the moment teddy came into the room, peggy felt that the time for action had come. and she had never felt more pleased with him than when he addressed himself straight to the lord chancellor, and said, “now, then, old man, you come along with us to the house of cards. we’re going to get the queen out of prison, and we want you with us.”
“i’m sure i’m very glad that you propose to adopt that course,” said the lord chancellor, speaking quickly and nervously. “it is exactly what i should have recommended myself. but why do you want me with you? i should have thought—”
“never mind what you would have thought,” said teddy. “we want you with us because, now the people have found out that old selim’s a rascal, and the queen isn’t dead, they’ve got their dander up. they’ll have some questions to ask, and you can answer them. colonel jim and me will be too busy.”
this did not seem to suit the lord chancellor at[pg 191] all. he began to protest vigorously that he had had no more to do with the fraud that selim had practised than anybody else. but teddy cut him short. “if you won’t come of your own accord,” he said, “colonel jim has a couple of troopers outside who will make you. you’d like to come, too, peggy and wooden. we’ve brought gees for everybody. come along quick. we don’t want to waste any time.”
he led the way downstairs, and the others followed him, colonel jim bringing up the rear, and keeping an eye on the lord chancellor to see that he did not escape.
waiting outside the house were several horses. there was colonel jim’s black charger, and those of his two troopers. these were of lead. there were also some composition horses, and a couple of shaggy ponies, made of wood and covered with hair, and a beautiful cream-coloured one, with a bridle and saddle-cloth sewn with gold embroidery. they were all toy horses and ponies, but they looked splendidly alive, and peggy was quite delighted to see that the two shaggy ponies had side-saddles, for she knew at once that one must be meant for her and one for wooden. she loved riding, and thought it would be great fun to ride through the streets of dolltown on a toy pony.
[pg 192]
wooden was not used to riding, although peggy had sometimes put her on her rocking-horse at home, so she was not altogether without practice. but teddy assured her that he had chosen her a very quiet pony, and she was so nice, in the way that she always did what people wanted her to, that she made no trouble about it, and got on very well when she was once helped into the saddle. peggy felt quite at home on her pony, and patted its nice shaggy neck. she would have liked to have a gallop on it, but that would not be possible in the streets of the town. colonel jim and his troopers mounted their chargers, the lord chancellor got on to one of the composition horses, and teddy leapt on to another straight from the ground, without using the stirrup. a royal servant-doll, dressed in scarlet and gold, led the beautiful cream-coloured pony, which was evidently meant for queen rosebud. it was a good idea to have a sort of little procession on horseback to take her from her prison to her royal palace again, and no doubt teddy had thought of it, for he seemed to be the only one who really did things, while the other dolls only talked about them.
what teddy said about the inhabitants of dolltown being excited over what had happened was quite true. the crowd outside the gates of the terrace was[pg 193] larger than ever, and when peggy and the dolls appeared amongst them on horseback there was quite a commotion. they cheered them all except the lord chancellor, and they were so angry with him that they would probably have pulled him off his horse if he had not been riding between the two troopers, who protected him. they seemed to have taken the affair much more seriously than the dolls who had come to[pg 194] visit wooden, but then a crowd always is more excited about things than a few people, because they work each other up. very likely, if this crowd of dolls had had to do something of their own accord, instead of shouting at those who were doing it, they would not have been very good at it. and if they had pulled the lord chancellor off his horse, it is doubtful if they would have known what to do next.
the poor lord chancellor was terribly upset at the way the crowd hissed and booed at him. peggy heard him explaining to the troopers who rode on either side of him that nobody was more surprised than he was, or more glad either, that queen rosebud was alive. but they took no notice of him, and the crowd went on booing and hissing all the same.
when they arrived at the market-place, there was a square of lead life guardsmen all round the door of the house of cards, to keep the crowd off. the market-place was packed full of dolls, shouting and singing, and looking up to the top story, where they had heard that the queen was imprisoned. peggy could see the open window at which she had sat; but she did not appear at it.
what seemed more remarkable still was that there was nobody on the balcony of the first floor, either.[pg 196] it might have been thought that wooden’s aunt, at least, would have been there, watching what was going on. but there was nobody to be seen.
they rode into the empty space kept by the soldiers. teddy whispered something to colonel jim, who got off his charger and went up the steps and knocked at the door. as he waited for a minute before it was opened, all the dolls on that side of the market-place were quite silent.
the door was opened by mr. emma. peggy could not hear what passed between him and colonel jim, but presently colonel jim turned sharp round and came down the steps again. “the queen’s gone,” he said. “so are the other prisoners. selim and rose came and fetched them half an hour ago.”
here was a piece of news! mr. emma was summoned, and made to tell exactly what had happened. the lord chancellor asked most of the questions, for he was out of reach of the crowd and had somewhat recovered from his fright. besides, he was used to asking questions, and liked doing it.
it seemed that selim had come to the prison in a closed carriage, accompanied by rose; and another empty carriage had come with them. he had seemed to mr. emma to be in a very nervous state, but he had[pg 197] not seen much of him, because he had sat in the carriage all the time, while rose had gone in to the house of cards, and fetched the queen down. mr. emma had not known it was the queen until this moment, for he had kept himself shut up in the house of cards, with mrs. emma and the baby, and had not tried to find out what the crowd outside was so excited about.
the lord chancellor asked him what the queen had said when she had come downstairs.
“she didn’t say nothing, your honour,” said mr. emma. “she looked kind of proud-like, and held her head high. if she’d had her crown on i should have knowed it was the queen by the way she behaved.”
well, the queen had got into the carriage where selim was, and then rose had gone upstairs and fetched down lady grace, and wooden’s mother and aunt. wooden’s aunt had seemed very pleased with herself, according to mr. emma. she had imitated a grand lady mincing down the steps, and said to him, “out of the way, bobby, we’re going to the palace. haw! haw!” this had offended mr. emma, for he had left the police force some time before.
rose had got into the first carriage, with the queen and selim, and the other three had got into the second carriage. then they had all driven away.
[pg 198]
that was mr. emma’s story, and about all that could be got out of him. the two carriages had driven off in the direction of the palace, and rose must have told wooden’s aunt that that was where they were going to. the carriages were not the gilt and glass coaches that were generally used from the palace, but ordinary landaus. they had not stood before the house of cards very long, and nobody had taken much notice of them. a few dolls had seen the queen come out and get into the carriage, but they had not known who she was.
well, what was to be done now? it seemed plain that selim had found out somehow that the people were beginning to find out all about his wickedness, and had kidnapped the queen. why he had also taken off lady grace, and wooden’s mother and aunt, was not quite so plain, but perhaps it was because he thought they knew too much, and he wanted to get them out of the way.
“what we had better do,” said the lord chancellor, “is to go back to the palace and interview king selim. i’m all for prompt action in these matters, and i propose we start at once.”
“oh, you silly old thing!” said teddy. “as if he[pg 199] had gone to the palace! you ought to know better than that, at your age.”
“but wooden’s aunt said they were going to the palace,” said the lord chancellor. “you wouldn’t accuse her of telling a lie, i suppose!”
“rose told her so,” said wooden. “you can’t believe anything that she says. aunt would like to think she was going to the palace, and rose must have told her that to quiet her.”
it was rather clever of wooden to think of this, for dolls are apt to believe everything they are told. but when a doll has once made herself disbelieved, as rose had done, there is an end of their trusting her.
“there is a good deal in what you say,” said the lord chancellor. “but if they have not gone to the palace, where have they gone? it might be as well to go there and see if anybody knows.”
they might perhaps have done this, for, although selim would not have been likely to tell anybody where he meant to go, still, they might have picked up some sort of a clue. but just as they were discussing it, our old friend mr. noah pushed his way through the soldiers who were guarding the square. he was, of course, a royal servant, and wore a medal to show it,[pg 200] so they let him through. he brought the important information that the two carriages had been seen driving fast through the town on the road to the sea.
directly teddy heard this, he gave a whoop, and said, “let’s after them, then, as fast as we can go. come on, all!” he dug his heels into his horse’s sides, and galloped off. the soldiers parted to let him through, and the crowd scattered away from him on all sides, as he galloped through the streets and was lost to sight.
now this was all very well. teddy was anxious to catch up the fugitives, but if he did catch them up he couldn’t very well do anything all by himself. besides, he seemed to be about the only one who had any ideas in his head—or, at least, ideas that were worth anything—and if he went off all by himself, the others were likely to make a muddle of things. it was his “flightiness” coming out, but he had done so well already that he might be forgiven for it.
however, his going off like that was not so bad as it might have been. if it had been left to the lord chancellor to say what was to be done next, it would have taken a long time to do anything, and then very likely what would have been done would have been wrong. and colonel jim, though brave as a lion, and[pg 201] handsome, too, was not intellectual. but mr. noah seemed to have a few ideas in his head, and some spirit to carry them out. of course he was not exactly a doll, though he lived in dolltown, and he had oriental blood in his veins, or whatever fluid dolls do have, and this made him rather more clever than might have been expected from his wooden expression. he was angry, too, at having had orders given him about his ark by selim, and wanted to get at him and tell him what he thought of him.
anyhow, as the lord chancellor was talking and talking, mr. noah cut him short. “what are you wasting all this time for?” he asked. “what we’ve got to do is to go after them as quick as we can, and take the soldiers with us. give me a horse, and let’s be off.”
there was a horse to spare, and mr. noah got on to it. he looked rather funny in his long yellow robe, and being a sort of sailor he was not used to horses. but he managed to stick on all right, and as the horse was fortunately a quiet one, he soon got used to the unusual motion. he said to the others, “now, you come after me!” and without waiting any longer he trotted off.
the others all followed him. colonel jim gave some orders to his men, and they formed themselves into[pg 202] fours and fell behind. it was quite a gay cavalcade that went trotting through the streets of dolltown, and this time the crowd cheered them to the echo, and forgot to hiss and boo at the lord chancellor.
