his majesty and myself stared at each other in dismay. our position was growing more and more uncomfortable every moment, and, added to this, i had a growing impression that the rods to which we were attached would sooner or later break with our weight.
“well! i do think that they might have helped us off the hooks, at any rate,” grumbled his majesty, discontentedly.
“so do i,” i rejoined, and was about to add something else when my attention was attracted to the peculiar behavior of the two blue birds which we had previously noticed circling about over our heads.
they were wheeling round and round in a most eccentric manner, and as they drew closer we could see that they were as singular in appearance as they were in their manner.
“why, they’ve got ever so many wings!” cried his majesty in surprise.
“go away!” he shouted, as one of them fluttered past his face. the birds, however, were not to be got rid of so easily, and, uttering shrill little cries, they hovered about over his majesty’s head, every now and then making a vicious dart at the sandwich which he still held in one hand.
“oh! take them away!—take them away!” he shouted, dropping his carpet-bag in alarm, and evidently forgetting that i was as incapable as he was of driving them off.
“throw your sandwich away!” i shouted; “it’s that they are after, i believe.”
his majesty did so, and we soon had the satisfaction of seeing the birds squabbling over it on the bank at the side of the shute.
“fortunate i tied my bag to the string of my cloak, wasn’t it?” remarked the wallypug, when they had gone. “i should have lost it else. oh, look! what’s that coming down the shute?” he cried, as something suddenly came rolling and bounding down the steep incline.
“o—o—o—h!” he continued delightedly, as it stopped, caught in the mouth of the carpet-bag which, attached to the cord of his majesty’s cloak, dangled down the shute. “why, it’s my crown! they must have thought that i wanted it, and sent it down after me. how very kind of them. wasn’t it?”
i had my own opinions on the subject, and held my peace, for i felt quite sure that it was not through any intentional kindness that the crown had found its way to its proper owner.
his majesty very carefully drew up the carpet-bag with its precious burden, and soon had the intense satisfaction of putting the crown of why on his royal head once more.
“oh!” he cried with a little sigh of satisfaction, “it does seem nice to have it on again. i’m afraid that i should soon have caught a cold in my head, like a. fish, esq., if i had gone without it much longer.”
“gracious!” he cried, pointing excitedly towards the top of the shute, “there’s something else coming down! why it’s the doctor-in-law and madame. oh!—and the cockatoo—and—the rabbit and the mole. bless me! if the whole of why isn’t coming along.”
it was quite true; attached to a strong rope a long line of creatures was coming down the shute, the doctor-in-law leading the way.
he soon caught sight of us dangling at the end of our rods, and calling out “halt!” in a loud voice, he pulled at the rope as a sign that they were to stop. this signal was passed along by the others, and the cockatoo, who was attached to the rope in a very uncomfortable manner, gave a loud “squ-a-a-k” as the sudden jerk caused it to tighten about her neck.
the signal, however, managed somehow to reach those at the other end, for the procession suddenly came to a standstill.
“oh, there you are then!” called out the doctor-in-law in a severe voice. “thought you had escaped us, i suppose.”
the cockatoo, in a voice choking with rage, and the tightened rope, shrieked out, “down with the traitors!” while the rabbit passed the word along, “it’s all right. we’ve found them.”
“just you come down and tie yourself to this rope at once!” called out madame, glaring fiercely at the wallypug.
“shan’t!” shouted his majesty defiantly, pushing his crown further on to his head.
“what!” screamed the good lady, in a terrible passion. “do you dare to rebel?”
“yes, i do,” called out his majesty bravely. “i don’t believe you are my sister-in-law at all, and i’m not going back to why to be snubbed and ill-treated for you or any one else—so there. you can’t get at me, hanging up here, and i don’t mean to get down till you’re gone. yah!”
“oh, we’ll soon see all about that,” called out the doctor-in-law, working himself to the edge of the shute, and trying to climb up the steep sides of the bank.
we watched his endeavors with considerable anxiety, for if he did succeed in getting on to the bank, it would be an easy matter for him to get at us, by means of the bridge. the rope, however, by which he was attached to the sister-in-law was not sufficiently long to enable him to do this, and while he was unfastening it there was a sudden cry in the direction of the tunnel, and a moment afterwards, screaming, kicking, and struggling, the whole party rapidly disappeared down the shute.
the rope had given way!
“he, he, he! ha, ha!” laughed his majesty, as the huddled mass vanished in the distance. “what a lark! oh what a muddle they will be in when they reach the bottom.”
i tried to imagine what would be the result, and came to the conclusion that, uncomfortable as i was in my present position, i would rather be where i was than attached to the rope with the others.
in the meantime the little blue people, their curiosity evidently aroused by the noise, were hurrying towards us as quickly as possible, bringing with them a very stout blue person, who was waddling along, being alternately pushed and pulled by the others in their eagerness to reach us.
“see, there they are!” cried the little lady whose name we afterwards found out was gra-shus. “oh my! aren’t they a funny color?”
“shall we get them down?” asked the other, whose name was mi-hy.
the little fat man regarded us critically, and said nothing for a moment or two, then he nodded his head violently.
“you’re sure you won’t bite?” said mi-hy, looking up into my face.
“no, of course not. don’t be silly,” i replied.
thereupon, after a great deal of pulling and pushing on the part of mi-hy and gra-shus, the rods to which we were attached were swung around, and the wallypug and myself alighted, one on either side of the bank.
his majesty smoothed his rumpled garments, and, adjusting his crown to a more becoming angle, positively swaggered across the bridge to where the three little blue people stood in a line to receive us.
“this is ho-lor,” said mi-hy, pushing the little fat man forward, while gra-shus bashfully hid behind the ample folds of his gorgeous blue skirts.
“how do you do?” asked his majesty graciously.
“do what?” asked ho-lor, smilingly.
“i mean, how are you?” explained the wallypug.
“you mean what am i, i suppose?” said the little man, putting on a puzzled expression.
“no, i don’t,” said the wallypug. “i mean just what i say—how are you?”
“but i don’t understand,” replied ho-lor. “how am i what?”
“his majesty the wallypug of why,” i explained, “wishes to say, that he hopes you are quite well.”
“oh! i beg your pardon” said ho-lor. “how very stupid of me. but you know, the fact is, we get such a lot of foreigners down here, and they do ask such funny questions. a frenchman we caught the other day actually asked me how i carried myself. wasn’t it rude of him—considering my weight too?”
“you’re a wallypug, too, aren’t you?” asked gra-shus, looking smilingly up into my face.
“oh, no!” i replied; “i am only his majesty’s guest.”
“his majesty! do you mean that?” said mi-hy, pointing to the wallypug.
the wallypug drew himself up with an air of offended dignity.
“i am not a ‘that’; i’m a kind of a king,” he explained, in a tone of remonstrance.
“o-ooh!” exclaimed the little blue people, falling down on their knees and bowing their foreheads to the ground, with their hands stretched out before them. “pray forgive us, majestuous wallypug, we thought you were only an ordinary person. you see we’ve never caught a king before. oh! don’t chop our heads off, will you?”
“of course not,” said his majesty, kindly.
“but kings always chop off people’s heads, don’t they?” cried the little people, anxiously.
“oh dear no,” said the wallypug.
“get up; or you’ll spoil your clothes. could we have a cup of tea, please? we are rather fatigued with our long journey.”
the little blue people immediately jumped up and led the way to where behind a clump of curious blue trees the quaintest little boat you could possibly imagine was moored against the bank. a blue lake stretched as far as the eye could reach, and a number of little islands were dotted about it. on one, a little larger than the rest, a quaint little blue pagoda could be seen.
