they trotted along through the streets of the town, and soon got clear of the crowd. but the news of what had happened had spread all over dolltown by this time, and there were many dolls at the windows and on the pavements to see them pass. they did not know yet that selim had kidnapped queen rosebud, but they knew that she was alive, and that he was a usurper. when they saw all the soldiers they knew that something stirring was going to happen, and by the way they shouted and waved their hands it seemed that selim had very few friends in dolltown, and had better look out for himself if he ever came back there.
at the end of the town, where the country began, there was a gate, and a sentry box beside it, where a wooden sentry was keeping guard. they stopped to question him. he remembered the two carriages driving through the gate, and had wondered who they belonged to. it was not his duty to challenge them, as he was there chiefly for ornament; but when teddy[pg 204] had galloped up, he had asked him, more out of curiosity than anything else, why he was going so fast. teddy had said, “open the gate and i’ll tell you.” so he had opened the gate, and the moment teddy had got through it he had galloped off again, shouting out to the sentry, “i’m going fast because my horse is.” of course this was true, but it had made the sentry angry; and he had been still more annoyed when teddy had jumped himself round on his horse, just as if he had been a rider in a circus, and ridden away backwards, making long noses at him. the sentry said that this was disrespectful to a servant of the crown, and asked the lord chancellor to send teddy to prison for it. but they had no time to waste over his grievances, and set off again.
they trotted through the country roads, and peggy enjoyed the ride very much. she felt quite safe, with all the soldiers riding behind them, but thought it was hardly necessary to have brought so many of them, as mr. noah and teddy, to say nothing of colonel jim and his two special troopers, would have been enough to take selim prisoner when they caught up with him. but it was a good thing that they had brought the soldiers, as will presently appear.
by-and-by they came to an inn, which was a farm as[pg 205] well, and looked very peaceful and comfortable, with its neat toy barns and outhouses among the trees and fields, and the toy animals feeding all about them. they stopped for a minute or two to ask questions of the innkeeper, who was a wooden doll of a rather stolid appearance. when the lord chancellor began to ask him questions he went and fetched his wife, and she was more intelligent, and gave her answers well.
she said that the two carriages had stopped at the inn, and a lady in the first one had put her head out and asked for a glass of water. the blinds of the carriage were drawn down, but when the innkeeper’s wife had brought the glass of water she had seen the lady who asked for it give it to another lady inside the carriage. she thought that this second lady had tried to say something to her, but the first lady had put her hand over her mouth and stopped her, and then somebody else in a corner of the carriage—she thought it was a man by the size of his hand—had passed the glass out to her, with a piece of money, and the window had been pushed up at once and the carriages had driven off.
she was rather confused about it all, as it had passed so quickly; but it seemed plain that queen rosebud had thought of this way of making it known that she[pg 207] was being carried off. she must have said that she didn’t feel very well, and would like a glass of water at the next house they stopped at, meaning to tell whoever brought it who she was. but rose had prevented her. this was one more thing against rose.
that was not all the innkeeper’s wife told them. as the carriage drove off, a wooden lady had put her head out of the second one and called out, “here we go round the mulberry bush!” the innkeeper’s wife had thought afterwards that perhaps these were some lunatics—for there are a few lunatics amongst dolls—being taken out for an airing. but, of course, it had only been wooden’s aunt acting in her usual silly fashion.
but the odd thing was that the innkeeper’s wife had seen nothing of teddy. she said she must have seen him if he had passed along the road, as she had been in her kitchen, which was in front of the house, all the time. so as they went on they had something to wonder about, as to what had become of teddy. wooden thought he had missed the way, but this seemed impossible, as the road ran straight towards the sea. the lord chancellor thought that he might have tumbled off his horse, but this seemed more unlikely still, as he was clever enough to jump about on it and ride backwards. what peggy thought she kept to herself. it[pg 208] was that teddy had some clever plan in his head, which they would hear about all in good time, and had never meant to catch up the carriages all by himself. for of course he could easily have done so if he had liked, as he could go much faster than they could.
they went up the road over the hills, which you remember that the river had come through in a gorge, and when they came to the top of it they could see the sea a few miles away. the road ran straight down to it. they could see several specks on the road at a good distance off, but there was nothing that looked like the two carriages.
this was a disappointment, as they had quite expected to catch sight of the fugitives from the top of the hill, and to come up with them before they could reach the sea. if they had already got there, it seemed as if they must have escaped them after all.
but it seemed impossible that the carriages should have got so far ahead. they had not been more than half an hour behind them at the inn, and even if they had not gained on them since, they must have seen them on the road in front, if they had been there. so they must have left the straight road, and the question was what to do next.
as they were talking it over, peggy thought she[pg 209] heard a cry in the wood on their right. she listened with all her ears, and then thought she heard another. she told wooden, and all of them listened.
yes, there was no doubt about it. the noise was some distance off, and could not be heard very plainly; but it kept on, and seemed to be somebody calling for help. they got off their horse and went into the wood, in the direction from which the call seemed to be coming. as they got farther in among the trees it became louder. it was like a woman calling “help! help!” every second or two, but in a strangled voice, as if there were something in the way.
wooden called out “coming! coming!” and they ran on as fast they could.
they came to a little clearing in the wood, and there, sitting on the ground with her back against a great fir-tree, was wooden’s unfortunate aunt. she had a handkerchief tied over her mouth, and a rope went round her body and tied her tight to the tree. her hands were behind her, and seemed to be tied too, so that she could not free herself. altogether, she was in a very sorry plight.
but she did not seem to have altogether lost her spirits, for when she saw them coming towards her she kicked her legs up and gave a little sort of crow, which[pg 210] sounded rather pathetic, coming through her handkerchief.
wooden untied the handkerchief, murmuring sounds of distress and sympathy all the time, while colonel jim busied himself with the rope, and when he found he couldn’t untie it cut it with his sword. in a very short time, wooden’s aunt was standing up free, shaking the pine needles off her skirts.
“i thought somebody would come if i yelled long enough,” she said, in quite a cheerful voice, which did her credit, as it showed she had a great deal of pluck, in spite of the numerous faults of her nature.
“but how did you come to be here, dear?” asked wooden. “and what has become of mother?”
“oh, yer mother’s all right,” said wooden’s aunt. “she’s with the quality. i don’t like their ways of going on, so i asked them to kindly drop me anywhere that was convenient.”
“but why did they tie you up like this, dear?” asked wooden.
“oh, they thought we was playing blind man’s bluff,” said her aunt.
it was all very well for her to take it in this light-hearted spirit, and peggy rather admired her for it. but she must have had a very rough time, for her[pg 211] dress was all torn, and her wrists were scarred where the rope had bound them. as she spoke she was rubbing them, to restore the circulation, and she looked white, and as if she might faint at any moment.
fortunately, there was a little pool of water quite[pg 212] near, and colonel jim, who showed himself kind and useful in this emergency, filled his helmet with water and gave it to her to drink, as she sat on the ground again with wooden kneeling by her side and holding her.
“ah, that’s better,” she said, smacking her lips, when she had had a good drink. “i’ve been looking at that pond and wishing i could get at it. drat that selim! i wish i could get at him! i’d mark him.”
she said these last sentences in her usual vigorous way, which showed that she was recovering; and when she had rested a little longer, they got her story out of her.
“they’d said we was going to be took to the palace,” she said, “and at first i didn’t think nothing of going such a long way round. none of us didn’t. but by-and-by lady grace says, ‘i wonder who’s in the first carriage,’ she says. ‘oh, i’ll soon find that out,’ i says, and i pokes my head out of window and hollers out to the driver, ‘hi, mister! who have you got in front there?’”
“was that before or after you had passed the inn where they got some water?” asked the lord chancellor.
“never you mind whether it was before or after,”[pg 213] said wooden’s aunt. “i’m telling this story, and i’m going to tell it in my own way.”
this was not very polite of her, but she had been through a great deal, and her nerves were in an irritable state. the lord chancellor asked no more questions, and she finished her story to the end.
she said the coachman told her that it was the king who was in the first carriage, and advised her not to put her head out of window again as he had orders to hit anybody who did so with his whip.
this seemed such an extraordinary order for him to have received that the three dolls in the carriage began to suspect that there was something wrong, especially as they had now been driving for a long time, and when wooden’s aunt had put her head out of window she had seen that they were getting near the hills, which she recognized. it was not exactly observant of them not to have suspected something before, but, as you know by now, dolls are apt to take everything that happens as a matter of course.
well, by the time the carriages had reached the top of the hill, the three dolls had come to the conclusion that they were being run away with. wooden’s aunt said she wasn’t going to stand that, and was going to ask selim what he meant by it. she said she would[pg 214] jump out of the carriage as it was going, and run forward to the first carriage. the others said that the coachman would hit her with his whip, but she said she would run the risk of his missing her.
well, as the carriages came to the top of the hill, she opened the carriage door quickly and jumped out, and ran forward to the first carriage. the driver shouted at her, and gave her a great cut with his whip, which unfortunately did not miss her, but hit her in the face, where there was still an ugly-looking mark. but she hardly felt it at the time, and ran forward to the first carriage, shouting out, “hi, you there, selim! come out and show your ugly face!”
oh, there was no doubt about the pluck of wooden’s aunt, in spite of the numerous faults of her character.
the rest was soon told. selim had been furious with her, and he and rose had dragged her into the wood and tied her to the tree, and then they had gone off. but before they had left her, rose had stood in front of her and laughed her scornful laugh, and said, “that’s for calling me sawdust. perhaps you’ll be sorry now for crossing the path of rose, who never forgets and never forgives.”
this was one more thing against rose.
the lord chancellor asked wooden’s aunt if she[pg 215] had any idea where the carriages were going, and told her they could not see them on the straight road to dollport. this was the name of the little town by the sea, where the dolls landed from “over there.”
“well, silly,” said wooden’s aunt, “if they ain’t on that road, of course they’re on the other one. it don’t take a pair of specs to see that.”
the lord chancellor, slightly annoyed at being addressed in this fashion, said stiffly, “i should have thought of that if i had been given time. we have delayed long enough. let us at once take the road to dollfort.” now, dollfort was the place in which the wooden soldiers of toyland were trained. if selim had gone there, it looked as if he expected the wooden soldiers to be on his side.
