon this island, and of late +took refuge in your father's wood, as I had a warning that he was going +to seek me out and kill me. +</P> + +<P> +"Last night when it was very dark a tremendous wind sprang up and the +fury of it burst my door open. I knew it was he, although he did not +speak, but in a moment the cottage was filled with a sweet smell of +spices which soon became overpowering and I lay like one stupefied, too +weak to move. I heard him moving around searching for my treasures. +He did not find them, however, and I am going to give them to you, as +in a few moments I will be dead, and then I do not know what will +become of this Land of Sunne. Alas! Alas!" +</P> + +<P> +Prince Daimur was greatly moved, and tried to tell him that he might +get better if he sent back and fetched the Court doctor, who was very +wise, but the old man shook his head feebly. +</P> + +<P> +"No, it is of no use," he said, "I am very old, and the poison has +killed me. My brain is already growing numb, and I must act quickly, +Look on that nail behind the door and you will find the door key. +Bring it to me." +</P> + +<P> +Daimur did so, and the old man pinched it. It split in two and there +could be seen a smaller key resting in a groove in the middle. +</P> + +<P> +"Now," said the old man, "put this in the lock which you will find in +the under side of the window sill and turn it. Bring me what you see." +</P> + +<P> +Daimur did as he was told, and after fitting the little key into the +lock and turning it, he found that a piece of the window sill rose up +and disclosed a small black morocco case like a pocketbook lying in the +cavity. This he carried to the old man, who grasped it eagerly in his +feeble hands. +</P> + +<P> +"This," he said, "contains my greatest treasures. In this case is a +small black velvet cap. It is a poor, worn-looking one, but whoever +wears it knows all things, and will be able to act wisely. Inside the +cap you will find a pair of silver-rimmed spectacles. With these on +you will see everything as it really is, no matter how it may look to +other people. You must, however, be careful, as the Evil Magician has +always coveted these treasures and if he finds out that you have them +he will do his best to get them from you. Let no one know that you +possess them, and always keep them concealed about you. As the +Magician will no doubt came back to search the cottage I advise you to +burn it up as soon as I am gone. See, you had better take the magic +key too, as it will open any lock, however large or small. Beware of +evil times, my poor Prince, as my good influence will no longer be felt +in this kingdom." +</P> + +<P> +With these words the old man began to shrink thinner and thinner, +narrower and narrower, until Daimur could see through him, and finally +he was just a streak of pale sunlight upon the floor, which wavered and +faded, and at last went out completely. +</P> + +<P> +Daimur was so surprised that he sat quite still for a time. Then +rising to his feet and putting the key into the black case with the +spectacles, he hid it in his bosom, and went out to call his servants. +He told them that the old man was dead and would not need the food, and +sent them on with it to the home of a poor farmer who had a sick wife, +telling them to ride around by the high road and meet him, as he was +going to ride that way. +</P> + +<P> +As soon as they were out of sight he built a little pile of chips and +dry leaves under the edge of the house, and set fire to it. What was +his astonishment to see the flames leap up at once over the whole +cottage, which burnt like paper. In a moment there was nothing left +but a little pile of ashes, which the light wind took up into the air, +where it formed a white cloud that sailed off into the sky, leaving a +perfectly green space where the cottage had been, with no marks of fire +at all. +</P> + +<P> +Prince Daimur rode slowly out of the forest, thinking of all the good +old man had said, and wondering very much, as he had never heard before +of the Evil Magician of Despair, although he had heard his father say +that a good fairy had always presided over the fortunes of his kingdom, +but Daimur had thought it only a saying. +</P> + +<P> +He longed to put on the magic cap and spectacles, but was afraid the +Evil Magician might be hovering around, so he made up his mind that he +would wait until some need arose before he took them from their case +again. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap02"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER II +</H3> + +<P> +It was not long before, as the Good Old Man had foretold, evil days +came upon the kingdom of Sunne. +</P> + +<P> +The King's brother, who until this time had apparently been very well +satisfied to live peacefully in his castle and mind his own affairs, +which, were quite important enough to suit almost anyone, now began to +stir up trouble in the kingdom. +</P> + +<P> +He made speeches, traveling from place to place, and told the nobles +how foolish they were to be satisfied to stay in the Island of Sunne +and work so hard collecting rents when they might go to war and win +some of the other islands and take possession of all the silver and +gold, fine castles and estates there. +</P> + +<P> +After a while he made some of them very dissatisfied with their lot, +and the King had to threaten to put him in prison if he did not stop +it. I do not know how it would have ended if a dreadful accident had +not occurred which threw the whole kingdom into the deepest gloom. +</P> + +<P> +The King and Queen with some of the Court were one day out for a sail +on the bay, when a sudden squall arose which upset the boat, and all +were drowned. +</P> + +<P> +The people of Sunne were greatly grieved and very much alarmed as well, +for the Prince was still quite young, and could not be expected to know +much about ruling a country. They, however, did not have very much to +say in the matter, as the dissatisfied uncle at once proposed to reign +as King Regent until Daimur was eighteen years of age. +</P> + +<P> +As most of the best statesmen and all the King's close advisers had +been drowned, there was nobody in particular to disagree with him, and +he immediately took possession of the palace and began ordering +everyone around. +</P> + +<P> +Soon people hated him, and he made the taxes so high that it took +nearly all the money they could earn to pay them. This was to keep up +an immense army which he had formed with the intention of making war +against the other islands as soon as he had built a large fleet. +</P> + +<P> +When Daimur was eighteen all the people of the kingdom demanded that he +should be crowned king. +</P> + +<P> +Daimur wanted to be crowned at once too, so that he could put back all +the good laws his father had made, and save his country from going to +war, but his uncle begged him to wait for a couple of months. +</P> + +<P> +One night shortly after his birthday, Daimur had gone to his apartment +and was sitting at his window thinking sadly of his troubled kingdom, +when suddenly his door was opened and before he could say a word a gag +was thrust into his mouth, his hands and feet were tied, and he was +carried quickly downstairs, out of doors and down the garden path to +the sea, where he was dumped into a boat that was anchored at the +little wharf there. The night was very dark, and Daimur could not see +because they had thrown a cloak over him and fastened it over his head, +but he could tell that it was a small boat by the way it rocked when +they moved about. The men ran up a couple of sails and pushed off to +sea. The boat raced swiftly through the waves, but Daimur thought the +journey would never end as he lay bound in the bow of the boat, and +half smothered by the cloak. They sailed all night. The sun came up +and it was a very warm day, but still they kept on, and it was not +until the middle of the afternoon that they came at last to land and +ran onto a sandy beach. Here the men pulled the poor Prince out of the +boat more dead than alive, set him free, and putting off a large jug of +fresh water and a big bag of biscuits, sailed away again and left him. +</P> + +<P> +In vain Daimur cried after them to return, not to leave him there +alone. They paid not the slightest attention. +</P> + +<P> +After watching them for some time he saw in the distance a large +sailing barge running towards the small boat, which he recognized as +his uncle's, so how he felt certain that his uncle had caused him to be +left upon the Island of Despair in order to take possession of the +Kingdom of Sunne. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap03"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER III +</H3> + +<P> +After a while poor Daimur gave up staring blankly at the sea, and +taking up his jug of water and his bag of biscuits walked slowly up the +shore to a shady place and sat down to eat and drink a portion, for he +was nearly dead of hunger and thirst. +</P> + +<P> +He had been sitting there only a few minutes when he heard a strange +noise overhead, and looking up he saw a large hawk pursuing a beautiful +brown dove. The dove flew this way and that, squeaking piteously, and +at last fluttered to the ground at Daimur's feet, while the hawk +swooped down to seize it; but Daimur jumped to his feet, and waving his +arms beat it off and it flew away in fright. +</P> + +<P> +When it was gone Daimur turned to look at the brown dove, which was +lying quite still on the grass with its eyes closed. +</P> + +<P> +"Poor thing," thought he, "I wonder if water would revive it," and he +poured out a little in his hand and dropped some of it into the bird's +beak. +</P> + +<P> +In a few seconds the dove opened its eyes, and to Daimur's surprise +spoke. +</P> + +<P> +"Thank you, brave young man," it said. "You have saved my life, and I +cannot tell you how grateful I am. The reason I am so weak is that I +am nearly dead of hunger and thirst." +</P> + +<P> +"Unfortunate creature," exclaimed Daimur, as he gave it a few drops +more of the water, "I have some biscuits which you shall share," and so +saying he proceeded to crumble one of the biscuits, which the dove +seemed to hesitate to take. +</P> + +<P> +"Unhappy young man," it said in a sorrowful voice, "I cannot take your +last morsel, for this is the last pure food and fresh water you will +ever get while you stay on this island." +</P> + +<P> +"That may be quite true," replied Daimur, "but I cannot eat any of it +while I feel that another creature is more in need of it than I," and +after some pressing the dove hungrily ate up the biscuit. +</P> + +<P> +When he had finished he was apparently much stronger, and hopped upon +Daimur's knee. +</P> + +<P> +"Look at me," he said, "and tell me what I am." +</P> + +<P> +"You are a very beautiful brown dove with a golden crest," said Daimur. +</P> + +<P> +"I am more than that," said the dove with a sigh; "I am Cyril, King of +the Island of Shells, one of those which surround this Island of +Despair, and you, I am sure, are a Prince or a King also, who has been +put here to be out of the way." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," answered Daimur, "I am Prince Daimur of the Island of Sunne, and +my wicked uncle has sent me here to starve, so that he may be made King +in my stead." +</P> + +<P> +"I thought it was something like that," said the dove. +</P> + +<P> +"But that is not the worst of it," he went on. "You are wondering how +I came to take the form of a dove. As you can see for yourself, I am +enchanted. I was brought here with my wife the Queen and one little +daughter, the Princess Maya, who is now seventeen years old. We too +were given a bag of food and some water, but naturally I began to +search for other food to eat when that was gone. +</P> + +<P> +"I found that all the trees upon this island were fruit trees of +different kinds and bore the most tempting and luscious fruits. There +was also a well of clear water in the middle of the island, all neatly +stoned around, which was fed by a small shallow stream flowing from the +hill at the north side. You can imagine my relief. I had no fears of +starvation anyway. +</P> + +<P> +"We immediately began eating the fruit, and found it so delicious and +satisfying that we threw the biscuits into the sea. What was my alarm +in two days' time to find that I was growing stupid. I could not get +enough sleep. The Queen was the same, and as for the Princess, when +she was not eating fruit she was sleeping. We thought it must be the +sea air, but on the third day we could hardly open our eyes at all, and +as soon as we had eaten some fruit for breakfast we fell sound asleep, +and when I woke I looked around in vain for my wife and little daughter. +</P> + +<P> +"They were nowhere to be seen. Only beside me were a grey dove and a +white one sitting on a branch sound asleep. Then on looking down I saw +that I too was sitting on the branch, and that I was a brown dove, and +I knew immediately that this was the work of the Evil Magician of +Despair, and that it was through eating the charmed fruit that we had +become changed into birds. +</P> + +<P> +"It was not long before we found that there were many others here, who +like ourselves had been sent out of their country. And to make it more +horrible I discovered that the longer they stayed and the more fruit +they ate the more stupid they became. Some of the older ones could not +remember anything at all, and did nothing all day long but eat, drink +and sleep. +</P> + +<P> +"I do not eat more than will keep me alive, and I try to keep the Queen +and our daughter from eating much too, knowing that we also are in +danger of losing our minds. I have gone about imploring the others on +the island to be careful, in hope of our being at some future time able +to escape, but to very little purpose. Of course they must eat the +fruit or starve, and most of them prefer losing their minds to going +hungry." +</P> + +<P> +Prince Daimur listened to the tale with a shiver, for he did not in the +least want to be enchanted and lose his mind. +</P> + +<P> +"Have you ever seen the Magician?" he asked after a pause. "I have +been told he knows many secrets of chemistry." +</P> + +<P> +"No," answered the dove. "We have never seen him. We feel that he is +coming sometimes by the great wind that goes sweeping by, but as it is +always coming and going in the path to the shore I think he must go +back and forth a great deal from this island to some of the others. We +know that he has a house on the hill on the north side somewhere, but +have never been able to get close enough to see it, as the wind is +always so strong around the hill that we cannot fly against it." +</P> + +<P> +Now all this talk of wind made Daimur think of the day he had found the +Good Old Man of Sunne in his cottage with the door blown in, and when +he put his hand in his bosom, there safe and sound was his little case +with his cap, spectacles and key, which in his distress he had entirely +forgotten. +</P> + +<P> +He opened the case and putting on the spectacles looked at the dove. +</P> + +<P> +What he saw before him was not a dove, but a tall, splendid looking +man, very thin, with a sad, pale face. He was clad in a rich suit of +brown velvet, and wore a gold crown on his head, and he looked at +Daimur in some surprise as the Prince next drew on the cap. +</P> + +<P> +Now he knew all things. He knew that the Magician had been called away +suddenly by his uncle, and that his uncle intended to have the Magician +construct some tale whereby he could make the people believe that +Daimur had died a natural death. +</P> + +<P> +He turned to the dove, or King Cyril, as he really was, and said: +</P> + +<P> +"You may think it strange for me to put on these articles at this +particular time, but by them I am enabled to see and to know all +things, and I must ask you to swear that you will tell no one I have +them, for the Evil Magician is looking for these very treasures, and +their possession would make him a hundredfold stronger than he is. +</P> + +<P> +"I am able through this cap to know that he is now at Sunne with my +wicked uncle, and will not be back until to-morrow night, so come, let +us walk about, and I will look for something to eat besides this +enchanted fruit." +</P> + +<P> +King Cyril promised solemnly that he would tell no one about Daimur's +treasures, not even the Queen, for fear he should be overheard, and +then they set forth on their way. King Cyril flying slowly in front +and giving Daimur time to look about. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap04"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IV +</H3> + +<P> +They had gone but a short distance and had come to an opening in the +trees, when Daimur said. +</P> + +<P> +"I see a field of potatoes on that slope about two miles away." +</P> + +<P> +"Potatoes!" exclaimed Cyril. "How can you see so far?" +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, it is quite easy with these spectacles on," said Daimur. "Let us +go and see them." +</P> + +<P> +They set out, and after a long and tiresome walk through tangled +underbrush Daimur found himself on the edge of the potato field. King +Cyril resting on a branch beside him. +</P> + +<P> +"Now, if I only had a spade," said Daimur, as he fell to looking about +for a sharp stick or anything which would dig up the earth. After +quite a search he found, half buried in sand and dead leaves, an old +spade with part of the handle gone. +</P> + +<P> +"What good luck!" he exclaimed, as he seized it and commenced digging +up a hill of potatoes, and he soon had a large mound of them on the +ground. +</P> + +<P> +Then the question was where to put them, as it would never do to let +the Evil Magician suspect that Daimur was not going to eat the charmed +fruit, but was taking his potatoes instead. +</P> + +<P> +After searching about for half an hour they suddenly broke through the +trees and found themselves on a shore, the like of which they had never +seen before. It was wild and rocky and barren, and some of the rocks +were of very curious shapes. A few were high and conical, like caves, +and had smooth flat floors. +</P> + +<P> +They began to look for a cave in the rocks near the shore, and at last +found one at the foot of a great tree which overshadowed it. This cave +had an opening in front looking out to the sea. +</P> + +<P> +King Cyril flew into the air as high as he could and looked for the +hill where they knew the Magician lived. He was quite breathless when +he came down, but he said that the hill was away at the other end of +the island, and that they were facing the south. +</P> + +<P> +"Then we must be looking towards the Island of Laurel," said Daimur, +"and these must be some of the rocks on which ships are often wrecked." +</P> + +<P> +"Do you think," he continued as he looked about him, "that if we were +to make a fire in the cave the Magician could see the smoke?" +</P> + +<P> +"I do not know," answered King Cyril, "it might be very risky to try; +but anyway let us see if there is not another entrance to the cave." +</P> + +<P> +He flew around it carefully, pulling away the bushes which grew close +to it with his beak, and at last called Daimur to come and see the nice +back door he had discovered, for the cave ran for some distance into +the earth, and at the end of it, behind some shrubs, was another +opening about five feet high. +</P> + +<P> +"Now," said Daimur, "we can come and go from this end and there will be +no danger of the Magician seeing us." +</P> + +<P> +With grateful hearts they went back to get their potatoes. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap05"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER V +</H3> + +<P> +After Daimur had carried all the potatoes into the cave and piled them +up in a heap he took King Cyril on his shoulder and went back for the +biscuits and water, as he was feeling very hungry and thirsty. +</P> + +<P> +"Can you not call the Queen and the Princess," asked Daimur, "so that +they may share some of this food?" +</P> + +<P> +"You are very kind," said King Cyril, "but I am afraid they are both +asleep yet. They were so hungry this morning that they ate more fruit +than usual, but I will go and see," and off he flew, leaving Daimur to +wonder how long it would be before he could get away from this strange +and dreadful island. +</P> + +<P> +In a short time King Cyril flew back, followed by a beautiful grey +dove, the Queen, whom Daimur perceived through his wonderful spectacles +to be a handsome woman dressed in a grey satin gown, and wearing a +small crown of gold set with diamonds and sapphires. +</P> + +<P> +Beside her flew a little white dove, the Princess Maya, and Daimur +could see that she was a golden-haired young girl, all dressed in white +frilly lace. +</P> + +<P> +He asked them to be seated and have some biscuits and water, which +though poor fare was at least wholesome and nourishing. +</P> + +<P> +The Queen wept at the sight of a human being again after such a long +time, and the Princess stared at him as much as good manners would let +her, and thought him extremely handsome (as indeed he was), for she had +seen nothing but doves for the last four years. +</P> + +<P> +King Cyril then told them how Daimur was going to do them a good deal +of good, and had already found a hill of potatoes and a cave where they +could live so that they might have no fear of animals or birds of prey. +</P> + +<P> +Queen Emily was very much overjoyed, and extremely grateful to Daimur +for saving her husband from the hawk, about which he had just told her, +and as soon as they had had sufficient to eat she asked to see the +cave. Daimur picked up the balance of the biscuits and the jug of +water, and they all went to look at it. +</P> + +<P> +The Queen and Princess thought it a lovely place, and volunteered to +stay and gather bits of moss and leaves for Daimur to sleep on at +night, while he and King Cyril continued their search for food. +</P> + +<P> +Accordingly they set out again, Daimur still wearing his cap and +spectacles, the King on his shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +After walking for some time Daimur, who was carrying the old spade, set +it down suddenly. +</P> + +<P> +"There are yams here," he said, "lots and lots of them," as he looked +about at a mass of slender vines which twined about the trees and +climbed towards the light. He set to work with his spade, and in a few +minutes had about a dozen nice big ones lying on the ground. +</P> + +<P> +"We will leave them here for the present," he said to King Cyril, +"while we see whether we can discover anything else." +</P> + +<P> +A short distance farther on Daimur stopped again to examine some more +vines. +</P> + +<P> +"Why these are peanut plants," he said to King Cyril (though he had +never seen peanuts growing in his life before), "we must have some of +these," and he dug up enough to fill all his pockets. +</P> + +<P> +Again they continued their walk, and Daimur now began examining the +trees. Certainly they were very fine ones, some of them reaching away +up into the sky, and taller than the tallest buildings in the Island of +Sunne. +</P> + +<P> +They were all hanging full of the most luscious fruits. Monstrous +oranges, beautiful peaches, cherries as big as plums, and plums bigger +than anything you ever saw, bananas, cocoanuts, dates, figs, +breadfruits, and grape vines bearing heavy clusters of black, red, and +white grapes, grew in abundance, and although Daimur felt very much +tempted to pick some of the lovely things he saw, he did not, as his +spectacles showed plainly that they were all poisoned. +</P> + +<P> +"It seems to me," said Daimur, "that everything which grows above the +ground is poison, but that everything that grows in the ground is good +to eat. +</P> + +<P> +"So you see," he continued, addressing King Cyril, who was fluttering +about him in a great state of excitement, "we need not starve after +all. Now let us go back to the cave, as it is beginning to grow dusk, +and besides I am very thirsty. And good gracious! That reminds me +that we have not found any pure water yet, and we have very little +left." +</P> + +<P> +They hastened back to where they had left the yams, and taking off his +coat Daimur threw them into it and they started off towards the cave. +</P> + +<P> +When they drew near it the Queen and Princess came flying to meet them, +and crying that they had found a great treasure. +</P> + +<P> +"What have you found?" asked Daimur in surprise, hoping it was not +another of the Evil Magician's wicked devices. +</P> + +<P> +"Water," replied the Queen. "It is just outside the cave and bubbles +up from between two rocks. It must be a natural spring as it tastes +quite pure and fresh." +</P> + +<P> +Daimur went with the Princess to look at it, and found it was indeed as +they had said. Between the cave wall and a rock which jutted from the +bank a little spring bubbled up and trickled into a small rocky basin, +which it overflowed and so ran into the sea sand. +</P> + +<P> +Daimur knew by his cap that it was pure, and they were all much +relieved to think they had been so lucky as to find both pure food and +pure water in such a short time. +</P> + +<P> +"Thank goodness," said Daimur, "we are safe for the present at least." +</P> + +<P> +"We found something else, which I am sure will be nice," said the +little Princess. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it?" asked Daimur. +</P> + +<P> +"Come and I will show you," she said. "Mother and I discovered them +while looking for leaves for your bed, but we could not carry them." +</P> + +<P> +A little distance up the sand the Princess led him to where there was a +large nest of turtles' eggs, which Daimur joyfully dug out of the sand +and carried to the cave. +</P> + +<P> +"Now we will have a splendid feast," they said. +</P> + +<P> +They waited until it was quite dark and then dug a hole inside the +opening at the back of the cave, and made a fire. Luckily Daimur had a +little silver box of matches with him. They roasted the potatoes and +yams in the coals, toasted the peanuts, and baked the turtle eggs on a +hot stone, and thoroughly enjoyed their supper. +</P> + +<P> +Then, as they were all very tired, Daimur jammed some branches across +one corner of the cave for the doves to sleep on, and gratefully threw +himself down on the nice soft bed which the Queen and the Princess had +prepared for him, and they all slept soundly until morning. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap06"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VI +</H3> + +<P> +Next morning they ate some of the food which they had put aside for +breakfast, took a drink of water from their little spring, and then +Daimur put on his cap and spectacles, shouldered his spade and filled +his pockets with potatoes and peanuts and some of the biscuits. +</P> + +<P> +"Now," he said to the three doves, "I want King Cyril to come with me +and see if we cannot locate something like a boat near the Magician's +hill so that we may get away from this place." +</P> + +<P> +Queen Emily and the Princess begged to go too, so they all set out +together. +</P> + +<P> +It was a long way across the island, but finally they came to the +poisoned spring which flowed near the Magician's hill, and there they +saw many doves of all colors drinking and splashing around in the +shallow well, while others sat stupidly on the branches of the trees +devouring fruit. +</P> + +<P> +The poor King and Queen shuddered at the sight and kept close to +Daimur, who was so busy thinking that he hardly noticed them. +</P> + +<P> +"By my cap," he said to himself, "I know there is a stair to the +Magician's house from the shore on the other side of this hill, and the +house is a strong stone one built into the hill. I wonder," he +thought, "if we can find the stair." +</P> + +<P> +They walked, or rather Daimur walked and the doves flew slowly towards +the hill, but soon came to a great wall of rock that jutted out for +half a mile, and over which they could see by the tree tops a terrific +wind was blowing. +</P> + +<P> +Daimur announced his intention of trying to scale the wall, but even as +he spoke a sudden gust of wind swept down upon them, causing the trees +to scatter fruit in all directions, and almost upsetting the three +doves. +</P> + +<P> +"What did I tell you?" said King Cyril. "We do not get much of it +here, but look how the treetops are bending above us. It is of no use +to try to climb up." +</P> + +<P> +Feeling rather disconsolate Daimur turned around and started following +the great wall of rock which ran away around the hill, winding in and +out until it ran right into the sea. +</P> + +<P> +"This wall is the same on the other side of the island," said the King, +"it runs into the sea on that side also, so that the Magician's +dwelling is completely shut off from the rest of the island." +</P> + +<P> +They went on, keeping close beside the wall, until they came to the +place where it crossed the sand of the seashore, and Daimur stood lost +in thought, gazing at the rough stones which towered above his head. +Then with a sudden exclamation he took his spade from his shoulder and +commenced digging in the sand at the foot of the wall. +</P> + +<P> +He soon found that it was only buried about three feet in the sand, and +in a few minutes he had succeeded in making a hole under it wide enough +to crawl through on his hands and knees, the doves immediately +following him. +</P> + +<P> +Once inside, the shore looked very much the same as it did elsewhere, +and the only wind was the natural breeze, fresh and briny, which blew +in from the sea. +</P> + +<P> +They crept along, keeping close to the ground, under the shade of the +trees, and after a while came up close to the hill, which at this side +seemed to be of solid rock, and ran very close to the water. +</P> + +<P> +Built against the hill was a long, low house of white stone, with a +flight of marble steps leading up to the door, while directly in front +of it running out a short distance was a wide landing, seemingly +composed of one immense slab of white stone. +</P> + +<P> +They crept close to the house, but Daimur was afraid to mount the stair +for fear of being seen from one of the windows which faced the sea on +each side of the door. He was very anxious to know who was in the +house, but to his surprise his cap could not tell him anything about it. +</P> + +<P> +The Princess eagerly volunteered to go. +</P> + +<P> +"I am white like the gulls that are flying about," she said, "and will +not likely be noticed." +</P> + +<P> +Up she flew and alighted on the window sill, which was open, and after +looking carefully in, she disappeared inside. +</P> + +<P> +The King and Queen and Daimur waited in the greatest suspense for more +than half an hour. At the end of that time she reappeared, looking +very frightened. +</P> + +<P> +"There is a witch in there," she whispered. "Let us go back at once." +</P> + +<P> +They said nothing further, but all hurried away as fast as they could, +crawled under the stone wall, and Daimur threw back the sand against +it, and smoothed it down. They did not stop until they had reached the +cave. Then they all sat down, very tired, and the Princess told them +what she had seen. +</P> + +<P> +"I went in at the window," she began, "and was in a great kitchen. At +the far end of it I saw a room with a window in the end of it, so as +there seemed to be no one about I cautiously slipped into the other +room, which from the bottles and pots on the shelves I thought must be +a sort of chemist's work-room. +</P> + +<P> +"I hopped up on the window sill and looked out, and saw a beautiful +large ship with three masts tied up in a small bay at the end of the +house. I was then coming away, when I heard a noise and looking +around, saw coming through the kitchen a very ugly old crone hobbling +towards me, muttering to herself. +</P> + +<P> +"I crept into a large box that stood empty in a corner, and saw her go +up to a big wicker basket near the window out of which I had just been +looking. She opened the basket and out came a long green snake, which +fastened itself around her neck. I quite quivered with terror. +</P> + +<P> +"'How are you to-day, my daughter?' asked the old crone. +</P> + +<P> +"'Oh, much better, thank you,' said the reptile, in a horrible rattling +voice. 'Did you find the magic tablets yet, mother?' +</P> + +<P> +"'Alas, my dear,' replied the witch, 'I found hundreds of them. They +are on a shelf behind the cupboard, in a dark corner, but are locked up +in a glass box. I am afraid the Magician carries the key with him, and +I dare not break the lock.' +</P> + +<P> +"'Oh, dear, how much longer must I wait to get out of this horrid +shape? I wish I had not touched his old bottles and made him angry,' +said the snake, and it began to shed streams of tears which ran down +and made little green lizards that crawled about on the floor. +</P> + +<P> +"'Not much longer, dear,' replied the witch. 'The Magician is coming +back to-night, and nothing can be done now, but he is going away again +on a special journey in five days' time, to hunt for some treasures +which he says he must have, so I will go out across the fields as soon +as he is gone and consult my old cat as to what is best to be done.' +</P> + +<P> +"The Witch then put the snake back in the basket, fastened down the +lid, and went away, so after a while, not seeing anything more of her, +I crept out of my hiding place, determined to get some of the tablets +which will give us back our human shapes." +</P> + +<P> +"Did you see them?" asked the Queen quite breathlessly. +</P> + +<P> +"I did," replied the Princess, "I got in behind the cupboard, which has +a piece gone out of the back, hopped up on the shelf, and found them +quite easily. They are locked up in a strong glass box, and are as big +as corn kernels." +</P> + +<P> +"Well, well," said Daimur, after a pause. "Why, I have a key here that +will unlock anything. We shall go back when the Magician goes away +next time, and see if we cannot get some of the magic tablets." +</P> + +<P> +Feeling very cheerful indeed they then went with Daimur while he dug a +great many more potatoes, nuts and yams, and helped him to make a fire +afterwards to cook them for supper. While the fire was getting hot +Daimur went out along the shore to see what he could find. The tide +was out, and he went looking about for clams. He was not disappointed, +for he soon found a great many nice big ones, and you may be sure they +tasted very delicious when baked in their shells. +</P> + +<P> +Long after they had had their supper, when it was quite dark, they +heard a great wind blowing, and Daimur, putting on his cap knew that it +was the Magician coming home. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap07"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VII +</H3> + +<P> +All the next day the King and Queen and little Princess Maya went about +quietly among the doves in the woods and told them about Daimur, and +about the tablets they hoped to get to release them from their +enchantment, and begged them if they valued their lives to leave the +fruit they were eating and come and live in the cave with them. +</P> + +<P> +They soon had nearly all the brightest doves fluttering excitedly to +the cave, so anxious were they to seize any chance that might set them +free. +</P> + +<P> +The very stupid ones were harder to rouse, but by dint of coaxing and +driving they managed to get them all into the cave, where pure food and +fresh water soon began to clear their poisoned brains, and in a few +days' time they were nearly all as bright and wide awake as when they +came to the island. +</P> + +<P> +The cave at night now was full of chattering and whispering, and Daimur +had put up a great many more branches for them to sleep on. +</P> + +<P> +He had plenty to do, for there was now a large number of doves to +provide for, and they ate a surprising quantity of food, and for fear +the Magician should see him he had to go for potatoes and other +provisions at night. +</P> + +<P> +It was thought best for the birds to fly through the island +occasionally in the day time, so that the Magician might not be +suspicious. +</P> + +<P> +The first night, after they were all inside and had finished supper, +Daimur told them of the ship which was anchored at the Magician's door, +and they immediately cried out, "It is the one he stole from Prince +Redmond," and Prince Redmond, a big black dove with a huge red ruff and +red crest, nodded, and said he knew it must be his. +</P> + +<P> +Then they talked about the magic tablets, and Daimur told them he felt +sure his little key would open the glass box. +</P> + +<P> +Now Daimur was naturally very much interested to know who these doves +were and from which of the islands they came, so they decided that each +should tell his own story. +</P> + +<P> +King Cyril was the first one called upon, and after Daimur had stirred +up the fire he began: +</P> + +<P> +"I am, as most of you know, Cyril, King of the Island of Shells. +</P> + +<P> +"My father was a kind, gentle man, who was more interested in study +than in governing his kingdom. He had only two sons, my brother +Arnolde and myself, and we grew up together and were the greatest +friends until I married. +</P> + +<P> +"As my father was getting very old, and I was the elder son, I soon had +to devote a good deal of my time to the management of the kingdom, and +my brother, who was three years younger than I, and who took absolutely +no interest in matters of state, was now left very much to himself. +</P> + +<P> +"One day he announced to my father that he was about to marry a +charming young lady who was living with her aunt, a duchess, in another +part of the kingdom. My father was naturally displeased that he should +have chosen for his wife some one who was not very high in rank, but +upon making inquiries he found to his horror that the young lady was +the daughter of a magician who had never liked our family. +</P> + +<P> +"My father did everything in his power to try and persuade my brother +to give up the idea of marrying the lady, saying that she would no +doubt have some of her father's secrets and might be dangerous, but my +brother would not listen, and was married almost immediately, taking +his bride to a castle of his own which was near the royal palace. +</P> + +<P> +"In a short time the new Princess began to show what she was. Not that +she was ever disagreeable, but she was too nice. My wife and I began +to suspect her of magic at once, and were quite sure of it when we saw +her effect on my brother. He became so unfriendly that he actually +would not speak to me at all, and gradually many of the ministers were +the same. My father was so broken-hearted over the affair that he died +inside of a year, and I ascended the throne. +</P> + +<P> +"Hardly had the Queen and I been crowned when there began to be strange +murmurings among the nobles. They said that my brother was such a +clever fellow, and I so stupid, that he should be reigning in my stead. +As he had always been noted throughout the kingdom as a very athletic +young man, who found learning a great trouble, I was convinced that my +sister-in-law was at the bottom of this opinion. +</P> + +<P> +"By accident I found out how she accomplished her evil purpose. She +had a little gold snuff box full of a magic powder, which when thrown +into people's eyes made them see everything just as she wished they +should. +</P> + +<P> +"One day the Queen was seated in the garden reading, and I was walking +towards her, when I saw my sister-in-law creep noiselessly across the +lawn behind the Queen's chair, open a little gold box, and take out a +pinch of something, which she was just in the act of throwing into the +Queen's eyes when I screamed at her. In her fright she dropped the +snuff box and ran away, and upon opening it we found that it contained +a rose-colored powder. We guessed what it was for, and walking to the +river bank we threw box and all into the stream, but the incident you +may be sure made us very uneasy. +</P> + +<P> +"After that my sister-in-law did not try to hide her hatred for us, and +it was only a few weeks later, when we were one day out driving, that +we were set upon by a large band of men in disguise, among whom I +recognized my own brother and many of the gentlemen of my court. +</P> + +<P> +"We were seized, bound, tied up in sacking, and hidden away in a cellar +until night, when we were brought out here and left on the shore, more +dead than alive. Here we have been for four years, living in a state +of enchantment, until now Prince Daimur has come to bring us the hope +of freedom." +</P> + +<P> +Everybody sympathized with King Cyril and the Queen and Princess, and +Daimur assured him that as soon as he had taken his own kingdom from +his wicked uncle he would go with him and help him to win back his +country from his brother and witch of a sister-in-law. +</P> + +<P> +Then as it was quite dark Daimur took his shovel and went off to get as +many potatoes as he could before going to bed. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap08"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER VIII +</H3> + +<P> +The next night after everyone was inside and supper was over, it was +decided to be Prince Redmond's turn to tell his story. He accordingly +began, everyone listening attentively: +</P> + +<P> +"I am the youngest of three brothers. My father was King of Laurels +and loved us very dearly. I cannot remember my mother, as she died +when I was quite young. +</P> + +<P> +"My eldest brother Tasmir was a fearless fellow, who did a great deal +of riding, and was always on the lookout for adventure. I was very +fond of him and often went with him, as I liked riding and adventure +too, while my second brother Sadna, who detested any kind of outdoor +exercise, stayed at home holding receptions and going to balls. He was +a vain fellow, fond of fine clothes and flattery, and we used to laugh +at him. +</P> + +<P> +"Sometimes he would say 'Oh, never mind, my good brothers, I shall get +ahead of you both one of these days,' which answer we always took +good-naturedly. +</P> + +<P> +"It so happened when my father was quite advanced in years that he +slipped one day and fell, and was so badly injured that he became an +invalid and could only sit in a chair and be wheeled about. +</P> + +<P> +"He was very fond of flowers, and we had an immense conservatory where +he spent most of his time. It was his wish to possess a flowering +plant from every part of the world. Each ship which came in brought +some new specimen, until there remained but a single little spot on +earth which had not contributed a plant. As this place was surrounded +by a desert which no one would venture across, it did not seem as if my +father would get the 'Wonder Plant' as it was called. He was very +anxious to possess it and offered a large sum of money to anyone who +would find it and bring it back, but in vain. +</P> + +<P> +"Then Tasmir asked permission to go and seek it, and promised that he +would return within a year. After much consideration the King +consented to let him go, and Tasmir was overjoyed. I was very much +cast down at the thought of being alone but Sadna seemed to be secretly +glad. +</P> + +<P> +"Before departing my brother gave me a locket of silver which he said I +was to wear about my neck constantly until he returned. If it remained +bright I would know he was alive and well, but should it turn black I +would know that he was dead, and it would be of no use searching for +him. +</P> + +<P> +"I wore the silver locket, and at the end of the year it was still +bright, although Tasmir had not come home. Up to this time my father +had been patiently waiting for Tasmir's return, but now he became very +anxious and wanted my brother Sadna to set out in search of him. +</P> + +<P> +"This Sadna refused to do, saying that he knew quite well Tasmir was +dead, and it served him right for going on such a foolish errand in a +wild country, which so upset my father that he at once summoned all the +magicians and wise men in the kingdom to see if they could tell him +what had become of Tasmir. None of them could tell him anything, +excepting the Evil Magician, who had come with the others, and he said +Tasmir was dead. +</P> + +<P> +"Then my poor father believed it, although I tried to make both him and +my brother understand that it was not true, as my locket was still +bright. They would not listen to me. +</P> + +<P> +"Sadna immediately seized the King and locked him up in a large unused +wing of the castle, giving out the news to our subjects that his father +was out of his mind and unfit to reign, and that he, Sadna, wished to +be crowned at once. +</P> + +<P> +"I was horribly disappointed with my brother, and taking all the money +I had in the world, I bought a good ship, which I manned with fifty of +the best sailors in the kingdom, and started out to look for Tasmir. +</P> + +<P> +"We had gone only a short distance out to sea when a terrific storm +arose. It lasted all night, and in the morning we found ourselves +stranded high on the flat reefs to the south of this island, and were +obliged to take refuge on shore, as we feared the ship might go to +pieces in the storm. +</P> + +<P> +"We came inland, brought some food with us, and when in the evening we +went back to the shore we found the sea calm enough, but the ship had +completely disappeared, as had also our small boats. Not a timber or a +splinter remained. We knew that the ship could not have sunk, as it +lay in shallow water and it would be impossible to break up and not +leave some wreckage on the shore. +</P> + +<P> +"I did not know what to think, but finally agreed with some of the +sailors that pirates had stolen the ship and also our small boats +during the day. As we had no possible means of escape we were obliged +for the meantime to seek food and shelter in the interior of the +island, believing that perhaps before long we would be able to hail +some passing boat. +</P> + +<P> +"We soon found our way to the fruit trees, you may be sure, with the +result that in three days we had all been transformed into birds, which +shape we had no hope of changing for our own again until you, Prince +Daimur, came to rescue us." +</P> + +<P> +"And your brother Tasmir," asked Daimur, "do you still believe him to +be alive?" +</P> + +<P> +"Indeed," replied Prince Redmond sadly, "I do not know. My locket, +being a charmed one, could not be transformed with me, and is still +around my neck, but it seems to be turning darker every day. Wherever +Tasmir is I fear he is dying." +</P> + +<P> +"Well," said Daimur, "do not give up hope. Just as soon as you are +delivered from this place you will be able to go and seek him, and I +will give you every assistance in my power. In the meantime I will try +and find out something about him." +</P> + +<P> +So they retired to rest with hopeful hearts, each to dream of freedom. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap09"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER IX +</H3> + +<P> +The next evening, after supper was over, some of the doves brought +forward a very plain-looking old dove, who wore suspended around her +neck on a thin chain a little gold key. +</P> + +<P> +They all begged her to tell Daimur her story, and after some hesitation +she began: +</P> + +<P> +"I am not a Queen," she said, "I am only the Duchess of Rose Petals, +but through my misfortune I am causing a great deal of misery to my +dear, dear niece, Queen Amy of the Island of Roses." Here she shed a +few tears, then shaking her feathers, she continued her story. +</P> + +<P> +"When my cousin, the late King Richard, died he left no heir. In his +will, however, he named his successor. He said that whichever of his +nieces (his two brothers each had one daughter) should grow up more +beautiful and more clever than the other should be crowned Queen on her +eighteenth birthday, and that until then the Prime Minister should +manage the affairs of the country. +</P> + +<P> +"As the girls were both in their sixteenth year at the time there were +two years to wait. +</P> + +<P> +"We all thought it a silly plan, and that it would have been much +better to name one of the girls as Queen and be done with it, but of +course the King's wishes had to be observed, and the people settled +down to wait. +</P> + +<P> +"The two Princesses after that were very seldom seen, each being kept +busy by her respective parents learning all manner of things which she +would need to know if she became Queen, and at the same time building +up her beauty. +</P> + +<P> +"Princess Amy was always my favorite niece. She was a dear +good-hearted little thing with pretty golden hair, a fine +pink-and-white complexion, and the kindest blue eyes in the world. +</P> + +<P> +"Princess Bethel was neither good-looking nor sweet-tempered, and no +one thought she had any chance of being chosen Queen, especially as she +was known to be rather stupid. I really felt sorry for her, as I knew +she could not manage to change her looks altogether in two years, but +she had a surprise in store for us. +</P> + +<P> +"Her father was a studious man, fond of making scientific experiments, +and I used to hear that she spent a great deal of her time in the +laboratory watching the making of strange mixtures, but I did not pay +much attention to this, as it was nothing new. +</P> + +<P> +"Nobody ever saw her excepting heavily veiled, and her mother said that +they were trying a new treatment for her complexion and that the sun +must not touch her skin. +</P> + +<P> +"The two years passed away, and at last a day was named in May when the +choice of Queen should be made. +</P> + +<P> +"For days the roads were full of people traveling towards the Palace +gates, and when the great day dawned bright and clear the square in +front of the Palace looked as though a large army had encamped there. +Flags were flying everywhere, and inside, the Palace all preparations +had been made to crown the chosen Queen and have a great feast. +</P> + +<P> +"The first thing the two Princesses had to do was to appear at nine +o'clock in the morning before seven of the greatest college professors +in the kingdom and write examinations on seven different subjects, the +result of which would be announced before the assembled multitude. +</P> + +<P> +"At seven o'clock it was given out that Princess Amy had made very high +marks in all subjects and had come away ahead of Princess Bethel. At +this loud cheers were heard for Princess Amy, and it was murmured about +that she would be Queen. +</P> + +<P> +"At midday all the Court were assembled, and the two Princesses, each +with her parents, walked slowly into the great ballroom. +</P> + +<P> +"A murmur of admiration arose, for indeed they both looked exceedingly +beautiful in their white satin dresses, richly trimmed with lace. +</P> + +<P> +"I noted with pride that Princess Amy's golden hair and blue eyes were +brighter than ever, her complexion more delicately pink and white, but +what was my surprise on turning my eyes towards Princess Bethel to see +that her complexion was a great deal finer, and her hair most wonderful. +</P> + +<P> +"In place of the straggly brown locks she used to possess she now had +the most beautiful masses of shining hair, falling to the floor in +waves and ringlets. It was of a very pale yellow, but the charm of it +lay in the way it seemed to change color, sparkling with every +beautiful shade around it as she walked. It was most fascinating. +</P> + +<P> +"We were all amazed, and after the first glance nobody saw Princess Amy +at all. The two girls walked down the hall, and every eye was fixed on +Princess Bethel and her wonderful glistening hair. +</P> + +<P> +"It was only a few moments before it was announced from the Palace to +the people assembled outside that the beautiful Princess Bethel had +been chosen Queen,—everybody had forgotten about the examination for +cleverness,—and the crowning immediately took place, after which the +new Queen and Princess Amy appeared on the balcony and bowed to the +people, who were waiting to see them, and who professed themselves +completely satisfied with the choice of Princess Bethel as Queen. +</P> + +<P> +"The news quickly spread throughout the kingdom, and many people +traveled from the other side of the island just to get a look at the +new Queen and her wonderful hair. +</P> + +<P> +"I was sorry for Princess Amy; not that she seemed to mind not being +chosen—she was too sweet-tempered to be jealous—but she certainly had +not been treated fairly. I felt too that there was something peculiar +about the Queen's hair, and after considerable thought and a number of +quiet inquiries I determined to see for myself if she really had such +hair, and such a fine complexion. +</P> + +<P> +"Queen Bethel's mother spent a great deal of her time at the Palace +with her daughter, and I became very friendly with her and used to +visit her there a great deal. I had to wait my chance, but at last it +came. +</P> + +<P> +"One afternoon I drove to the Palace alone, and was told that the Queen +was taking a nap and must not be disturbed, and that her mother was +taking an airing, but would be back in an hour. +</P> + +<P> +"I said I would wait in the Queen's private drawing room until her +mother came in, and was shown upstairs, but the moment I was alone I +hurried swiftly and softly to the Queen's apartments. Just as I +thought, the door was locked. I went to a linen closet a short +distance down the hall where I knew I could get a small step-ladder, +and mounting this I got into the room through the transom. +</P> + +<P> +"I let myself down by stepping on the door handle, and found I was in +the Queen's boudoir. I could hear someone snoring in the next room +quite loudly, so after making sure that nobody was about I tiptoed +gently to the door. +</P> + +<P> +"On the bed, looking very pale and homely, lay the Queen, and there +upon the dresser was her beautiful hair. Beside the hair was a queer +looking pot marked +</P> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +PERFECT COMPLEXION DYE<BR> +One Application warranted to stand<BR> +two washings.<BR> +</H3> + +<P> +"I could have laughed for joy, but I had no time to waste, and quickly +putting both the complexion dye and the hair into my large pocket I +crept back to the boudoir. +</P> + +<P> +"Here of course I had no difficulty in unlocking the door and getting +out into the hall, and after pushing the key under the door, closing +the transom and carefully putting the stepladder back into the linen +closet, I left the Palace, saying that I could not wait any longer. +</P> + +<P> +"I flew home and sent for Princess Amy's mother and father. I showed +them the wig and the dye. They were speechless with indignation and +surprise at the way their daughter had been imposed upon. At my +request they agreed to take possession of the articles until we could +have arrangements made for settling the matter. +</P> + +<P> +"We then called upon the Prime Minister and told him the whole story, +and he called a special meeting for twelve o'clock next day, at which +all members of Government were ordered to attend, and it was added that +they might bring their wives with them. Somehow or other the news went +around that the meeting was to be over the new Queen, and at twelve +o'clock next day the long table which ran the whole length of the great +assembly room was crowded, and most of the ladies had to sit in groups +about the room. +</P> + +<P> +"'Call the Queen,' said the Prime Minister. +</P> + +<P> +"The Queen's mother hurried in in a terrible flutter, and said that the +Queen had a frightful headache and begged to be excused. +</P> + +<P> +"The Prime Minister replied that he was sorry, but if she was not able +to come down we would have to go upstairs to her and hold the meeting. +</P> + +<P> +"That settled it. In a few moments the Queen appeared, very pale +indeed, and with her head tied up in a lace scarf. She looked anything +but beautiful without her fine hair and lovely complexion, and her +small green eyes flew around the room as if looking for a means of +escape. I could see that everybody was shocked at sight of her. +</P> + +<P> +"The Prime Minister came immediately to the point. He told the Queen +that reports were circulating to the effect that her beautiful hair was +not real. At this she flew into a perfect rage and stamped her foot at +him, crying that it was real. +</P> + +<P> +"'Well, well, then,' said the Prime Minister, 'kindly remove your lace +scarf and let us see for ourselves.' +</P> + +<P> +"This of course she refused to do, whereupon the Prime Minister held +out his hand for a bag which Princess Amy's father was carrying, and +drew out first the complexion dye and then the wig, which he passed +around for inspection. When he laid the Queen's beautiful hair on the +table everybody jumped up with an exclamation of amazement and looked +at Bethel, who gave a scream and tried to snatch it, but her mother +drew her back. +</P> + +<P> +"'What is it made of?' was the question they all asked. I knew, I had +guessed it for quite a long time, but had not felt certain until I had +it in my hands. +</P> + +<P> +"'It is made of spun looking-glass, colored a delicate yellow,' I said, +'and was made by Princess Bethel's father, who, as you all know, is +very clever. See, here is a doll's wig that he made for Princess Amy +several years ago. You will note that it is not colored, that it is +made of clear glass, and is coarser, but the idea is the same. If you +need any further proof I have three witnesses whose testimony I think +you will be willing to accept.' +</P> + +<P> +"'Wonderful, wonderful,' they all exclaimed, as they still examined the +wig. +</P> + +<P> +"'Who told you anything about it?' screamed the Queen. 'What do you +mean prying into my affairs? I'll pay you well for this, Aunt Sophie.' +</P> + +<P> +"But nobody paid any attention to her. The Prime Minister was asking +what should be done with her, and various things were suggested. One +old Baroness would keep calling out, 'Have her beheaded, have her +beheaded,' and several members of Parliament felt that she ought to be +imprisoned for life, and also her father and mother. +</P> + +<P> +"No doubt they would have been imprisoned for at least a number of +years had not Amy's father risen and said that his daughter asked that +for her sake they would not punish either Bethel or her parents, but +let them go home, as she thought the shame of all this exposure would +certainly be punishment enough. Most of the ladies thought so too, and +finally it was agreed to do as Amy had asked. +</P> + +<P> +"So Princess Bethel was ordered to leave the palace at once, and it was +said that her father and mother had a dreadful time trying to live with +her for many a long day afterwards, but we all agreed that it served +them right. +</P> + +<P> +"That very day Princess Amy was crowned Queen, and nobody was more +happy than I, for I knew that she would rule wisely and well. +</P> + +<P> +"I was not mistaken, for she soon began to make new laws and change the +old ones for the good of her subjects. +</P> + +<P> +"I was one day with her in the cellars under the Palace looking through +some old chests of books, when we came upon one very large chest made +of solid steel, which stood in a small room alone. The key, a tiny +golden one, was in the lock and we opened it. The chest was lined with +gold, but had nothing in it but one gold coin in the bottom. +</P> + +<P> +"'Why, what a splendid bank this would make,' said Queen Amy, 'I +believe I shall start one.' +</P> + +<P> +"That very day she began saving gold in the big chest, and continued +putting by as much as she could spare to use it in a time when the +crops might be poor, or war threatened. +</P> + +<P> +"There were very few banks in the kingdom, and it was not long before +poor people were bringing their savings to the Palace to be put in the +chest. She had a great number of little glass boxes made, which fitted +into trays, and each box bore the name of the depositor. The key of +the chest she carried on a fine strong chain about her neck night and +day. +</P> + +<P> +"One evening word came that the Princess Bethel's mother was very ill +and wished to see her niece. The Queen instantly called for her +carriage, and ordered a company of guards to accompany her, then as she +had to drive through a wood and was a little afraid of highwaymen she +took the gold key from her neck and fastened the chain around mine, +telling me not to remove it until she returned. +</P> + +<P> +"I watched her drive away, and then went for a walk over the lawn +towards the water. I reached the little pier and stood for a few +moments looking at a small row boat which was tied there, wondering +whether I should go out for a few minutes on the bay, but as the night +was rather chilly I turned to go back for a wrap. +</P> + +<P> +"I had not taken six steps before I was seized in a kind of whirlwind +which sprang up from the water and almost choked me. In my hurry to +get away I turned in the wrong direction and stepped off the pier into +the boat, striking my head. +</P> + +<P> +"I can remember clutching the key as I fell, and after that I knew +nothing until I awoke and found myself lying on the sands of this +island. Here I have been for two years, and in that time who knows +what may have happened to my poor Amy, for without this key she cannot +open the treasure chest." +</P> + +<P> +Here the dove stopped and heaved a great sigh. "Fear not," said +Daimur, "you shall go back in a very short time to your beloved niece +if all goes as well as we hope." +</P> + +<P> +Then as it was very late they all settled themselves for the night and +were soon fast asleep. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap10"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER X +</H3> + +<P> +Early in the morning Daimur was up and astir, and after breakfast he +went for a walk alone. As he went along he thought of the stories he +had heard, but most of all he thought of Prince Tasmir and wondered if +he were still alive. +</P> + +<P> +He had come to a clear space in the depths of the wood, and being +rather tired, he leaned against a large tree, and looking up at the sky +through the branches said aloud to himself: +</P> + +<P> +"I wonder where Tasmir is?" +</P> + +<P> +"I am here," said a faint voice immediately back of him. +</P> + +<P> +Quite startled, Daimur turned sharply around and looked behind him. +There was no one in sight. He looked into the branches of the tree +against which he was leaning, thinking it might have been the voice of +a dove, but there was nothing to be seen. But he noticed that the +leaves of the tree were dropping, and what was still more strange on +that island, it was a laurel tree, and not a fruit tree. +</P> + +<P> +"Tasmir," he murmured in a low tone, "where are you?" +</P> + +<P> +"I am here," came the voice again, "in this tree, and more dead than +alive." +</P> + +<P> +Immediately Daimur put on his spectacles, and standing back looked at +the tree. He could see imprisoned in the center of the trunk a young +man with a pale, thin face. His eyes were wild and his hair long, and +he looked back at Daimur with such a sad expression. +</P> + +<P> +"Poor, poor fellow," said Daimur, "your plight is worse than your +brother's. This is more of the Evil Magician's work." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes, he has enchanted me, and I am slowly dying," answered Tasmir in a +weak voice. "You can see that the leaves of my tree are dropping." +</P> + +<P> +"What can I do to save you?" cried Daimur. +</P> + +<P> +"You must make a hole in the side of the tree and let the sap run out. +When it has all run away the tree will dry up in a day, and I will be +able to break through the wood, as it will be brittle like dried-up egg +shell. You will have to do it at once, however, as I cannot last much +longer than another day. I am nearly drowned now with sap." +</P> + +<P> +Daimur hastily drew out his knife, and finding a place where some +bushes grew close against the tree he pulled them back and began +cutting a hole in the bark. He worked for more than an hour before he +had penetrated through to the pith. Then the sap burst forth and ran +out in a stream, sinking into the earth at the root. +</P> + +<P> +"It will not be dry until night," said the poor prisoner, "and then +perhaps I will be able to break my way out." +</P> + +<P> +Daimur, who had been consulting his cap, now found that the Magician +was moving around the island, so he left the sap to drain away and +hurried back to the cave where he lay hidden for the rest of the day. +</P> + +<P> +After supper Daimur called Prince Redmond to one side. +</P> + +<P> +"Redmond," said he, "I have news of your brother Tasmir; he is still +living." +</P> + +<P> +At this Redmond was so overjoyed that he almost fainted, but after a +moment recovered himself and asked Daimur to tell where his brother was +and what he knew of him. +</P> + +<P> +Then Daimur told him about his walk in the forest that morning, and how +he had heard Tasmir's voice come out of the tree. When he had finished +Redmond was in a great flutter of excitement and happiness, and wanted +to go at once and see if the sap had all drained away. +</P> + +<P> +Daimur put on his cap again, and having ascertained that the Magician +was safe in his house, he led the way to the great laurel tree, where +they could see by the light of the moon that the sap had ceased to run. +The tree was drying up. +</P> + +<P> +"Is it dry enough yet?" he called softly to Tasmir. +</P> + +<P> +"No, not yet," came the faint answer from the tree, "but it is drying +fast." +</P> + +<P> +Daimur sat down on the ground to wait, and Prince Redmond perched in a +neighboring tree, so excited at the prospect of seeing his dearly loved +brother alive that he could hardly keep his hold on the branch. +</P> + +<P> +After a while they heard a faint cracking noise like the breaking of +glass, and Daimur immediately jumped to his feet. +</P> + +<P> +"Can I not help you?" he called softly. +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," answered Tasmir, "you must cut the bark. I am so weak I will +not be able to break that. Cut a slit in it right up the tree." +</P> + +<P> +This Daimur did, slitting it for above five feet up from the root. No +sooner had he stepped back than there was a great rending sound, the +bark flew open, and out staggered the poor thin young prince, so weak +and faint from his efforts that he could not stand, but had to lie for +a while on the grass. His brother Redmond at once fluttered to his +side and cried out how glad he was to see him, and that he had never +expected to behold him again alive. +</P> + +<P> +"Is it you, dear Redmond?" asked Tasmir. "I never expected to be able +to speak to you again. I knew you, although you did not know me, and +often watched you flying past. I tried to call you, but you never +heard me. I would have been dead in a few hours' time had it not been +for this good young man," he said, and he turned gratefully towards +Daimur, who was pushing together the bark on the tree so that the slit +would not be noticed. +</P> + +<P> +They waited until Prince Tasmir had taken some of the biscuits and +water, and a few of the nuts that they had brought with them, and felt +strong enough to walk, and then they made their way slowly back to the +cave, where much excitement prevailed at the appearance of Tasmir and +the story of his rescue. +</P> + +<P> +He was made to lie down and rest, and more food was pressed upon him, +and the food and the fresh sea breeze which blew into the cave soon +revived him. +</P> + +<P> +They told him all about themselves and their plans, and it was agreed +that he would be of great assistance to Daimur in helping to make their +escape. +</P> + +<P> +After a while when Tasmir had become quite rested, he turned to Redmond +and said: +</P> + +<P> +"My dear brother, I know that you are anxious to hear how I came into +the Evil Magician's hands, and I now feel well enough to tell you my +story." +</P> + +<P> +All chatter immediately ceased, and everyone sat listening attentively +for Tasmir to begin. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap11"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XI +</H3> + +<P> +"You will remember," he said, "that I took passage on a ship called the +'Seafoam,' which was bound for Aeda Land, where the great desert lay +which I would have to cross to get the Wonderful Plant. +</P> + +<P> +"This ship was recommended as being safe and fast, and Sadna said the +Captain was a fine honest man who would do his best to make me +comfortable. +</P> + +<P> +"It was a long, low boat, built apparently for speed, as it did not +seem to have much room for cargo, and what cargo was being loaded +aboard I noticed consisted mostly of oil and gunpowder. However, I was +well pleased enough with the accommodation offered me, and in due time +the ship set sail. +</P> + +<P> +"After we had been out a few days I began to notice the crew. They +were the most murderous looking crowd of ruffians I had ever seen, and +seemed to be continually quarreling among themselves. +</P> + +<P> +"The Captain too I thought anything but honest looking. +</P> + +<P> +"One evening while it was yet very early I told the Captain I would go +to my cabin, for the weather being rough I was feeling rather seasick; +but after reaching my stateroom I decided that fresh air would do me +more good than sleep, so went up on deck and stood at the side of the +cabin looking out at the sea, and trying to make out by the stars which +direction we were following. +</P> + +<P> +"It was quite dark, for the time of year was late fall and the evenings +closed in quickly. As I stood there in the shadow of the cabin two +people came towards me, talking in low tones. +</P> + +<P> +"'When?' asked one voice, which I recognized as that of the first mate. +</P> + +<P> +"'To-morrow night,' said the Captain's rough bass. 'We'll run up the +merry old skull and crossbones as soon as it gets dark, change our +name, and get out the guns. We ought to meet the Hesperus before +morning, and she carries a full cargo of Spanish gold.' +</P> + +<P> +"'But what will we do with the Prince,' asked the first mate. 'Kill +him and throw him overboard?' +</P> + +<P> +"'Oh, make him walk the plank at midnight, after we are all ready. +We'll tell him the ship's been captured. He'll never know he's aboard +the "Maneater." He has a tidy sum of gold with him, and that we'll +divide, you and I.' +</P> + +<P> +"They passed out of hearing and left me rooted to the spot with horror. +</P> + +<P> +"I was aboard a pirate ship, and the 'Maneater' at that, for years the +terror of all travelers on the high seas! +</P> + +<P> +"How could I escape? That was the one thought which filled my mind. +You may be sure I did not sleep at all that night, and early next day +had laid my plans. +</P> + +<P> +"I went first and inspected the small boats. The Captain's gig was the +smallest and lightest, and hung near the bow ready to launch. I +watched my chance and when the cook was busy elsewhere stole a big +package of ship's biscuits and a pail of fresh water. These I stowed +away in the gig under the tarpaulin that covered it. Then I cut the +ropes nearly through so that with much added weight it would drop into +the water some twelve feet below. +</P> + +<P> +"I waited impatiently for nightfall, and when supper time came told the +Captain that as I still felt rather seasick I thought I had better +retire to my stateroom. +</P> + +<P> +"I waited until I knew that the crew were all at supper, and then stole +out to the stern of the ship, raised one of the hatches carefully, and +spreading some oakum on the top of a tar barrel set it afire and laid +the hatch on again, after which I hurried back to my stateroom to await +the result. +</P> + +<P> +"An hour passed. I began to fear that the fire had smothered for want +of air, and wished I had left the hatch open a little. Eight o'clock +came, and I heard the crew beginning to run about, and the Captain's +voice shouting orders. I could tell by the creaking of the ropes in +the pulleys that the flag of Sunne was being hauled down and the black +flag hoisted. +</P> + +<P> +"Then there was a rumbling of heavy guns being pulled about the decks, +and after that the sound of hammering, and I knew they were changing +the name plate. +</P> + +<P> +"Fearing they would lock me in my stateroom I packed as much gold into +my purse as it would hold, distributed the rest throughout my clothing, +and stole out of the cabin to the little passageway, where I lay +crouched behind the stair leading to the deck. +</P> + +<P> +"All at once I heard a cry of 'Fire, fire,' and then a rush of feet +towards the stern. +</P> + +<P> +"Now was my chance. With a bound I rushed on deck, pulled the +tarpaulin cover off the gig and sprang in. It dropped with a splash +into the water. Fortunately the sea was comparatively calm, and the +boat did not upset. I seized the oars and rowed away. I could see the +flames shooting to a height of perhaps twenty feet, and judged from the +space over which they spread that my fire must have crept through part +of the hold. The powder was all loaded in the bow, and was in no great +danger. +</P> + +<P> +"Sharply outlined against the flames the men ran to and fro hauling +water in buckets from the sea. I rowed on and on, thinking only of +getting away from the pirates before they got the fire under control +and missed me, but as I watched I saw that the fire was getting beyond +them and soon I saw that nearly the whole ship was in flames. Suddenly +there was a distant booming sound, and the flames shot into the sky in +all directions, and when the black smoke had cleared away there were +little dots of flame all over the sea, where pieces of the burning +vessel were floating about. +</P> + +<P> +"I was now about two miles away, and could not tell whether any of the +crew had escaped or not. Indeed I do not care, as they had all +murdered scores of innocent men and women in the years they had been +scouring the seas. It seemed to me a fitting thing that they should +have lost their lives by the very powder with which they intended to +kill others. +</P> + +<P> +"By and by all the flaming specks disappeared, and I was alone on the +dark sea, for all I knew, miles away from land." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap12"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XII +</H3> + +<P> +"I kept on rowing until daylight, when ahead of me I saw a streak of +land. It was a great way off, so I rested and ate before recommencing +my rowing. I was afraid to stop for fear a storm should spring up and +wreck my small craft. +</P> + +<P> +"It was early evening when I finally reached land, which was a rocky +shore backed by high cliffs and mountains. +</P> + +<P> +"I landed on the barren shore very stiff and weary, with my hands +blistered and bleeding, and stumbled a short distance up the steep +mountain path. +</P> + +<P> +"I had not gone far before I met two shepherds who were eating their +evening meal at the door of a little hut at one side of the path. I +must have looked rather ill, for they both got up and took me into the +hut and were very kind to me. They gave me a big bowl of warm broth, +some oaten cakes, and made me stay the night with them. I tried to +tell them of my adventure, but as they spoke a strange tongue they +could not understand me. I made up my mind that I had better stay with +them until I could find out where I was. +</P> + +<P> +"The chief business of that mountainous country is sheep raising and +weaving baskets from a very pliable kind of shrub that grows on the +slopes of the mountains. I hired as a shepherd to a sheep rancher, and +also began to learn to weave baskets to while away the time as I +watched the sheep. Before long I learned the language, which is a very +simple one, and found that I was in Aeda Land, but that the desert I +sought lay far to the south, through the mountain passes. It was +already winter high up in the mountains, and the passes were full of +snow, so I would be obliged to wait until spring before going on. +</P> + +<P> +"I settled down to wait and soon became so skilful at weaving that I +could make more baskets in a couple of days than many of the older +weavers could make in a week. +</P> + +<P> +"Early in the spring the merchant ships arrived for their annual cargo +of wool and baskets, and after I had sold my baskets I found that I had +added quite a nice little sum in silver to my store of gold. +</P> + +<P> +"The snow had now all melted in the mountain passes, so I said good-bye +to my kind friends the shepherds, giving each of them a tiny basket as +a keepsake, in which I had hidden some gold pieces, packed a knapsack, +and set off on foot for the desert country. +</P> + +<P> +"It was a long walk up the steep mountain path, but after two days' +journey I reached the top and could look down into the valley. Miles +away stretched the yellow sands of the desert, perfectly bare, +excepting for a sort of island of trees in the middle. All around the +desert lay the mountains excepting to the west, where the sandy valley +extended to the sea. Villages and peach orchards lay just at the foot +of the mountains, and extended part way up to slopes, but the largest +village appeared to be on the seacoast, and to that one I directed my +steps. +</P> + +<P> +"As I descended the steep winding path the air became warmer, and when +I reached the valley I found that it was already midsummer there, and +the fruit was ripening on the trees. +</P> + +<P> +"I came at last to the town on the edge of the sea, where I put up at +an inn, and after a much-needed rest I sought out the inn-keeper and +asked for information about the Wonderful Plant. +</P> + +<P> +"Nobody, he told me, had ever crossed the desert, though hundreds had +tried to do so, for everyone knew that it was in the very center of the +oasis that the Wonderful Plant grew. He had never been able to find +out why it was a Wonderful Plant; some said it had a flower that never +died, the perfume of which would keep off trouble, others said that its +leaves, crushed and eaten, would cure all ills, and yet others thought +that if planted in an orchard it would ensure a wonderful fruit crop +forever afterwards. +</P> + +<P> +"However, nobody really knew, because there were great creatures that +guarded the oasis and chased travelers. Giants they were, with +dreadful twisted features, and sometimes they rode horrible twisted +horses, and sometimes awful camels. Nobody had ever been killed by +them, for all had been wise enough to return as quickly as possible +when the giants approached. +</P> + +<P> +"Sometimes indeed travelers had been attacked and chased by a huge +toucan which lived on the oasis, and which knocked them down and +battered them with its wings, but they had managed to escape with their +lives. Nobody, he added, had tried to cross for a long time now; it +was altogether too impossible. +</P> + +<P> +"I was very much interested, especially in the toucan, and asked what +manner of bird it was. +</P> + +<P> +"'It is a terrible creature,' answered the inn-keeper, 'and the terror +of the countryside. It is at least ten feet in length and has an +enormous beak. It delights to steal our peaches, and in spite of all +we can do ruins a good many crops every year. Scarecrows, be they ever +so large, do not frighten it, and it will eat all the fruit from a +dozen trees in an hour. It merely stands on the ground, shakes the +tree with its beak until the fruit falls, and then gobbles it up.' +</P> + +<P> +"I asked him what it lived on when there were no peaches to eat, but he +did not know. It did not matter, he added gloomily, it did damage +enough, and had just the day before cleaned off two of his very best +trees. +</P> + +<P> +"For the next few days I wandered about, going to the edge of the +desert and wondering how I was going to get across the yellow sands +over which no traveler had ever journeyed far. +</P> + +<P> +"One day as I sat under a tree on a favorite stone meditating I noticed +a large dark object coming through the air towards me. It was the +toucan. I kept still and watched him. He stopped over a peach tree +which grew at the bottom of an orchard not far off, and alighting on +the ground walked over and deliberately shook the tree. Down fell the +delicious fruit in a shower. Harder and harder he shook until not a +peach that was at all ripe remained. Then he walked around and +leisurely swallowed the peaches as a chicken swallows corn kernels. +</P> + +<P> +"He had not finished before the farmer came running out with his wife +and sons, all beating tin pans and shouting. The toucan let them +approach quite close, and then made a sudden dive at them with his +wings down, rose in the air right over their heads and flew away with a +loud chuckling kind of noise that sounded like a laugh. The farmer and +his family fell over each other in their fright, and when they had +recovered their feet the bird was far away. +</P> + +<P> +"It was all so funny that I had to laugh, and then I thought of a +scheme for getting across the desert." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap13"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIII +</H3> + +<P> +That afternoon I went up the mountain sides for a short distance and +found some good reeds that would make a basket. It took me several +days to weave what I wanted. I made a basket five feet long by two and +a half feet wide, and put a false bottom in it, leaving a compartment +underneath deep enough for me to crawl into. I put a hinge on the side +of this bottom compartment so that I could let the side up and down, +and lock it from the inside. When the basket was finished I wove a +strong openwork cover for the top, leaving spaces just a little smaller +than a peach, and fastened it securely to the basket. +</P> + +<P> +"I took my basket to the edge of the desert, hid it in a tree, and went +to purchase peaches enough from the nearest farmer to fill it. I +carried several pails before it was full, taking care to put the most +luscious ones on top, and after fastening the cover with the clamps I +had put on it, crawled into the bottom compartment, fastened up my side +opening and lay still to await results. +</P> + +<P> +"It must have been two hours, and I was beginning to feel very much +cramped when I heard a whirring of great wings, and then the toucan +alighted on the ground beside me. He had evidently spied the basket +and was curious to know what it was. He came over and then I could +feel him pecking at the peaches through the woven covering. +</P> + +<P> +"It was only a moment before somebody saw him, for every farmer had a +boy watching, and the cry rang out, 'The toucan, the toucan!' I could +see people running hurriedly towards us waving shovels, scythes, hoes, +and various other implements. The toucan did just what I had hoped he +would. He seized the basket by the handle and flew away over the +desert with it, and I lay in the bottom looking down at the desert +sands below, and thinking of what a dreadful death I should have if he +dropped me. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-110"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-110.jpg" ALT="The toucan . . . seized the basket by the handle and flew away." BORDER="2" WIDTH="412" HEIGHT="588"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 412px"> +The toucan . . . seized the basket by the handle and flew away. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +"On we sailed, leaving the village far behind. I turned my head and +looked towards the center of the desert. We were nearing the oasis, +and I could see great trees with something silvery shining between them +which I supposed must be a lake. Nearer and nearer we drew, and now I +could see quite plainly the tree tops waving in the wind, but no water. +The top of the wall appeared under me suddenly. Then we were quite a +distance past the wall and settling down among trees upon a green +space. The toucan alighted on the grass, put the basket down and again +began pecking at the peaches through the cover. I opened my side +fastening, crawled out and jumped to my feet sword in hand, supposing +the toucan would attack me, but I evidently startled him, as he gave a +loud clack, seized the basket again and flew with it over a tall hedge +a short distance away. +</P> + +<P> +"I looked about me then, and found myself on a beautiful lawn under +magnificent trees, with here and there a wide avenue leading among +gardens of gorgeous flowers and fountains of splashing water bordered +by flower beds. There were many comfortable seats under the trees, and +hammocks hung here and there in a most inviting manner. I walked along +the nearest avenue which led under the trees, and came out upon a broad +stretch of lawn in the center of which stood the most beautiful +building I had ever seen. It was long and low, and all of carved white +marble, decorated here and there with black marble facings. Many +windows and glass doors stood open, and lacy white curtains swayed in +the breeze. There was no one in sight, and I walked on towards the +hedge over which I had seen the toucan disappear. +</P> + +<P> +"Suddenly I heard a woman's voice say, 'Bowser, Bowser, what have you +there? Oh, you wicked bird, you've stolen somebody's washing.' A +pause and then the voice went on: +</P> + +<P> +"'Why, it's a peach basket! What a strange contrivance! Go away, +Bowser. Oh, Richard, come and see what Bowser has brought home.' +</P> + +<P> +"Another pause, and then a man's voice. +</P> + +<P> +"'My dear, that's been made for something else besides peaches. Look +at the opening at the bottom. Why a man could hide in there quite +easily, and good gracious! Here's a man's handkerchief, with T on the +corner.' (I felt myself turning pale.) 'Do you suppose there is +somebody in our stronghold, Mary? Good Bowser, where is the tramp? +That's it. Bowser get him, old boy! Bring him here.' +</P> + +<P> +"I shrunk away from the hedge, and was just turning to look for a place +where I could hide, for I had no mind to be dragged forth in this +unceremonious way, when a dark form appeared over me, seized me around +the middle, and the next moment I was lifted through the air and laid +in a heap on the other side of the hedge. +</P> + +<P> +"I jumped to my feet, not knowing who or what I should see, drawing my +sword as I did so, but when I caught a glimpse of a nice motherly +looking woman and a mild-looking old gentleman standing before me +apparently very much alarmed, I hastily stepped forward and made a low +bow, begging their pardon for having intruded in this unseemly fashion. +I explained my errand, told them who I was, and how I had contrived to +get there, and when I had finished they both looked much relieved. +</P> + +<P> +"'That is quite all right, Prince Tasmir,' said the old gentleman, 'and +now if you will come into the house and partake of some refreshment I +will tell you about the Wonderful Plant which you have come so far to +seek.' +</P> + +<P> +"'First, may I ask,' I said, 'does Bowser bite?' +</P> + +<P> +"'No,' said the old gentleman, 'he is quite good natured, and besides +he has no teeth.' +</P> + +<P> +"'Well,' I said, 'I am rather grateful to him for carrying me safely +here, and I should like to give him those peaches, but did not wish him +to bite me in two while I was doing it.' +</P> + +<P> +"So saying I went to the peach basket, where Bowser was vainly +endeavoring to get the peaches out, and opened the fastenings, while he +hopped around me on his huge legs and uttered his strange chuckling +laugh. I picked out a few dozen of the ripest for the old lady, and +let Bowser have the rest, which we left him swallowing greedily. +</P> + +<P> +"They took me around to a spacious veranda, where a dark-skinned maid +served us with delicious iced drinks, fruit and small cakes, and then +the old gentleman told me about the Wonderful Plant." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap14"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIV +</H3> + +<P> +"'You are no doubt wondering,' he said with a smile, 'who we are and +what manner of oasis this is, and I am going to tell you about +ourselves first. +</P> + +<P> +"'To begin with, we are not fairies, but quite ordinary mortals, and we +live here alone. We have no children, and no pets but Bowser, but we +are never lonesome. Now Bowser is just a common toucan, and I found +him on the ground under a big tree one morning, where a bad storm the +night before had tossed him out of the nest. We brought him in and my +wife cared for him, and the only reason he is so big is that he has +such a voracious appetite and eats ten meals a day. In fact he is +eating practically all the time, and I believe is still growing. I +suppose his brothers and sisters might be as large as he if they could +get enough to satisfy their appetites the way Bowser does. He would +eat most families out of house and home, but as our store-room never +gives out it does not matter. But although we do our best to feed him +enough to satisfy his appetite we cannot cure him of stealing peaches. +We are very sorry for the poor farmers whose orchards he raids, but in +one sense it is rather a good thing, as it serves to keep people afraid +of him, and he is our only watchdog. +</P> + +<P> +"This desert around us was not always here. The whole valley was once +much higher than now, and was a happy little kingdom where we all dwelt +in peace and prosperity until the unlucky day when the Evil Magician +came this way and swept the whole kingdom out to sea, drowning +everyone, including the king and queen and their little son and +daughter, and leaving nothing here but bare sand. +</P> + +<P> +"'We were absent from home when it happened. I was a merchant, and had +gone to buy a new supply of goods, and my wife accompanied me, +otherwise we would have met the same fate as our friends and neighbors. +</P> + +<P> +"'You can imagine the sight which met our eyes when on our return we +came out at the head of the pass on yonder mountain and looked over the +valley. At first we thought we must surely have lost our way and come +upon some strange barren place, but on looking about we saw certain +familiar landmarks which made it clear to us that a hurricane must have +swept our kingdom away, and of course all our possessions. +</P> + +<P> +"'We rode on, trying to find some trace of our house, but nothing could +be seen on the bare sands but a clump of bushes and a few small trees +which had somehow escaped the force of wind and water. +</P> + +<P> +"'On reaching this spot we thought it better to stay and camp for the +night, as the day was fast fading and we would have to wait until +daylight to go back through the mountains. +</P> + +<P> +"'Fortunately we had plenty of food left, and after tying our horses +and giving them their supper I went to gather some dead twigs to make a +fire while my wife unpacked our camp outfit. +</P> + +<P> +"'While we were thus engaged I thought I heard a sound of crying. We +both listened, and it came again. Leaving our tasks we followed the +sound and behind a scrubby willow tree came upon a most beautiful young +woman crouched on the ground weeping and moaning, and at the same time +digging into the earth with a small wand as if in search of something. +She did not appear to heed our approach. +</P> + +<P> +"'"What have you lost, my dear? Is it money?" asked my wife, thinking +that she like ourselves was homeless on account of the storm. She +jumped and looked at us in a startled manner, then rising to her feet +answered sadly: +</P> + +<P> +"'"No, it is not money, but something much more precious. It is a +little black seed, and I am afraid I shall not find it again." +</P> + +<P> +"'"Oh, if that is all, perhaps you can get another," I said, thinking +that misfortune had probably affected their reason. +</P> + +<P> +"'"Come," I continued, "we will have to remain here to-night, but in +the morning we will help you to find it if it can be found," and I left +my wife to comfort her while I went back to see to my fire. We soon +had our kettle boiling and supper laid out, and the strange young lady +seemed very grateful for our hospitality. After supper she sat and +looked into the flames for a long time in silence while we discussed +our plans for the future. +</P> + +<P> +"'By and by we too became quiet, and then she spoke. +</P> + +<P> +"'"I am not a mortal like yourselves," she said, "I am the fairy who is +called 'Peaceful,' and my home is in the island of Laurels, far from +here. Your good Queen was my very dear friend, and I was on my way to +pay her a visit and show her a precious seed which I had just brought +with me from a distant land when I came upon this scene of desolation. +</P> + +<P> +"'"The seed I carried was a present from an owl who is over a thousand +years old, and wiser than any fairy I know. It was the seed of the +Wonderful Plant. Wherever it grows there it will remain for all time. +It cannot be dislodged, and the owner of it will be rich and +influential forever. Its flowers are of the purest gold, and can be +taken off and sold to the goldsmith. I was going to take the seed to +my home and plant it in my garden, so that I would have at least one +spot on earth where the Evil Magician could not endanger my good +influence. He is the terror of my life, and I see that he has been +even here, for it was he that swept your kingdom out to sea, and this +little clump of earth and bushes is only a fragment that broke off one +corner. +</P> + +<P> +"'"I heard about it from the eagle that dwells on that high mountain +top. When I reached this spot to-day my distress was so great that I +dropped my precious seed, and now I must leave it here for I know I +will not find it." +</P> + +<P> +"'I tried to comfort her by saying we would help her to look for it as +soon as it was light, but she shook her head. +</P> + +<P> +"'"No," she said, "it is of no use to look further. The seed sprouts +immediately if the ground is damp, as this is. It will be sprouted by +morning, and I must protect it here." +</P> + +<P> +"'She said no more, and as our own troubles filled our minds we fell to +talking again and making plans and did not notice that she disappeared. +</P> + +<P> +"'We must have fallen asleep shortly afterwards, as we were both +awakened by a sound of swishing and neighing. We jumped to our feet. +The blackness of the night surrounded us. Our fire had died down to +ashes. Suddenly the noise came again, and our two horses dashed past +us at a gallop as if being chased. "Horse thieves," we whispered, and +turned to follow, but after running for several minutes over the sand +we found ourselves entering what seemed to be a dense wood, as we came +into rather sharp contact with large trunks and heavy branches of trees. +</P> + +<P> +"'How we had got there, we did not know, and visions of mountain +robbers filled our minds. We threaded our way between the trees as +well as we could and ran on over smooth turf until we came to an +avenue, down which a light shone brokenly through the trees. Here we +could run much faster, and turning a corner, saw our horses trotting +quietly some distance ahead. The light showed brighter, and then as we +emerged from the trees we found that it came from the windows of a long +low building. As we stood, dazzled by the brightness, and +wonderstruck, a voice beside us made us turn in alarm. It was the +fairy, who we now remembered, had not been with us since early in the +evening. +</P> + +<P> +"'"Do not be afraid," said she, "I could not rest until I had safely +protected my Wonderful Plant, so I have built this house around it and +enclosed the grounds with a high brick wall. There is a good stable at +the back and I have just shut your horses in for the rest of the night. +Come now and I will show you the house." +</P> + +<P> +"'She took us in at the front door and showed us through the house. It +was magnificently finished and beautifully furnished, as you shall see +for yourself presently, and my wife and I declared that we had never +seen anything to equal it. When she had finished she said: +</P> + +<P> +"'"I have a proposition to make. I cannot remain in this country. I +must go home at once, as I am needed. You have lost your home and all +you possessed. Will you not stay in this beautiful house and tend my +Wonderful Plant? It must be watered and carefully pruned each day in +order to keep it at its best, and someone must remain here to gather +the seeds as they ripen and hide them, lest at any time the Evil +Magician or his emissaries come and steal one. The plant they cannot +touch, and only myself can pluck the blossoms, but the seeds, which are +so precious, may be taken by anyone. +</P> + +<P> +"'"This oasis is now a pleasant place surrounded by fine lawns and +planted with beautiful trees, and I will give you plenty of servants, a +cellar full of provisions which will never run out, a library full of +books, and all sorts of amusements. You will have everything but human +companionship. No stranger must ever enter these gates, for I must +guard against any possibility of having a seed stolen. What do you +say, will you accept my offer?" +</P> + +<P> +"'We considered a few moments. Our friends and possessions were gone, +and we stood indeed alone in the world and quite destitute. The +thought of seeing no human being did not affect us, as we had each +other, so we very gratefully accepted the good fairy's offer, and when +she had given us a few more instructions and told us that she would +visit us twice a year she departed. Here then we have lived ever since +in peace and comfort.' +</P> + +<P> +"'But the Wonderful Plant, where is it? May I see it?' I asked, 'or am +I to meet with some misfortune for having dared to enter upon this +oasis?' +</P> + +<P> +"The old gentleman laughed. +</P> + +<P> +"'You are not to meet with anything here but good fortune, my dear +Prince,' said he, 'for the last time the fairy paid us a visit she told +us you were looking for a seed of the Wonderful Plant for your father, +and that if you succeeded in reaching this spot alone I was to give you +one. To tell you the truth we did not think much more about it, as we +did not believe anyone would ever reach here. Now you shall see the +plant itself.' +</P> + +<P> +"He and the little old lady led the way into the great front hall and +through a long passage. Stopping at a heavily carved door he took a +small key from his pocket and unlocked it. The door swung open and we +stepped out." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap15"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XV +</H3> + +<P> +"We stood in a spacious court, the blue sky overhead, velvety grass +underfoot and the windows of the house all around us. Most of these +were open and in some of them were caged birds singing gloriously, and +against all the sills were window-boxes full of flowers. Flowering ivy +and climbing roses trailed here and there up the sides of the building, +and there were so many rose bushes about in the gardens that the scent +of them was quite heavy in the air. A small fountain stood at either +end of the enclosure, in which curious small silver fish jumped and +splashed about in the late afternoon sun. +</P> + +<P> +"In the exact center of the court stood a large shrub about eight feet +tall. It was beautifully trimmed and perfectly conical in form. The +thick foliage was a dark, bright green, and the whole bush was covered +with pure yellow flowers. They looked very much like velvety yellow +pansies. I walked over and touched one. It was stiff and hard and +shone with a metallic luster. It had evidently been on the bush for +some time, as the buds and new blossoms were as soft as any flower. +</P> + +<P> +"'If my father could but see it,' I murmured. 'If he had even a tiny +plant I am sure it would prolong his life.' +</P> + +<P> +"'You shall have a seed, dear Prince,' said the old gentleman, 'and it +will grow very quickly, you shall see. Perhaps I did not tell you that +only one seed is formed every seven years and that from the blossoms +which comes out first on the seventh day of the seventh month, the day +when the plant begins its yearly period of bloom. The seed which I +have saved for you ripened only a few days ago, so you are very +fortunate.' +</P> + +<P> +"He went back into the house and returned with a small golden box from +which he took a gold ring set with a valuable black diamond. He +pressed a spring and the stone lifted, disclosing a small seed lying in +the cavity. He shut the spring down again. +</P> + +<P> +"'Put this on your finger,' he said, 'and do not open it until you are +safely at home and in your father's conservatory. Plant it in an +unpretentious pot at night, and do not tell anyone what it is, but +watch it every day yourself. The fairy too will watch it and pick the +blossoms for you, as no mortal can do that. She will pick the seed +flower as soon as it blooms, so that the Evil Magician may not secure +the seed.' +</P> + +<P> +"I thanked him with tears in my eyes and hoped that I might see the +good fairy when I reached home. +</P> + +<P> +"The old gentleman then took me over the house, which was indeed as +magnificent as he had said, and after that we went to see the grounds +and the immense wall. +</P> + +<P> +"'We will have to ride,' said he, and led the way to the stables where +stood his two horses, fine sleek animals. A colored boy, who of course +like the other servants, was a fairy, harnessed them, and after riding +through the park and past the lovely gardens we came to a great gateway +in the high wall. +</P> + +<P> +"The old gentleman reached down and touched a button at the side and +the gates swung slowly open, closing again as soon as we had passed out. +</P> + +<P> +"Out there were more trees set well apart and at some distance from the +wall, and beyond that the yellow desert sands stretched away in the +distance. We rode along beside the wall, which on this side faced the +west. I was surprised to see that the whole wall was set with mirrors +of magnifying glass, now reflecting the gorgeous colors of the sunset +as it glowed in between the trees. It would have been beautiful had it +not been for the frightful reflections of ourselves and the horses. +They loomed large and distorted before us, and the old gentleman +explained to me that he never had blinders on the horses excepting when +they were riding beside the wall. He had tried riding without the +blinders one day, but his horse had bolted in fright, and he had great +difficulty in getting him inside again. +</P> + +<P> +"'Now I can understand,' I said, 'why I thought I saw a lake when I was +traveling towards this oasis. And now too I know what kind of giants +chase all those who attempt to cross the desert.' +</P> + +<P> +"'Yes,' answered the old gentleman smiling, 'it is a wise precaution of +the fairy's, and very harmless, but I should like to hear what the +travelers tell.' +</P> + +<P> +"The mirrors stretched right across the oasis, which was of a very +irregular shape, and by the time we arrived again at the main gate and +entered the grounds it was nearly dark. +</P> + +<P> +"Dinner was ready, and after it was over the old gentleman told me I +had better leave about midnight so as to be back in the village before +it was light enough for anyone to see me. +</P> + +<P> +"'But how am I to get back so quickly?' I asked. +</P> + +<P> +"'The way you came,' replied the old gentleman. +</P> + +<P> +"'But what if Bowser will not carry the basket?' I cried. 'He has +eaten all the peaches now, and I have no more.' +</P> + +<P> +"'Yes,' he replied, 'but this time you will be on Bowser's back, and I +can promise you he will take you over in very quick time, for he has +been shut up in his cage without any supper and by midnight will be so +hungry that he will not lose any time in reaching the nearest peach +orchard. I am sorry to think that some poor farmer will suffer, but it +is the only way you can get safely back.' +</P> + +<P> +"I thanked him for this further evidence of his kindness and the +evening passed very quickly in conversation. I had to do most of the +talking, as the two old people had heard no news of the world since the +fairy's last visit, and listened intently to all I could tell them." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap16"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVI +</H3> + +<P> +"It was nearly midnight when I finally arose and prepared to depart. +The old gentleman led the way to Bowser's cage. It was a room at the +end of the kitchen, and Bowser was evidently expecting his supper, as +he uttered odd noises and came towards us with his neck stretched out. +I marveled that he was not asleep on his perch in the corner. +</P> + +<P> +"'He never goes to sleep until he has eaten a great deal of supper,' +said the old gentleman, 'and as he is growing very impatient you had +better mount him at once while I open the door.' +</P> + +<P> +"'But how am I to ride him?' I cried. +</P> + +<P> +"'Get up on that stepladder,' said the old gentleman, indicating one +that stood against the wall, 'and when he comes near enough let +yourself down on his back and throw your arms around his neck. I will +open the door the instant you are seated and he will dart out.' +</P> + +<P> +"It seemed rather a risky way to ride, but after all, I reflected, much +safer than the way I had come, for he could not drop me unless I let go +my hold, so I obediently got upon the stepladder. +</P> + +<P> +"Bowser came towards me, thinking I might have something for him, and +as he turned his head at the creaking of the door I threw myself on his +back and grasped him firmly around the neck. The big door swung open, +Bowser ran forward, and as soon as he was outside rose into the air. +We soared away, straight towards the village which lay nearest the sea. +</P> + +<P> +"Bowser's flight proved how hungry he was, for the village lights drew +nearer very rapidly, and we were going so fast over the sands that I +did not dare look down for fear of getting dizzy. +</P> + +<P> +"In what seemed but a few minutes Bowser began to descend and glancing +down I saw that we were directly over a peach orchard. He alighted, +and at the same moment I slid off his back and ran as fast as I could +for some distance. When I reached the fence which enclosed the place I +looked back, and could see him gobbling all around a tree, so he had +already shaken the peaches off one at least. He had not bothered about +me at all, as I was afraid he would. +</P> + +<P> +"I walked to the inn and went to bed in a very thankful state of mind, +determined to start for home next day. +</P> + +<P> +"But the next day I found it was not as easy as I thought. The only +boat leaving port was a peach boat, bound for a port only a few miles +away. However, I went by that, and on reaching the port had to wait +two days to get a passage on a boat loaded with iron which was bound +for the Island of Laurels. +</P> + +<P> +"The weather was fine when we set out, and the wind good, so in spite +of the heavy cargo we were making fair progress. On the fourth night +we ran into a dense fog. After running carefully for some hours the +Captain thought it advisable to lie to until morning, as we were within +a few miles of the Island of Despair and some very dangerous reefs. +</P> + +<P> +"I went to my cabin and lay down to read. I fell asleep and slept for +some time, when I was awakened by a tremendous blow under the ship +which jerked me out on the floor. Running to the deck I found the +whole crew assembled getting ready to drop the life-boats. In place of +the dead calm which had prevailed earlier in the evening a terrible +storm now raged, and the gale had driven the ship on the dreaded reefs. +</P> + +<P> +"To add to the danger the iron loaded in the hold had become loose and +we could hear it pounding around in the hold as the ship lurched about +on the rocks. It was only a matter of a few moments before the ship +would go to pieces. +</P> + +<P> +"I stood ready to help the Captain and some of his men to lower his +gig, and we waited to see the others off. There were six boats, and +five of them were launched successfully. The other swamped in the +heavy sea. I do not know whether any of them reached the shore or not, +as I never saw them again. +</P> + +<P> +"We launched our boat successfully, and pulled in the direction in +which the Captain indicated the Island lay. When we had got within +fifty feet of the land our boat seemed to strike a whirlpool. It went +around very rapidly five or six times, and finally dived bow first, +throwing all the occupants but myself into the water. I had taken a +long breath, expecting the dive, and was crouched on my seat holding +tightly with both hands, so that when the boat shot to the surface +again I had just strength enough to clamber over the side as it turned +bottom up. I lay there half drowned while the boat floated in to +shore. I do not know how long it was before I heard voices close at +hand. One was a man's and one an old woman's. The woman's voice said: +</P> + +<P> +"'Are you sure he had it on his finger when he left port?' +</P> + +<P> +"'Of course,' answered the man gruffly. 'Don't I tell you I flew over +the ship yesterday and saw it on his hand?' +</P> + +<P> +"'Well, he must be here somewhere,' said the old woman, 'and we'll soon +have it.' +</P> + +<P> +"Although I was half dazed I knew it must be my ring with the precious +seed that they were talking about. I tried to rise, but had not +sufficient strength, so with an effort I pulled it from my finger and +dropped it into the water beside the boat, rather than let them take it. +</P> + +<P> +"The voices came nearer. +</P> + +<P> +"'Ah,' said the man, 'here he is; now let us see if I am not right.' +</P> + +<P> +"I must have fainted then, as I do not remember anything until I awoke +to find myself imprisoned in the laurel tree. +</P> + +<P> +"Late in the morning when the sun was high the Evil Magician, for of +course it was he, and an old crone came past me on their way to the +shore, but they did not find the ring, for the Evil Magician came back +after a long time in a terrible rage and threatened me with instant +death if I did not tell him where I had hidden it. +</P> + +<P> +"I declared I had not hidden it. After promising me my freedom if I +would tell him where it was, and trying every argument in his power to +either coax or threaten me into letting him have it, he became furious, +declared I should remain enchanted forever until I slowly drowned, and +went off. I did not see him again. +</P> + +<P> +"You may imagine my despair, and my boundless gratitude to Prince +Daimur for releasing me from my enchantment." +</P> + +<P> +"Rather," said Prince Daimur, "let us be thankful to the kind old fairy +who gave me this wonderful cap and spectacles, for without them I +should doubtless have been as helpless as yourself." +</P> + +<P> +"But what do you suppose became of the ring?" asked Prince Redmond. +"Do you think he could have found it after all?" +</P> + +<P> +"I do not know, I am sure," answered his brother. "I do not see how it +could have been hidden, for the water was shallow where I dropped it +and it must have shown clearly in the sunlight. I heard them say they +had searched under every stone for it." +</P> + +<P> +Here the little white dove, Princess Maya, left her mother's side and +came over to where Prince Tasmir sat. +</P> + +<P> +"Prince Tasmir," she said, "I believe I have your ring. Early one +morning my mother and I were flying from tree to tree and feeling +rather brighter than usual, as we had not eaten any fruit since the day +before. +</P> + +<P> +"After a while we found ourselves very near the shore, and alighted on +a low branch directly overhanging the water. A life-boat lay bottom up +on the sands of the small beach, and while we were deploring the fact +that some ship must have been wrecked on the reefs very lately I +noticed just beside the boat's side, on a flat stone hardly covered +with water, a fine gold ring. I let myself down on the stone and +picked the ring up and we carried it off to show my father. He said it +was very valuable, and that the Evil Magician must not have it, so we +hid it, and we have kept it ever since. We have never left it long in +one place, and if somebody will come with me I will get it now." +</P> + +<P> +Prince Redmond and half a dozen other doves eagerly followed the +Princess, while exclamations of wonder and surprise filled the cave. +</P> + +<P> +In five minutes the Princess was back carrying a ring in her mouth. +Prince Tasmir gave a cry of joy as he opened it and found his precious +seed safe inside. +</P> + +<P> +"I was afraid that perhaps the water had leaked in and sprouted it," he +said, as they all crowded around to see, "but thank goodness it is +perfectly sound," and he slipped it on his finger. +</P> + +<P> +After congratulating the little Princess on finding the ring and +keeping it out of the Evil Magician's possession, and hoping they might +have the best of luck on the morrow they all went to sleep, very +confident indeed that all would yet come right. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap17"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVII +</H3> + +<P> +The next day was spent in flying thoroughly over the island to see that +no dove had been overlooked, as they did not want to leave anyone +behind. +</P> + +<P> +Only one old grey one was found sleeping in a tree, which Prince +Redmond identified as an old sailor who had been one of his crew. He +seemed willing to go to the cave at once, and towards night he began to +revive. +</P> + +<P> +Immediately after dark they heard a great wind sighing about the +island, which Daimur, who had on his cap and spectacles said was the +Magician leaving his castle for the Island of Sunne, where he was going +to search for the very treasures that Daimur then wore. +</P> + +<P> +Soon Daimur announced that he could see the witch going out to find her +cat, and when he knew she was well away they all fluttered out of the +cave and led by Daimur, Prince Redmond and King Cyril, made their way +to where the Magician's wall crossed the sea sand. Here Daimur again +dug a hole under the wall and all passed through safely, Tasmir +remaining behind for a moment to fill up the gap again with sand. +</P> + +<P> +They went forward very quietly until they came to the steps of the +Magician's castle. +</P> + +<P> +"Wait here," said Daimur, "while the Princess and I go inside and find +the tablets." +</P> + +<P> +The door was not locked, and Daimur pushed it open softly, and led by +Princess Maya walked through the kitchen to the room where the glass +box was kept. +</P> + +<P> +This he picked up carefully and carried outside, taking care to shut +the door behind him. +</P> + +<P> +By the dim light of the moon half hidden behind clouds he drew forth +his little key and tried it in the lock. The doves were grouped in +front of him, and every eye was fixed on the key as he turned it +carefully. Would it really fit? Around it went. Up sprang the lid, +and there behold! were the wonderful big pellets which might break the +enchantment. +</P> + +<A NAME="img-148"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-148.jpg" ALT="Up sprang the lid, and there behold! were the wonderful big pellets." BORDER="2" WIDTH="413" HEIGHT="588"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 450px"> +Up sprang the lid, and there behold! were the wonderful big pellets. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +Daimur passed the box, first to the Queen, Princess Maya, and the +Duchess, and the other royal personages, and then around to everybody. +</P> + +<P> +In a moment a strange assemblage of people stood where but a few +seconds before had been only a flock of doves. +</P> + +<P> +What a murmur of delight arose! King Cyril embraced his wife and +daughter, the Duchess clung to Daimur in a spasm of joy, Prince Redmond +and his brother wept in each other's arms, while Prince Redmond's fifty +sailors all crowded around them, swearing they would follow their +prince through fire and water. +</P> + +<P> +Prince Daimur fearing that they might alarm the witch, ascended the +steps, and holding up his hand begged them to remember that their safe +deliverance lay in making no noise, but getting away as quickly as they +could. +</P> + +<P> +Then he instructed them to follow the Princess Maya, who led them all +around to the end of the Magician's house, where in the little bay lay +Prince Redmond's ship, safely moored. +</P> + +<P> +Immediately, at a word from Prince Redmond, the sailors jumped to their +places, hoisted the sails and made ready to leave the dock, while +Daimur and Prince Tasmir helped the ladies aboard. +</P> + +<P> +There was a good breeze, and in five minutes the sails had filled and +they were drawing away from the island, when they heard a loud hissing +sound. Looking towards the castle they saw coiled on the dock they had +just left a monstrous rattlesnake. +</P> + +<P> +"It is the witch's daughter," cried Princess Maya, "we have awakened +her and she has come out through the window." +</P> + +<P> +At that moment the snake shook its rattles. They made an extremely +loud, shrill sound, and in a flash, from nowhere apparently, the old +witch appeared on the dock with her cat on her shoulder. +</P> + +<P> +When she saw them she screamed and ran into the house. +</P> + +<P> +"For mercy's sake, have you any guns?" cried Daimur to Prince Redmond. +"We shall surely need them now, for she is going to call back the +Magician." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said Redmond, "unless they have been taken away, or have +rusted," and hastily giving a few orders to some of the sailors he +commanded the others to follow him and ran to the cabin. On looking +into the armory he found that the guns were all there, as bright and +shining as when he saw them last, and calling upon everyone to help him +he began to distribute them about. +</P> + +<P> +When they again reached the deck they found that Daimur had been right +about the witch, for she had climbed to the roof of the Magician's +house and was standing on the tallest chimneypot. +</P> + +<P> +As they looked she waved her arms, and at once a blue flame sprang from +her, waving and dancing in the air, sometimes shooting to a great +height, and again breaking out in all directions over the sea. +</P> + +<P> +The wind had in the meantime been steadily blowing them on, and by this +time the ship was some distance from the shore and heading for the +Island of Sunne. +</P> + +<P> +"The Magician will be here in a moment," cried Daimur. "Stand close +together here and obey me, for I can see him the moment he arrives." +</P> + +<P> +Hardly had the men collected about him than a sudden squall struck the +ship. It quivered with the shock, and the sails were nearly torn away +as the ship heeled over on its side, while great waves dashed right +over the deck. +</P> + +<P> +"Do not be afraid," cried Daimur. "I see him, we shall yet be saved if +you will obey me." +</P> + +<P> +In front of them rose a wave higher than all the rest. It seemed as +tall as a mountain, and it would certainly swamp the ship the moment it +struck it. On the top of the wave was a great white crest, in which +Daimur knew was the Magician. +</P> + +<P> +</P> + +<P> +</P> + +<P> +</P> + +<P> +"Now," he shouted above the roar of the wind, "aim at the highest crest +of the wave." They all did so. +</P> + +<P> +"Fire." +</P> + +<P> +Off went the guns. +</P> + +<P> +There were so many of them that they made a deafening roar, and +immediately the ship stood still. As soon as the smoke cleared away +they saw why. +</P> + +<P> +The big wave had burst, and the sea was completely calm again, and +there floating towards them was the Evil Magician himself, quite dead. +</P> + +<P> +As they looked at him they could see that he seemed to be surrounded by +a myriad of queer greenish lights. These grew and spread over the +surface of the water, until as he floated closer they could see that he +was melting like a piece of soap and washing away in green bubbles. +They watched him, quite fascinated, until the last bubble had floated +away and he had completely disappeared. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh," said the Queen, with a shudder, while the Duchess wept with +fright, "how horrible! I do wish the wind would come up again and blow +us away from this dreadful place, We are safe now from the Magician, +but perhaps the witch will pursue us." +</P> + +<P> +"No fear of that; she is afraid of us," said Daimur, who had been +watching the castle through his spectacles. He had seen the witch +dance with rage when they killed the Magician, and a few moments +afterwards he could see that she was closing the shutters and darkening +the house. +</P> + +<P> +The breeze came gradually up again, and in half an hour's time they +were sailing quickly toward the Island of Sunne. +</P> + +<P> +"If this wind continues," said Daimur, "we will reach land early in the +morning, and I think we had better leave the ship armed in case we meet +with any resistance. I am, however, not much afraid of my uncle, for +he is quite powerless without the Evil Magician." +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap18"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XVIII +</H3> + +<P> +Just after the sun had risen the ship touched the wharf at Daimur's +native city, and Daimur, who was the first ashore, stood by to assist +the ladies to land and to welcome them to his kingdom. +</P> + +<P> +There was not a soul in sight as they formed a double line, with Prince +Redmond's sailors as guards, and marched towards the palace, which was +only a few blocks distant. +</P> + +<P> +As they neared the gates they saw that nobody was astir but a few of +the Royal bodyguard, who as soon as they caught sight of Prince Daimur +at the head of this strange procession rushed towards him and threw +themselves at his feet with exclamations of astonishment and joy that +he was still alive. +</P> + +<P> +They told Daimur that his wicked uncle had already been crowned king, +having proved by the aid of false witnesses that Daimur had fallen from +a precipice while out riding and been instantly killed, and that his +body was washed away in the swift-flowing river at the bottom. +</P> + +<P> +At the conclusion of the tale Daimur called out all the guards and +ordered them to arrest his uncle and his followers immediately, and +convey them to a strong prison in the interior of the kingdom. +</P> + +<P> +Before they could move to obey him, however, Daimur's uncle himself +appeared with a few of his friends. They had been aroused from their +sleep by the sound of voices and had dressed hastily. +</P> + +<P> +"What is the meaning of this commotion?" roared the false King, +addressing the guards. "Back to your posts immediately." +</P> + +<P> +He turned as he spoke and his eye fell on Daimur and his little +company, whose guns were all pointed directly at him, as, strange to +say, were those of the Palace guard. He glanced in every direction, +but everywhere he saw hard unsympathetic faces, and the round muzzles +of guns. +</P> + +<P> +He grew pale and his knees knocked together as he looked about in vain +for a means of escape. Then suddenly his face cleared, and he drew a +whistle from a cord at his neck and blew three loud blasts upon it. +</P> + +<P> +Daimur, who still wore his cap and spectacles, turned to his company. +</P> + +<P> +"That is to summon the Magician," he explained. They all laughed, and +Daimur announced to his uncle that it was of no use calling or help +from the Evil Magician, as he was dead and gone. +</P> + +<P> +This of course his uncle declared quite impossible, and it was not +until King Cyril, the Princess, and indeed the whole party had assured +him it was the truth, added to the fact that the Magician did not seem +to be coming to his aid, that he believed it. +</P> + +<P> +After that he was very humble. He cringed before Daimur and hoped he +would spare his old uncle's life. This Daimur said he was willing to +do, but that he would have to go with his fine friends to the state +prison farm as a laborer for the rest of his days. His uncle seemed so +relieved that he was not to lose his head that he went away with the +guards quietly enough. +</P> + +<P> +Now that he was rid of his uncle Daimur proceeded into the Palace, +where he was welcomed with the greatest enthusiasm and loyalty by the +servants, and his guests were soon enjoying a splendid breakfast. +</P> + +<P> +Prince Daimur begged them to remain with him until he had been crowned +king and had made arrangements to accompany them to their respective +homes. +</P> + +<P> +This they consented to do, and soon great preparations were under way +for the coronation. +</P> + +<P> +Daimur told his story throughout the kingdom, and his people flocked +about him wherever he went, declaring their allegiance, and rejoicing +greatly that he had delivered them all from the Evil Magician's +influence. +</P> + +<P> +At last the day of the coronation came, and all who were rich enough to +travel were present. +</P> + +<P> +Never before had so many distinguished guests graced a coronation +ceremony in the Kingdom of Sunne. Daimur's subjects felt highly +honored as they gazed upon the noble King Cyril, Queen Emily, and the +young Princess of Shells, the distinguished Duchess of Rose Petals, and +the two splendid Princes of Laurels. All the other kingdoms were here +represented. +</P> + +<P> +They made a very magnificent appearance, for Daimur had insisted upon +the Court dressmakers and tailors making each of them a proper +wardrobe, as, of course, they had no clothes with them for the occasion. +</P> + +<P> +After the coronation ceremony there was a great feast and when all the +company were assembled Daimur told them of his plans for accompanying +his guests to their respective kingdoms. His subjects were willing +that he should go and promised to defend the kingdom against any +possible enemies while he was away, and they agreed upon a very old and +wise friend of Daimur's to act as Regent until his return. +</P> + +<P> +In a few days the preparations for his going were complete, and King +Daimur's largest warship lay at anchor in the harbor in readiness to +sail. +</P> + +<P> +The bands played and a great crowd stood on the wharf as Daimur and his +royal guests drove down and boarded the ship, and they sailed out of +the harbor amid many cheers and wishes for a safe and speedy voyage. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap19"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XIX +</H3> + +<P> +Their course was set for the Island of Shells, where King Cyril's +brother was ruling in his stead. +</P> + +<P> +The wind was good, and they expected to reach port sometime the next +day. Morning dawned bright and sunny, and after some hours of fast +sailing Daimur was surprised to have a message brought to him that the +Captain had sighted something from the bridge that he wished King +Daimur to see. +</P> + +<P> +Daimur went up at once, accompanied by King Cyril, to whom he had been +talking. +</P> + +<P> +On reaching the Captain's side they saw at once what the trouble was. +</P> + +<P> +In front of them, about six miles distant, lay the Island of Shells, +and between them and it the only entrance to the harbor, a narrow +winding passage between very dangerous reefs, which in places stood +high out of the water. +</P> + +<P> +It was, however, not the reefs that drew their attention. +</P> + +<P> +Directly in front of them, and completely surrounding the passage +through the reefs, lay a dark streak upon the water. It seemed to be +at least half a mile in width and stretched away on either side as far +as one could see. +</P> + +<P> +Although the water all around it was quite rough and choppy this streak +lay perfectly calm, glistening in the sun with peculiar purple and gold +colors. +</P> + +<P> +The Captain had ordered some of the sails reefed, but even so the ship +was going at a good rate of speed and in a few seconds they had run +into it. +</P> + +<P> +It was as though they had struck a bank of soft mud, and so indeed they +thought it at first, though they could not understand how it could have +got there, as the sea was known to be very deep outside the reefs. +</P> + +<P> +The sails, well filled, tried to carry the ship forward, but only +succeeded in getting them a little further into the dark mass. +</P> + +<P> +"What can it be?" cried King Cyril, as everybody rushed to the ship's +sides to see what had stopped their progress. +</P> + +<P> +"It looks and smells like tar," said the Captain, "and now how in the +world are we to get out of it? I've never seen anything like it in my +life, and I've been sailing for forty-seven years." +</P> + +<P> +By this time Daimur had adjusted his magic cap and spectacles and was +surveying the dark sticky streak. He gave way to an exclamation of +dismay. +</P> + +<P> +"What is it?" gasped King Cyril, thoroughly alarmed at seeing Daimur so +affected. +</P> + +<P> +"This stuff is tar," said Daimur, "mixed with various gums and a +terrible acid that is eating into the hull of our ship and will destroy +it within two hours if we cannot succeed in getting it out. +</P> + +<P> +"This is the work of your sister-in-law," he continued, addressing King +Cyril, "assisted by the witch of Despair. They do not intend to let us +in if they can help it. Now let us think what we must do." +</P> + +<P> +Not a word was spoken as Daimur stood consulting his magic cap and +gazing out over the sea. +</P> + +<P> +In a few moments he turned to the Captain. +</P> + +<P> +"Have you any coal-oil?" he asked. +</P> + +<P> +"A little, your majesty, about nine barrels, I think," answered the +Captain, as he sent a sailor to see how many there were. The man came +back to say that there were ten. +</P> + +<P> +"Good," said Daimur. "Now have all the barrels brought up to the deck, +for we must pour the oil over the bow; it is the only thing that will +cut this vile mixture." +</P> + +<P> +The barrels were brought up as quickly as possible, and Daimur himself +stood in the bow and directed the sailors. Four men held a barrel of +oil on each side of the bow, and at the instant they commenced to pour +it down the Captain ordered the remaining sails let out to the wind. +</P> + +<P> +As the oil struck the tar mixture it first spread over the surface, and +then foamed up like soda water, and as the foam subsided the water +could be seen underneath. +</P> + +<P> +With every sail filled the ship slowly made its way through the sticky +foaming mass, and when at the end of half an hour they were clear of +it, and the ship began to cut ahead through the water again, a big +cheer of relief went up. +</P> + +<P> +All was not over, however, as they were now within the narrow passage, +and the Captain was very nervous. He had never been through it before +without a pilot, and although he had the wheel himself he was not sure +that he knew the course. +</P> + +<P> +King Cyril now stepped forward and offered to take the wheel, as he had +often steered his own yacht through the channel, and knew it perfectly, +so in case some other trap had been laid for them Daimur gave him his +magic cap and glasses to wear until they should be safely in the harbor. +</P> + +<P> +In and out among the black reefs they wound, and shortly after two +o'clock in the afternoon cast anchor in the harbor, and were soon +ashore. +</P> + +<P> +As the usurping Prince and his witch of a wife had felt very safe +behind their ring of magic tar they had set no guards about, and +consequently Daimur and his friends, with his marines as guards, were +marching up the city street towards the palace before you could say +"Jack Robinson," with nobody to stop them. +</P> + +<P> +There were a good many people out in the streets, as it was market day, +and in a few moments a crowd had gathered to see the procession. Of +course they at once recognized their rightful King and Queen, and with +shouts of "Long live our noble King Cyril, he has been restored to us," +"Long live Queen Emily," "Long live Princess Maya," they joined in the +procession which was winding along to the palace. +</P> + +<P> +For you must know that the wicked Princess could not possibly throw +rose-colored powder into the eyes of all King Cyril's subjects, and did +not care at all about them as long as she could reach everyone in +authority; so that all the common people of his kingdom still loved +their rightful king as much as ever, and hated his brother Arnolde and +his wife, who they knew quite well cared nothing for them excepting +when they wanted more taxes. +</P> + +<P> +The visitors looked about them curiously as they advanced. None of +them had ever visited the Island of Shells before and they greatly +admired the beautiful houses which were built entirely of pink, white +or blue shells, with pale pink or amber-colored shells for windows, and +the shell fences to match which enclosed the grounds. +</P> + +<P> +The streets were paved with huge clam shells, and the sidewalks were of +periwinkle shells cemented together. +</P> + +<P> +It was a beautiful city, they all agreed. +</P> + +<P> +Soon as they turned a corner the high shell turrets of the Palace and +Parliament buildings came in sight, glittering pink and silver in the +sunshine. +</P> + +<P> +Now Arnolde was just then holding Parliament, and hearing the shouting +he rose to his feet and looked out of the window. When he saw the +procession headed by his brother Cyril he started violently and his +eyes almost popped out of his head. +</P> + +<P> +Turning to the nobles assembled about he cried, "To arms. An enemy +advances upon us." +</P> + +<P> +In a moment every man's sword was drawn, and following Arnolde they all +dashed out of the building into the street to oppose the progress of +King Cyril. +</P> + +<P> +On they rushed towards Daimur's army, but were soon stopped and +overpowered by the marines, who were in command of Prince Redmond. +</P> + +<P> +Daimur, who in this perilous land was again wearing his cap and +spectacles, approached the prisoners and examined the eyes of several +of them. +</P> + +<P> +Through his glasses he could see that the rose-colored powder had +spread out and made a thin covering over each eye, and his magic cap +told him that nothing could remove it but the tears of the victims +themselves. +</P> + +<P> +He told this to King Cyril. +</P> + +<P> +"Can't you think of anything that would induce them to weep?" asked +Daimur. +</P> + +<P> +"Indeed I cannot," answered King Cyril, as he looked at their scowling, +unfriendly faces. +</P> + +<P> +Just then Prince Tasmir came forward. +</P> + +<P> +"Why not make each man peel a peck of good strong onions?" he said with +a smile. +</P> + +<P> +At this they all laughed, but the idea seemed a good one, and quickly +explaining what they wanted to his crowds of subjects King Cyril soon +had people running from all directions with onions in pails, pans, bags +and baskets, until the street looked like an onion market. +</P> + +<P> +The prisoners in the meanwhile eyed the proceedings impatiently, +talking among themselves, and were utterly disgusted and horrified when +a knife and a great heap of onions were placed on the ground beside +each of them. +</P> + +<P> +Prince Redmond, at a sign from Daimur, stepped forward and ordered them +to peel the onions. This of course they flatly refused to do, and it +was only after threatening them with instant death that they sat down +on the ground and unwillingly commenced. +</P> + +<P> +Such a sniffing then began! Such tears poured forth! Not one of them +was allowed to stop until he had finished his share, and by that time +the tears were running in streams down their faces. +</P> + +<P> +It was a very odd sight, and the people crowded around laughing quietly +to themselves, and wondering what it was for. +</P> + +<P> +"Rise," commanded Prince Redmond, "and wipe your eyes." +</P> + +<P> +They all obeyed. +</P> + +<P> +"Now," said Daimur stepping forward. "Three cheers for your rightful +ruler, King Cyril, who has, with the Queen and your Princess, been +restored to you." +</P> + +<P> +For a moment there was a dead silence while Prince Arnolde and his +followers gazed at King Cyril with eyes that were clear for the first +time in four years. Then, raising their swords, they cheered lustily, +while Prince Arnolde rushed forward and fell on his brother's neck, +begging forgiveness, and declaring that he must have been crazy to act +so wickedly. +</P> + +<P> +Together the whole procession wended its way to the palace gates, which +King Cyril once more entered as the rightful ruler of his kingdom. +</P> + +<P> +The false Queen was sitting on the lawn under the trees doing crochet +work in a new shell pattern that she had just invented and talking with +some of the Court ladies, and she did not notice the procession +approaching until the tramp of many feet made her turn her head. +</P> + +<P> +She arose and came forward in some alarm, but at the sight of King +Cyril, Queen Emily and Princess Maya, with her husband walking beside +them talking in the most unfriendly manner, she flew into a terrible +rage. +</P> + +<P> +She danced up and down and round and round, faster and faster, growing +smaller every second, until at last she was nothing but her real self, +an ugly shriveled witch running round and round on a broomstick. With +a loud shrill scream she mounted into the air and was away out of sight +in an instant, leaving everybody staring open mouthed at the sky. +</P> + +<P> +"She has gone to the Island of Despair to join the old witch and her +daughter," said Daimur who had a creepy feeling down his back. +</P> + +<P> +The people all shuddered and looked at one another in awe, and poor +Prince Arnolde was trembling in every limb. +</P> + +<P> +They were all very glad when King Cyril ordered refreshments served at +once in the great dining hall. +</P> + +<P> +Daimur remained for a week in the Island of Shells to see that all went +well. He was afraid of the witches returning, as of course now they +had so many of the Evil Magician's secrets that they might cause a +great deal of trouble. +</P> + +<P> +Prince Tasmir was very glad to be a few days more in the company of +Princess Maya, with whom he had fallen desperately in love, and took +this opportunity of asking King Cyril's consent to their marriage as +soon as he had regained his kingdom, which King Cyril readily gave. +</P> + +<P> +The witches did not return, and as the King, assisted by his now +devoted brother, was rapidly getting everything into good order, Daimur +announced his intention of leaving, and he, the Duchess of Rose Petals, +and the two Princes departed from the Island of Shells after a great +ceremony, at which Daimur was presented with a gold sword in token of +the gratitude of King Cyril's subjects for the restoration of their +King. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap20"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XX +</H3> + +<P> +Daimur directed the Captain to steer to the Island of Laurels, which +lay nearest to them, and after two uneventful days of good weather the +island came into view. Late in the afternoon, when they were within a +couple of miles of the harbor they passed a very large warship, very +new and shining, which was flying the flag of Laurels. +</P> + +<P> +"That must be a new ship that Sadna has built," said Prince Redmond. +"He was always talking about a better navy." +</P> + +<P> +The large vessel paid no attention to them, but as they did not know +whether it was coming back or not they drew off and did not enter the +harbor until after dark. They cast anchor and decided not to leave the +ship until morning. +</P> + +<P> +They breakfasted at sunrise and went up on deck to view the city while +the boats were being lowered. +</P> + +<P> +It appeared to be a busy place. On the long wharves a great number of +men were working loading and unloading vessels. Three big warships, +all new, the prince declared, rode at anchor in the bay, but nobody +seemed to pay any attention to the sudden appearance of a strange +warship in their harbor. +</P> + +<P> +To the princes this seemed very queer, and thinking there might be some +plan to attack them unexpectedly they took every man that could be +spared from the ship, only leaving behind enough to man the guns and to +guard the Duchess of Rose Petals, who preferred staying on board. +</P> + +<P> +Forming in fours they marched up the street under great laurel trees, +of such a size as Daimur had never seen anywhere before. Although the +sun was already very hot every street was cool and shady. On they +went, but nobody even turned around to look at them. No crowd +collected, no faces appeared in the windows or doors, and what people +they met looked stupid and sleepy. +</P> + +<P> +"Why, this is most uncanny," exclaimed Daimur, who was marching beside +Prince Tasmir at the head of the marines. "What's the matter with +everybody?" +</P> + +<P> +"I cannot imagine," answered Prince Redmond. "It is a shocking +surprise to me; why they act as if they were all half asleep and do not +seem to recognize us at all." +</P> + +<P> +They passed through a beautiful park, and on the other side the palace, +surrounded by laurel hedges and backed by a very high wooded hill, +appeared to their view. +</P> + +<P> +Two guards were stationed at the palace gates. They drew their swords +in a dazed kind of way and refused to let anyone pass. +</P> + +<P> +"I am your Crown Prince," said Tasmir, "and here is my brother Redmond. +You must let us pass instantly." +</P> + +<P> +The guards looked at them stupidly and shook their heads. +</P> + +<P> +"We have no princes," said one, "our King is not married." +</P> + +<P> +"Where is he?" asked Redmond. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't know," answered the guard sleepily, as his head nodded forward a +couple of times. "Went away on the new ship." +</P> + +<P> +"But when will he return?" asked Tasmir, shaking the man to wake him +up, for he was certainly going to sleep. +</P> + +<P> +"Don' know, don' know," returned the guard, shaking his head slowly. +He kept on shaking it, and although they asked him several other +questions he did not seem to hear them at all. +</P> + +<P> +The other guard was even worse, for all he could say was, "Who goes +there?" whenever they addressed him. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't bother with them," said Prince Redmond impatiently, "let us go +into the palace and see if father is still alive." +</P> + +<P> +Daimur ordered the marines to advance, and as the two guards did +nothing but blink at them, and no other defenders appeared it only took +them a few seconds to reach the palace door. +</P> + +<P> +Prince Tasmir bounded up the steps, turned the big handle and dashed +into the hall with Prince Redmond and Daimur close at his heels. They +met with no opposition from the servants, who appeared to be as sleepy +as the guards, and immediately began a search for the poor old King. +Upstairs and down they went and even into the dungeons, but could find +no trace of him. +</P> + +<P> +Prince Redmond at length stopped and began to weep, for they all felt +that he was dead, and had perhaps been murdered. +</P> + +<P> +Daimur tried to comfort the princes by telling them that they must +search the kingdom through before thinking the worst and suggested that +they go out into the city again and see if his cap would not tell him +something about it. +</P> + +<P> +They left the palace and walked over the lawn and past the Royal +gardens, and finally crossed a rustic bridge over a pretty stream which +wound in and out through the grounds. +</P> + +<P> +"Where does that river flow?" asked Daimur, stopping suddenly. He had +on his cap. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, that," said Tasmir, "is the Laurel River. It flows right through +the kingdom, down to the sea on the other side of the island." +</P> + +<P> +"Does anybody drink its waters?" asked Daimur, taking out his +spectacles and putting them on. +</P> + +<P> +"Why of course," said Prince Redmond proudly. "It is the source of +water supply for nearly the whole of the kingdom. There isn't purer +water anywhere in the world." +</P> + +<P> +"Purer," said Daimur, who was stooping to examine the waters through +his spectacles, "why, it's poisoned!" +</P> + +<P> +"Poisoned!" exclaimed both the princes, looking at each other +incredulously. "Impossible!" +</P> + +<P> +"I tell you it is," said Daimur, "the poison is an oily substance which +covers the surface of the water. It may not be deadly; I cannot tell." +</P> + +<P> +"Then that's what ails our subjects," cried Tasmir. "They must be +drinking this poison every day." +</P> + +<P> +"Where is the source of this river?" asked Daimur. +</P> + +<P> +Prince Redmond turned and pointed to the highest hill behind them. "In +Mirror Lake, on that hilltop," he said. +</P> + +<P> +"Let us go there at once then," said Daimur, and leaving his marines on +guard duty around the palace he followed the two princes, who had taken +a path that led along the stream. This grew rough and stony as they +came to higher ground, and they soon were clinging to rocks and bushes +as they climbed up the steep hillside. +</P> + +<P> +At length after a great deal of scrambling and some tearing of their +clothes on the thorns and brambles, they managed to reach the top, and +followed a narrow winding path which led to the lake. After half an +hour of quick walking they came upon it very suddenly. It was quite +small, and completely surrounded by trees. The water was as blue as +the sky and reflected every little cloudlet perfectly. Daimur, +however, at once noticed vast quantities of laurel leaves floating +about, coming apparently from a little cove at the far end of the lake. +</P> + +<P> +"It is those leaves that are poisoning the water," he cried excitedly, +"I can see the poisonous oil oozing from them." +</P> + +<P> +"But, Daimur," said Redmond, "how can that be, they are only ordinary +laurel leaves?" +</P> + +<P> +But Daimur was already making his way along the shore towards the cove +from which the leaves seemed to come, and the princes followed him. +</P> + +<P> +At the end of the cove and hidden among the other trees they came upon +a tall willowy laurel tree which, overhanging the water, continually +dropped leaves and shook and moaned as if in a great wind, although all +the other trees were still. +</P> + +<P> +The princes looked at it in awe, which deepened when Daimur, after +surveying it intently for some moments, announced that it must be cut +down as it contained some enchanted creature, which, he said, as his +cap and spectacles could tell him no more, he hoped might not prove to +be another witch or an evil Magician. +</P> + +<P> +They had no axe, but Prince Redmond volunteered to go back to a +woodman's hut which they had passed on their way, and borrow one. He +soon returned with a large sharp axe, and set to work to cut down the +tree. He struck with all his might, but the axe made no impression on +it, beyond a mere scratch on the bark. +</P> + +<P> +Prince Tasmir then tried, but with no better success. +</P> + +<P> +At last Daimur, who through his spectacles, had been examining the +trunk of the tree close to the ground, asked for the axe, and after +scraping the earth away he began to chop at the roots. +</P> + +<P> +He managed with hard work to cut some of them through, and then gave +the axe to Redmond. Thus they all three persevered until the last root +was severed, and the tree fell to the earth with a loud moaning sound. +</P> + +<P> +Immediately a grey mist rose before their eyes, and when it had cleared +away a beautiful fairy clothed in white stood before them in place of +the tree. +</P> + +<P> +"Do not be alarmed," she said, smiling at their startled faces. "You +have nothing to fear. I am the fairy Peaceful and was enchanted by the +Evil Magician because I had rescued your father from his hands, and was +working against him in other ways in this kingdom. +</P> + +<P> +"The leaves you saw upon the waters were my sorrows, and as my +unhappiness increased I was compelled to drop more and more leaves. +These poisoned the water and kept Prince Sadna's people in a kind of +stupor. +</P> + +<P> +"But," she continued, stepping towards the lake, "I can now restore the +water to its natural purity." +</P> + +<P> +She waved her wand over it as she spoke, and Daimur could see that the +oily substance seemed to evaporate immediately. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, tell us, good fairy, is our father still alive?" cried Prince +Redmond. +</P> + +<P> +"He is," answered the fairy, "though very feeble. He will not live +much longer. Thank goodness I had him safely hidden away before the +Evil Magician pounced upon me on this lonely hilltop. If you will +follow me you may see him." +</P> + +<P> +She led the way to what appeared to be a wall of solid rock a short +distance from the lake shore. Reaching up she tapped the wall with her +wand, and instantly a passage appeared. They followed her through it, +and on the other side found themselves in a long green valley, +completely surrounded on all sides by overhanging cliffs and tree tops. +In the center of the valley stood a long low white thatched cottage, +almost covered with honeysuckle and climbing roses, while about it were +gardens, and plenty of trees where birds sang sweetly. +</P> + +<P> +"This is my own secret bower," the fairy explained with a smile. "It +is hidden from mortal eyes, and on account of my Wonderful Plant the +Evil Magician could not disturb it." +</P> + +<P> +They walked along a pretty path, and turning around a hedge came upon +the aged King, seated in an easy chair under a peach tree. Directly in +front of him stood a Wonderful Plant, fully as large as that which +Tasmir had seen on the oasis, and quite full of golden flowers. +</P> + +<P> +The King was in the act of sipping a glass of milk and eating some +fruit which a maid had just brought him, and looked very bright and +comfortable. +</P> + +<P> +He turned his head at the sound of voices, and at the sight of his sons +arose with a cry of joy, and came slowly forward leaning on his cane. +Tasmir and Redmond wept with happiness as they kissed him, and turning +to the fairy asked what they might do to show their gratitude. +</P> + +<P> +"Only allow me to live in your palace," she said, "coming and going as +I please, and I can help you to keep evil from your kingdom." +</P> + +<P> +This they gladly agreed to. +</P> + +<P> +Then, as the day was growing late, and they had had nothing to eat +since morning, Daimur said that they had better go back at once. +</P> + +<P> +"How shall we carry the King down the hillside," asked Prince Tasmir of +Daimur. But the words were no sooner spoken than the fairy reached out +and touched each of them with her wand. In the twinkling of an eye +they were all in the King's private sitting-room in the palace, with +the King in his own armchair. The fairy smiled at them at they thanked +her. +</P> + +<P> +"I shall now remove the spell from your people," she said, and vanished. +</P> + +<P> +Tasmir and Redmond immediately sent out messengers all over the +kingdom, and it was not long before people began to pour in at the +palace gates, not stupid now, but rejoicing at the restoration of their +good old King and their favorite princess. +</P> + +<P> +None of the nobles seemed to know anything about Prince Sadna, +excepting that he had sailed away a few days before in his latest and +largest warship. +</P> + +<P> +The following day began with a great public reception, and after a +formal luncheon to the nobles and members of Government, there were +several cabinet meetings, at which Daimur was asked as a matter of +courtesy to attend. In the evening the princes were to address the +populace from the palace balcony. +</P> + +<P> +Early in the evening the streets were adorned with colored lights and +huge torches, and people already crowded around the palace doors, +hoping to get a glimpse of the King. Everywhere there was the wildest +excitement. +</P> + +<P> +Daimur walked out into the gardens, through the lawns, and over the +little bridge which spanned the Laurel River, now clear as crystal and +quite pure again. He stopped to watch it rippling in the moonlight. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly the fairy Peaceful stood beside him. +</P> + +<P> +"King Daimur," said she, "I know you are good and kind. I have known +you ever since you were born, although you did not know me. The fairy +who gave you your magic cap and spectacles was my uncle. I am deeply +indebted to you for killing the Evil Magician and also for breaking the +enchantment which made me a force for evil in the world instead of good. +</P> + +<P> +"You are going to be exposed to grave danger while the Old Witch of +Despair is alive, as she knows you have the two great treasures which +the Evil Magician sought. In order to help you to escape all harm I am +going to give you this little bugle." +</P> + +<P> +She drew from her pocket as she spoke a tiny silver bugle which was +attached to a long chain, fine and strong. +</P> + +<P> +"Wear this around your neck constantly," she said, "and if ever you are +in need of assistance blow three times upon it and three servants of +mine will come immediately to you. Command them and they will obey." +</P> + +<P> +Daimur thanked her warmly and clasped the chain about his neck, and the +good fairy disappeared. +</P> + +<P> +Daimur went back to the palace and joined in the festivities, but as a +great storm was coming up he sent a carriage to fetch the Duchess of +Rose Petals, who was still on the warship, as he feared she would be +afraid if she stayed on board. +</P> + +<P> +She was very glad indeed to be brought to the palace, and she and the +old King enjoyed each other's company very much, and found it very +consoling to relate their troubles together. +</P> + +<P> +Very late that night, after all the people had gone home, the storm +broke and lasted for hours. It was most terrific, and the fury of the +wind broke many trees on the hill behind the palace, and did +considerable damage throughout the city. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap21"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXI +</H3> + +<P> +It was not until late the next day that the sea began to be calm again, +though the sun had been shining since morning. +</P> + +<P> +Daimur lost no time in getting ready for his departure to the Island of +Roses, and after bidding good-bye to the Old King and Prince Tasmir, +who made him promise to come to his wedding with the Princess Maya, +which was to take place shortly, he embarked again with his marines, +accompanied by the Duchess of Rose Petals and the faithful Prince +Redmond, who declared that he would not leave Daimur until he had +finished his task. +</P> + +<P> +They soon found that the storm of the night before had been much worse +on sea than on land, as the sea was covered with parts of wrecked +ships, pieces of wood, boxes, articles of furniture and great timbers. +</P> + +<P> +Towards noon they sighted a large vessel half sunk on a dangerous reef, +but they could not get near enough to it to read the name. Apparently +there was no one left aboard. A mile further on they passed a half +broken life-boat nearly full of water, on the bow of which was painted +H. M. S. "Sadna." There was nothing in it. +</P> + +<P> +Then Prince Redmond felt certain that it was his brother's ship which +they had passed caught on the reef, and that he had perished in the +storm with all hands. +</P> + +<P> +They proceeded on their course, and in a few hours more reached the +chief city of the Kingdom of Roses. +</P> + +<P> +Nobody made any attempt to stop their landing, so they all marched up +the street, this time the Duchess leading the procession with Daimur. +She was overjoyed to be at home again, and people began at once to +recognize her and came running after them with shouts of welcome until +a crowd had collected. It was noticeable that they were all very poor +and fagged looking. +</P> + +<P> +The strangers exclaimed with wonder at the beauty of the roses which +bloomed everywhere. They climbed over the houses, over fences and up +great stone buildings to the very roofs. Rose trees stood in all the +parks. Rose bushes made all the hedges. Roses of all colors met the +eye at every turn, and the air was quite heavy with their perfume. It +was truly a magnificent sight. +</P> + +<P> +No doubt they would have been still more impressed had they known that +in prosperous times people had fresh rose petals to sleep on every +night instead of feather beds or Ostermoor mattresses; that the pigs +were fed on roses until their skins grew to be so fine and transparent +that they were as clear as wax and the pigs themselves were red, white +or yellow or pink, according to the color of the roses they ate; that +housewives made rose petals into pies, cakes and candy, and even bread, +and stewed them with sugar and lemons for jam. Of course this was only +done with the surplus, as the real business of the kingdom was making +perfume from them. +</P> + +<P> +On went our friends, the Duchess leading the way, until at last they +came in sight of the palace. As they entered the grounds they were +surprised to see that all the blinds were down and nobody seemed to be +guarding the gates, or the door of the palace. In fact, the gates hung +ajar, and one of them was off its hinges. The grass on the lawn was +tall and rank. The gardens, or as little of them as they could see, +were full of tall weeds, and everything was going to decay. +</P> + +<P> +The poor Duchess stood and wept at the sight, but Daimur cried, "Cheer +up, cheer up, my dear Duchess, everything may be quite all right yet," +and ordering the marines to keep everyone out he and Redmond led the +weeping Duchess up to the great entrance and loudly rang the door bell. +</P> + +<P> +They could hear it echoing far inside, but no one came. They looked +through the windows, but inside all was empty and dusty. +</P> + +<P> +The Duchess was by this time in a perfect sea of tears and Daimur had +given up trying to comfort her. +</P> + +<P> +"Well, we'll try the back," he said, and taking the Duchess again by +the arm he led the way around the wide drive towards the rear of the +palace. As it was an immense building and very rambling it took them +some time to reach a high gate in a wall, which, the Duchess moaned +out, led to the kitchen. +</P> + +<P> +Inside was a courtyard all paved with red bricks, very neat-looking, no +doubt, when kept in proper order, but now the weeds were growing up +through the crevices in the bricks and the placed looked very neglected. +</P> + +<P> +They walked across the courtyard to the kitchen door, and after +knocking several times and getting no response Daimur tried it, and to +his surprise found that it was not locked. +</P> + +<P> +He pushed it open and they entered the great kitchen. There was not a +soul in sight. +</P> + +<P> +They walked on through the rooms and found them almost bare. Carpets +had been taken up, furniture removed, all of the best silver was +missing, and the Royal Rose china was completely gone,—so the Duchess +said. +</P> + +<P> +What could it mean? And where was Queen Amy, her court and her +servants? +</P> + +<P> +It was the same throughout the whole palace. Everything that had any +value had been removed, even the embroidered satin bedspreads. +</P> + +<P> +They descended to the cellar and went towards the little room where the +Duchess declared had stood the steel treasure chest. The door of the +little room stood open and to tell the truth they expected to find the +place empty, but what was their surprise to see the chest standing +there perfectly solid looking. +</P> + +<P> +"Of course it is empty," said the Duchess with a sniff, as she stooped +and fitted the little key into the lock. +</P> + +<P> +Daimur and Redmond lifted the lid, and behold! IT WAS FULL OF GOLD TO +THE VERY BRIM! +</P> + +<P> +It was all packed carefully in glass boxes bound with steel and each +box was labeled with the owner's name. +</P> + +<P> +The largest box bore Queen Amy's name, and the royal coat of arms. +</P> + +<P> +They were so astonished that they did not say a word but stood staring +at the gold as if fascinated. +</P> + +<P> +Suddenly they were startled by a slight noise behind them, and both +Daimur and Prince Redmond involuntarily drew their swords as they +turned quickly around. +</P> + +<P> +What they beheld was a frightened looking little creature who gazed at +them from behind a large empty packing case in a corner. +</P> + +<P> +"Come here," said Daimur rather sternly. "Who are you and what are you +doing here? Are there any other people about?" +</P> + +<P> +The little thing advanced trembling, and then they saw that she was a +fair-haired young girl of about eighteen or twenty, but so thin and +pale that at first glance she appeared to be a child. She was +dreadfully dirty too, and clad in various garments that seemed to have +belonged to someone else much larger. +</P> + +<P> +"Don't frighten her, Daimur," said Prince Redmond as he stepped over +beside the poor little thing. +</P> + +<P> +"Tell us who you are, and what you are doing here," he said, addressing +her kindly. "We will do you no harm." +</P> + +<P> +"I am Princess Helda of Oaklands," she said in a very timid voice. +</P> + +<P> +"And where may that be?" asked Daimur, thinking she was probably out of +her head, as so far as he knew no such place existed. +</P> + +<P> +"Alas," said the Princess. "Oaklands is now the Island of Despair," +and she wrung her hands with a hopeless gesture. +</P> + +<P> +At this answer Daimur was so amazed that he could not say a word, and +it was Prince Redmond who asked the Princess to tell them her story, +and whether she knew anything of Queen Amy. The Duchess had dried her +eyes and stood waiting in silence for every word. +</P> + +<P> +The Princess began in her quiet voice. +</P> + +<P> +"When I was only fourteen years old, my parents, who were King and +Queen of Oaklands and very much beloved by their subjects, one day +quite by accident, offended the Evil Magician, who had been traveling +through the kingdom disguised as a juggler, and entertaining crowds in +the streets with his skilful tricks. +</P> + +<P> +"In revenge the Evil Magician enchanted the whole kingdom, tearing our +island up from the eastern sea and setting it down in this western one. +He turned my father and mother and their subjects into stones and built +a house and wall of them, and changed our beautiful cities into a dense +forest. +</P> + +<P> +"Me he could not change, as I wear upon my arm a bracelet placed there +by a good fairy at my birth, which guards me from enchantment and harm. +</P> + +<P> +"I lived then in the Magician's house, and his old witch of a +housekeeper and her ugly daughter made me do all manner of rough work, +and many a time would have beaten me had it not been for my magic +bracelet. At any rate they half starved me. I lived in the cellar +when I was not working in the kitchen." +</P> + +<P> +"My dear," said the Duchess, "how can you expect us to believe such a +story? You say you were fourteen when all this happened. You cannot +be more than twenty now, and yet the Island of Despair has been where +it is for over seventy years." +</P> + +<P> +"Yes," said the Princess, "that is true, but the Evil Magician does not +measure years as you do. On his kitchen wall hangs the year clock. It +has only one hand, and the figures on its face run from one to fifteen. +Each figure represents one of your years, but the hand of the clock has +to go completely around the dial and reach the figure fifteen before +the Magician counts a year. In therefore what has been five years to +us in the Magician's house has been seventy-five years to you. That is +the reason why the Magician and the witch seem so old to you, who know +that they have been living for hundreds of years. They are really not +very old after all." +</P> + +<P> +"But how did you get here?" asked Prince Redmond, who was becoming very +much interested in the small Princess. +</P> + +<P> +"One day," answered the Princess, "I overhead the Evil Magician telling +the old witch to prepare a bed in the cellar for a Queen." +</P> + +<P> +"Good mercy," cried the Duchess. "My dear niece in that dreadful +place. Oh, what shall I do?" And she began to weep afresh, but Daimur +was so interested in the story that he hardly heard her. +</P> + +<P> +"What happened next?" he asked breathlessly. +</P> + +<P> +"The next day the Queen arrived, so beautiful and so sad. I loved her +at once, and was happy to be with her when I might. She told me that +she had a chest full of gold in her palace, but that her aunt had the +key to it, and that she had mysteriously disappeared. She was afraid +she had been murdered. A foreign king, a kind of pirate, had been +threatening to invade her kingdom for more than a year, and she had +been able to keep him off for a time, but at last she had no more +soldiers to oppose against him and he would have taken the kingdom had +not the Evil Magician, in the form of a young and handsome knight, +offered to lend her as much gold as was in the treasure chest until +such time as she could get another key, for she had found that the +chest was a magic one and could neither be broken into nor moved from +where it stood. +</P> + +<P> +"The pirate king took the money and went away, but in a few months the +Evil Magician came back and demanded payment for his gold or that the +Queen would marry him at once. +</P> + +<P> +"The Queen refused to marry him and could not pay him, so he took her +prisoner to the Island of Despair, as you call it, where he said he +would keep her until she consented to marry him and would sign over to +him all right to her throne. There she still is if she is alive. +</P> + +<P> +"As for me, the Evil Magician soon found that I was Queen Amy's friend, +and fearing that I might help her to escape he had me brought here, +where I have been ever since. +</P> + +<P> +"As soon as Queen Amy was captured her cousin Bethel took the throne, +and it was to her that I was sent as a servant. How she treated me you +can see for yourselves. I have had to do the meanest work, live in +this cellar, wear what clothes she threw to me, and eat what I could +get from the cook, who on days when she was very cross would give me +nothing at all." +</P> + +<P> +"Poor child, poor child," said Prince Redmond. +</P> + +<P> +"And where is Princess Bethel now?" asked Daimur. +</P> + +<P> +"And what has happened to the furniture, and all the plate and china, +my dear?" asked the Duchess in a teary voice. +</P> + +<P> +"I am just coming to that part, if you please, madam," answered the +Princess. +</P> + +<P> +"At night, when the servants were talking in the kitchen I used to sit +behind the cellar door and then I heard all that was said. One night +they whispered to each other that the pirate king had come back and +that he threatened instant invasion if he did not get more money. +Princess Bethel had sent him all she had in the palace and he went away. +</P> + +<P> +"That kept him off for a time, but before long he came again and then +kept on coming more and more frequently until there was scarcely an +article of value in the palace that had not been sent to him, or sold +to get money to keep him quiet. Princess Bethel was very miserable +indeed, and taxed her subjects until they were all reduced to beggary +in order to get the money to give him. +</P> + +<P> +"I could not help feeling rather sorry for her, it was such a dreadful +existence. The servants had to be dismissed one after another until +there was no one to wait upon her but me, and my! How she did scold! +</P> + +<P> +"At last the pirate came just a few nights ago and marching up to the +palace gates demanded the chest of gold, which he had evidently just +heard about. +</P> + +<P> +"Bethel would gladly have given it to him if she could have moved it, +and told him so, at which he and a great many rough sailors tramped +into the palace and down these stairs and tried their best to pry it up +with crowbars, but with no success of course. When he found he really +could not take it, he was so angry that he kidnapped Princess Bethel, +saying he would keep her in a dungeon until she found the key for him. +</P> + +<P> +"I was in the darkest corner when the pirates came and kept hidden +until they went away. Since then I have not dared to go any further +than to the kitchen for some bread and water." +</P> + +<P> +"Dear me, that is very poor fare," said Prince Redmond, "it is no +wonder you are so thin. We will have to try and make up for all this +bad treatment," and to anyone with two eyes it was quite evident that +he had fallen in love with her. +</P> + +<P> +The Duchess too was very sympathetic, though greatly worried about her +niece, Queen Amy, and Daimur told the new Princess that the Evil +Magician was now dead and that they would try and deliver her parents +and Queen Amy from enchantment. +</P> + +<P> +At this moment the roar of many voices from outside caused them all to +hurry upstairs as fast as they could and they ran out of the palace to +see what was going on. They were just in time to see a great crowd +pouring down the street towards the water, all shouting and +gesticulating. +</P> + +<P> +"What is the meaning of this commotion?" asked Daimur of those of his +men who were guarding the palace gates. +</P> + +<P> +"They say," answered one, "that the pirates who have been raiding this +shore for so long are drowned and some of them have been washed ashore." +</P> + +<P> +Hastily sending the Duchess and Princess Helda back to the palace, +Daimur followed Prince Redmond, who was already making his way through +the crowd towards the shore. +</P> + +<P> +They reached the beach, and there stretched lifeless on the sand beside +his overturned life-boat lay Prince Sadna, and beside him a young +officer, whom Redmond recognized as a distant cousin. +</P> + +<P> +It may well be imagined how very sad Prince Redmond felt over his +brother's disgraceful life, and now at the sight of him lying there +dead, a dreaded pirate to the people crowding around, instead of a +friendly king as he should have been, the Prince burst into tears. +</P> + +<P> +Daimur stood beside him feeling very sorry for his friend, and +remembering that after all Sadna had been a royal prince, he decided to +have him buried at sea with all honors befitting his rank, and +motioning to a few of his men who had come to the shore with him, he +had Prince Sadna's body removed to his ship. +</P> + +<P> +Redmond was very grateful indeed to Daimur for his kindness, and after +the funeral was over they came back to the city and called together the +elders. They explained why they had come and took them to see the +Duchess of Rose Petals at the palace, who by this time had had some tea +and was feeling much refreshed. +</P> + +<P> +The elders were all delighted to see her, but when she told them that +she still had the key of the magic chest and that they could now have +their savings as they needed them, they wept for joy, and falling on +their knees vowed undying allegiance to her, and begged her to be their +queen, as they were sure Queen Amy was dead. +</P> + +<P> +The Duchess refused this honor, as she told them her niece was still +alive, and Daimur then came forward and related what Princess Helda had +told them of Queen Amy's capture and that he was going to rescue her +and bring her back, and in the meantime that the Duchess would act as +Queen Regent. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<A NAME="chap22"></A> + +<H3 ALIGN="center"> +CHAPTER XXII +</H3> + +<P> +Only waiting to see the Duchess settled in the palace with a few +servants and enough furniture to make her comfortable, Daimur prepared +for his voyage to the Island of Despair. Prince Redmond insisted upon +accompanying him, and little Princess Helda begged to be allowed to go +too, as she was sure she could help them, and she wished so much to see +her parents even if they were stones. +</P> + +<P> +The Duchess at last consented to her going, and sent an old friend, +Lady Clara Rosered, to look after her. By this time the Princess +looked like a real Princess, for the Duchess had bought her the most +beautiful new clothes, and since she was getting enough to eat for the +first time in years she was beginning to look very pretty. +</P> + +<P> +Prince Redmond was head over heels in love with her and would have +asked her to marry him at once if he had had a kingdom to offer her, or +any prospects at all. +</P> + +<P> +Early one bright morning they set sail, and after sailing all day came +within a few miles of the Island of Despair, when Daimur donned his cap +and spectacles in order to steer the ship into the harbor in safety. +They lay in the lee of a high cliff until dark, and then when the wind +was strong enough ran the ship up into the small sheltered cove beside +the Magician's house, and made it fast to the wharf with as little +noise as possible. +</P> + +<P> +There was nobody in sight as they cautiously crept up the path, and +Redmond remarked that the witch must be away on some errand of mischief. +</P> + +<P> +After waiting for an hour and seeing no one, the three adventurers went +up the steps to the door of the house. They tried the handle, but it +was locked. +</P> + +<P> +Only then did Daimur remember that he had left his magic key in the box +of magic tablets on the window sill the night they made their escape. +So much had happened he had not once thought of it since, and it gave +him a great shock to realize how careless he had been, for now he +needed it again. +</P> + +<P> +The Princess Helda, who of course knew nothing of the magic key, was +already fumbling at the lock with a hairpin, and after poking at it for +several minutes it flew back with a snap. +</P> + +<P> +"It's a good thing I knew that lock's defects," she whispered, "or we +should never have got in this way," and she turned the handle and +walked into the kitchen. +</P> + +<P> +With their hands on their swords Redmond and Daimur followed her. +</P> + +<P> +It was quite dark in the kitchen, the only light coming from a solitary +candle on a high shelf, which threw long shadows everywhere. The fire +in the fireplace was out and there was no sign of life. +</P> + +<P> +Motioning to the others to follow Princess Helda led the way across the +kitchen to a door, which she opened and began to descend a flight of +stone stairs. +</P> + +<P> +The stairs led down to a wide stone flagged hall with rooms opening +from it, and narrow passages running in all directions into the +distance. +</P> + +<P> +Here and there high up near the roof a smoky lantern burned dimly. +</P> + +<P> +Across the wide hall went Helda and down one of the long narrow +passages until she reached a door at the very end. +</P> + +<P> +She knocked softly upon it three times. There was no answer. She +knocked again, and then opened the door. There was no lock on it on +the inside, only a big bolt on the outside. She glanced in. The room +was completely bare. +</P> + +<P> +"She is not here," she whispered to Daimur and Redmond, who followed +her into the room. Lighting some matches they looked into all the +rooms adjoining, but found them deserted too. +</P> + +<P> +They went back up the narrow passage. +</P> + +<P> +"What shall we do?" asked Prince Redmond. "Where shall we look now?" +</P> + +<P> +"We must look in all of the rooms," said Helda. "They have moved her, +but she is here somewhere. If we separate we shall perhaps get along +better. There is no danger of getting lost as all the passages open +into the wide hall." +</P> + +<P> +So they separated, Prince Redmond following Princess Helda and Daimur +going alone in the opposite direction, as he thought perhaps his magic +cap and spectacles might help him in his quest. +</P> + +<P> +Up and down the narrow passages they went, opening all the doors and +looking into all the rooms, until they grew a long way apart, for these +underground passages extended away into the hill and covered a much +longer area than the house above. +</P> + +<P> +At last Daimur opened a little door in a dark corner. It was so low +that he had to stoop to get in, but once inside the ceiling was high +enough. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh," he said to himself, "she is not in here, I am sure." +</P> + +<P> +But to his surprise his cap, which up to that time had not been able to +tell him anything, suddenly told him that she was in there. +</P> + +<P> +He stepped forward into the room cautiously and tried to look about, +but it was so dark that he could only dimly see some articles of +furniture that were very close to him. +</P> + +<P> +On the further side, however, on the floor he saw a streak of light, +and making his way over to it found that it came under a door. This +door was not locked either, and he opened it far enough to see that the +light was shining down a long hallway from a door at the other end of +it. Seeing and hearing nothing, he crept down the hall until he came +to the other door, which was even lower than the first. The door was +open, but was hung with heavy curtains. He peered in, but could not +see anyone. The room was very comfortable looking, with easy chairs, +books and a piano, and on a small table lay some needlework in a basket. +</P> + +<P> +While he stood considering whether he dare venture into the lighted +room he heard the sound of voices, and then advancing through the room +he beheld the Old Witch herself, accompanied by the witch who had been +Queen of Shells. +</P> + +<P> +Instantly he turned and fled down the long hall and back into the +little dark room, where he felt his way into the furtherest corner and +lay still hardly daring to breathe. +</P> + +<P> +In a minute or two he heard them coming down the hall. They were +talking in a language he could not understand. +</P> + +<P> +"What if they should have a light," thought Daimur. "All would be +lost, for in this place they could easily make me a prisoner." +</P> + +<P> +They entered the room. As they did so the Old Witch hesitated, and +Daimur noticed her voice change, but all she did was to close the door +leading into the hall. Then still talking the two made their way in +the dark across the room and out of the other door. +</P> + +<P> +When their footsteps had ceased to echo down the corridor, for they +walked noisily, Daimur came out of his corner and tried the door +leading into the long passage. It was locked. Then he tried the door +which led to the main hall, but that too was locked. +</P> + +<P> +He was trapped. +</P> + +<P> +Just at that moment a faint spicy smell came to his nostrils. He stood +still, wondering what it could be. It grew stronger and stronger and +sweeter and sweeter, until he could feel himself growing sleepy. Alas, +he knew now that the witches had seen him. +</P> + +<P> +In vain he looked around for some means of escape. There was none. +His cap could tell him nothing. He beat upon the doors, but his +strength soon failed him, and he fell down in a stupor. +</P> + +<P> +How long he lay there he did not know, but when he awoke at length a +faint light was shining into the room from a small iron grating close +up to the ceiling, and the spicy smell was gone. +</P> + +<P> +The first thing he did was to feel for his cap and spectacles which he +had had on when he fell asleep. +</P> + +<P> +THEY WERE GONE. +</P> + +<P> +Poor Daimur. For the first time since the beginning of his adventure +he felt completely helpless, and with a very dejected countenance +indeed he sat down to await the next happening. +</P> + +<P> +He had not been sitting there for more than half an hour when a light +step sounded in the inner hall and stopped at the door. +</P> + +<P> +A key was turned in the lock and a voice said: "Oh, bother this lock." +The key rattled again, the door opened rather suddenly, and there +entered—not a witch as Daimur expected—but the loveliest lady he had +ever seen. +</P> + +<P> +She had big blue eyes, a lovely complexion, though it was a trifle pale +as if from being indoors a long time, and golden hair that hung over +her shoulders in long ringlets. Her gown was of a deep blue silk that +almost matched her eyes. At sight of Daimur she stood still in +astonishment, then came quickly towards him. +</P> + +<P> +"Oh, poor young man," she cried. "Surely you are not a prisoner too." +</P> + +<P> +"I am afraid I am," answered Daimur sadly, as he gazed at the beautiful +lady, "but tell me, do you know whether Queen Amy is here? I must find +her." +</P> + +<P> +"I am that unhappy Queen," answered the lady. "Can it be that my +faithful subjects have sent you to seek me, sir?" +</P> + +<P> +"Rather I have come because I wished to undo in a small measure the +mischief that the Evil Magician did," and Daimur hurriedly told her +something of his adventure, and finished by wishing he had his cap and +spectacles back, as he was afraid without them they would have great +difficulty in escaping. +</P> + +<P> +Daimur at first had hopes that Princess Helda and Redmond might find +them and perhaps be able to open the door, as it was only bolted on the +outside, but then he remembered that the day was now well advanced and +that they must either have been trapped themselves long before this or +had crept back to the ship while it was still dark. +</P> + +<P> +"Is there no other way of escape but by this door?" he asked Queen Amy, +after some reflection. +</P> + +<P> +"No," said she. "No other way excepting through the door in my +sitting-room which leads into the witches' sitting-room, and that opens +into the main hall. There is generally one witch stationed in their +sitting-room to keep watch over me. They still hope to get my chest of +gold, you see, and that is why I am kept a prisoner here." +</P> + +<P> +Daimur drew his sword and announced his intention of trying to get out +to the main hall if Queen Amy was willing to go with him, to which she +replied that she would indeed take any risk to get out of that dungeon +and back to her dear people. +</P> + +<P> +She turned at once and led the way bade through her apartment to the +door which was to decide their fortunes. It was a swinging door, and +Daimur pushed it open and looked in. What he saw was a great bare room +with cupboards all around it, and a few plain old kitchen rockers here +and there. A number of the cupboard doors were open and there could be +seen on the shelves dozens of bottles, boxes, tins and pots, while over +the fire in a large black pot some vile-smelling mixture was cooking. +</P> + +<P> +Beside the fire on a mat, lay the old witch's black cat, apparently +asleep. There was no one in the room. +</P> + +<P> +"Now is your chance," whispered Daimur, and sword in hand he went +softly across the floor, closely followed by Queen Amy. +</P> + +<P> +As they passed the cat he opened one of his green eyes and looked at +them, but they did not notice him. As soon as they were out of the +room and into the hall he sat up on the mat and began to yowl in a most +blood-curdling manner. +</P> + +<P> +"We are lost," said the Queen, wringing her hands. "Listen to that +cat. We must have awakened him. He is calling the Old Witch I am +sure." +</P> + +<P> +"Run," said Daimur, and seizing Queen Amy by the hand he almost dragged +her along the wide hall towards the staircase. But they were too late. +</P> + +<P> +Down the stairs came the Old Witch, followed by her daughter and the +other witch from Shells. +</P> + +<P> +At the sight of Daimur with his sword drawn and the terrified Queen Amy +shrinking at his side the Old Witch gave a howl of rage and said +something quickly to the others. +</P> + +<P> +Instantly three great tigers were bounding towards them, their teeth +showing in a dreadful manner, and their deep growls filling the whole +hall. +</P> + +<P> +Thrusting Queen Amy behind him Daimur clutched his sword in despair and +set his teeth with a determination to kill them all if possible—when +suddenly he thought of the tiny silver bugle which he had had around +his neck all the time. +</P> + +<P> +Raising it quickly to his lips he blew three times upon it. The faint +sound it made was not heard amid the terrible roaring of the tigers, +but before he had finished the last blast there stood in front of him +three giants, so tall that their heads almost touched the high ceiling, +and that was more than ten feet. They were dressed like Roman soldiers +and each carried a huge flat sword. +</P> + +<P> +"The tigers. Kill the tigers!" cried Daimur. +</P> + +<P> +It all happened so suddenly that the tigers did not have time to stop +their rush, and in a second the giants were upon them and you may be +sure soon cut their heads off. Then before Daimur could even say +"Thank you," they had disappeared again. +</P> + +<P> +The three witches lay dead at their feet and they were free. +</P> + +<P> +Daimur turned towards Queen Amy and found her leaning against the wall +in a half-fainting condition, and while he was trying to induce her to +make an effort to pass the dead tigers and get away upstairs there +suddenly rang out a loud cry of "Fire! Fire!" +</P> + +<A NAME="img-234"></A> +<CENTER> +<IMG CLASS="imgcenter" SRC="images/img-234.jpg" ALT="He was trying to induce her to make an effort to pass the dead tigers." BORDER="2" WIDTH="410" HEIGHT="593"> +<H4 CLASS="h4center" STYLE="width: 460px"> +He was trying to induce her to make an effort to pass the dead tigers. +</H4> +</CENTER> + +<P> +Daimur recognized Prince Redmond's voice. Doors banged overhead and +footsteps scurried across the floor. Daimur waited for no more. +Picking up the Queen in his arms he almost flew towards the staircase +and up the stairs. As he reached the top a puff of smoke came from an +inner room and half blinded him. He rushed across the kitchen and at +the door almost ran into Prince Redmond and Princess Helda, who were +coming in again shouting his name at the top of their voices. +</P> + +<P> +"Here I am," said Daimur breathlessly. "Help me to carry the Queen +out." +</P> + +<P> +"To the ship instantly," shouted Prince Redmond, as he seized Queen Amy +from Daimur's arms and ran towards the shore. Daimur snatched Helda's +hand and they hurried after him. +</P> + +<P> +Shouting orders to the sailors Prince Redmond boarded the ship. Up +went the sails, and as there was a good breeze the boat began to move +out. It was not a moment too soon. +</P> + +<P> +They were not more than a hundred feet away when a long flame burst +through the roof of the Evil Magician's castle and in a moment the +whole building was burning. +</P> + +<P> +"What happened?" cried Daimur. +</P> + +<P> +"We accidentally set the place on fire," said Prince Redmond. +</P> + +<P> +"Last night," he continued, "after wandering about those long passages +without finding the Queen, and seeing no sign of you, we crawled +through a small window in the coal cellar and Came back to the ship. +Then as you did not come we grew very much alarmed, and at daybreak +went back the way we had come, intending to search for you. +</P> + +<P> +"Anxious not to miss finding you we even mounted a stair which led up +to a long half-dark room, quite off by itself. It was full of +mysterious-looking bottles and pots, many of them marked 'poison,' but +the queerest thing of all was a tiny well in one corner, on the cover +of which was printed in large black letters 'Enchanting Oil.' +</P> + +<P> +"We lifted the cover and peered in. It was so dark in there that we +could see nothing, so I lit a match and by the light of it we looked +down a terrible depth and could see the oil shining dimly at the bottom. +</P> + +<P> +"Just then Princess Helda accidentally touched the handle of the little +brass bucket which was drawn up to the top, knocking the match out of +my fingers. It fell into the bucket, which contained a few drops of +the oil. Immediately a flame leaped into our very faces and shot up +nearly to the ceiling. We turned and ran down the stairs again, and up +another flight near it which Helda knew would take us to one of the +living-rooms. There we ran about like mad shouting 'Fire,' and +thinking that you and the Queen would surely perish. We knew that some +of the fire must soon drop into the oil well, and when that happens I +am sure it will explode." +</P> + +<P> +He had hardly said the words when a terrific roar shook the earth. The +flaming house suddenly scattered into a million burning pieces which +dropped into the sea, and some of which fell on the ship and had to be +thrown overboard. +</P> + +<P> +A column of black smoke rose into the air and hid the island entirely +from view. +</P> + +<P> +They lay to all morning, waiting for the smoke to clear away, but it +was not until mid afternoon that it began to disappear. +</P> + +<P> +They sailed slowly nearer to the island, wondering what damage had been +done besides the burning of the house. As they came closer they seemed +to see houses by the waterside through the haze of smoke, which was +steadily growing thinner, and then what appeared to be streets. +</P> + +<P> +Their wonder grew when they carefully steered back to the cove and +found that they were in a harbor that was lined with stone docks. Some +ships lay at anchor, packages of goods were piled up on the wharves, +workmen went back and forth loading and unloading the vessels, piling +goods into long warehouses, and the scene was a busy one. +</P> + +<P> +The first thought that sprang to Daimur's mind was that they had made a +mistake and in some manner got to one of the other islands again. +</P> + +<P> +It was Princess Helda who first spoke as she stepped out on the quay. +</P> + +<P> +"The enchantment is broken," she cried, holding out her hands. +"Welcome to Oaklands." +</P> + +<P> +Nobody would have recognized in the beautiful kingdom of Oaklands the +Island of Despair of rank undergrowth and poisoned fruit trees. +</P> + +<P> +The afternoon sun shone down upon wide streets, clean and well kept, +faced by rows of fine houses and lined with tall oak trees. The smoke +had apparently drifted upwards until it was now only a small black +cloud in the western sky. On the hill where had been the Magician's +house there now stood a tall and stately castle built of shining white +marble. There could be no doubt it was the palace. +</P> + +<P> +They walked towards it and were surprised to find that they were +expected, as a guard of honor stood waiting at the entrance to the +grounds to conduct them to the presence of the King and Queen. +</P> + +<P> +They were taken to the drawing room, and at sight of her father and +mother Princess Helda burst into tears and rushed towards them. It was +a touching scene. +</P> + +<P> +Words could not express the gratitude of their majesties to King Daimur +and Prince Redmond for their deliverance, both of whom they remembered, +for having then been the stones that formed the window sill and the +door sill respectively they had heard every word that was said, and had +witnessed the escape from the island. +</P> + +<P> +Helda's father was very anxious to have them stay and pay him a visit, +even if only for a few days, but Daimur, who wanted to restore Queen +Amy to her throne at once, declined, saying, however, that he had a +proposal to make before leaving. +</P> + +<P> +He then asked the King of Oaklands to bestow on Prince Redmond the hand +of his daughter Helda, declaring that it was to Prince Redmond that +they owed the breaking of the enchantment, and not to himself. +</P> + +<P> +This the King was very willing to do, and Prince Redmond's joy was +unbounded, for with no fortune and no throne to offer her he would +never have dared to ask the Princess to marry him, and they would both +have been very unhappy to the end of their lives. +</P> + +<P> +It was arranged that the wedding should take place as soon as the +Princess could get her trousseau made, and as Prince Redmond had +decided to accept the King's invitation and stay for a few days' visit +Daimur and Queen Amy said good-bye and prepared to depart, but not +before they had been presented with two beautiful armchairs, each +carved from a single piece of oak, which the King of Oaklands prized +very much. Even Lady Clara Rosered, who had accompanied Princess +Helda, was not forgotten, but received a handsome lace shawl. +</P> + +<P> +Their voyage back to the Island of Roses was rather slow, owing to the +poor wind, but it was very quiet and restful, and they arrived to find +a large crowd gathered on the dock to meet them, all very anxious to +see whether Queen Amy was aboard. +</P> + +<P> +In an open space surrounded by some of the Royal Guard, who stood on +either side making a long avenue right down to the edge of the quay, +sat the Duchess of Rose Petals in the state carriage. +</P> + +<P> +When Queen Amy appeared on the deck, looking a little pale, but +otherwise as well as ever, loud shouts went up and flowers were flung +at her feet as she walked up the avenue made by the Guards, King Daimur +walking at her side. +</P> + +<P> +"Long live our Queen. Long live noble King Daimur," resounded on every +side, while rockets were sent into the air and all the bells in the +kingdom were rung. +</P> + +<P> +A great procession of carriages followed the Queen to the palace, where +the Duchess had arranged a luncheon and a splendid reception, at which +Daimur received nearly as much attention as Queen Amy. +</P> + +<P> +When it was all over Daimur felt that, as he had now fulfilled his +promises, he, should return at once to his own kingdom, but first he +went to Queen Amy and told her that he was going away. She looked at +him with tears in her eyes and begged him to let her know what she +could first bestow on him as a small token of her undying gratitude. +"I want nothing less than your own heart and hand," declared Daimur, +and he told her that he had fallen in love with her the moment he had +first seen her, but could not, of course, say anything about it until +she was safely at home. +</P> + +<P> +Queen Amy blushed, and acknowledged that she also loved him very +dearly, so then and there they decided to be married at the same time +as Prince Redmond and Princess Helda. +</P> + +<P> +And so it happened. Daimur went back to his kingdom, where his +faithful subjects were so proud of him that they built a magnificent +new palace and presented it to him as a wedding gift. +</P> + +<P> +In due time the triple marriage was celebrated at Queen Amy's palace, +for Tasmir and Princess Maya, on hearing the news, insisted upon being +married at the same time. +</P> + +<P> +In the midst of the ceremony the good fairy appeared and gave each of +them a small gold ring, which she said would bring them good luck as +long as they lived. +</P> + +<P> +So ended all the enchantments and wicked plots of Evil Magician, and +ever after peace and happiness reigned over the Islands of Sunshine. +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR> + +<P CLASS="finis"> +THE END +</P> + +<BR><BR><BR><BR> + + + + + + + + +<pre> + + + + + +End of Project Gutenberg's The Enchanted Island, by Fannie Louise Apjohn + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK THE ENCHANTED ISLAND *** + +***** This file should be named 22756-h.htm or 22756-h.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/2/2/7/5/22756/ + +Produced by Al Haines + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. 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