{"collection":"folklore-oral-tradition","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_40502/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_40502","id":"gutenberg_40502","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/40502","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Adventure","Category: Children & Young Adult Reading","Category: Science-Fiction & Fantasy","Fairies -- Juvenile fiction","Fairy tales","Goblins -- Juvenile fiction"],"text":"Transcriber's notes\n\n\nFor this txt-version text in italics was surrounded with\n_underscores_, and text in small caps was changed to all caps.\n\nA few punctuation errors have been corrected, and on page 142 \"is\" was\nchanged to \"as\" (make it as hard as you can). Otherwise the original has\nbeen preserved, including inconsistent hyphenation.\n\n\n\n\n  [Illustration: Presented to ... By ...]\n\n\n\n\n  THE BROWNIES AND PRINCE FLORIMEL\n\n\n\n\n  THE BROWNIES\n  AND PRINCE FLORIMEL\n\n  OR\n  Brownieland, Fairyland, and Demonland\n\n  BY\n  PALMER COX\n\n  Author of The Brownies: Their Book; Another Brownie Book;\n  The Brownies Around the World; The Brownies at Home;\n  The Brownies Through the Union; The Brownies\n  Abroad; The Brownies in the Philippines;\n  The Brownies' Latest Adventures; The\n  Brownies' Many More Nights; The\n  Brownie Clown in Brownie\n  Town; The Brownie Primer,\n  etc., etc., etc.\n\n  [Illustration]\n\n  NEW YORK\n  THE CENTURY CO.\n\n\n\n\n  Copyright, 1918, by\n  THE CENTURY CO.\n\n  _Published, September, 1918_\n\n  PRINTED IN THE U. S. A.\n\n\n\n\n  TABLE OF CONTENTS\n\n\n                                           PAGE\n\n  [Illustration]\n\n  THE FLIGHT OF PRINCE FLORIMEL               3\n\n  [Illustration]\n\n  TITANIA COMES TO REIGN OVER THE FAIRIES    14\n\n  [Illustration]\n\n  FLORIMEL REACHES THE ENCHANTED COUNTRY     25\n\n  [Illustration]\n\n  THE HUMAN OCTOPUS STARTS ON A MISSION      37\n\n  [Illustration]\n\n  FLORIMEL MEETS THE BROWNIES                49\n\n  [Illustration]\n\n  THE HUMAN OCTOPUS SNOOPS AROUND            58\n\n  [Illustration]\n\n  FLORIMEL IS ADOPTED BY KING STANISLAUS     68\n\n  [Illustration]\n\n  QUEEN TITANIA'S GREAT PERIL                80\n\n  [Illustration]\n\n  THE COMPACT WITH VULCAN                    92\n\n  [Illustration]\n\n  THE STRANGE WEDDING-GUESTS                103\n\n  [Illustration]\n\n  THE BROWNIES BUILD A RAFT                 119\n\n  [Illustration]\n\n  WHAT HAPPENED IN THE THRONE-ROOM          133\n\n  [Illustration]\n\n  NEPTUNE STILLS THE WAVES                  145\n\n  [Illustration]\n\n  WHAT THE POLICEMAN DISCOVERED             157\n\n  [Illustration]\n\n  THE GERMAN BAND                           166\n\n  [Illustration]\n\n  THE EARTHQUAKE AND VOLCANO                177\n\n  [Illustration]\n\n  THE BROWNIES FIGHT THE FLAMES             189\n\n  [Illustration]\n\n  THE FLIGHT TO THE MINES                   201\n\n  [Illustration]\n\n  THE MISSION OF THE DOVE                   212\n\n  [Illustration]\n\n  DISASTER TO DRAGONFEL                     223\n\n  [Illustration]\n\n  AND THEY LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER         233\n\n\n\n\n  BOOKS BY PALMER COX:\n  PUBLISHED BY THE CENTURY CO.\n\n\n  [Illustration]\n\n  THE BROWNIES: THEIR BOOK\n  Quarto, 150 pages. Price, in boards, $1.50\n\n  [Illustration]\n\n  ANOTHER BROWNIE BOOK\n  Quarto, 150 pages. Price, in boards, $1.50\n\n  [Illustration]\n\n  THE BROWNIES AT HOME\n  Quarto, 150 pages. Price, in boards, $1.50\n\n  [Illustration]\n\n  THE BROWNIES AROUND THE WORLD\n  Quarto, 150 pages. Price, in boards, $1.50\n\n  [Illustration]\n\n  THE BROWNIES THROUGH THE UNION\n  Quarto, 150 pages. Price, in boards, $1.50\n\n  [Illustration]\n\n  THE BROWNIES ABROAD\n  Quarto, 150 pages. Price, in boards, $1.50\n\n  [Illustration]\n\n  THE BROWNIES IN THE PHILIPPINES\n  Quarto, 150 pages. Price, in boards, $1.50\n\n  [Illustration]\n\n  THE BROWNIES LATEST ADVENTURES\n  Quarto, 150 pages. Price, in boards, $1.50\n\n  [Illustration]\n\n  THE BROWNIES MANY MORE NIGHTS\n  Quarto, 150 pages. Price, in boards, $1.50\n\n  [Illustration]\n\n  THE BROWNIE CLOWN OF BROWNIETOWN\n  Oblong, 103 pages. Price, in boards, $1.00\n\n  [Illustration]\n\n  THE BROWNIE PRIMER\n  12 mo, 108 pages. Price, in cloth, $ .40 net.\n\n\n\n\nTHE BROWNIES AND PRINCE FLORIMEL\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I\n\nTHE FLIGHT OF PRINCE FLORIMEL\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAll that is here set down happened in a wonderful country where\nwonderful things are always happening.\n\nIn a certain kingdom there was a young prince named Florimel.\n\nHis father, the king, had lately passed away, but, though Florimel was\nhis only son, and of age, he had not succeeded to the throne that by\nright of birth was his.\n\nThe reason was that his father had a brother, a very cruel, crafty duke,\nhigh in the councils of the state, who had designs upon the throne\nhimself. In a covetous frame of mind he had once taken a photograph of\nthe crown and ermine robe, and the intelligent palace parrot had made a\nremark thereat:\n\n\"'Uneasy lies the head that wears a crown,'\" croaked the bird.\n\nIt was a wise quotation, and yet it was not wise to make it, for right\nafter that something happened to the unlucky parrot.\n\nThe duke with his evil influence swayed the opinions of the royal\ncabinet which made the laws. In his wicked old heart he wished Florimel\nout of the way.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nIf Florimel had been like other princes one reads about his people no\ndoubt would have insisted upon his occupying the throne. But the throne\nwas of ordinary size, so that he never could have occupied it. Like\nother princes he was all that was fair and handsome, but he was very\nsmall indeed. He was no larger than the average-sized boy of twelve, and\nthe people who should have proved his loyal subjects were well-grown men\nand women. In their talks among themselves they showed a shame that\nanyone so small should rule them.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Why, he's no bigger than a Brownie!\" was a remark they very often made.\n\"It would look foolish to have such a mite for a king.\" For they were\nwell informed about the Brownies, and knew how they perched on fences,\nor hid adroitly whenever danger threatened.\n\nBut they were guided by appearances, as too often people wrongly are,\nand they failed to realize that sometimes the best goods are done up in\nthe smallest packages, and that even a mite may be mighty.\n\nThe fact that Florimel was so small had been a great grief to his late\nparents who had never been able to understand it. He had been a fine,\nhealthy baby who had won the hearty approval of his doctors and nurses.\n\nHis mother always had an uneasy fear that the godmother who assisted at\nhis christening might have been concerned in his diminutive size, but\nthe king invariably poo-poohed at her suspicions. This godmother was an\nex-fairy, but advancing age had interfered with her work of magic. Her\njoints had become stiff and cramped, and she had contracted rheumatism\nfrom sleeping in damp, dewy flowers. She did not get around in the\nlively fashion she used to.\n\n\"Nonsense!\" said the king. \"Would she have bestowed on him the gift of\nsecond sight and at the same time taken away his size? Depend upon it,\nmy dear, her intentions were perfectly straightforward and honorable.\"\n\n\"But it may have been this second sight has interfered with his growth,\"\nsaid the queen. \"His vision is simply wonderful.\"\n\nThis was indeed so. Prince Florimel could see things no one else could.\nFurthermore he could see them at night. Some wise old soothsayer\ndeclared that he was gifted with supernatural powers.\n\nOne other gift had his ex-fairy godmother presented to him, a bow and\nquiver of arrows which she averred were priceless.\n\n\"I charge you,\" she said most impressively to the king, \"never to let\nyour dear son have the bow and arrows unless there comes to him some\nmoment of great danger. Then let him place one of these arrows to the\nbow, and shoot it where he will. The result will be miraculous.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAfter she had gone back to the old-ex-fairy-ladies' home the king was\nstrongly tempted to shoot one of the arrows from the bow just to see\nwhat would happen. With great difficulty he repressed his curiosity, and\nplaced the bow and arrows in the family safe whose combinations was\nknown only to himself.\n\nSo time passed happily, and one year added its joys to those of others,\nuntil there came the sad day when Florimel lost his dear mother. There\nwas much sorrow throughout the entire kingdom, for the queen was a\ngentle, gracious one whose kind words and good deeds had endeared her\nto the hearts of all. So great was her loss to the king that he did not\nsurvive her long. Ere he joined her he called his brother, the duke, to\nhis bed, and said to him:\n\n\"You are my only kin outside of Florimel, so to your keeping I entrust\nhim. He is such a little chap you must be very careful of him. After\nI am gone he will be king, and I am sure he will rule well and wisely.\nHe is a true king at heart if not of stature. Promise me to be his\ncouncilor and guide, and to incline him ever to the side of mercy,\ncharity, and goodness.\"\n\nThe false duke promised with great earnestness, but all the while he was\nthinking of many wicked things.\n\nWith Florimel removed he would ascend to the throne himself. Yet so well\ndid he hide his guilty feelings that his brother had no suspicion of any\nperfidy or wrong-doing, and passed away in the peace befitting the\nrighteous king he was.\n\nAfter the king's death the duke through one pretext or another delayed\nthe coronation of the new. He incited his nephew to feats and deeds of\ngreat danger and daring with the evil hope that some terrible accident\nwould befall him. But in all the risks and hazards that he took, and\nnone was too great, it almost seemed that Prince Florimel bore a charmed\nlife.\n\nLike other young people he had his dreams, and saw much that was unreal,\nbut with all these there had come lasting impressions.\n\nWhen the duke failed to accomplish his evil designs, he determined upon\neven more desperate methods in his game.\n\nThe people were beginning to chafe at the delay in the coronation, and\nwere clamoring for a new ruler. So the cabinet met to decide this most\nimportant matter, and the duke presided over the council.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"This is a most embarrassing situation,\" he said. \"Ordinarily we would\nplace the only son of our late king on the throne without question\nand amid great rejoicing. But we are confronted by a most perplexing\nquestion. Prince Florimel is what might be termed a freak. The point is,\ncould he represent his kingdom with the proper dignity?\"\n\n\"Prince Florimel may be a freak as you say,\" remarked a member of the\ncabinet, \"but at the same time I have never seen a handsomer, manlier\nyoung fellow. His symmetry is perfect, and he is all that is chivalrous\nand brave. He is the stuff true kings are made of. The only thing\nagainst him is his size.\"\n\n\"That I fear is an objection which cannot be overcome,\" said the wily\nduke. \"Can we, a race of big men and women, be governed by a pygmy\nking--a hop-o'-my-thumb? We would be the laughing stock of other\nkingdoms. Think, when the rulers of all these met, and ours came\namong them, of the mortification we would feel that we did not have\na full-grown man to represent us. His insignificance would make this\ncountry insignificant to others. Those who did not know us, and judged\nus by him, would look upon us as a country of dwarfs.\"\n\n\"But Florimel is the late king's son, and heir to the throne,\" said\nanother member of the cabinet. \"Who else could reign in his stead?\"\n\n\"I am the next of kin,\" said the duke.\n\n\"Yes, if it were not for Florimel you would be the logical king.\"\n\n\"Let us postpone our deliberations until tomorrow, by which time I think\nI can find a way out of the difficulty,\" said the duke, with deadly\nmeaning.\n\nThe members of the cabinet looked at each other, and the meeting\nsilently adjourned. It had been conducted with the utmost secrecy,\nand no one else was present but an old factotum named Gando who was\nthere to lock the doors. And Gando, who was passionately attached to\nFlorimel, heard the duke's word, and was very uneasy in his mind.\n\n\"So that is why,\" the old man said to himself, \"the duke was sharpening\nhis knife on the grind-stone!\"\n\nWhen the duke had retired to his apartment Gando tiptoed noiselessly\nafter him, and placed his feeble, dim eye close to the key-hole of the\ndoor.\n\nWhat he saw froze the blood in his veins, and caused the few white\nhairs on his head to stand stiffly up with his great fright.\n\nThe duke was seated at his window, and the moonlight played and\nglittered on a long, slender knife that he held in his hand.\n\nOld Gando's knees knocked together, and he fled the spot. Of one thing\nhe was very sure. Florimel without loss of time should place himself far\nbeyond the reach of his wicked uncle. Each added moment increased the\nprince's danger. Soon escape might be too late. Before he went to warn\nthe sleeping prince he secured the bow and quiver of arrows that had\nbeen intrusted to his care by the late king. He hastily provided himself\nwith a smock, loose cap, and long trousers of coarse cloth such as\nchildren of poor peasants wear.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWith these in his trembling arms, breathless from his exertions and\nthe great excitement under which he labored, he entered Florimel's\nbedchamber, and closed the door noiselessly behind him. With his fair\nhead resting on his curved arm, Florimel slept. Gando gave a great sigh\nof relief when he heard his gentle breathing. He flew to the bedside,\nand straightway roused the slumbering prince from his dreams.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Oh, master, my dear young master!\" he cried with his voice broken by\nsobs. \"Rouse yourself, I beg of you, and go hence! Do not delay, or you\nmay be too late. Your cruel uncle this very moment is plotting your\ndeath!\"\n\nFlorimel sprang up in bed, and tried to rub the sleep from his eyes.\n\n\"But where shall I go, good Gando?\" he asked.\n\n\"That I know not,\" said the old man. \"The further you go the better. You\nmust leave behind you the boundaries of the kingdom. See, I have brought\nthese peasant's clothes for you to wear.\"\n\n\"Nay, I still have my prince's attire,\" said Florimel.\n\n\"That will not serve,\" said Gando. \"If you donned it you would be\nquickly recognized, and your uncle would gain knowledge of you to your\nswift undoing.\"\n\nHe assisted the bewildered Florimel to dress, swung across his back the\nquiver of arrows, and handed him the bow.\n\n\"This was your godmother's gift,\" he said, \"and it might aid you.\"\n\nBut, though Gando urged Florimel not to take the time, the latter\nprinted something on a card which he tacked upon the outside of the door\nbefore they left the place.\n\nAs they fled toward a secret exit they heard down the corridor the\nstealthy tread of feet.\n\nThe duke snarled like a wild beast as he read the lines:\n\n\"FAREWELL, DEAR UNCLE! KEEP YOUR EDGED TOOL FOR FATTED SWINE!\"\n\n\"Fly!\" old Gando cried, as he thrust Florimel out into the lonely,\nstarlit night. \"Oh, my dear young master, fly for your life!\"\n\nIt was a sad and sudden change indeed for the youth, from the pleasant\ndreams of guardian Brownies surrounding his bed, to the uncertainty\nof an unknown way before, and the certainty of a cruel enemy behind.\nSnow-capped mountain peaks in the distance had a forbidding look and, as\nthough in league with his old uncle, seemed to extend to him but a cool\nwelcome. The wakeful and observing beasts of the wood and wild saw in\nhim a new character never before met in the open country, and were\nshaken with wonder and agitation while they watched the hastening little\ntraveller striding along the lonely road, his only burden the bow and\nsupply of arrows.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II\n\nTITANIA COMES TO REIGN OVER THE FAIRIES\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nNow in another part of the same country there was a race of fairies who\nnever grew old and always remained beautiful.\n\nTheir loveliness of face and form was beyond all description.\n\nJust try to think of the prettiest young girl you ever saw. Well, even\nthe plainest of these fairies were ever so much prettier. That is to\nsay, all were very beautiful with one exception. In her case the fairy\ncharm was an utter failure.\n\nShe was little and old, with a queer, wrinkled face like a dried-up\ncrab-apple. But, because no one else looked like her, she was firmly\nconvinced she was the most beautiful of them all. They wore clinging\ngowns made of the texture of roses, lilies, and other flowers. She who\nwore fragrant rose-petals called herself Rose, she who called herself\nLily one of lilies, and so on. There were Violet, Daffodil, Bluebell,\nDaisy, Jassamine, Hyacinth, and ever so many others. You could find the\nnames of all the rest in a seed-catalogue--that is, all but the little\nold wrinkled one who was known as Dame Drusilda. The fairies had\na republic. Because they were all so very much alike, and equally\nbeautiful, gifted, and clever, it would have been an extremely awkward\nmatter to select a queen from among them. If any one had been chosen,\nall the others would have felt greatly slighted. Dame Drusilda believed\nshe should be the queen, simply because no one else looked like her, but\nshe was quite alone in her opinion.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey were very up-to-date, and they had a palace of great magnificence\nthat had every modern convenience, with sanitary plumbing. There was a\nvery gorgeous throne-room, wisely arranged in the event that they might\nsome day have a queen, with a portcullis at the entrance that could be\nraised or lowered at will. This, of course, was to keep out unwelcome\nvisitors.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe republic was most beautifully situated where a river joined the\nsea, and upon a cliff one day the fairies beheld a most unusual sight.\nWhile they were smiling and nodding a greeting to some lovely mermaids\nwho were down among the rocks combing their long tresses with the aid of\nhand-mirrors, a golden shallop heaped with flowers came drifting down\nthe placid stream. The fairies signalled to the mermaids who, when their\nattention was attracted to the shallop, swam to it, and guided it to the\nshore. As it drew near all grew very much excited when they observed a\nmost exquisite little creature nestling asleep in the fragrant bed of\nflowers. When the shallop grounded gently on the pebbly beach her\neyes opened, and she gazed up at them with the most enchanting smile\nimaginable. \"I am Queen Titania,\" she announced, as they bent over her,\n\"and I have come to reign over you!\"\n\nWith tender hands they raised her from her couch, and knelt before her\nin silent adoration.\n\nNever before had they seen anyone so beautiful, as she stood before them\nin her long trailing gown, with a gem-crusted crown upon her brow, and\nin her hand a slender wand from whose tip shone the scintillating rays\nof a diamond.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Your Majesty,\" said queer little Dame Drusilda, \"we are all your loyal\nsubjects. Let us conduct you to the palace, where affairs of state await\nyou.\"\n\nAmid great rejoicing they conducted Queen Titania to the palace.\nWee-winged Cupids bore her long train. The portcullis was raised, and\nin triumph they entered.\n\nThe new queen was conducted with much pomp to the throne-room. When she\nwas placed upon the throne, two dogs, two frogs, and an ostrich were\nbrought before her.\n\n\"What have they done?\" asked Queen Titania.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Your Majesty,\" said the fairy named Hyacinth, \"these two dogs were\nfighting, and one bit off a piece of the other's ear.\"\n\n\"Which was the one who did it?\"\n\n\"Why, this one!\"\n\n\"Bind him over to keep the peace!\" said Queen Titania promptly.\n\nThe fairies all nodded their approval as the dogs were led away.\n\n\"Your Majesty,\" then spoke up one of the frogs, \"will you be kind enough\nto listen to the complaint of one who has always tried to conduct\nhimself like a perfect gentleman? I am a confirmed bachelor-frog. This\nyoung lady-frog is continually pestering me with her attentions. She\nkeeps on proposing marriage, although it is not leap-year.\"\n\n\"With frogs every year is leap-year,\" said Queen Titania.\n\nThe ostrich looked very guilty as a fairy named Eglantine explained:\n\n\"Your Majesty, he deliberately swallowed a half-dozen of the palace\nspoons.\"\n\n\"Why did you do it?\" asked Queen Titania of the culprit.\n\n\"I don't know,\" he said shamefacedly.\n\n\"But I do,\" said Queen Titania. \"You did it to stir up things. Have you\na sweetheart?\"\n\n\"Yes, I've got a bird!\"\n\n\"Well, now you can go and spoon with her!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAll were quite delighted with the wisdom shown by their tiny sovereign\nin dispensing justice. But before other important matters could be\ndisposed of a fairy messenger named Pink with her petalled attire all\nflecked with dust dashed in great excitement into the throne-room. She\nhad ridden many leagues upon a winged steed, and in its terrific speed\nwhich was far greater than that of the swiftest aeroplane it had used\nboth wings and feet.\n\nPink ran toward the throne to impart the news that had brought her in\nsuch hot haste, but the unexpected sight of Queen Titania stilled the\nwords upon her frightened lips, and caused them to part instead with\nwonder and surprise.\n\n\"This is Queen Titania,\" hastily explained Dame Drusilda, \"who\nhenceforth is to reign over us.\"\n\nPink knelt low before Titania and kissed her royal robe.\n\n\"Your Majesty,\" she said, \"I am the bearer of bad news. Dragonfel the\nwicked enchanter across the sea has declared his intention of making\ntrouble for the fairies.\"\n\n\"Who told you this?\" asked Queen Titania.\n\n\"A little bird,\" was Pink's reply.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"This is very serious,\" said Queen Titania gravely, \"for little birds\nnever tell fibs.\" There was a clamor of dismayed, excited voices, but\nthe queen raised her wand for silence, and continued:\n\n\"Though it may only be an idle threat, I will still appeal to\nEuphrosyne. Should we ever need her help right gladly she will give it.\"\nHer hearers all looked puzzled, and Dame Drusilda made bold to ask: \"Who\nis Euphrosyne of whom you speak?\" \"Have you not heard of her?\" Queen\nTitania asked, with much surprise. \"She is the Goddess of Mirth, who\ntries to make the whole world happy--a most gigantic task. Come with me,\nand I will send her an invisible summons.\" With the Cupids bearing her\ntrain she passed with the fairies out to the palace courtyard where\nfountains played and flowers bloomed. There she raised her wand, and\ntold them to look up. And doing so they beheld a most marvelous sight--a\nradiant, smiling-faced, gloriously beautiful young woman in classical\nwhite robes, with her sandalled feet resting ever so lightly upon one of\nthe pearl-tinged clouds.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAround her circled snowy doves, cooing, fluttering, and settling on her\nhead, bare shoulders and arms.\n\nWhile Titania waved her wand, she suddenly gazed downward, as though\nsomething by means of an electric current had been transmitted to her\nthrough the air. She stroked a dove that had found its way trustingly to\nher hand, and as the others flew from her she herself seemed plumed for\nflight.\n\nThe fairies watched her with a suspense that was almost painful, but to\ntheir great disappointment the passing clouds blotted her from sight.\n\nBut even the fairies who all the time are witnessing the most wonderful\nthings were quite astounded when Euphrosyne in what seemed to be the\nvery next moment appeared with the dove right in their very midst.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"What is your wish?\" she said to Queen Titania.\n\n\"Oh, beautiful Euphrosyne,\" said the little queen, \"we are much\nconcerned over the wicked Dragonfel.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"The enchanter across the sea?\" said Euphrosyne.\n\n\"And what about him?\"\n\n\"He threatens harm to the fairies.\"\n\n\"Do not borrow trouble,\" said Euphrosyne.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Sometimes people make foolish threats, and when others heed them they\nhave a good deal of needless worry.\" All looked very much relieved, and\nQueen Titania said: \"Your encouraging words comfort us greatly.\"\n\n\"If I were you,\" advised Euphrosyne, \"I'd always keep the portcullis\ndown, and be very careful about admitting strangers. Don't let anyone in\nwithout a first-class reference. If Dragonfel annoys you, let me know.\"\n\n\"But how?\" asked Queen Titania.\n\n\"You can send this magic dove to me!\"\n\nThey looked at her, but she was gone, and no one knew whither. She\nseemed to have just melted away. Where her hand had been there was\na dove, and, as it started to flutter off, with some difficulty they\ncaught it.\n\nThough she was very much encouraged by all Euphrosyne had said, Queen\nTitania still thought it prudent to post on one of the palace walls a\nwarning placard so that those who ran might read.\n\nAnd, it proved a task that was sufficient to interest some of the\nfairies the rest of the afternoon, and, by the time they got through,\nthey were able to make some show at hitting the nail on the head.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III\n\nFLORIMEL REACHES THE ENCHANTED COUNTRY\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nOn and on flew Prince Florimel from the wicked uncle who meant to do him\nharm.\n\nThe friendly stars shone down to guide him on his way, but just what\nthat way was he did not know. His only thought to put the palace as far\nbehind him as he could, and at times he turned his head to look back\nat its frowning, shadowy walls that finally disappeared from sight.\nFlorimel gave a deep sigh of relief, but did not relax his speed in the\nslightest.\n\nThe words of the faithful old Gando were strongly impressed upon his\nmind, and he realized that the duke had designs on his life. When it was\ndiscovered that he was missing, a search would be made for him, and once\nin the power of the duke it would go hard with him.\n\nSo on he ran, and the few people whom he met paid little or no heed\nto him, thinking perhaps that he was some frightened peasant-child\nhastening to or from home upon some urgent night-errand. And as he went,\nalways further and further away from the palace, the houses grew fewer\nand still fewer, till finally he found himself out in the open country.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe stars were paling out, and by this time Florimel was very tired,\nso that when he saw a hay-stack in a field he quickly sought it, and\nburrowing from sight down into the sweet-smelling mass was soon asleep.\n\nThe sun was up when he awoke refreshed. He heard the cooling trickle of\na brook hard by, and drank thirstily, and laved his face and hands. Some\ndistance off upon a dew-spangled hillside thin smoke curled lazily up\nfrom the thatched roof of a farmer's cottage. Florimel who felt the\nqualms of hunger drew nigh to it resolved to ask for food.\n\nAs he approached the cottage a dog stretched out in the doorway to enjoy\nthe first genial rays of the sun jumped up and started to bark, but\nalmost instantly his barks ceased, and he wagged his tail instead with\nfriendly violence.\n\nA stout, middle-aged woman with a kerchief on her head came to the open\ndoor and eyed him questioningly.\n\n\"Good mother,\" he said, with a winning smile, \"may I trespass upon your\nhospitality? I would fain break my fast, and this coin will pay my way.\"\n\n\"Food have we a-plenty, and to spare,\" said the kind-hearted woman, \"so\nthat you are welcome to it. But who are you, and whence came you? You do\nnot speak like a peasant's child.\"\n\n\"Nay, I have some knowledge of fair speech,\" said Florimel. \"Yet do I\ncount myself one of the people. And I fare from the city in quest of\nadventure. See, I have brought this bow and quiver of arrows with me!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Then most surely you will find it,\" said the dame, \"for we live almost\non the edge of the kingdom, and beyond that line of deep woods there is\na strange country with adventure enough, I warrant you. But come with\nme, and sit you at the board. My good man has gone to loose the sheep\nfrom the fold, and will be back very soon.\"\n\nSo Florimel followed his hostess into the plain kitchen, and took his\nplace at a bare wooden table while she busied herself in the preparation\nof the meal. And, as he sat there, and she was occupied with her task,\nthere rose from outside a sudden hub-bub, made up of the gallop of many\nhorses' hoofs, the clank and rattle of swords and uniforms, and the\njargon of excited human voices.\n\nThe woman in great curiosity rushed from the oven to the door, and\nFlorimel jumped down from his chair, running after her, and peering out\nfrom behind her.\n\n\"Soldiers!\" she cried, astounded beyond measure. \"What are they doing\nhere, I wonder?\"\n\n[Illustration: LOOKING FOR BROWNIES]\n\nThe farmer with cap in hand looked up at them, awed and confused by\ntheir fine airs and magnificence, and while they volleyed questions\nat him silently and stupidly shook his head, until at last in their\nimpatience and disgust they put spurs to their horses' flanks and\ngalloped off in clouds of dust.\n\nThen the good man ran toward the house, suddenly finding voice, and\nshouting at his wife:\n\n\"Here's a great to do! The young Prince Florimel has disappeared in the\nnight, and the whole kingdom is aroused!\"\n\nThen noticing Florimel for the first time he asked:\n\n\"But who is this?\"\n\n\"A chance guest to break his fast with us,\" said his wife. \"But let us\neat before the food grows cold.\"\n\nSo Florimel partook heartily of the plain fare of the farmer and his\nwife, and throughout the meal the talk of his hosts was of the missing\nprince.\n\n\"Poor lad!\" said the woman with a sigh.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"I hope that all is well with him. Yet much I fear this search for him\nis vain. His uncle, the duke, could tell, I warrant, what has happened\nto him. But he will never be heard of more, and the wicked duke will\nnow be king.\" \"You who have come from the city,\" said the farmer to\nFlorimel, \"no doubt some time have seen the poor prince. What kind of a\nyoung lad was he? A likely one, so I have heard.\" \"He had his faults,\"\nadmitted Florimel. \"He was very small of build--no taller than I. When\nlast I saw him he looked not unlike me. I doubt if he weighed a penny\nweight more.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Was he handsome?\" asked the woman.\n\n\"Am I handsome?\" asked Florimel in return.\n\n\"Candor compels me to tell you you are not,\" she frankly said, \"though\nyou are not ill-favored, either.\"\n\n\"Still if I wore the prince's attire,\" said Florimel, \"I would be as\nhandsome as he. But let us change the subject. You spoke but a while ago\nof that strange country which lies adjacent to this. In what manner is\nit strange?\"\n\n\"But little is known of it,\" said the woman, \"for, in truth, it is a\nplace to be avoided. There are few humans bold enough to penetrate its\nmysteries, for in the forests and dense undergrowth are savage beasts\nthat wreak harm. Often we can hear their wild cries at night, and our\nhearts are chilled. And, even if one escape the beasts, there are\nBrownies and fairies to weave their mystic charm.\"\n\n\"Are the Brownies there too?\" asked Florimel, with interest.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Aye, that they are!\" said the woman. \"But it is not the Brownies that\nwould hurt you. They are kind little creatures who would help instead of\nharm you.\"\n\n\"I would like to see them,\" said Florimel reflectively. \"Many a night as\nI lay in my bed have I dreamed of the Brownies.\"\n\n\"See them you cannot,\" said the woman decidedly, \"since you have not\nsecond sight. Many have tried to see the Brownies, but they have\nfailed through lack of supernatural vision. But there are Brownies\nnevertheless, and they go everywhere. Of that we have abundant proof,\nhave we not, husband?\"\n\n\"Aye!\" said the farmer. \"Once when I lay flat upon my back, and the\ngrain in the field was in danger of rot, the Brownies came one night and\nharvested it. In the morning it was all cut and stacked.\"\n\n\"Yes,\" the good wife hastened to add, \"and that very same night they\nchurned the cream to butter.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Are you sure the Brownies did it?\" asked Florimel, in surprise. \"Who\nelse but the Brownies?\" said the farmer positively. \"We had set a bowl\nof cream for that is all they ask, and next morning the cream was gone.\nWife, show him the bowl!\"\n\nThe woman thereupon exhibited an empty blue delf bowl, and Florimel\nwas convinced. He rose with his hosts from the table, and went to the\ndoorway from which he gazed to the far line of woods that now held such\ncharm for him.\n\n\"Let me pay you my faring, good people,\" he said, \"for I would be on my\nway.\"\n\n\"Nay, there is naught you owe us,\" said the farmer, \"for you have been a\nwelcome guest. You are a fine young lad, and I have a fancy for you. You\nhad better bide here with us. There is work for you to do for your board\nand lodging. I need someone to tend the sheep.\"\n\n\"I thank you, my good man,\" said Florimel, \"but I must leave you.\"\n\n\"Whither would you go?\"\n\n\"To that strange country of which your good wife spoke.\"\n\n\"Say not so, young master,\" implored the woman earnestly. \"There are\nwild beasts there waiting to devour you.\"\n\n\"And there are wild beasts of men sometimes even more terrible,\" said\nFlorimel. \"I will take my chances with the beasts. All that I have loved\nI have lost, so there is naught to keep me. Each moment I tarry but adds\nto the danger that encompasses me.\"\n\n\"Master, can it be?--yes, it must be!\" cried the man, with a great light\nbreaking upon him. \"You are the prince!\"\n\n\"Yes, I am indeed he!\" said Florimel. \"Convey word to my uncle that I am\ngone, and that the child of the brother who trusted in him will never\ntrouble him again. If the people choose him for their ruler, let the\nconsequences be on their own heads. And now farewell!\"\n\nWith this last word on his lips he broke into a run. The man with the\nbest of intentions tried to follow in the hope of dissuading him from\nhis rash purpose, while his wife frantically shouted for the young\nprince to come back.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut with the bow and arrows that might mean so much to him Florimel\nonly increased his pace, so that the other was soon distanced. Finally\nthe man in despair gave up the chase, and stood watching until Florimel\nturned, waved his hand, and disappeared into the heavy growth of forest.\nAnd on and on he went, though nothing extraordinary befell him. So for\nthree days he continued, suffering neither from hunger nor from thirst,\nfor there were plenty of pure brooks at which he could lave and drink,\nand it was the time of the delicious tomtom, a juicy fruit everywhere in\ngreat abundance, which tasted like a banana flavored with vanilla ice\ncream, and which had all the sustaining qualities of beefsteak.\n\nOf this Florimel partook heartily and at will, as well as of berries and\nnuts, and when weary slept for precaution's sake in the forked branches\nof trees, with his rest broken only by the crashing of some skulking\nanimal through thick, tangled underbrush in quest of prey or a long,\ndrawn-out, shuddering night-cry that would chill his blood and cause his\nheart for a moment to cease its beat.\n\nStill there were trees growing thickly together, and retarding\nand making difficult one's advance. But, just when he was growing\ndiscouraged, they began to thin out, and he came into more open spaces.\n\nFinally he reached a tiny lake that shone like a turquoise in a\nbowl-like formation at the base of a steep hill.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nA path ran up the hillside, and this evidently had been much in use, for\nthe grass was worn and trodden by many feet. On a ledge there was an\nold, decaying, leafless tree, and on one of its gaunt, top-branches that\njutted over the lake a pair of intrepid eagles had built their nest.\nFlorimel looked up and spied the young eaglets who were just old enough\nto essay flight, selfishly trying to crowd each other out of their airy\nstructure of sticks and straws. Far overhead their parents described\ninvisible circles in the sky, emitting as they did so harsh shrieks of\npride.\n\nWhile he gazed upward, thinking meanwhile that it was a strange abode\nfor eagles to choose, in place of the customary mountain-crag, he was\nsuddenly startled by the savage roar of beasts.\n\nQuick as a flash he turned, and saw a wild, fierce, snarling pack--a\nconfused, horrifying vision of lions, tigers, and leopards--their red\ntongues lolling from their watering mouths--their nostrils dilated at\nthe scent of human blood--flying with leaps and bounds to rend and tear\nhim apart and devour him.\n\nDesperately he seized an arrow from the quiver, and placing it in the\nbow pointed it at them and pulled back the cord.\n\nBut the cord snapped in twain, and the arrow fell harmlessly to the\nground.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV\n\nTHE HUMAN OCTOPUS STARTS UPON A MISSION\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAcross the minor sea whose blue, sparkling waters kissed the fair shores\nof Queen Titania's fairy kingdom, about a hundred leagues as flies the\ncrow, there was another country where lived the notorious enchanter\nDragonfel.\n\nA fairy messenger on a winged steed had conveyed information that\nDragonfel intended to make trouble. But this was nothing new for\nDragonfel.\n\nAs a matter of fact, he was always trying to make trouble for everybody.\nTrouble was his specialty.\n\nDragonfel was not a nice man, and, if you had known him, you would not\nhave liked him. He cheated when he played croquet, and he was always\nclaiming wickets that he never made. He did not go to Sunday School,\neither. If he had gone, he would not have put a penny in the plate for\nthe heathen. That was the kind of man he was.\n\nYet he was the possessor of fabulous riches, and he never would have\nmissed what he might have given away had he been charitably inclined,\nwhich he was not in the least.\n\nNo one else in the whole world was as wealthy as he. He owned a\ncombination mine in which were diamonds, rubies, sapphires, emeralds,\nand other precious gems galore, some of them as big as cobblestones.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nIt may be said with safety that Dragonfel was inclined to have his own\nway, and carry out his own ideas. He was very rich, and had money to\nburn. When in the mood of celebrating some great event, such as the\nBurial of Good Intentions, or the Failure in Eden, instead of climbing\non some rock to set off firecrackers, burn Roman candles, or discharge\ntoy cannon, he delighted in burning Bank Bonds, Legal Tenders, or\nGovernment Securities of large denominations, until the ashes of them\nwere declared a nuisance by his Board of Health, and with reluctance he\nwould discontinue his celebration.\n\nAs is usual in all such great operations there were panics at times,\nthrough alarms of fire, explosions, or escaping gas, when everybody\ntried to get out at once and but few could escape.\n\nOne day it would be the danger of being smothered, the next of being\nroasted, the third of a cave-in where all would be buried alive, and so\nfrom hour to hour fear was in the way.\n\n[Illustration: Distress in the Mine.]\n\nThere were mine-sprites whom he kept steadily at work, without regard\nfor Union hours, digging the gems out with their fingers.\n\nThe poor mine-sprites were greatly over-worked, and not the least regard\nwas paid to life or limb. The hours were long as they struggled at\nthe wheelbarrows or mine-carts, either pushing or pulling, with their\nunreasonable loads piled high in the air, and with gems that in the\nmarket would have brought enough to pay the debt of a Principality\nslipping off, and rolling in the dust.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe palace of Dragonfel was a sight, and it would have made your eyes\nblink to see it. It was constructed entirely of diamonds, rubies, and\nemeralds all stuck together with cement. There were no opals, because\nDragonfel thought they were unlucky. If you could have pried off any one\nof them you would have had enough to keep you in the greatest luxury all\nyour life. The famous Kohinoor was but a grain of sand compared to any\nof them.\n\nBack of the palace, and casting a frowning shadow over it, was a single\ntowering mountain whose top was an extinct volcano. No one could recall\nthe exact date of its last eruption, for Dragonfel stubbornly insisted\nupon running his business without an almanac. There were those\nscientifically inclined who leaned to the theory that the volcano had\nbeen the cause of all the gems in Dragonfel's mine.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThough it must have been a very long time since the volcano had\ncelebrated with home-made fireworks, the enchanter had always\nanticipated a further display, so he had taken the precaution to buy\nan old-fashioned fire-engine which was installed conveniently at hand\nin a building over whose doors was the caption: NEPTUNE HOOK AND\nLADDER CO. NO 1. In the building were plenty of rubber coats, boots,\nand red helmets. Everything was ready for an emergency.\n\nThere were some who declared that Dragonfel had some business connection\nwith Beelzebub, but, whether this was true or not, he had the bad taste\nto get himself up after the authentic portraits of that disreputable\nperson. He was very tall indeed, with almost a scarlet countenance,\nand he wore a long, flowing cloak that was a perfect match for his\ncomplexion. He kept his hair rather long, and brushed it stiffly up, to\nconvey the impression that he had a natural horn.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe boasted a host of followers, all big, hulking black-guards of\ngiant-like stature, with repulsive names such as Boundingbore, Mandrake,\nWolfinger, Grouthead, Snoutpimple, and the like, and whenever they did\nsomething mean he rewarded them. The consequence was that they were\ntrying to do mean things all the time.\n\nThey were in charge of the mine, and the way they treated the poor\nmine-sprites was awful. It was a good thing for them that the officers\nof the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children were unable to\nget around.\n\nSo on a certain day, following his usual custom, Dragonfel was making an\ninspection of the mine. He had descended through a secret passage, and\nwalked about the dark chambers lit here and there by gloomy flares of\nlight.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nGuarded by the enchanter's cruel followers, the mine-sprites, poor\nlittle, emaciated, witch-like creatures in tattered clothes, were\ndigging away with their raw, bruised fingers at the sides of earth and\nexhuming precious stones. They were not allowed to use picks, for that\nwould have made the work easy.\n\nDiamonds, rubies, pearls, amethysts, emeralds, and other gems, every\none of them worth a king's ransom, lay piled about carelessly in heaps.\nThe opals when they were discovered were thrown away. Sprites kept\nstaggering off with heavy loads in wheelbarrows.\n\nDragonfel surveyed the work with great satisfaction, and asked Grouthead\nwho was in general charge:\n\n\"When were they fed last?\"\n\n\"Three days ago, kind master!\"\n\nEveryone called him \"kind master,\" though whether this was in sarcasm or\nnot no one knew.\n\n\"See that they don't get anything to eat before the full week is up,\"\nordered Dragonfel. \"And that reminds me of my own dinner. Boundingbore,\ntell the cook I want turtle soup, spiced venison pastries, apple\ndumplings, strawberry shortcake, and iced lemonade with plenty of\ncrushed raspberries in it.\"\n\nThe mouths of the poor little mine-sprites watered, and they smacked\ntheir lips, but Grouthead snapped his long snake-whip so that it sounded\nlike a pistol-shot, and they frantically continued digging away in the\nearth with their fingers.\n\nBoundingbore flew to do Dragonfel's bidding, and Snoutpimple observed,\nrather timidly:\n\n\"The air down here is very bad, kind master!\"\n\n\"That's good,\" said Dragonfel, with hearty unction. \"It might make me\nill if I were obliged to remain, so as I have a proper regard for my\nhealth I think I will get right out into the open.\"\n\nAttended by Mandrake, Snoutpimple, Wolfinger, and some of the rest, he\nwent on his way, while Grouthead snapped his whip to incite the\nfrightened, gasping, exhausted mine-sprites to further effort.\n\n[Illustration: HELPLESSNESS IN THE MINE.]\n\nWhen he came up out of the shaft Dragonfel gave a deep breath of relief\nas his nostrils sucked in the bracing air that had a salt tang of the\nsea in it. Out in the harbor there tossed a galleon on the lazy swell--a\ncraft built low amid-ship, and with both bow and stern curving high into\nthe air.\n\nDragonfel gazed off at it with interest, and remarked:\n\n\"It may come in handy soon if these Brownies and fairies continue\nlonger. They are getting altogether too good, and must be stopped. But\nlet us go back to the palace to see if anything has happened in our\nabsence.\"\n\nNothing else was to be seen on the wide water to draw his attention,\nexcept some mermaids who were above the waves, engaged in combing their\nhair, who, to most people, are very interesting.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nA little bird with very acute hearing listened intently to his words\nas it lightly balanced on the twig of a gumdrop tree, and then flew\nstraight across the sea to tell a fairy, who told the other fairies.\nDragonfel with his big, clumsy, lumbering cohorts strode on to the\npalace that was guarded by a Demon Usher--a queer, comical-looking chap\nwho with his wings much resembled a human grasshopper, and who half\nflew, half walked.\n\nHe had thin little wisps of hair sticking out from each side of his\nnose, like the scanty whiskers of a cat.\n\nThe Demon Usher with hops and jumps escorted him to a magnificent\nthrone, and grovelled with smirks before him, while Dragonfel with what\nhe thought to be the quintessence of grace sank upon it, and then\narranged himself in what he imagined was a kingly posture.\n\n\"Well,\" he gruffly said, \"has anyone been here since I've been gone?\"\n\n\"No, kind master!\" the Demon Usher hastened to assure him. \"No one has\nbeen here since the band and you remember them.\"\n\n\"Ah, that band!\" repeated Dragonfel, with a shudder. \"I can't get their\nnotes out of my ears yet. But what have we here?\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nA huge creature resembling an octopus, with great, staring eyes popping\nfrom his head, and hundreds of fuzzy tentacles protruding in all\ndirections from his grotesque body, came crawling toward him.\nStraightway Dragonfel sprang up from the throne, while Wolfinger,\nMandrake, Boundingbore, and Snoutpimple, who had assumed respectful\npositions at his sides, drew back in alarm.\n\nBut the Demon Usher gave a cackle of a laugh, and gleefully rubbed his\nhands together as though he were washing them with invisible soap.\n\n\"Have no fear, kind master!\" said a thin, piping voice from somewhere\nwithin the horrid creature's hulk. \"Is not this a pretty disguise?\"\n\n\"The Red Spirit, as I live!\" cried Dragonfel, in a tone of admiration\nnot unmixed with relief. \"You rascal, why have you chosen this\nmasquerade?\"\n\n\"But is it not a clever one?\" persisted the Red Spirit. \"See, kind\nmaster, I can either compress or expand myself at will.\"\n\nAs he spoke he shrank to practical insignificance, and then almost\nimmediately afterward swelled out until it seemed that he would burst.\n\n\"Capital!\" said Dragonfel encouragingly. \"You can be of great assistance\nto me. I have a mean task for you to do.\"\n\n\"The meaner the better, kind master!\"\n\nDragonfel raised his arm, and pointed toward a window that gave a vista\nof the far-off, smiling sea.\n\n\"Go, Human Octopus,\" he commanded, \"and spy upon the Brownies and\nfairies!\" Without another word the hideous object started to crawl off\nby means of his myriad tentacles, and all who were present watched his\nconvulsive, eccentric movements with malicious satisfaction.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V\n\nPRINCE FLORIMEL MEETS THE BROWNIES\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nPrince Florimel gave a great shudder of fright when the gift of his\nex-fairy godmother so utterly failed him in that moment of terrible\ndanger. As the savage beasts, screaming for his blood, came toward him,\nhe turned and fled, without relaxing his hold upon the treacherous bow.\nHe made a frantic leap for the trunk of the tree, and grasping one of\nthe low branches pulled himself up with desperate haste as far as he\ncould.\n\nThe beasts with thunderous roars and sharp teeth showing sprang up at\nhim, and a lion with knife-like claws just grazed the skin of one of his\nlegs, and tore off a portion of his garment.\n\nFlorimel climbed up further, and still further, for safety, while the\nanimals roaring their defeat continued to hurl themselves at the tree\nuntil it shook and shook again.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nFinally they took to fighting among themselves, with outcries that were\nterrible, and finished by slinking or limping away discomfited.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe eaglets disturbed by all this clamor perched on the edges of their\nnest as though deliberating upon the hazard of trying for the first\ntime their wings in the dizzy space of blue. High overhead their angry\nparents soared screaming their protests at what seemed to them an\nunwarrantable intrusion.\n\nStill retaining the bow, Florimel climbed out toward the nest, intending\nto usurp possession of it, and with timid flaps of their untried wings\nthe eaglets essayed flight. Finding they could fly, they soon gained\nconfidence, and joined the parent-birds who led them a mad aerial chase.\n\nSoon Florimel was the sole tenant of the nest, and, after he had\nestablished himself comfortably in his new quarters, he set about to\nrepair the damage to the bow.\n\nHe tied the broken cord securely, and drew it taut, pulling it back as\nfar as he could repeatedly, but he did not waste in a trial one of the\nremaining arrows in his quiver. For, though it had already brought to\nhim one grievous disappointment, he still had faith in his ex-fairy\ngodmother's gift.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe eagles resenting his possession of their home kept flying\nthreateningly at him, but every time they came near he menaced them\nwith the bow and drove them away. Finally they alighted on another\nlimb of the tree, where they all sat in a row viewing him with silent\nmoody protest.\n\nWorn by fatigue and excitement Florimel closed his eyes in sleep, with\nan arm bared to the elbow hanging from the nest. When at last he was\nawakened by a confused babel of voices from below, dusk had fallen, and\na crescent moon hung low in the sky.\n\nThe eagles young and old in agitated manner once more were circling the\ndarkening sky, and leaning over the nest and looking down Florimel was\nastounded by what he saw.\n\nAnd no less astounded than he was were a band of little people who had\ncaught a glimpse of that rounded human arm sticking from an eagles' nest\nwith consequent and complete mystification to all.\n\nIn a ring and with characteristic postures they stood gabbling among\nthemselves and pointing up--a queer, very queer race, all males, with\nround fat little pot-bellies, thin, spindling shanks, long, tapering\nfeet, and babyish-looking heads set on their shoulders apparently\nwithout connecting necks. And these heads had large ears, wide mouths,\nand pop eyes--a combination that ordinarily would make the possessor of\nthem ugly, but which in their case contributed general results that made\nthem unusually winning and attractive.\n\nAs Florimel looked down he could note that there were many of one\ntype--tiny fellows who wore the same kinds of caps and jackets.\nBut there were others too--one of each kind--a Policeman with a\nclub, a Sailor with a spy-glass, an Indian, a Cowboy, and a single\nrepresentative from every country of importance in the world. England,\nIreland, Scotland, France, Germany, Russia, Switzerland, Austria,\nItaly, Turkey, Greece, Spain, Portugal, China, Japan, the United\nStates, Canada, and other lands had their delegates whom Florimel could\ndistinguish by means of a strange human picture-book in the museum\nof the kingdom from which he had flown, and which often he had been\npermitted to see. And, while he marveled and wondered thereat, his keen\neye alighted on another too--a tiny chap with high-topped, bell-crowned\nhat, black clothes with swallow-tail, a wide expanse of spotless white\nshirt-bosom, spats, and glistening patent-leather shoes--a pompous,\nvain, conceited, immaculate-looking little fellow who carried a cane\nthat seemed a part of him, and who wore a round piece of glass over one\nof his eyes.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nIn order to obtain a better view Florimel leaned further over, and so\ndisturbed the architecture of the nest, from which the sticks began to\nfall, until he felt the whole foundation going. But so suddenly did this\noccur that he did not have a chance to grasp a saving branch, and in a\ntrice plunged through the bottomless structure down--down--down--\n\nHe closed his dizzy frightened eyes, struck the waters of the lake, then\ndisappeared from sight.\n\nThe curious band watching him were quick to realize his predicament.\nWithout loss of time they ran to a shelf of rock that over-hung the\nlake, and one and all jumped in after him.\n\nKer-splash! ker-splash! resounded on all sides until the water was\ndotted with bobbing heads.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAs Florimel came to the surface, blinded and choking, someone quickly\ngrasped him, and, while the rest formed a living chain, he was passed on\nfrom one to another, until the last dragged him safely to shore.\n\nSoon they were all gathered about in a ring, with Florimel in the\ncentre, and, while the soft wind dried their dripping clothes, they\nlooked at him, and he at them, with wonder and surprise on all their\nfaces.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Avast there, messmates!\" said the Sailor to the rest. \"What did I tell\nyou? He can see us!\"\n\nAnd the cry was taken up all around the ring:\n\n\"He can see us! He can see us!\"\n\n\"Why shouldn't I be able to see you?\" said Florimel, rather impatiently.\n\"I have eyes.\"\n\n\"Yes,\" said one who wore a long black gown, and who had a tasseled\nmortarboard on his head, \"but so have other people. It takes second\nsight to see the Brownies.\"\n\nThe Brownies! Florimel's heart gave a sudden bound.\n\n\"Much am I beholden to you all,\" he said, \"for having rescued me. If you\nhad not saved me I should have been obliged to save myself.\"\n\n\"Can you swim?\" asked the Sailor, while all looked much chagrined.\n\n\"Like any duck!\" was Florimel's response. \"But are you mortal?\"\nquestioned the Uncle Sam Brownie. \"No mortal eye has ever yet beheld\nus.\"\n\n\"My ex-fairy godmother at my christening bestowed on me the gift of\nsecond sight,\" explained Florimel, \"so that I have always been able to\nsee things no one else could.\"\n\n\"Ah, that accounts for it,\" said the Irish Brownie, while the faces of\nall the others showed that a great mystery had suddenly been cleared\naway. \"You must have supernatural powers.\"\n\n\"Of that I am not sure,\" said Florimel, \"but of this much I am, that\nright gladly would I be one of you, to work and toil while weary\nhouseholds sleep, to delight in harmless pranks and helpful deeds, and\nnever be seen by mortal eye.\"\n\nThey looked at each other, evidently embarrassed by so bold a hint, and\nthe Brownie Dude voiced the thought that was in all minds when he\nfervently remarked:\n\n\"I wish King Stanislaus were here!\"\n\n\"But you are not a Brownie!\" said the Chinaman to Florimel in a most\ndecided tone. \"How could you join the band? You don't look like a\nBrownie. What have you ever done?\"\n\n\"Nothing, I fear,\" confessed Florimel. \"It is not what I have not done,\nbut what I hope to do, that makes me so presumptuous as to beg the honor\nto be one of you. And, if I were fortunate enough to be taken in by you,\nI would ever strive to be helpful, faithful, and true, like a Brownie.\"\n\nThese words, delivered with earnest, manly spirit, created their\nimpression.\n\n\"It may be you have supernatural powers, as the Irishman remarked,\" said\nthe Student Brownie doubtfully. \"Have you ever tried to put them to a\ntest?\" Prince Florimel sighed.\n\nWhat could he do to gain the confidence and esteem of these little\npeople whom already he was beginning to love? How could he make them all\nhis friends?\n\nIn his doubt and uncertainty his eye strayed to the bow in his hand.\nA sudden thought came to him. In this extremity it might be of aid.\n\nBut it had failed him once--would it fail him again?\n\nWithout a word he took an arrow from the quiver and placed it to the\nbow. The Brownies watched his every movement with the keenest interest.\n\nHe gazed about seeking some difficult target at which to aim. With their\npop eyes the Brownies gazed where he did.\n\nHe saw the crescent moon hanging low in the deepening sky, like a\nhunter's horn, and pointed the arrow at it.\n\nHe pulled back the cord with all his strength, and to his great relief\nit held. The arrow whistled away in its swift flight, and was lost in\nthe violet atmosphere.\n\nBut almost the next moment a great cry of surprise went up from all the\nBrownies. The arrow that Florimel had shot was sticking through the\nmoon!\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI\n\nTHE HUMAN OCTOPUS SNOOPS AROUND\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWatched by the admiring eyes of Dragonfel and his followers the Human\nOctopus wriggled and squirmed his way out of the enchanter's palace.\nAnd, whether he flew through the air, or swam through the waters, to\nQueen Titania's fairy kingdom, using his tentacles as propellers, is\na matter for conjecture. But, at any rate, he got there with all\ntentacles. Whenever his suspicions were aroused, or there was the\nslightest doubt, he would hastily secrete himself among shrubbery or\nweeds, with which his mottled green sides proved a perfect match, so\nthat as a whole he blended in admirably with the vegetation.\n\nHe did not have a heart, a rather sluggish liver performing for him\ninstead the necessary functions of the other organ, and, as he\napproached Queen Titania's palace with due caution, it thumped with\ntorpid pleasure.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nIf there was anything he liked above all others it was sneaking, and\nthe job which Dragonfel had given him presented most attractive\npossibilities.\n\nNoting a gurgling brook in the proximity of the portcullis, he took\ngreat pains to soak the round pad-like ends of his tentacles in water so\nthat when they were applied to a flat surface they would adhere through\natmospheric pressure sufficiently to bear his weight.\n\nIn such a manner, when no one was looking, did the wily rascal climb up\nthe high garden-wall and down the other side, wriggling and squirming\nwith ill-concealed chuckles toward the palace.\n\nOnly the magic dove that Euphrosyne had left, which was preening itself\non the edge of a fountain's basin, saw him, with the result that it was\nstrongly tempted to fly back to the Goddess of Mirth forthwith.\n\nAt the fountain the Human Octopus took the precaution to again soak his\nmultifarious pads in water, after which with his goggle eyes he cocked\nhis head in a professional survey of the palace. Then he began to ascend\none of its towering walls. Higher and higher, and still higher, he went\nin perfect safety until at last he gained the roof and squatted on the\ntop of a chimney.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThere he skillfully compressed himself to fit the dimensions of the\nflue, after which he began to let himself gently down like an\nelevator-car. A great volume of black, greasy smoke from the kitchen\nsuddenly belched forth and hid him from sight.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nIt was not so long afterward that, all covered with soot, he crawled out\nof the big open fireplace in the throne-room. Before he did so he made\nsure to satisfy himself that no one was there. But there was no telling\nwhen someone might come, and he knew it behooved him to secrete himself\nand instantly.\n\nHis goggle eyes oscillated in all directions around the room, and he\ncraftily selected for his hiding-place a great tall clock that stood up\nclose against the wall in a corner by itself.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nIt was not a grandfather's clock, for there were no grandfathers in\nQueen Titania's kingdom. It was what might more properly be termed a\ngrandmother's clock.\n\nThe villain opened the door, and projected himself into the clock's\ninterior, being obliged in order to accomplish this to make his\nproportions squarish and oblong. His queer-looking head showed at the\ntop instead of the clock's face. Then with one of his tentacles glued to\nthe door he pulled it back in its place.\n\n\"Now we shall see what we shall see,\" he snorted. \"I must be patient and\nbide my time.\"\n\nThe big brass pendulum swaying rhythmically to and fro with its measured\ntick-tock! tick-tock! kept hitting his stomach, and it tickled him so\nthat it was all he could do to keep from laughing.\n\nBut he knew that he must not do so. If he even snickered he might betray\nhimself. So he put a number of his tentacles over his mouth and tried\nhard to keep a straight face.\n\nNow, though every month was a fair month, a rare month, for the murmur\nof the little streams was never hushed, and the fruits and flowers\nalways were in bloom, with the skies mostly blue above them, and the\nwinds soft and kind, May to the fairies' way of thinking was the\nsweetest of all the happy year, and whenever it came round it was\ntendered a becoming ceremony.\n\nThe Eve o' May was a holiday, though it might truthfully be said that\nevery day was a holiday.\n\nBut at this particular time when all nature was at its best there were\nspecial observances that sprang from the gladness and exultation in all\nhearts, the very joy of existence, and the happiness that was manifested\nby every living thing.\n\nQueen Titania and her fairies prepared for the innocent revels and\ndances that were to occur on a velvet sward some distance from the\npalace grounds, and their hearts were pleasantly thrilled by a notice\nwith some pictures of Brownies that had been mysteriously tacked up in\nthe neighborhood.\n\nMarvelous was the flower-texture of the gowns donned for this gala\noccasion, and in her robes of blush-pink mossrose petals which swept\naway in a long, fragrant train Titania never looked more beautiful and\ncharming.\n\nLittle old Dame Drusilda who resembled a human morning-glory, with hat,\nbodice, and dress all like cornucopias, fumed, fretted, and ordered all\nthe other fairies around.\n\n\"As I live,\" the fussy dame declared, \"we've forgotten to wind the big\nclock, and it's almost run down. Violet and Daffodil, go to the\nthrone-room, and attend to this before we start.\"\n\nThe two good-naturedly ran to do her bidding, and when he saw them\ncoming the Human Octopus had an uneasy qualm.\n\nHe hastily tried to distort his ugly face into a resemblance of the\nRoman numerals, and stuck up two tentacles for the hour and minute\nhands, but the deception was a poor one, and would not work. Violet and\nDaffodil set about to wind the clock, but, on looking up to note the\ntime, they were confronted by a face twisted in an expression that the\nHuman Octopus very foolishly thought invited confidence, but which\ninstead sent them scurrying and hurrying with gathered-up flower skirts\nand ear-splitting shrieks from the room.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"I wonder what they're scared of,\" said the stupid fellow to himself.\n\"Well, it isn't the first time I've given folks a start in life. And now\nit behooves me to remove myself from here forthwith, if not sooner, for\nif they come back and catch me the jig is up!\"\n\nThe tick-tock! tick-tock! of the pendulum reminded him that every\nmoment was precious, so he scrambled out of the clock, and wig-wagged\nhis way out of the room.\n\nWhen he came to a fountain he lumberingly clambered up into the basin,\nand puddled around in the water to get the soot off, and once more as\nthe dove watched him perform his ablutions it found it difficult to\nrefrain from flying back to Euphrosyne.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe Human Octopus peered through a lattice, but none of the fairies was\nin sight. Then he hustled up the garden-wall, and down the other side,\nfinally secreting himself in a big floral urn by the portcullis, where\nhe awaited further developments.\n\nNo one would have guessed he was there, for he seemed to be a part\nof the luxuriant green growth, and he even let his tentacles droop\ngracefully over with the branches and stalks of the palms and ferns to\nheighten the illusion.\n\nMeanwhile Violet and Daffodil were telling a most harrowing story to\nQueen Titania and the rest of the fairies, but so frightened were they\nstill that it was hardly intelligible. Finally they were all prevailed\nupon to accompany the two to the throne-room to see for themselves.\n\nNothing was inside the clock, of course, but the brass works.\n\n\"It seems to me you both have very vivid imaginations, young ladies,\"\nchided Dame Drusilda. \"After this I would let Welsh rabbits alone.\"\n\n\"It's not there now, but it was there,\" persisted Violet stoutly, \"and\nit was the most dreadful looking thing you ever saw.\"\n\n\"It was worse than that,\" added Daffodil. \"It was the most dreadful\nlooking thing you never saw.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Well, even if there was such a horrid creature, it's gone,\" said Queen\nTitania comfortingly, \"so why should we trouble ourselves about it any\nlonger? It's time for our revels to begin, and if we don't hurry up the\nice cream will all melt, and remember there's angel-cake, charlotte\nrusse, and lemonade besides!\"\n\nThe tiny Cupids, whose hearts were going pit-a-pat, for they believed\nimplicitly every word that Violet and Daffodil had said, hastily\ngathered up Her Majesty's train.\n\nAll started from the palace, the portcullis being raised to let them\npass, and from his hiding-place in the urn the Human Octopus with his\nbig, gloating, goggle eyes noted every movement that they made. But\nthey had no suspicion that he lurked among the palms and ferns.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAfter they had disappeared from sight he flopped down, and keeping his\neyes close to the earth followed the wee footprints that they made.\n\nHis sleuth-like, sneaky search led him straight to where the fairies\nsported on the green, and as he drew nearer to them he exercised more\ncaution.\n\nHe compressed himself more closely to the ground, and picking out a\nluxuriant clump of peculiar rainbow roses whose leaves afforded a most\neffective screen he crawled to it to wait and bide his time.\n\nAs he watched the innocent, happy fays garlanded with fragrant,\nmany-hued flowers pose and pirouette he could not deny to them with\na certain grace that many enthusiasts would have pronounced most\nexquisite. But he had never been to dancing school, and he did not trip\nthe light, fantastic tentacle himself.\n\nHe was greatly interested in all he saw, however, and even more so when\nat last he noticed Queen Titania, the Cupids, and several of the fairies\nleave the lithe, flushed, happy group. For Queen Titania had spied\nthe rainbow roses, different from all the rest, and ran with eager,\nsparkling eyes to fill her arms with them. Little she dreamed of the\ndanger that lurked in all their perfumed radiance. Swiftly she came,\noutdistancing the others, and as she bent over in sweet, innocent\npillage the mean, contemptible nature of the Human Octopus manifested\nitself. Forgetful of his diplomatic mission, he wound his tentacles\naround her until she looked like a mesh-bag. When she began almost\ninstantly to scream he grimly increased the pressure. The fairies and\nCupids, horrified beyond measure by what they beheld, and helpless to\naid their beloved queen, fled with wild cries.\n\nThe Human Octopus tightened his cruel grip. Titania's head fell back,\nher golden hair streamed over her shoulders, her eyes distended, and she\ncould not get her breath.\n\nSlowly but surely the Human Octopus was strangling her!\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII\n\nFLORIMEL IS ADOPTED BY KING STANISLAUS\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nDelighted beyond measure were all the Brownies with Prince Florimel's\nmost amazing feat, and their pleasure manifested itself in broad smiles\nupon smug faces, the nodding of round little heads, the slapping of\nhands on each other's backs, and the good-natured poking of fists in\neach other's stomachs.\n\nThey pressed close to Florimel and kept wringing his hand in\ncongratulation. Not even a Brownie could do what he had done.\n\nAll wanted to examine the bow that had accomplished a result so\nwonderful. But it was just like the ordinary bow of any archer, and\nits wood and gut presented no solution of the remarkable happening;\nit was no story, they saw it themselves.\n\nThen, noting that Florimel's attire was torn in many places, and that\nhere and there his fair flesh showed, they stripped him of his garments,\nreplacing them with skin-tight trousers that with the greatest\ndifficulty they drew over his legs, long, tapering shoes, a jacket with\nbig buttons, and a pinnacle-shaped cap whose top could not sustain\nitself but fell over on his head.\n\nMany nimble hands attended to his valeting, and though Florimel observed\nthat he was garbed as an ordinary Brownie, of which there were a large\nnumber, he was rejoiced at the eagerness they now displayed to transform\nhim to a Brownie, and make him one of themselves. Yet he could not help\nthinking, as he glanced first at them, and then at himself, how\ndifferent he was from them all.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTry as they might they could not bestow on him the pop eyes, big ears,\nand broad, distended mouth that parted in a smile so evident of inward\nsatisfaction. He was as fair and sightly as one could wish to be, yet he\nwould rather have looked like a Brownie. Only in size did he resemble\none.\n\nSome such thought must have been in the minds of the Brownies too, for\nthey seemed puzzled as they inspected their new comrade.\n\nWhile they were making their first awkward overtures of friendship the\nattention of all was suddenly diverted to two ordinary Brownies rolling\na watermelon up the steep hill. The melon was perhaps thrice their size,\nand they puffed and grunted over what to them was a herculean task.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nJust when their labor promised to be light, with the crest of the hill\nalmost reached, they stopped to take their breath, and in doing so\nrelinquished their hold on the melon.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBumpety-bumpety! it started rolling down the hill. Both ran after it in\npursuit, then realizing that they were being distanced stood stock-still\nwith horror on their faces. Bumpety-bumpety! came the big melon, with\never increasing momentum, while the eyes of Florimel and all the rest\nfollowed its erratic course down the hill--bumpety-bumpety!--with leaps\nand bounds--bumpety-bumpety!--first to one side, then to another,\nbumpety-bumpety!--till it finished with an extra high bound and squashed\nall to pieces right in their very midst. Little jets of sweet water shot\nin all directions from its sides as though projected from a syphon, and\nout from the juicy, luscious, red pulp exposed to view there crawled\nsheepishly on his hands and knees a little weazened old fellow who wore\nan ermine cape and gold crown.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Hail, Your Majesty!\" shouted all the Brownies, and the little old\nfellow stood up, rubbed himself, and said, rather ruefully:\n\n\"No, I'd rather reign!\"\n\nThen the Brownies, under the leadership of the Dude, yelled, in perfect\nunison:\n\n    \"'Rah! 'rah! 'rah!\n    Stan-is-laus!\n    Siss-boom-ah!\"\n\n\"Thanks!\" graciously acknowledged His Majesty, adding by way of\nexplanation:\n\n    \"I chose this watermelon green\n    To shun the treacherous submarine!\"\n\nThen a puzzled expression came to his face as his eye suddenly observed\nFlorimel.\n\n\"Why, who's this fellow?\" he demanded. \"You're not trying to make a\nBrownie of him, are you?\"\n\nFlorimel's heart sank, for he realized that here was the king himself,\nwhose word was absolute law to all these little people.\n\nIf he frowned down on any plans they had made in his behalf, all the\nhopes that had sprung up in his breast would be ruthlessly shattered.\n\nThe Brownies seemed troubled too, for they would not have brought\ndispleasure to King Stanislaus for all the world.\n\nWhile the new-comer stood looking timidly down, without daring to meet\nthe questioning gaze of that kindly but august monarch, his little\ncompanions made bold to extol his virtues real and imaginary till their\ntongues were all wagging at such a great rate that Florimel could not\nhelp but furiously blush.\n\nFirst they pointed to the crescent moon, still pierced by the arrow,\naverring earnestly that it was Florimel's accomplishment, and the sudden\nstart King Stanislaus gave when he beheld this marvel showed that he was\nproperly impressed.\n\nThen they called his attention to the eagles' nest high up in the tree,\nexplaining that it was there they first saw the stranger, after which\nthey waited anxiously as did Florimel to hear what His Majesty would\nsay.\n\nKing Stanislaus looked not displeased, and one and all took heart.\n\n\"If Moses was found among the frogs, and Romulus among the wolves,\" said\nthe monarch, with great deliberation, \"then an eagles' nest is a fitting\ncradle for a Brownie prince!\"\n\nThis speech caused the Brownies to burst into a sudden wild cheer that\nmade the welkin ring, for they realized that not only had King\nStanislaus set approval on what they had done, but he had gone much\nfurther.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe had made Florimel his heir by adoption, and successor to the Brownie\nthrone! \"See that he is properly attired,\" was the royal command, and\nonce more Florimel's appearance underwent a swift and startling change.\n\nFrom some invisible source fresh wardrobe was supplied, and from a\nplain, ordinary Brownie he was transformed into a handsome, dashing\nlittle prince as pert and pretty a sprig of royalty as one could see in\nmany a long journey over lands where there were kings and queens with\nlarge, flourishing families--in trunks, doublet, and cape, with a cap\nthat perched jauntily upon his roguish curls.\n\nFilled with gratitude was he over this great, this unexpected honor that\nhad befallen him and he expressed his thanks as best he could feeling\nthat the words he used were poor at best, but vowing loyalty and\nobedience in all things evermore to his gracious foster-parent.\n\n\"It will not be so very long, my son, before you occupy the throne,\"\nsaid King Stanislaus, and his voice took on a rather pensive tone. \"A\nfew short years--a couple of thousands or so--and I shall have passed\naway. When I am gone I shall leave to you all-out-doors and the love of\nchildren, a priceless heritage which you must treasure tenderly and\nnever lose.\"\n\nThen came the Brownies with pledges of fealty to their prince, and\nFlorimel smiled back into their smiling faces, while all were glad.\n\nThe Policeman limping slightly came and offered him his club, but\nFlorimel good-humoredly refused it, and waved him aside. The Sailor came\nnext with his spy-glass, but Florimel laughingly declined it also.\n\nEach of the band in a free-hearted way evinced a desire to surrender to\nhim his most cherished possession, and much touched was he by their\nexpressions of good will. But the most he would accept was an eagle's\nfeather which had been dropped by one of the birds to the ground, and\nwhich the Dude stuck in his cap.\n\nSoon matters took on their usual routine, and, noticing that the\nPoliceman limped, King Stanislaus asked:\n\n\"Officer, what's the matter?\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"I fell off the palace-wall last night, Your Majesty, when I was tacking\nup the placard.\"\n\n\"What did you fall against?\"\n\n\"I fell against my will. One of the fairy guards mistook me for an\nenemy, and fired a charge of shot at me.\"\n\n\"Did you press a complaint?\"\n\n\"No, I withdrew the charge.\"\n\nInto an admiring group some distance off the well-informed Dude was\ninstilling the first principles of etiquette.\n\n\"It is not good form to try to eat your peas with a knife,\" he told\nthem. \"You should spear them with a fork.\"\n\nAnd the Sailor was growling to the German:\n\n\"Avast there, you lubber! A dog-watch isn't a chronometer.\"\n\nThe Indian with a flourish of his tomahawk came running to King\nStanislaus, and imparted the surprising intelligence:\n\n\"The dromedary's swallowed all the door-knobs, and the knobs are in his\nstomachs.\"\n\n\"Which one of his stomachs?\"\n\n\"I don't know, Your Majesty.\"\n\n\"Can't you see which looks the knobbiest?\"\n\nFlorimel could not but admire the shrewdness of King Stanislaus in\ndisposing of all matters great and small, and he did not feel that he\ncould ever reign and be as wise as he.\n\nThe little monarch held his subjects under most admirable control, and\nin arguments that sometimes rose between them one word from his lips\nwould effectually settle all dispute.\n\nAnd so they wandered on and on, hiding away from sight ere the first\nrays of the morning sun could strike them, and sallying forth again when\nthe stars began to shine at night.\n\nMany a harmless prank they played, and helpful deed they did, in which\nFlorimel took hearty part, and he grew to love them more and more, as\nthey did him.\n\nOne thing was a source of great surprise to him, yet, after he\nconsidered, it was not surprising, which was that all dumb creatures,\nwhether of the fields or air, were the Brownies' friends, and loved\nthem.\n\nIn countless ways they all evinced delight whenever these good-natured\nlittle goblings were at hand, for they knew that they would help instead\nof harm them.\n\nEven the savage animals that had so lately thirsted for Florimel's blood\nproved tractable, and neither they nor the Brownies showed the slightest\nfear of each other. The beasts grovelled and rolled over with pleasure\nwhen the Brownies playfully yanked and pulled their tails.\n\nAll was harmony between them, and the industrious animals went on with\ntheir task of gathering bones without caring whether the Brownies were\nnear or far.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSo on they fared with light hearts that had never a care. The country\ngrew less wild and mountainous, till there were emerald fields, green\ncopses, and flowers blooming everywhere. The sweet, caressing air had\njust a soft reminder of the sea in it.\n\nAnd, while they hid away one day in a leafy covert, while the birds in\nthe branches round them were pouring their hearts out in gladness,\npiercing screams suddenly rent the air, and caused all great alarm.\n\"Let us make haste!\" cried Florimel, springing to his feet. \"There is\ndanger in that cry!\"\n\nBut when he started King Stanislaus tried to hold him back. \"Have a\ncare, Florimel!\" he warned. \"It may be a decoy to entrap us!\" \"Let me\ngo!\" said Florimel, struggling.\n\nHe broke from King Stanislaus's kindly, well-meant grasp, and ran with\nmight and main in the direction from which the terrifying sounds still\ncame. The Brownies looked at each other in great dismay. Into what\ndanger had their beloved Prince Florimel so recklessly plunged, and\nwould they ever see his face again?\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII\n\nQUEEN TITANIA'S GREAT PERIL\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nPrince Florimel sped with the fleetness of a deer in the direction from\nwhich had come those agonizing cries for help.\n\nAs he fairly flew over the ground he saw the fairies and Cupids who had\nbeen Titania's companions, and they pointed in a frenzy of alarm to the\nclump of rainbow roses in the midst of which their unfortunate queen was\nin the clutches of the dreadful Human Octopus.\n\nThe monster was still tightening his vise-like grip, and tortured by the\npain of his loathsome embrace, Titania was fast relapsing into\nunconsciousness.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nFlorimel drew near, and was aghast at what he beheld.\n\nAs his eye took in the frightening spectacle he realized that there was\nnot a moment to lose.\n\nQuick as a flash he whipped an arrow from his quiver and placed it to\nthe bow.\n\nHe aimed the arrow straight at the Human Octopus, and back to its\ngreatest tension pulled the cord.\n\nOnce again the cord proved true, and the speeding arrow cleft the Human\nOctopus in twain.\n\nHis shell fell instantly apart, and from the interior there flew away\ninto space a vapory-looking object with a long, trailing red cloak that\nhad all the lightness and airiness of gauze.\n\nDumfounded was Florimel by this most unexpected and amazing sight, but\nthere were other matters more urgent and pressing to demand his\nimmediate attention.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWith her strength almost spent Titania reeled and seemed about to faint,\nbut Florimel sprang to her aid, and sustained her in his arms.\n\nHe strove to assure her that there was nothing further to fear until at\nlast she began to recover her composure. \"Noble prince,\" she murmured,\nin tones that thrilled him, \"you have saved my life, so henceforth it is\nyours!\"\n\nFlorimel sank upon one knee before her, and kissed the pink finger-tips\nof the dainty hand she extended to him.\n\nLooking up into her face, he thought he had never seen anyone so\nbeautiful as she, while her tiny heart throbbed faster at the sight of\nhim in all his gallant trappings, and she was very sure she had never\nseen anyone so handsome.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen came in the greatest excitement all the fairies and Brownies, for\nthese latter little people when Florimel left them had followed close\nupon his heels to aid him if need be, since, in spite of mystic power\nthat had temporarily passed with night, they were too brave to desert a\ncomrade when danger threatened.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe horror and fear of what they had just witnessed was too much for\nmany of the fairies, and the kind-hearted Brownies had the interesting\ntask of conveying some to places of safety, where they could receive\nproper treatment. In this work even the Chinaman willingly assisted.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nA group of curious sprites with much interest inspected several of the\ncreature's tentacles, while Queen Titania's overjoyed subjects crowded\naround Florimel with such profuse expressions of gratitude that he was\nmuch embarrassed.\n\n\"What did I tell you?\" cried Violet, and \"What did I tell you?\" echoed\nDaffodil, while all with much timidity examined the green, mottled shell\nthat lay in halves upon the ground. \"That was the horrid thing we saw in\nthe clock.\"\n\n\"Well, never mind now,\" said Queen Titania, with a sigh of relief. \"The\nmonster will not trouble us again.\"\n\nIn spite of what the queen said, Florimel was not so sure that they\nwould have no more trouble, since he had seen the wraith-like Red Spirit\nfly from the shell of the Human Octopus off into the air.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSomewhere he feared this strange, evil being lurked to wreak further\nharm. Not wishing to cause uneasiness to Queen Titania, however, he said\nnever a word.\n\nThen Brownies and fairies mingled together in happy, joyous mood. But\nFlorimel and Titania withdrew from all the rest, and had eyes only for\neach other.\n\n\"I think I can guess how all this is going to end,\" said the Policeman\nto the Sailor, in a voice that showed great resentment.\n\n\"Avast, you lubber!\" sharply reproved the Sailor. \"Now what d'ye mean?\"\n\n\"I mean that Florimel has fallen in love with the queen, and will marry\nher.\"\n\n\"How can he? Florimel is a Brownie, and Brownies never marry.\"\n\n\"But Florimel is not a real Brownie. He's only been taken into the band.\nJust look at them now!\"\n\nThe Sailor cocked his eye to where Florimel was bending over Titania,\nwith his head very close to hers.\n\n\"Shiver my timbers!\" he cried. \"They do look orange-blossomy!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nNoting the impression Queen Titania was making upon Prince Florimel,\nDame Drusilda determined to exercise her arts upon the immaculate little\nDude, with whom she was very much taken.\n\n\"I hear,\" she remarked to the Student, \"that he is connected with the\nbest families.\"\n\n\"Yes,\" he replied, rather enviously, \"he sometimes is by telephone.\"\n\nBut as soon as she could do so she joined the group in which the Dude\nheld forth vivaciously, and when opportunity presented itself contrived\nto say:\n\n\"Ah, sir, in your pretty ways you remind me of the gallants of old\ntimes!\"\n\n\"You must be able to remember quite far back,\" he said, as he looked at\nher through his monocle.\n\n\"Forsooth, kind sir,\" she hastened to say, \"I only speak through\nhearsay. What I know my great-grandmother told my grandmother, who told\nmy mother, who in turn told me. As you can plainly see I am different\nfrom other fairies. They call me a beauty of the old school.\"\n\n\"Hasn't school been out a good many years?\" he asked.\n\n\"I fail to comprehend you,\" she said, with a blush. \"Mayhap you are not\nsusceptible to beauty. Yet I have heard it often remarked that a\nbeautiful woman can make the strongest man go down on his knees.\"\n\nThe Dude gave his cuffs an admiring glance.\n\n\"So can a collar-button!\" he said.\n\nThe day passed in sports and merry-making, followed by other days in\nwhich the Brownies remained in close proximity to the palace. During all\nthis time Florimel and Titania were much together, and their attachment\nfor each other was remarked by all.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe Brownies, growing uneasy over the thought that they might lose\ntheir new companion to whom they had become so friendly, were eager to\nmove on in quest of fresh scenes and adventures.\n\nKing Stanislaus, with the belief that this might be a passing fancy on\nthe part of Florimel, humored his wishes, and ordered the band to\nremain. When he reached the definite conclusion that it was not, he\nsaid:\n\n\"My son, we have been here now quite a long time. Do you not think we\nhad better seek some other place where we can do good?\"\n\nFlorimel's face showed his disappointment.\n\n\"No matter where one may be,\" he said, \"there are always plenty of\nopportunities to do good. Why not continue here, where we are all so\nhappy?\"\n\n\"I hope to make Titania my wife,\" said Florimel simply.\n\n\"And where you are happiest of all,\" said His Majesty, with a knowing\nwink. \"Ah, Florimel, my boy, your whole life-story, like nearly every\nother man's, may be summed up in just these three words: hatched,\nmatched, dispatched! Tell me how far matters have gone.\"\n\nHe looked anxiously at King Stanislaus's face, as though he feared to\nsee displeasure written there, but the genial, encouraging smile upon\nthe royal countenance caused him to take heart.\n\n\"I shall be sorry to lose a son,\" said the kindly monarch, \"but I shall\nbe rejoiced to gain a daughter. Frankly it has always been my great\ndesire to have an alliance of the Brownies and fairies, for together we\ncan do more good than if we worked alone. But until you came I never\nknew how this could be effected, for Brownies can never marry.\"\n\n\"Much pleased am I by those words, Your Majesty,\" said Florimel. \"I do\nnot deny that I wish to be with Titania, for my feelings as far as she\nis concerned are too plain to be disguised. Still it is not alone the\njoy of being near her that causes me to wish this, but the thought that\nharm may come to her at any time, in which case I might be able to be of\nservice to her.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nKing Stanislaus seemed very much surprised.\n\n\"Harm!\" he repeated. \"What harm can befall her?\"\n\n\"You forget the great danger she was in from the Human Octopus,\"\nreminded Florimel.\n\n\"But the Human Octopus is no more,\" said the king. \"There is nothing to\nfear on that score, drop him from memory.\"\n\n\"Still Dragonfel the enchanter has made his threats,\" said Florimel.\n\"They may be wild, foolish threats, yet they cause me great uneasiness.\nI fear for the queen because of him.\"\n\nThen he told the king for the first time how the Red Spirit, after the\nHuman Octopus had been cleft in twain by the magic arrow, had flown away\ninto the air, to bide his time, perhaps for further mischief and\nwrong-doing.\n\nHis Majesty's little weazened face turned very grave at the recital.\n\n\"Still, Florimel, I would not worry,\" he said. \"I will caution all the\nband to keep a sharp look-out for the rascal. And do you, my son, woo\nand win, Titania, for my blessing will fall upon you both.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTo that end Florimel exerted himself, but it was an easy task, since\nTitania loved him fully as dearly as he her. So when they were seated\nonce at twilight on a stone bench in the palace-garden, very close to\neach other, he asked the question ever trembling on his lips, and she\ndid not say him nay.\n\nThen Florimel took a slender circlet of gold and placed it on her tiny\nengagement finger. But, while she first looked at it, then pressed it\nvery tenderly to her little red pouting lips, the Red Spirit suddenly\ndarted from behind the bench, where he had been eavesdropping all the\nwhile.\n\nBefore Florimel could reach for an arrow the other flew off in the air\nand disappeared.\n\n\"What was that?\" Titania cried, in great alarm.\n\nFlorimel strove to ease her mind, though he was much alarmed himself.\n\nHe felt that the Red Spirit was going to make trouble.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX\n\nTHE COMPACT WITH VULCAN\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nOver the sea Dragonfel the enchanter waited with increasing impatience\nfor the Human Octopus to return with whatever information he might glean\nin his prowling, sneaking manner. When his grotesque emissary did not\nput in a prompt appearance he grew more surly and ill-humored than ever.\nHe vented his rage upon the poor little mine-sprites by increasing their\nworking-hours and decreasing their allowance of carrot-tops and\npotato-skins.\n\nWhenever he spoke to his followers their knees knocked together with\nfright. At no time was he gentle, but when he was particularly violent,\nwhich was nearly always, he was a very bad person who could be well\navoided.\n\nSo he became even crankier and crosser-grained than ever, till all\naround him quaked with fear. He wondered why the Human Octopus did not\ncome back, and his inexplicable delay filled him with ungovernable fury.\n\n\"He's not attending to business,\" he said, grinding his teeth with rage.\n\"Instead of snooping he's just going around, and having a good time. But\nwait till he gets back, and I'll show him!\" As he spoke these words he\nhappened to be in his throne room, and he went to the open window to\nlook out.\n\nIt was a wild, terrible night, but the worse the weather was the more\nDragonfel liked it.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe lightning zig-zagged all over the inky black sky, the thunder\nroared, the wind howled, and the rain beat down in slanting torrents.\n\n\"Vulcan must have some little job on hand,\" Dragonfel pondered, as he\nreturned to his throne.\n\nScarcely had he done so when there came a sudden fierce gust of wind\nthat blew the Red Spirit through the window right to his very feet\nwhere he cringed and grovelled and fawned in the most abject manner.\n\n\"How now, you rogue?\" roared Dragonfel above the storm. \"Where have you\nbeen, and what has kept you? Why have you not returned as you went?\nAnswer, villain, or it will go hard with you! I will have you strung up\nby the finger-tips till your toes barely touch the ground and beaten by\na thousand and one whips!\"\n\n\"Oh, master, kind master,\" gasped the Red Spirit, trying to catch his\nbreath, \"wonderful things have I seen, and wonderful things have I to\ntell you. So incredible are they that you may not believe me, yet I do\nassure you most positively that what I am about to relate is the truth,\nthe whole truth, and nothing but the truth. I would never have believed\nthem myself had I not seen them with my own eyes.\"\n\n\"Omit all this long, unnecessary preamble,\" growled Dragonfel, in great\ndisgust, \"and get down to hard facts. What have you discovered?\"\n\n\"The Brownie prince is to wed the fairy queen!\"\n\nDragonfel's face went from scarlet to white, then from white to scarlet,\nthen back to white, and then to scarlet again, just like the flashing of\na vari-colored electric sign.\n\n\"How do you know?\" he asked, trying to control his temper. \"Who told\nyou?\"\n\n\"No one,\" said the trembling Red Spirit. \"I saw him place an\nengagement-ring on her finger.\"\n\n\"Well,\" declared Dragonfel, in a tone of the utmost brutality, \"if they\nare planning to get married all I've got to say is they've got another\nguess coming!\"\n\n\"Who will prevent the marriage, kind master?\"\n\n\"I will prevent it!\" irascibly shouted the enchanter, and he clapped his\nhands together in an imperious way. \"What ho, without there! Here's a\npretty kettle of fish! Come hither instantly!\"\n\nGrouthead, Mandrake, Boundingbore, Wolfinger, Snoutpimple, and others\nwere out in an ante-room, and they almost tumbled over each other in\ntheir frantic haste to answer the peremptory summons.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Put on your storm-cloaks immediately,\" ordered Dragonfel. \"I want you\nto come with me to Vulcan's.\"\n\n\"It's a terrible night to be out, kind master,\" ventured Grouthead, with\na shudder.\n\nThere came a flash of lightning and a crash of thunder more terrifying\nthan any that had gone before.\n\n\"What's the matter with the night?\" snapped Dragonfel. \"I don't see\nanything wrong with it. I call this particularly pleasant weather.\"\n\n\"Yes, it's all right now,\" Grouthead hastened to say.\n\nSo in their long, flowing cloaks they all sloshed out in the wind and\nrain, while the hearts of those who followed after the enchanter quaked\nand quailed as they plunged on through the pitch-black darkness of the\nnight.\n\nThe wind howled and shrieked with increasing fury, the lightning grew\nsharper, and the peals of thunder more deafening, so that their eyes\nwere nearly blinded, and their ear-drums rang.\n\nNow not so very far from Dragonfel's palace Vulcan whom they had set\nforth to see had his cavern.\n\nIt was a very modest establishment indeed, considering the prodigious\nresults that he achieved, and the wonder was that in such cramped\nquarters, and with so few to aid him in his work, he could do as much as\nhe did.\n\nThe cavern was down by the sea, in among huge rocks and boulders, and\nover the door, in very modest lettering, was the business sign: VULCAN\nGOD OF FIRE.\n\nInside was a forge with bellows such as any country blacksmith has, and\nhere Vulcan manufactured earthquakes and volcanos at will.\n\nHe could create seismic disturbances all over the world, in a trice\nthrow Vesuvius into hysterical contraptions, or make things suddenly\nred-hot in Mexico or the British Honduras. His wares were known in every\nquarter of the globe, and he didn't even so much as advertise.\n\nOn this particular night he stood as usual at his forge--a great big,\nhusky, bearded fellow in a red flannel undershirt bared at his brawny,\nhairy chest, and with sleeves rolled almost up to his shoulders to give\nthe tremendous muscles of his arms full play.\n\n[Illustration: Vulcan threatening his imps with a hot poker.]\n\nHe wore a round leather cap and had on a leather apron tied to his\nburly waist by leather thongs. Things needed touching up a bit, and he\nwas getting busy.\n\n\"Where are those lazy 'prentices of mine?\" he roared, in rumbling tones,\nas he pumped the bellows, while the flames in the forge leaped higher\nand higher. \"Spry, Flash, Nimble, Twist, and the rest of you--where are\nyou, I say? Has my voice grown so weak, you rogues, that you cannot hear\nme? Come hither this instant!\"\n\nFrom all directions in response to the angry summons came imps in red\nattire that fitted their lithe, supple bodies as snugly as the skins of\neels.\n\nThey somersaulted down the chimney, popped up like jack-in-th'-boxes\nfrom the earthen floor, and described parabolas through the air from the\ncavern's ceiling, grouping themselves humbly on their knees before their\nirate master, with their arms supplicatingly extended.\n\n\"Here at last, are you?\" again roared Vulcan. \"And none too soon,\neither! Where have you been, imps? Idling your time away? Quick! heap\ncoals on, all of you, or the fire will be out!\"\n\nForthwith they flung balls of living fire into the forge, and, as Vulcan\npumped away at the bellows, he burst out in lusty song:\n\n        \"When the flames leap high\n         From the crater to the sky\n    I roll up my sleeves with delight;\n         When the strongest buildings rock\n         To the awful earthquake's shock\n    The trembling millions all confess my might!\"\n\nThe lightning flashed, the thunder crashed, and over all the storm was\nheard a voice calling: \"Vul-can! Vul-can!\"\n\nVulcan stopped work while his imps crept stealthily toward the door to\nlisten.\n\n\"Is Vulcan at his forge?\" was shouted in the wind and rain outside, with\nthe accompaniment of a terrific knock on the door.\n\n\"Who dares disturb me on my busy night?\" cried Vulcan, in a towering\npassion.\n\n[Illustration: DRAGONFEL KNOCKING ON VULCAN'S DOOR.]\n\n\"It is I, Dragonfel, the enchanter,\" said the voice placatingly.\n\n\"What brings you here?\" asked Vulcan.\n\n\"I come on business of great import, mighty Vulcan!\"\n\n\"Enter, then, and be brief,\" said Vulcan, with scant hospitality.\n\"Remember I have work to do.\"\n\nDragonfel and his followers thereupon appeared in the doorway, and came\nforward escorted by the imps who evinced the greatest curiosity in the\nstrange, rain-soaked visitors.\n\nWhen they were within respectful distance of Vulcan the enchanter sank\non one knee before him, and the rest immediately followed his example.\n\n\"Why have you sought me out?\" demanded Vulcan, with distrust and\nsuspicion on his seamed, rugged face as he sharply eyed them.\n\n\"Oh, Vulcan,\" spoke Dragonfel, in smooth, oily tones, \"powerful as I am,\nI acknowledge you my master. Who else can match you in your wondrous\nstrength?\"\n\n\"You've come for a favor!\" grunted the other. \"Well, out with it!\"\n\n\"I wish to tell you about the Brownies.\"\n\n\"What about the Brownies?\"\n\n\"There is to be a marriage in Fairyland. The Brownie prince is to wed\nthe fairy queen!\"\n\n\"Bah! How does this concern me?\"\n\n\"It should concern you. Listen, Vulcan! There is no authority for such\na marriage in all the annals of mythology.\"\n\nThe words created a deep impression upon Vulcan.\n\n\"No authority?\" he repeated slowly, as though he were mentally digesting\nwhat he had just heard. \"Are you sure of this?\"\n\n\"There is none, I tell you,\" insisted Dragonfel emphatically. \"It is\nenough to arouse the anger of the high and mighty gods. My own power\nwill be diminished, if not lost, should this union take place.\" \"Are\nyou using any measures to prevent it?\" asked Vulcan thoughtfully. \"Aye!\"\nwas Dragonfel's decided response. \"I am going across the sea with these\nfollowers of mine to interfere. Can I rely upon your powerful aid should\nI need it?\" \"How can I help you?\" \"If I call upon you will you convulse\nthe earth, and rouse to fury the slumbering volcano?\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Trust me for that!\" cried Vulcan, beginning to pump the bellows. \"The\nelement of fire is still my own, to use at will.\"\n\nA lightning-bolt hurled itself right in their very midst, and the\nresultant thunder-clap brought Dragonfel and his followers to their feet\nin sudden alarm. \"Enough!\" cried Dragonfel exultingly. \"It is a compact,\nthen!\"\n\n\"Here is my hand on it!\" said Vulcan, and he crushed that of the\nenchanter in his grimy fist. \"Spry, Flash, Nimble, and Twist, my crafty\nimps, shall go with you. Through them appeal to me. But what do you\npropose to do?\"\n\n\"I have a plan, and a good one too!\" said Dragonfel, in a confidential\nmanner. \"You can depend upon it, rats will eat the wedding-cake!\"\nVulcan's fancy was so tickled that he laughed hilariously, and Dragonfel\nmade bold to slap him in a familiar way upon the back. \"Ho! ho!\" Vulcan\nchuckled. \"So rats will eat the wedding-cake, eh?\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Yes,\" Dragonfel went on. \"We're going to the wedding, gain their\nconfidence with fine presents, and then--\"\n\n\"Yes,\" said Vulcan, very much interested. \"And then--?\"\n\nDragonfel leaned over and whispered something in Vulcan's ear which\ncaused him to start back in surprise. \"No!\" he involuntarily exclaimed.\n\"Do you think you can do it?\" If Florimel and Titania could have heard\nthe diabolical plan of the enchanter all the happiness would have\nvanished from their hearts.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X\n\nTHE STRANGE WEDDING-GUESTS\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBright and fair dawned the wedding-day of Prince Florimel and Queen\nTitania.\n\nThough all the days vied in beauty with each other, this one seemed to\nbe more radiant with grace and loveliness than usual, for every living\nthing loved the happy little lovers and all Nature rejoiced with them.\n\nThe skies put on their tenderest blue, the sun scattered even more of\nits golden treasure, the winds grew more balmy and caressing, while the\nflowers were prodigal with perfume, and the birds were tireless with\ntheir joyous serenades.\n\nThough the ceremony was not to be performed till eve, still the fairies\nwere busy with their preparations at sun-up, and the palace fairly\nhummed with their activities.\n\nLong banquet-tables had been arranged in the throne-room, and on\nsnowy napery were dishes, cups, and saucers fashioned with quaint\nexquisiteness from flowers, and there were lily chalices of sparkling\ndew with which to pledge the health of the happy bride and groom.\n\nIn the kitchen a host of willing workers were being directed by little\nDame Drusilda, and their conscientious efforts showed in ice cream with\nfruits of all flavors, charlotte russe, mince pies, plum puddings, all\nkinds of berry tarts, old-fashioned strawberry short-cake, peach\ncobblers, and apple dumplings. For the menu of the fairies was composed\nalmost entirely of the most delicious desserts imaginable, and they ate\nwhat they wished, and as much as they liked, without ever getting the\nindigestion.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSo the day wore on toward dusk, and, though to all the others, each hour\nseemed a minute, and each minute a second, Florimel and Titania in their\nimpatience thought that it would never end, the very sun seemed to\nstand still, as upon Gibeon.\n\nHe had left the Brownies to their own devices to be with her, and while\nthey talked of their union now so close at hand both were arrayed in\ntheir fine wedding-garb.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Are you happy, Florimel?\" she asked him, for the thousandth time.\n\n\"Happier than words can say,\" was his fervent response.\n\n\"And you're sure you'll never regret it?\"\n\n\"Yes, positive, Titania. I wonder what's keeping King Stanislaus and the\nband. They ought to be here by this time.\"\n\n\"Oh, Florimel, my happiness would be complete were it not for the\nthought of Dragonfel.\" At the mention of the wicked enchanter's name he\ngave an involuntary start.\n\n\"We mustn't borrow trouble on his account,\" he said, trying to speak\nlightly. \"He's across the sea where he can't hurt us. Let us think\ninstead of our approaching happiness.\"\n\nThen fairies came skipping and running from the palace, clapping their\nhands in sheer delight, cheering, and waving tiny handkerchiefs at a\ngreat rate. And windows gay with flags and bunting filled with flushed,\neager, excited faces all looking out, while the Cupids were lifted up in\narms so they could better see.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"The Brownies must be coming!\" cried Florimel to Titania. \"Let us go up\non the palace-steps where we can get a view of them.\"\n\nHe gallantly offered her his arm, and escorted her to a position with\nthe rest, from which they could obtain a glimpse of the road as it wound\ncurving away, with the blue, dimpling sea beyond.\n\nDown the road came the joyous band, with hearts attuned to merry-making,\nand never was a jollier procession.\n\nBeasts and birds alike had freely offered their services toward making\nthis grand entree as triumphantly imposing as possible, and in the\nlong frisking, frolicking, cavorting line of march were lions, tigers,\nelephants, camels, zebras, ostriches, emus, cassowaries, and many other\ncreatures of field, forest, and jungle, four-footed and two, whose backs\nbore willingly the burden of the gay, laughing sprites.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut Florimel could not see King Stanislaus among them,\nand was much puzzled thereat. When later they were gathered together,\nwithin the garden-walls, and the beasts and birds had gone away, after\neating all the charlotte russe they could, he inquired the cause of His\nMajesty's absence.\n\n\"He'll be here later,\" the Student explained. \"He had some pressing\nengagement with the Policeman, and they went away together.\"\n\nSuddenly there came a banging on the portcullis so loud that it seemed\nto be made with big wooden mallets. Brownies and fairies looked at each\nother in consternation and surprise, while many a tiny heart began a\nvigorous thumping.\n\n\"What's that?\" cried Queen Titania.\n\n\"There are strangers outside the portcullis, Your Majesty,\" said the\nfairy guard, as she squinted with one eye through the peek-hole.\n\nThe banging continued with greater insistence, and, advancing close to\nthe portcullis, Prince Florimel shouted:\n\n\"Who are you, and what do you want?\"\n\n\"We are friends who have come to the wedding,\" said a mild, gentle voice\nfrom outside, \"who have come to the wedding.\"\n\n\"Well, I like that!\" exclaimed the Dude, in great disgust. \"Whoever gave\nthem an invitation?\"\n\n\"We have brought you some fine presents,\" the voice hastened to add.\n\nFlorimel seemed undecided.\n\n\"Shall we admit them?\" he asked the rest.\n\n\"Avast, messmate!\" growled the Sailor. \"You'd better have a look at the\npresents first!\"\n\n\"There's nothing to fear,\" said Titania sweetly. \"Bid the strangers\nwelcome.\"\n\nThe portcullis was straightway raised, and in trooped a queer, motley\ncrowd. They were attended by four grinning imps in red who varied their\nwalk with somersaulting antics, and the arms of all but the leader were\nfull of presents.\n\nThese evidently had been selected with much care and thought for the\nwedding, and the same taste and judgment were shown that can be found in\nnearly all weddings.\n\nOne of them had a gigantic pair of scissors which would have taken as\nmany as a half-dozen Brownies or fairies to cut with. Another held a\ncradle big enough to hold the offspring of a giant.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nA third in a cage carried a hen which was alleged to lay three strictly\nguaranteed fresh eggs a day. From each hand of a fourth dangled an\nimmense round clock, and the faces of them were lettered: FALSE ALARM.\nMADE IN DEMONLAND. A fifth had a pair of abnormal candle-snuffers.\nOthers had gifts equally absurd and useless.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAt the instigation of the leader all grouped themselves in a semi-circle\nhumbly before the bride and groom to-be, and Florimel, who was still\nsomewhat suspicious, asked:\n\n\"What do you want?\"\n\n\"We are friends,\" said the leader, in his gentle voice, \"most anxious to\npay homage to you.\"\n\n\"If you are friends,\" said Florimel, \"we shall be glad to have you join\nin our festivities. Do you dance?\"\n\nAll shook their heads in unison.\n\n\"Don't you tango or do the fox-trot?\"\n\nAgain they shook their heads.\n\n\"Or sing?\"\n\nThey still shook their heads.\n\n\"But just you wait till you see them at the supper-table!\" said the Dude\ndecidedly.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Nevertheless,\" said Florimel kindly, \"I trust we shall find some means\nfor your enjoyment. Have you come far?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" said the leader, \"many leagues to do you honor. We crave your\nacceptance of these few, simple, unpretentious gifts as a trifling\nevidence of the distinguished consideration and esteem in which we hold\nyour fair bride and yourself.\"\n\nIt was plain that he had first carefully prepared and then committed to\nmemory such a flowery speech.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nIn their curiosity to examine the presents the Brownies began to\ncirculate among the strangers.\n\nWhen in doing so the Chinaman thoughtlessly put his head between the\nopen scissors-blades the big, hulking fellow who held them could not\nrepress an evil inclination, and snapped them together almost instantly\nso that the head was held between them in a vise-like grip.\n\nTaking note of this another who had the snuffers clapped the hood\nforthwith over an ordinary Brownie so it looked as though he did not\nhave a head.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe leader angrily stamped his foot for them to desist from such rude,\nill-mannered antics, whereupon the one reluctantly released the\nfrightened Chinaman, while the other removed the snuffers from\nBrownie's head.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"You must be weary and travel-stained from your long journey,\" said\nFlorimel, not knowing what to think.\n\n\"If you will come with me,\" said Titania hospitably, \"I will see that\nyour wants are provided for.\"\n\nThe new guests at a signal from their leader rose, and when he bowed his\nacknowledgment of the proffered courtesy they clumsily followed his\nexample, while the imps gloatingly patted their stomachs.\n\nTitania motioned to Dame Drusilda, Violet, Daffodil, and some other\nfairies to accompany her, and they led the strangers up the steps into\nthe palace.\n\nFlorimel was strongly tempted to follow, but just then King Stanislaus\nand the Policeman arrived very much out of breath.\n\nThey had come singly, and from opposite directions. Just outside the\nportcullis the Policeman had overtaken His Majesty, and they entered the\npalace-garden together.\n\n\"Officer,\" said King Stanislaus, \"have you anything to report?\"\n\n\"Yes, sire,\" said the Policeman, twirling his club. \"The path I took\ndidn't keep straight. My footsteps got so crooked that I had to arrest\nthem.\"\n\n\"What did you discover?\"\n\n\"Nothing.\"\n\n\"What was it?\"\n\n\"I said nothing, sire.\"\n\n\"But nothing's something.\"\n\n\"No, it's nothing.\"\n\n\"If it wasn't something then it wouldn't be in the dictionary. But it's\nno use to argue with you. Did you find a clue?\"\n\n\"Yes, a good one.\"\n\n\"What is it?\"\n\n\"He wasn't in any of the places I gum-shoed to, so consequently they're\neliminated. The deduction I've arrived at is that he's in some other\nplace. As he can only be in one place there's only one place to find.\nThat's easy.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Of whom are you both talking?\" asked Florimel curiously.\n\n\"The Red Spirit,\" said King Stanislaus. \"We'll catch him yet. But the\nlovely bride--where is she?\"\n\n\"In the palace, Your Majesty, providing for some newly arrived\nwedding-guests.\"\n\n\"Well, after you're married, Florimel,\" said King Stanislaus seriously,\n\"you must be careful your wife doesn't lose her mind.\"\n\n\"Nonsense!\"\n\n\"No nonsense about it. It often happens to a married woman.\"\n\n\"How so?\"\n\n\"Sometimes she keeps on giving her husband a piece of her mind till\nfinally she hasn't any mind left.\"\n\nSuddenly Mignonette and Jassamine, ladies-in-waiting to the queen, ran\nshrieking from the palace.\n\n\"What's wrong?\" cried Florimel.\n\n\"The queen!\" gasped Mignonette.\n\n\"Yes, the poor queen!\" said Jassamine, almost in hysterics.\n\n\"Speak!\" urged Florimel. \"Has anything happened to her?\"\n\n\"Alas!\" wailed Mignonette. \"She is gone!\"\n\n\"Gone!\" echoed Florimel, distracted. \"Gone where?\"\n\n\"We know not,\" said Jassamine. \"We have searched the palace over, and\ncannot find her.\"\n\n\"Where is Dame Drusilda?\" asked Florimel quickly.\n\n\"She is gone too,\" said Mignonette.\n\n\"And Daffodil and Violet are missing,\" added Jassamine.\n\n\"Our strange wedding-guests--where are they?\"\n\n\"They have flown!\" cried Mignonette and Jassamine together.\n\n\"Then it is they who have taken them,\" said Florimel, as he ran toward\nthe palace-steps. \"Quick--a search! They cannot have gone far.\"\n\nBut the Brownies had reached the steps before him, and were already\npointing off at the distant sea-line.\n\n\"A sail! A sail!\" they cried.\n\n\"Too late!\" said Florimel. \"I see it all now. This is the work of\nDragonfel!\"\n\n\"Dragonfel!\" cried one and all together.\n\n\"Yes,\" said Florimel. \"Our unknown guests were Dragonfel and his wicked\nfollowers. He has abducted them, and flown with them to his country.\"\n\nHe bowed his head in great despair. King Stanislaus came, and placed his\nhand upon his shoulder.\n\n\"Be brave, Florimel!\" he said. \"The Brownies will go at once to the\nrescue of Queen Titania!\"\n\n\"Yes!\" shouted the Brownies. \"To the rescue of Queen Titania!\"\n\n\"But how?\" asked the despondent Florimel. \"We have no ship to take us.\"\n\nQuick as a wink King Stanislaus improvised:\n\n    \"We'll build a raft with magic sleight,\n    And brave the sea ere morning's light!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI\n\nTHE BROWNIES BUILD A RAFT\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWhen King Stanislaus announced to the Brownies that they were to go at\nonce to the rescue of Queen Titania he was confronted by a very serious\nproblem. There was no craft of any kind whatever with which to embark\nupon so hazardous a voyage.\n\n\"This comes of unpreparedness,\" growled the Sailor. \"I've been trying\nto impress on His Majesty for years that we needed some battle-ships,\ncruisers, and submarines. Dash my top-lights if we've got even so much\nas an old mud-scow!\"\n\nFar off faintly outlined in the gathering dusk was a galleon with all\nsails spread which the favoring gales were bearing to Dragonfel's\nenchanted country.\n\nKing Stanislaus realized the utter futility of trying to overtake it\nwith another sailing-vessel even if they had been the possessors of one.\nDragonfel and his confederates had too much the start of them.\n\nThe only recourse left was to follow as quickly as they could by\nwhatever means were at hand, and, after they reached their destination,\nto try to wrest the unfortunate Titania and her companions from the\ncruel clutches of their abductors.\n\nKing Stanislaus had pledged his word to Florimel that before morning\nthey would be in hot pursuit.\n\nA raft to the monarch's shrewd, quick-thinking mind seemed to be the\neasiest kind of a craft to construct in the short space of time to do it\nin order to redeem the royal promise. The wind was right, so that it\nwould waft them straight to Dragonfel's country, just as it was now\ntaking the galleon which soon disappeared beyond the horizon.\n\nIn crisp, curt tones which showed that he, if anyone, was able to cope\nwith this most distressing situation His Majesty gave orders for the\nimmediate building of the raft.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThen came a hurrying and scurrying of Brownies. Each of the little\nfellows was eager to do his share of the gigantic task, and no one\nshirked.\n\nHither and yon, and all about, they flew, a band of willing workers,\nand no one got in another's way, so no time was lost. Wisely enough the\nking assigned to each what he was best adapted to do, and there was no\ngrumbling or cavilling at orders, but a strict obedience in all things.\nAnd, wherever such a spirit is manifested, it is surprising what results\ncan be achieved.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe axes rang out sharp and clear in forests, and big trees toppled down\nto be stripped in a trice of their leafy branches. Sweating, puffing,\ngrunting Brownies pulled and tugged and strained at the logs into which\nthey were cut, and pushed and shoved, or rolled them when they could,\ntoward the sea-shore.\n\nHere, with their little jackets off, were many other Brownies hard at\nwork, while the sound of big wooden mallets and iron sledges was heard\nunceasingly on all sides as in the busiest shipyard, while the logs\nwere being nailed and spiked together.\n\nYet the raft was not composed entirely of logs, but of whatever else\nbesides that came in handy.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nNimble, fleet-footed foragers at their monarch's instigation roamed the\ncountry over for anything that was in the nature of wood. Some of these\nbrought back a gate on which was the sign: NO ADMITTANCE.\n\nOthers came with shutters on which was tacked the placard: ROOMS TO LET.\nAnd one group triumphantly lugged a dog-house which they thought would\nserve as a pilot-house, and to this on an iron chain was attached a dog,\nwhich perforce was dragged along after it upon its back. So great was\ntheir excitement that they forgot all about the dog.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nOther members of the band were busy too in different ways. The Sailor\ncame running with a long pole on his shoulder, and strung one after\nanother on the pole were a number of round life-preservers that looked\nlike huge doughnuts.\n\nThen off he sped again but only to return a few minutes later with a\nmariner's compass.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe Dude stood by, offering advice, and all ready with cane in one and\nopera-hat box the other.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nStraining with the terrific weight the Twins together brought a ship's\nlead, and in stopping to put it down for needed rest one dropped it on\nthe foot of his unfortunate brother, who held the injured foot up with\nhis hand, and danced on the well one in great pain. But when his brother\nmotioned for him to take up the lead with him again, he did so, and they\nlabored on their way.\n\nDown on the beach quite a number had found a big anchor half-buried in\nthe sand. They had dug it out and were slowly bearing it with the utmost\ndifficulty toward the raft.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTime and again they stopped for a brief breathing spell, standing\nmeanwhile the anchor on its bow, until at last it suddenly fell over\nand pinioned a luckless sprite beneath its weight. He was extricated\nby his fellows, and, while they continued puffing with their burden he\nlimped with effort after them, rubbing his bruised shank.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe commissary department was active too, and Brownies came with ample\nsupplies of provisions for the voyage. They brought sacks of hard-tack\nand ship-biscuit, and when they laid them down and sat on them audacious\nrats ran helter-skelter out and scampered wildly off in all directions.\nNothing was left undone, and when in the judgment of the Sailor it was\nabout four bells the raft had taken marvelous shape and was ready to\nlaunch.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWith the combined strength of all the band it was rolled down the\nsloping sand upon round logs until it slid gracefully into the water.\nLanterns lit it at the corners, and in the centre on a long stick\nfloated the Brownie flag.\n\nThen all the Brownies clambered on board, and King Stanislaus gave the\norder to cast off the hawsers. The fairies, weeping yet hopeful of the\nsuccess of the expedition, watched them from the shore.\n\nBut before some Brownies under the instructions of the Sailor could obey\nthe mandate of the king Mignonette and Jassamine in wild disorder, and\nwith their hair flying, came running toward them.\n\n\"The dove!\" cried Mignonette. \"You've forgotten Euphrosyne's dove!\"\n\nJassamine at the same time held up a cage in which the dove was perched\non a stick.\n\n\"Euphrosyne told Queen Titania she was to send it to her if ever she\nwas in danger from Dragonfel,\" Mignonette made haste to explain.\n\n\"I don't know whether we've got room to take it,\" said King Stanislaus\ngrudgingly. \"Besides I think we're able to manage this little business\naffair ourselves.\"\n\n\"Remember, sire,\" reminded the Policeman, \"that Noah once sent out a\ndove.\"\n\n\"Yes, I know,\" said His Majesty, \"but he's hundreds of years behind the\ntimes.\"\n\nStill he did not interpose any objections when the Dude reached forth\nand grasped the cage, which he set upon the raft.\n\nThen off they floated without further interruption, the Sailor and\nothers poling them out through shallow waters till they could no longer\ntouch bottom. There were no cheers to mark the departure, for the hearts\nof all were set with a stern purpose.\n\nAs they got farther and farther away the fairies still gazed at them,\nuntil someone said:\n\n\"Don't watch them out of sight. It's unlucky.\"\n\nThe tide was ebb, and the wind continued steady and true, so that they\nmade good progress. Some took their little jackets off to catch each\npuff of air. The shore-line finally disappeared from sight, and then the\nlights twinkling in the windows of Queen Titania's palace.\n\nAt last they were so many miles from land that the Twins took frequent\nsoundings with their lead, and the Sailor, who consulted his compass\nvery often, growled to the watch:\n\n\"Keep a sharp look-out, you lubber!\"\n\nAnd their plans all would have gone well, and they would have reached\nDragonfel's enchanted country as they intended, if something entirely\nunexpected had not happened.\n\nAbout six bells, as the Sailor reckoned, a sudden storm came up.\n\nIt was a terrible storm, the worst in the memory of the oldest\ninhabitant. The Sailor who was most weather-wise of all could not\nunderstand it. But Dragonfel could have done so had he wished, for the\nstorm had been manufactured at his request by Vulcan, and it was just as\ngood a sample of what could be done in a hurry as the Brownies' raft.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSuddenly the sky grew black, and the stars were blotted out. Then almost\ninstantly came a mighty rush and roar of wind, and the seas ran\nmountain-high.\n\n\"Avast, you lubbers!\" roared the Sailor. \"Take a reef in your shirts and\njackets!\"\n\nLightning lit up almost incessantly gloomy, frowning caverns in the\nclouds, and the peals of thunder were deafening. The rain poured down on\nthem in sheets, but still the wind howled and raged with unabating fury,\nand they tossed up and down like a cockleshell.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nIn all the turmoil of alarm the frightened Chinaman lost his balance,\nand fell overboard, and a huge sea-serpent, with eyes of fire gleaming\nlike electric lights above distended greedy, waiting jaws, rose up from\nout of the water, with its abnormally long body looking like a series of\nhoops.\n\nThe Uncle Sam Brownie threw out a life-preserver, but the Sailor with\nrare presence of mind grasped a boat-hook, and, skillfully hooking the\nend of the despairing Chinaman's blouse, yanked him back on the raft\nbefore the monster could swallow him.\n\nNo craft however staunch could withstand such a gale, which grew and\ngrew in violence.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe raft shivered and shook under its terrific strain, and there came\npistol-like cracks at intervals as the wood splintered or broke apart,\nwhile nails and spikes flew up from the groaning, loosening timbers.\n\nSlowly but surely the raft upon which the Brownies had exercised such\ningenuity and skill was disintegrating, and the great danger of the band\nincreased with each passing moment. And in the flashes of lightning that\nillumined the rumbling skies a huge bird with flapping wings suddenly\nswooped down, and, seizing the frightened Dude by his breeches-seat,\nbore him, dangling face downward, with his cherished cane still clutched\nin his hand, up, up, still up, till he was out of sight.\n\nThe others, all aghast, looked up at him until he disappeared, and\nwondered if they would ever see him again. And, while they wondered,\nwith their own misfortune forgotten in this greater calamity that had\ncome to their beloved companion, there was heard a crack louder than any\nthat had gone before, and the raft went all at once to pieces.\n\nStruggling in the water, or clinging to broken spars, logs, and pieces\nof timber, the Brownies suddenly found themselves gasping and choking as\nrelentless waves rolled over them, at times submerging them.\n\nThis was the end, then, of their unfortunate adventure. There was\nnothing to cause even the slightest ray of hope. It looked as though all\nthe Brownies would be lost.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII\n\nWHAT HAPPENED IN THE THRONE-ROOM\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nLed by Queen Titania, Dame Drusilda, Violet, and Daffodil, the strange\nguests, who had come to the wedding without an invitation, mounted the\nspacious marble steps and passed into the palace.\n\nIn spite of a meek, respectful demeanor that it was very hard for them\nto assume, they could not conceal the gloating satisfaction that was on\ntheir faces.\n\nIn the meantime the Brownies and fairies were already beginning to enjoy\nthemselves in different parts of the palace grounds.\n\nIntroductions are hardly necessary when sprites meet, and many found\nways of getting acquainted, and were warm friends on their first\nmeeting.\n\nHaving no suspicion of what was in the evil minds of those she was\npreparing so hospitably to entertain, Titania with her companions\nushered them into the magnificent banquet-room.\n\nThere upon one of the long tables were spread many delicacies to make\none's mouth water, and, even before an invitation to partake of them\ncould be extended, the four red imps seated themselves before it, and,\nsmacking their lips, began to tuck napkins under their chins.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTitania had thought that the guests would leave the presents they had\nbrought out in the hall when they came in, but they still held on to\nthem with a grip so tenacious that she wondered if they really meant to\ngive them up, after all.\n\nNevertheless in a free-hearted way she urged the visitors to refresh\nthemselves. The imps were already engaged in trying to stuff whole plum\npuddings into their mouths at once, a greedy proceeding that Dame\nDrusilda, Violet, and Daffodil watched with considerable disgust.\n\nAll but the leader started quickly to seat themselves, but he stamped\nhis foot imperiously, and they came to an instant stop.\n\nThen he threw back the hood of his scarlet cloak, disclosing a wicked\nface, and transfixed Titania with his malicious gaze.\n\n\"I am Dragonfel the enchanter, my fine little lady,\" he said, in\nfiendish tones, \"and I have come to take you away with me!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTitania was so frightened that she could neither scream nor run away,\nand she allowed him to gather her up in his arms and hold her just as\na little girl does a doll, making light of load.\n\nThere she lay passive and trembling, with the realization that it would\nbe useless to make any effort to escape.\n\nAlmost immediately afterward Grouthead seized the biting, scratching,\nand clawing Dame Drusilda, whom he dumped in spite of fierce resistance\ninto the baby's crib, and when Mandrake and Wolfinger put Violet and\nDaffodil in after her it was very plain why this particular gift had\nbeen selected.\n\n\"Yes, and you're not going to get these presents, either,\" sneered\nDragonfel to Titania, who said never a word. \"You may call me an\nInjun-giver, if you like, but I mean to take them back, just the same!\"\n\nWith Titania helpless in his arms he started toward a rear door, while\nafter him came Grouthead and Wolfinger bearing the crib in which Dame\nDrusilda, Violet, and Daffodil rattled about like dried peas in a pod.\nThe others followed slowly and reluctantly in their wake, casting\nlonging glances backward at the tempting-looking desserts on the table.\n\nThe imps, however, did not budge, but continued eating. When Dragonfel\ncalled out to them in angry tones they sprang up and attempted at the\nsame time to jam charlotte russe into their gaping mouths.\n\nIn their frantic haste they smeared the charlotte or russe, whichever\nthe white part is, all over their faces, so that as they hurried after\nthe others with occasional frisky somersaults they looked as though they\nhad just been lathered by a barber.\n\nOut by the rear all passed into the deserted back-garden where there was\na small iron door locked and bolted from the inside, and with the key,\nfortunately for their nefarious plans, in the lock.\n\nThrough this door Dragonfel and his followers effected their escape with\ntheir captives, and ran with all possible speed toward the sea-shore.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe galleon tossed upon the lazy swell, not a great distance out, and in\na small boat with Snoutpimple and Boundingbore at the oars they rowed to\nit, and soon were on board.\n\nThen the anchor was weighed, and with all sails filling they set their\ncourse for Dragonfel's enchanted country, which they reached without\nmishap of any kind.\n\nWhen they got to their journey's end, and all stood safe upon the shore,\nthe full malignity of Dragonfel was shown.\n\nRealizing that the indomitable Brownies would not relinquish Titania\nwithout a struggle, but would follow as quickly as they could to wrest\nher if possible from him, he ordered Vulcan's imps to call upon their\nmaster to impede them with a storm.\n\nThe imps thereupon cast balls of fire into the air, and, even as\nall bent their steps toward the palace, the enchanter noted with\nconsiderable satisfaction quite a change in the temperature. Clouds were\nalready beginning to form on the horizon, and there came the distant\nrumble of continuous thunder.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWhile they stood just outside the massive doors they heard the sounds of\nwhat appeared to be a violent altercation from within. In an agitated\nmanner, as though he feared the worst, Dragonfel quickly threw them\nopen, and was greatly relieved to see the Demon Usher and Red Spirit\nengaged in a friendly game of checkers.\n\n\"You cheated!\" the Red Spirit accused hotly. \"You jumped three of my men\nwhen you should have only jumped two!\"\n\n\"Stop it!\" snarled Dragonfel at them. \"You don't know how to play\ncheckers, anyhow!\"\n\nThey sprang in consternation to their feet, upsetting the board, and\ncausing the checkers to roll all over the floor.\n\nWhile the Red Spirit stood gloating over the success of a venture in\nwhich he had played a modest part, the Demon Usher half skipped, half\nflew, to the throne, and with a display of much enthusiasm began dusting\noff the seat with a cloth.\n\nWith swaggering stride Dragonfel went to the throne, and threw himself\nin it, while Queen Titania, Dame Drusilda, Violet, and Daffodil all came\nrunning toward him.\n\n\"Oh, sir,\" cried Dame Drusilda, very much distressed, \"why have you\nbrought us poor, defenseless girls here?\"\n\n\"Us, my venerable fairy!\" said Dragonfel, most insultingly.\n\n\"Venerable!\" repeated Dame Drusilda. \"Oh, you nasty man!\"\n\n\"How do you keep your age?\" he sneered.\n\n\"Easy enough,\" she replied indignantly. \"I never give it away.\"\n\nAs she spoke she made for him as though she meant to scratch his eyes\nout, but Queen Titania pulled her back.\n\n\"Don't touch him, Dame Drusilda!\" she cried, and then turned pleadingly\nto Dragonfel. \"Why have you made me a prisoner, and carried me away\nfrom home in this way?\"\n\n\"To prevent your marriage to the Brownie prince,\" he said coldly.\n\n\"But we love each other, and would be so happy,\" she said, while tears\nfilled her pretty eyes. \"Why do you oppose the marriage?\"\n\n\"Because if this marriage were to take place,\" he said, with an ugly\nfrown, \"it would make you all so powerful as to result in my undoing.\"\n\n\"You fear,\" she said reprovingly, \"that we will frustrate all your\nwicked plans.\"\n\n\"It must not, shall not be!\" was his decided response. \"The Brownies and\nfairies have long been my enemies.\"\n\n\"If you did good,\" she reminded, gently, \"we would be your friends. Tell\nme, must I stay here always?\"\n\n\"Yes, always!\" he snapped out. \"The sooner you forget your Brownie\nprince the better. You shall never see him again.\"\n\nThen Titania showed her spirit.\n\n\"Oh, yes, I shall!\" she contradicted. \"The Brownies will rescue us!\"\n\n\"Bah!\" he said contemptuously. \"Those poor, weak creatures of the night?\nThey could not do it.\"\n\n\"The Brownies can do anything,\" she said, with perfect trust and\nconfidence.\n\n\"My pretty pet,\" said Dame Drusilda, \"you waste words with him. Let us\nask some of these other creatures to help us. Maybe they are not as bad\nas their master.\"\n\nSo she coquettishly sidled up to Grouthead, Boundingbore, Mandrake,\nWolfinger, and Snoutpimple who stood near by in a highly interested\ngroup. But before she could say even a word Grouthead gathered her up in\nhis arms, and held her out in the air, while in her fright she kept\nkicking the turned-in toes of her tiny shoes together.\n\n\"Don't be alarmed, my dear,\" he croaked, in tones that were meant to be\nreassuring. \"There's a heart here that beats for you, and you alone!\"\n\n\"Where's the heart?\" she gasped.\n\n\"In this troubled breast,\" he roared. \"I've half a mind to marry you.\"\n\n\"Put me down!\" she screamed. \"I wouldn't marry anyone with half a mind!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nDragonfel rose, and stamped his foot angrily, at which silent rebuke\nGrouthead set Dame Drusilda hastily down. She gave a sigh of great\nrelief, and, gathering up her skirts, flew toward the enchanter.\n\n\"Oh, sir,\" she implored, \"can nothing move you?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" he said, in sneering tones, \"a ton of dynamite! You are a pippin,\nbut you withered on the stem!\"\n\n\"You villain!\" she screamed, shaking a tiny clenched fist at him. \"I\ncould annihilate you for that; you deserve worse!\"\n\nAnd she made for him again, but the tactful Violet and Daffodil grasped\neach of her arms, and held her back.\n\nDragonfel grinned most provokingly, and his myrmidons fairly shook with\nglee, while the Demon Usher cackled his exultation, and poked the Red\nSpirit on his elastic ribs.\n\nTitania took a little spider-web affair of a handkerchief from her\nbodice, for her eyes threatened to fill again.\n\nNoting the coming tears, the wicked enchanter hastened to say, in tones\nthat were meant to be particularly comforting:\n\n\"No harm shall befall you. When you have a wish you have but to name\nit.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"I have one now,\" spoke up Titania quickly.\n\n\"So have I,\" added Dame Drusilda.\n\n\"I'll hear yours later,\" said Dragonfel to the latter gruffly, and then\nturned to Titania with what he thought was a most winning smile. \"What\nis yours?\"\n\n\"I want my Brownie prince!\"\n\n\"Didn't I tell you you were never going to see him again?\" said the\nenchanter, in disgust. \"Ask me something else, and make it as hard as\nyou can.\"\n\nBut Titania had no other wish, and Dame Drusilda was given no\nopportunity to make hers known.\n\nThe days dragged slowly by, and, though Dragonfel was not actually rough\nin the treatment of his captives, he still was most unkind in depriving\nthem of the liberty for which they continually sighed. They were watched\nand spied upon continually, so there was little or no chance for escape.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe endeavored to provide amusements for which they had no heart, and was\na sorry host at best. In his crude efforts to entertain them he welcomed\nall ideas for sports and diversions, so when on one occasion they were\nall together, and his prisoners seemed unusually depressed, he sat upon\nhis throne knitting his brows in trying to think of something that might\ncheer them up a bit.\n\nIn the midst of his unsuccessful cogitations the Demon Usher half\nskipped, half flew, to him, and prostrated himself at his feet.\n\n\"Kind master!\" he cried, in a flutter of excitement.\n\n\"What is it?\" asked Dragonfel.\n\n\"A band of wandering minstrels outside humbly crave permission to play\nbefore you.\"\n\n\"What, another?\" said Dragonfel. \"Show them in!\"\n\nThe words he used were hospitable enough, but the tone of his voice\nboded little good for the daring musicians.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII\n\nNEPTUNE STILLS THE WAVES\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nUp and down like corks bobbed the Brownies on the angry waves when their\nraft was so suddenly demolished by the storm. The blackness of the night\nwas so intense that even with their supernatural vision they could not\nsee each other save in those vivid streaks of lightning that came often\nand for a brief moment made all around as bright as day.\n\nThe wild wind and waves bore them farther and farther apart from each\nother, so that it was every one for himself, which was against all\nprinciple in a band that delighted in mutual help.\n\nBut in this case they could not give it. The water got in their noses\nand mouths, causing them to gasp, choke, and splutter, while their ears\nrang, and their eyes were nearly blinded.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nDesperately they clung to the splintered pieces of debris, to the\ndog-house that spun over and over, to the gate that turned upside down,\nor straddled logs that kept rolling with Brownies first up and then\nunder like teetotums.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAnd others, not so fortunate, with strength fast leaving them, still\nswam the waters seeking and groping in vain for some object to sustain\nthem.\n\nThen, right in the midst of all their terrible danger, when hope was\nfast departing from all hearts, a wonderful thing happened.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThere came a sudden radiance that was not the lightning's flash,\nilluminating old Father Neptune and a bevy of lovely-faced dryads in a\ngolden chariot that furiously galloping seahorses drew across the waves.\n\nIn a brief space no longer than a second the God of the Sea and his\nbeauteous attendants passed on out of sight, but almost with their\ndisappearance the lightning and thunder ceased, as did the rain, the\nwind died down, the stars once more shone out, and the water grew as\nsmooth as glass.\n\nWhen buffeted no longer by boisterous winds and waves the chance the\nBrownies had to save themselves increased immeasurably.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey could now see and hear each other, and when some one swimming in\nthe water called for help there were those on debris who reached over\nand pulled their exhausted comrade on board.\n\nThey shouted at each other in the dark, and by using their feet as\npaddles contrived at last to bring whatever they floated on close\ntogether. Then King Stanislaus, who with Prince Florimel was a-straddle\nof a log, with much anxiety began to take an inventory of the band.\n\nTo his infinite relief no one was missing but the Dude, but this\nmisfortune in itself was enough to dampen their spirits, for the\ncompanion who had been carried off by the gigantic bird was very much\nbeloved.\n\n\"Aye, aye!\" growled the Sailor, cocking his weather-eye out through the\nslats of the hen-coop. \"We're all here, even to Euphrosyne's dove!\"\n\nThus on they went without further mishap, a queer-looking flotilla,\nkeeping in as close proximity to each other as they could, using both\nhands and feet for paddles, and adopting many ingenious devices to\ncomplete the voyage so disastrously begun.\n\nAnd a day dawned, then another, but at nightfall of the second they\nglimpsed far off a shore-line with a single towering mountain which they\nknew to be Dragonfel's enchanted country.\n\nThey were neither hungry nor thirsty, for Brownies if need be can go\nwithout food or water a long time.\n\nMuch heartened by what they beheld, they redoubled their efforts to\nreach the shore, which grew plainer and plainer, until finally they\ncould distinguish an immense glittering structure that looked more like\na prison than a palace, built as it was in the gloomy shadow of the\nmountain.\n\nThough it gleamed and flashed and shone in a thousand and one different\nplaces, where its myriad jewels caught the light, it seemed a cheerless,\ninhospitable place, and they were depressed by the sight of it.\n\nThe galleon that Dragonfel had used to convey his captives to his\ncountry was lying at anchor well in toward the shore, with no one\nevidently on board, but not feeling sure of this the Brownies made a\nwide detour, choosing for a landing a sheltered cove that would screen\nthem from observing eyes.\n\nAs they drew closer to the land some strange companions had they--queer\ncreatures who had obtruded themselves upon the Brownies during the\nstorm, and forced their society upon unwilling hosts--a motley gathering\nfrom air, sea, and undersea that occupied choice places upon the flotsam\nand jetsam to which the little fellows so precariously clung with\namazing vim.\n\nThere were comical-looking, long-legged, long-billed cranes and herons,\nand squat-flappered, web-footed penguins. The walrus and seal were\nthere, as well as formidable members of the finny tribe, some of which\nhad swords so sharp that the discreet Brownies kept a most respectful\ndistance from them. Crustaceans too were represented, with here a\nlobster slyly nipping a sprite's toe with his claws, and there a turtle\ntweaking another's cap.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut when the Brownies reached shoal water, and some began to wade toward\nshore, these false whilom friends deserted them, and dived into the\ndeep, or flew off in the air.\n\nThen when they were safe at last on land they stretched their weary,\nstiff, cramped legs and arms, or raced about the sand to get the\nsluggish blood once more pulsing through their veins.\n\nKing Stanislaus stood apart from all the rest, and watched their joyous\nantics with an expression of deep thought on his august countenance. It\nwas plain to be seen that he was greatly troubled in his mind.\n\nNow that they had succeeded in reaching Dragonfel's country what steps\nshould be taken in the effort to recover Queen Titania and her\ncompanions? It was not to be conceived that the wicked enchanter would\ngive them up without a bitter struggle.\n\nThe problem confronting the Brownie band was one that required the most\ncareful consideration. A single false step might ruin all.\n\nWhile the monarch pondered over what was best to be done his eye\nabstractedly roved to the Brownies who now had gathered in a circle on\nthe beach, and who were scanning with much interest something in the\nsky.\n\nThe Policeman involuntarily had pointed his club toward it, and the\nSailor was trying to get a better view through his spy-glass.\n\nThe royal eye at once turned upward in the direction in which all the\nothers were gazing, and like everyone else was held spellbound with\nsurprise.\n\nFar overhead there was an immense bird slowly dropping with stationary\nwings outspread down toward them. It stood out clearly outlined in\nsilhouette against the dark night-sky.\n\nBut it was not this bird, remarkable in itself, that created such\nintense excitement on the part of all.\n\nIts great sharp talons held in a firm grip an object that they\nrecognized at once, with the result that delight and consternation were\nmingled on their faces.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nGrasped firmly by the coat-tails, with face downward, and legs and arms\nspread out like a Maltese cross, was the immaculate Brownie Dude, and\nhe still was clutching in his right hand the cane that was his most\ntreasured possession outside of his monocle. The Brownies watched this\nmost extraordinary spectacle as though they were fascinated, and their\npop-eyes almost popped out of their heads.\n\nLower and lower settled the great bird, and the anxious watchers now\nrealized that its offices toward the Dude in time of danger had been of\na most heroic nature.\n\nWith great haste some secured a net, which they held outspread. When the\nbird was still some distance above, it cocked its eye as though it were\nmaking some nice calculation and suddenly let go of its burden.\n\nThe Dude came hurtling through the air, landing safely in the net, while\nthe bird sailed off, and was soon gone from sight.\n\nAs soon as the Dude got on his feet he started to dust off his clothes\nwith a tiny whisk-broom.\n\n\"I shouldn't care to go up in an aeroplane!\" he said.\n\nHe looked infinitely relieved when one of the overjoyed Brownies who\ncrowded around in congratulation handed him his opera-hat box.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nIt may here be mentioned, that the Fairies, who had been left behind,\nmade a desperate attempt to follow their Queen, and the Brownies, across\nthe sea. But, after great difficulties, and dangers, they were glad to\nget back to their own shore in safety.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut though Florimel, like all the rest, was delighted beyond measure\nthat the Dude had been so miraculously restored to them, so they were\nnow once more complete, he could not restrain his tortured feelings when\nhe thought of Queen Titania, and he was in a fever of impatience to\nrush at once to her rescue.\n\n\"We only waste time here while Titania may be in danger,\" he said, with\na strong trace of irritation in his tone. \"Is not that Dragonfel's\npalace over yonder?\"\n\nKing Stanislaus gazed at the highly expensive but forbidding-looking\nedifice toward which Florimel pointed.\n\n\"Maybe so,\" was his guarded response.\n\n\"Then let us storm it, and force him to surrender the queen and her\ncompanions!\"\n\n\"Yes, yes!\" cried all the Brownies.\n\nBut King Stanislaus shook his head in a very decided manner.\n\n\"My son, you're too impulsive,\" he said kindly but reprovingly. \"Judging\nfrom what you've told me, for I've never seen any of them, each of those\nfellows must stand full six times as high as one of us, and there may be\nsix times as many besides. We must exercise caution.\"\n\n\"Have you anything to propose?\"\n\n\"Nothing just now,\" said King Stanislaus. \"We must reconnoitre a bit,\nand get the lay of the land, before considering any plan whatever. An\nopen attack would be entirely out of the question. They'd have the\nadvantage of us in size and maybe numbers. No, no, my boy, we must use\nBrownie cunning.\" Reluctantly Florimel was obliged to admit the force of\nthe shrewd old monarch's reasoning.\n\nConcerned as he was in mind to rescue Titania as soon as he could, he\nhad no desire by any rash act to imperil or, even worse still, destroy\nthe entire band.\n\nKing Stanislaus motioned to the Brownies, who drew closer to give\nrespectful heed to what he might have to say to them.\n\n\"I want each of you to go out and see what you can learn,\" he\ninstructed. \"But, as you value your life, and the lives of your fellows,\nyou must not allow yourselves to be seen or heard by anyone. When a\nhalf-hour has elapsed we will assemble here.\" Following His Majesty's\ndirections, the willing band immediately dispersed, Florimel choosing a\nway to take alone, as did each other, and so careful were they all that\nno one in the neighborhood would have suspected they were near.\n\nWhen the half-hour was up King Stanislaus was back on the same spot, and\nthe Brownies began to pop up in the dark around him from all sides.\n\n\"Well,\" His Majesty asked, \"have you found out anything?\"\n\nThen one after another was obliged to confess that he had not, and while\nhe was questioning them in turn he ascertained that neither Florimel nor\nthe Policeman had returned.\n\nThe fact that both were missing worried him not a little, but, even\nwhile he was wondering what had kept them, he beheld the Policeman\nreturning with incredible speed, leaping and bounding with his long,\ntapering feet over the sand.\n\n\"Your Majesty,\" he panted, as he came up out of breath, \"I have just\nmade a remarkable discovery.\"\n\n\"What is it, officer?\" asked King Stanislaus, anxiously.\n\n\"If I told you,\" said the Policeman, \"I'm afraid you wouldn't believe\nme. I want you all to come and see for yourselves!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV\n\nWHAT THE POLICEMAN DISCOVERED\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nLike a covey of startled quail the Brownies flew after the Policeman,\nfor each was very curious to learn of the discovery that he had made.\nThey knew that with his keen sense of dramatic values he wished to keep\nthem in suspense as long as possible, so that only at the proper moment\nwould the mystery be solved.\n\nHis fleet little feet padded along the sand, followed by others equally\nso, and he led them a stiff pace for perhaps a mile down the beach.\n\nThere lying behind a dune that offered a shelter from the creeping tides\nthey viewed the cause of all his excitement.\n\nScattered on the sand were some dingy old frayed uniforms, caps, and\nhob-nailed shoes, of which they counted five complete sets in all, while\nnear by piled into a heap were some immense brass musical instruments,\nsome bent and battered in places and all tarnished by the weather.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSoon they were making a minute inspection of these objects which for\nsome inexplicable reason had been abandoned by their owners. The\nuniforms and caps were of worn blue cloth, and the latter had visors and\nbraids of gold around them. The sleeves of the coats likewise were\nbraided with gold.\n\nWith much interest in their work the Brownies began to separate the\ninstruments that formed a heap. There were two cornets, a saxophone,\na trombone, and a tremendous tuba that wound around and around and had\na mouth so big that a Brownie could have easily crawled inside.\n\nWhile they were examining the outfit there was much speculation as to\nwhom it belonged, and the only conclusion they could arrive at was that\nthe original possessors had been some itinerant German band.\n\nIt was not so strange to them that a German band should be in\nDragonfel's enchanted country, for they knew that German bands go\neverywhere. Sometimes they can be found even at the North Pole. The\nonly strange thing about it was that while the uniforms and\ninstruments were there, the owners were missing.\n\n\"I wonder what's become of the band?\" said King Stanislaus, very much\npuzzled.\n\n\"Perhaps someone heard them play,\" suggested the Dude.\n\nHis Majesty gave a sudden start.\n\n\"Humph!\" he grunted. \"What you have just hinted at rather unsettles an\nidea that suddenly occurred to me.\"\n\n\"Maybe you were thinking of the same thing I was,\" said the Policeman.\n\n\"That's very possible,\" said the monarch, \"for great minds sometimes\nthink alike. I was thinking that some of us could disguise ourselves as\na German band and maybe gain admittance to the palace.\"\n\n\"That's just what I was thinking,\" said the Policeman.\n\n\"In that way,\" went on King Stanislaus, \"we might be able to get some\nknowledge of Dragonfel's real strength, and find out just how we stood.\nThe chance might come to us to spirit away Queen Titania and her\ncompanions.\"\n\n\"Which of us would you choose, Your Majesty?\" asked an eager Brownie.\n\nAll of them crowded around, each with the hope that King Stanislaus\nwould select him for this task which involved so great a risk.\n\nHe looked them over, and finally, with his mind made up, spoke, in slow,\nmeasured tones.\n\n\"Of course, I'll be the leader,\" he announced. \"That will leave just\nfour to go with me, and I'll take the Policeman, Sailor, German, and\nIrishman. The rest of you must hide just outside the palace, to be ready\ninstantly in case you are needed.\"\n\nThere was great delight on the part of the four who were to share with\nthe king the danger, and keen disappointment among all the others. But\nno one thought of questioning the royal decision.\n\n\"I didn't forget my tin box of disguises, sire,\" reminded the Policeman.\n\n\"Good, officer!\" said King Stanislaus, with an approving nod. \"They'll\nall come in handy. You've got plenty of false noses and moustaches, I\nsuppose.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe Policeman gave a knowing wink.\n\n\"You'll need a rehearsal, won't you?\" said the Dude.\n\n\"No,\" said King Stanislaus decidedly. \"The worse we play the cleverer\nwill be the deception.\"\n\nThen he and the four selected by him began to make preparations for\ntheir queer masquerade, and in these the whole band assisted. The coats\nand trousers had probably hung on their original wearers badly, but they\nfitted the Brownies who tried them on much worse.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe general effect would have brought deep shame to any conscientious\ntailor who had made them, but nimble fingers soon accomplished wonders\nwith a tuck here and there, and the deft use of an occasional pin.\n\nThe ends of the trousers had to be rolled up a number of times, and the\ncoats turned up on the inside. When they put on the big, hob-nailed\nshoes their long, tapering feet were lost in them, and the whole Brownie\nidentity completely disappeared after they had donned the false noses\nand moustaches that the Policeman handed around.\n\nNo one familiar with the Brownie band would have recognized these\nparticular five, and their disguise was pronounced admirable by one and\nall.\n\nThe breast of the coat that had fallen to the Sailor was all covered\nwith medals, and it was the only one of the lot that was decorated in\nthis manner. King Stanislaus thought that as the leader he was more\nproperly fitted to wear this coat, but the Sailor seemed reluctant to\ngive it up, so His Majesty good-naturedly did not press the matter.\n\nHe chose a cornet and the Sailor the remaining one. The Policeman took\nthe saxophone, and the German the slide trombone. That left only the\ntuba for the Irishman, and it was so big that he could hardly manage it.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThus fully equipped and with the whole band for an escort, the\nindomitable quintet set forth on their delicate mission.\n\nDragonfel's palace was a good deal farther away than they had supposed,\nfor the atmosphere was very clear, so that objects at a distance seemed\nmuch nearer than they really were.\n\nThere was a fair road that led to it from the beach, and this took them\nover a rickety wooden bridge that spanned one of the numerous tide-water\ncreeks in the vicinity.\n\nBut before they reached the bridge they came to a small frame structure\nover whose arched doors was the sign: NEPTUNE HOOK AND LADDER CO. NO. 1,\nwhich caused remarks.\n\n\"Evidently Dragonfel has a fire department,\" said King Stanislaus. \"This\nis a most interesting discovery.\"\n\n\"Why, I could have told you that,\" said a Brownie. \"I saw it some time\nago.\"\n\n\"You should have done so,\" His Majesty reproved. \"It may have a very\nimportant bearing on what we are about to try to do. But what was that?\"\n\nSomething dim and shadowy flitted past in the dark, with the whirring\nsound of a night-bat.\n\n\"I saw it,\" the Policeman spoke up quickly. \"There was a gleam of red,\nand I thought I could distinguish a bow and quiver.\"\n\n\"A bow and quiver!\" repeated King Stanislaus, and his face grew suddenly\ngrave. \"I hope they were not Prince Florimel's. I am greatly distressed\nby the fear that some dire mishap has come to him.\" His Majesty would\nhave felt very much relieved in mind if he could have known that nothing\nserious had occurred to the prince.\n\nWhen like the rest of the Brownies Florimel had gone to seek what\ninformation he could he had strayed nearer to the palace than perhaps in\nprudence he should have done.\n\nWith the impetuosity of youth he was ready to storm the palace\nsingle-handed, but he realized that such a rash, foolhardy attempt would\nonly bring disaster to the whole band.\n\nSo he gazed toward the lights that gleamed from the windows, wondering\nall the while what Titania was doing at the time, and if Dragonfel was\nvery cruel to her.\n\nHe was really helpless just then to exert himself in her behalf, and he\nturned with a sigh to go back.\n\nThe rigors of the hardships through which he had passed pressed\nheavily, and excessive weariness overcame him. He felt a sudden\nfaintness, and sank upon a grassy bank to rest.\n\nHe did not dream that prying eyes for some time had been watching him\nfrom an open panel in a fence hard by.\n\nThose keen, malicious orbs followed every movement that Florimel made,\nand when they noticed him yawn, and rub his lids to keep the sleep from\nthem, they glittered and gleamed with exultation.\n\nThen Florimel's eyes in spite of him closed, and his tired head sank\nback in the deep grass.\n\nFrom the fence the Red Spirit issued like a wraith. Noiselessly he\nadvanced toward the unconscious prince, and bending down began with\ndeft, adroit fingers to remove the quiver slung across his back.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut light as the thieving touch was it aroused Florimel who sprang at\nonce to his feet.\n\nQuick though he was he still was not quick enough. All that he heard was\na whirring sound, and in a flash he noticed that his bow was missing.\nHis hand involuntarily sought his back only to find that the quiver had\nbeen craftily taken from it.\n\nWide awake and full of alarm now he ran with all speed back to the\nlocality that King Stanislaus had designated for the reunion of the\nband. But the half-hour had elapsed, and the Brownies were not there.\n\nThen he noticed in the sand prints of narrow, tapering feet all leading\ndown the beach, and he flew in the direction they pointed. But when he\nreached the spot where the Policeman had made his discovery the Brownies\nwere not there, either.\n\nHe felt convinced that they had started for Dragonfel's palace, and he\nran as fast as he could to overtake them, passing the engine-house, and\ngoing over the bridge.\n\nWhen he was approaching the palace he saw five persons very small of\nstature, each with a big brass instrument, standing just outside the\nentrance. The doors swung suddenly open, they passed through them, and\nthen the doors closed again.\n\nFlorimel quickened his pace with the determination to follow them, but\njust when he was about to pound upon the doors for admittance tiny but\nstrong hands grasped him, and held him back, and he heard the whispered\nwarning:\n\n\"Don't, or you will ruin all!\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XV\n\nTHE GERMAN BAND\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWhen the German band was announced by the Demon Usher in his queer,\ncackling voice Queen Titania, Dame Drusilda, Violet, and Daffodil\nhappened to be seated on the steps of the throne, and all were feeling\ngrumpy and out-of-sorts. Dragonfel had tried to prevail upon them to\nplay dominoes or parchesi, but they had no heart for any game.\n\nGrouthead, Wolfinger, Mandrake, Boundingbore, Snoutpimple, and others\nof the enchanter's followers were present and some of them looked\ndistinctly bored. Snoutpimple was even trying to repress a yawn. Things\nat the palace had been rather slow since the abduction of Queen Titania\nand her party, and nothing especially wicked had occurred.\n\nWhen it was known, however, that a number of strolling musicians were\ngoing to play for them, a thrill of genuine pleasure ran through the\nwhole assemblage. Titania and her companions were glad, for they felt\nthat some enlivening strains would greatly cheer their drooping spirits.\nDragonfel's followers were equally delighted, though they did not care\nin the least for music. But knowing their master as they did they were\nvery sure that the prospective concert would prove exceedingly\ninteresting.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nEscorted by the smirking Demon Usher, who rubbed his hands together\nwhile he cackled joyously to himself, and who half skipped, half flew,\nbefore them, the members of the German band entered awkwardly, and\nclumsily arranged themselves in a semi-circle before the throne.\n\nThere were five of them including the leader who stood at the end\nnearest Dragonfel and the others--all diminutive, moustached men with\nbig noses, whose frayed, soiled uniforms fitted them very badly indeed.\nTheir trousers at the ends were rolled up a number of times over, and\ntheir coats which hung on them like bags actually reached almost to\ntheir shoe-tops.\n\nUpon the chest of the one who stood next to the leader were pinned a\ngreat variety of medals, and he seemed to be very proud of them, since\nno one else boasted a decoration of any kind.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe little audience grouped about the throne gazed at them expectantly,\nand Titania thought the leader winked at her. But apparently he did not\nnotice anyone, and least of all Dragonfel. His whole attention seemed to\nbe centred on his band.\n\n\"Are ve all here alretty?\" he asked.\n\n\"Yah!\" came in chorus.\n\n\"Vell,\" said he, \"I vill broceed der gall der roll-gall. 'Louie\nKnobloch!'\"\n\n\"I vass here,\" said the one with the medals next to him.\n\n\"Peter Dinkelspeil!\"\n\n\"Here I vass.\"\n\n\"Hermann Sweinskopf!\"\n\n\"He's peen here.\"\n\n\"Jacob Schnittger!\"\n\n\"Bresend early.\"\n\n\"Emil Muller!\"\n\nThere was no response, and all the rest turned and looked at the leader\nin surprise.\n\n\"Emil Muller!\" he repeated, and then, suddenly recollecting something,\nwent on: \"Oh, oxguse me! I vass here. Heinrich von Strauss! Heinrich von\nStrauss! Vere iss Heiny von Strauss?\"\n\n\"He vass py his bedt sick,\" said Louie Knobloch.\n\n\"Vat's der madder mit der bedt?\" demanded Emil Muller. \"For vhy iss id\nsick?\"\n\n\"Nein, nein, keppelmeister,\" said Louie Knobloch. \"Id iss Heiny vat iss\nsick. He iss sick by der inside off der bedt.\"\n\n\"Vhy iss he sick?\" asked Emil Muller.\n\n\"Yestertay,\" explained Louie Knobloch, \"he vend on der bicnig, und he\neated four dozen charlotte roosters, und he gets der collywopples.\"\n\nHe illustrated his remarks by significantly rubbing his stomach. \"He vas\nnot in goot contition to plow ven ve left.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Anyvone vot eadts charlotte roosters ought der be sick,\" said Emil\nMuller decidedly. \"He shoult eat dem vhen dey iss a egg. Blay!\"\n\nAll raised their instruments to their mouths, but he held up a warning\nfinger.\n\n\"Anodder t'ing,\" he went on to Knobloch. \"You dell Heinrich off he vass\nnod here dermorrow morning ad half basd four in der afdernoon, vhen I\ngall der rehearsal, arous mit him! Are you retty?\"\n\n\"Yah!\"\n\n\"Den plow yourselfs!\"\n\nThen began a wild riot of discord, whereupon Emil Muller quickly took\nhis own dented offending cornet from his mouth.\n\n\"Ve vill nod blay dot biece,\" he announced. \"Id iss no goot.\"\n\n\"Vhy don'd you wride some musigs, keppelmeister?\" suggested Peter\nDinkelspeil.\n\n\"I voult, bud I'm doo pusy,\" said Emil Muller. \"Led us renter insteadt\ndot peaudiful biece fon Vawgner, 'Der Glock on der Rhine.'\"\n\n\"Vatch, keppelmeister,\" corrected Louie Knobloch.\n\n\"Vatch vat?\" inquired Emil Muller.\n\n\"Id iss nod a glock,\" explained Louie Knobloch. \"Id iss a vatch on der\nRhine.\"\n\n\"A glock all gan see iss besser,\" said Emil Muller, and in the midst of\ntheir second attempt Hermann Swinescopf raised his hand and shouted in\nthe effort to make himself heard above the din:\n\n\"Shtob der pandt! Shtob der pandt! I am shbeaking!\"\n\n\"Vot's der madder?\" asked Emil Muller.\n\n\"Vass iss der biece you say ve blay?\" questioned Hermann Sweinskopf.\n\n\"I say 'Der Glock on der Rhine' fon Vawgner,\" replied Emil Muller.\n\nThey started once more, but again came the vigorous interruption from\nHermann Sweinskopf:\n\n\"Shtob der pandt! Shtob der pandt! I am shbeaking!\"\n\n\"Vhy don'd you shbeak your moud oud undt pe done mit it?\" said Emil\nMuller angrily.\n\n\"Vass iss dis here biece, 'Der Glock on der Rhine,' anyhow? Iss id a\nso-na-da?\"\n\n\"Yess--undt no!\" said Emil Muller, reflecting. \"Id iss a in-u-en-do! Are\nyou all retty?\"\n\n\"Yah!\" they chorused, setting themselves in proper shape.\n\n\"Vell, altogedder den, und show de vorld vot you can do!\"\n\nThen came a third attempt, but the leader again stopped them.\n\n\"Who plew dot bum node?\" he sternly demanded. Everyone looked at each\nother in surprise, and Louie Knobloch said:\n\n\"Vell, I don'd dood id.\"\n\n\"I didn'd did id,\" said Peter Dinkelspeil.\n\n\"I didn'd done id,\" said Hermann Sweinskopf.\n\n\"I didn'd did did id,\" said Jacob Schnittger.\n\n[Illustration: The controversy over the bum note.]\n\n\"You're de von,\" Emil Muller accused Louie Knobloch. \"You plew dot bum\nnode, no madder vot oxguse you make!\"\n\n\"No, sir,\" said Louie Knobloch stoutly, \"I don'd dood id.\"\n\n\"You're de von,\" insisted Emil Muller. \"You plew dot bum node, it vass\nnear me.\"\n\n\"No, sir,\" denied Louie Knobloch. \"I don'd plow no bum nodes. I vass as\ngoot a musiker as you pe, und maype vorse.\"\n\n\"You dake dot bum node und bay yourself,\" said Emil Muller reminded him.\n\n\"Oh, dot don'd make some ice!\" said Louie Knobloch, accompanying the\nwords with sarcastic shakes of his head. \"I don'd see no medals on you.\"\n\nHe looked complacently down at his own chest and regarded with\nsatisfaction the big assortment there. Emil Muller was evidently taken\naback, but he recovered himself sufficiently to say:\n\n\"I am de leater, und you gan ged oudt off der pandt. Ve gan ged along\nmitout you.\"\n\n\"Oh, vell,\" said Louie Knobloch, \"I gan go.\"\n\n\"Den vhy don'd you? Vat are you shtanding here for?\"\n\n\"I vass vaiding for my money.\"\n\n\"How much do you owe me?\" asked Emil Muller.\n\n\"I owe you a veek's vages,\" said Louie Knobloch. \"No, you owe me a\nveek's vages. You bay me my money und I go.\"\n\n\"You dake dot bum node und bay yourself,\" said Muller.\n\nThat settled the controversy, and Louis Knobloch made no effort to go,\nnor did Emil Muller urge him.\n\nThey made another attempt, without any further interruption, and, while\ntheir cheeks puffed out, and they got red in their faces, no one could\ntell what tune they were playing.\n\nDragonfel from the throne silently motioned to Grouthead who went out,\nand returned a few seconds later with a tray on which were four tiny\nglasses of ginger ale.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nJacob Schnittger turned and saw him, and then rushed to help himself to\none of the glasses of ginger ale. A moment later Hermann Sweinskopf\nfollowed his example, and then Peter Dinkelspeil. Louie Knobloch\nsuddenly noticed his companions preparing to refresh themselves, and\nmade a frantic dash to join them. That left only Emil Muller, the\nleader, playing. He looked around to find out what was the matter, and\nthen sprinted toward Grouthead, but there was no ginger ale left on the\ntray. He stood with ill-concealed envy watching the other four who were\nclinking their glasses hilariously. Then the quartet began to sing:\n\n    \"'Halli, hallo, halli, hallo;\n      Bei uns geht's immer,\n      Je langer je schlimmer;\n    Halli, hallo, halli, hallo,\n      Bei uns geht's immer noch so!'\"\n\n\"Prosit, leater!\" said Louie Knobloch mockingly, as he lifted his\nglass, with the other three facing around and following suit.\n\nEmil Muller was speechless. He kicked his heels together as he watched\nthem drinking and smacking their lips. Dragonfel again signalled to\nGrouthead who went out, and came back bearing an immense glass of ginger\nale upon the tray.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nEmil Muller swooped down upon it exultingly, and with great difficulty\nheld it aloft. The others of the band gathered around in awe, while\nLouie Knobloch stood on tiptoe to obtain a better view of the glass.\nEmil Muller blew the froth into Louie's face, and the latter wiped it\noff with his fingers, afterwards putting them in his mouth, as though\neven small favors sometimes count.\n\n\"Do you know vot dot man Vilhelm Shake-a-sbeare vonct saidt?\" he asked.\n\n[Illustration: \"THE BROWNIES!\"]\n\n\"No,\" replied Louie Knobloch, wiping the froth from his eyes. \"Vot dit\nhe say?\"\n\nEmil Muller raised the glass to his lips, remarking with great emphasis:\n\n\"Shake-a-sbeare vonct saidt, 'Dere iss odders!'\"\n\nBut before he could partake of the cooling drink all of a sudden the Red\nSpirit with the bow and quiver of arrows he had taken surreptitiously\nfrom Prince Florimel flew through the window into the room, shattering\nthe glass all to pieces, and lit right at Dragonfel's feet.\n\n\"Be not deceived, kind master!\" he cried, in great excitement. \"They are\nthe Brownies!\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVI\n\nTHE EARTHQUAKE AND VOLCANO\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe big glass with not so much as a single drop tasted by Emil Muller's\nlips fell from his hand with a loud crash, and its contents flowed like\nan amber-colored river along the floor.\n\nAlmost instantly at the Red Spirit's startling announcement Dragonfel\nhad sprung up from his throne stiff and rigid, and was regarding the\nembryo musicians with a glare of peculiar malevolence.\n\n\"The Brownies!\" he involuntarily ejaculated. \"I thought they played too\nwell for a German band!\"\n\nQueen Titania, Dame Drusilda, Violet, and Daffodil had also risen as\nthough they had received an electric shock. Their breath came fast\nin their sudden agitation. They started to go to the musicians, but\nWolfinger, Mandrake, and Snoutpimple roughly grasped them, and held them\nback.\n\nRealizing the failure of a deception that might have achieved success\nhad it not been for the sly spying of the malicious Red Spirit, Emil\nMuller, otherwise King Stanislaus, turned and faced Dragonfel, his very\nattitude hurling a strong challenge of defiance.\n\nKnowing that further subterfuge would be useless, the doughty monarch\nin a flash whisked off his false nose and moustache, and slipped from\nhis baggy clothes. Likewise Louie Knobloch, Peter Dinkelspeil, Hermann\nSweinskopf, and Jacob Schnittger removed their disguises, and the\nunmistakable features of the Sailor, Policeman, German, and Irishman\nwere revealed. \"Yes, we are the Brownies,\" cried King Stanislaus, \"come\nto demand the instant surrender of Queen Titania and her companions.\"\n\n\"Idiots!\" snarled Dragonfel, in a fury. \"You have rushed to your\ndestruction!\" And he clapped his hands together, and shouted to his\nfollowers around him: \"What ho, there! Summon everyone in the palace!\nWe'll see that these presumptuous sprites meet with fitting punishment.\"\n\nThe Demon Usher half flew, and half ran, with even more celerity than\nusual, to do his bidding. With teeth showing, and fists clenched, the\ninfuriated enchanter advanced threateningly toward the intrepid members\nof the band who looked at him without even so much as flinching.\n\n\"Have a care!\" warned King Stanislaus. \"Beware of the Brownies' mystic\npower!\" And, turning to the Sailor, he added: \"Quick! the signal!\"\n\nInstantly the Sailor blew a deafening blast upon his cornet, and in a\ntrice there was the pounding of many fists upon the outer doors, with\ncrashing sounds as though heavy logs were being directed with the force\nof many hands against them.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nUnder the fierce, determined assault the doors gave way and toppled in,\nwhile through the opening swarmed and crowded the band of eager\nBrownies, with Prince Florimel in their lead.\n\nAt almost the same instant, through other doors, poured Dragonfel's\nhosts, with Vulcan's red imps somersaulting and leaping among them, and\nthere were so many of them, and all so big and powerful, they well might\ncause dismay to the stoutest heart.\n\n\"So be it then!\" cried Dragonfel, grandiloquently, for the sight of all\nthese great, hulking fellows gave him renewed confidence. \"It is power\nagainst power!\"\n\nAnd, striking a pompous attitude, he cleared his throat, and placed his\nhand on his chest.\n\n\"Stand back!\" shouted King Stanislaus. \"He's going to speak a piece!\"\n\nThen Dragonfel poetically spouted:\n\n    \"Much rather than in spite of me,\n    The union of these bands should be,\n    From thy long rest, oh, Vulcan, wake;\n    Let earth to its dark centre quake,\n    And these strong walls that round us stand\n    Come crumbling down in lime and sand!\"\n\nThis incantation, punctuated, as it were, by Vulcan's imps, who threw\nballs of fire into the air where the commas, semicolon, and exclamation\npoint are above transcribed, was delivered with only fair elocutionary\nability, but its effect was electrifying.\n\nAlmost with the last word uttered by his vindictive lips a tremor ran\nthrough the earth that brought to all a sickening sensation of fear. The\nheavy walls and ornate supporting pillars shook, tottered, and then fell\nwith a terrific crash, that might well horrify all, as the vibrations of\nthe earth continued.\n\nIn another instant the magnificent palace lay in ruins illumined by\nfierce flames that leaped wildly from the apex of the volcano and licked\nwith fiery tongues the very sky.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nShrieking and screaming with the horror of it all Dragonfel's followers\nand the Brownies alike ran hither and thither, their warfare temporarily\nforgotten in this more appalling danger that suddenly had come to them.\nIn their fright some sought ridiculous places of refuge but it was a\nmatter of speed.\n\nTrue to their nature to help in all times of distress, the Brownies\nworked well to save things from complete ruin, and if the proper\nimplements had been at hand the havoc would not have been so severe. But\nVulcan was in no mood to quit the quake that was felt in all parts of\nthe palace.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nEven the State bed-chamber was not exempt, and things that had gone up\nwith great care and cost came down with great crash and confusion.\n\nBut more terrible danger menaced them. The shock of the earthquake was\nover, and had wrought utter ruin. Still, as far as could be learned, in\nall the confusion, uproar, and wild excitement no lives had been lost.\nFar greater peril, however, threatened from which there did not seem to\nbe a possible way of escape, new horrors faced them on every side.\n\nRound and pear-shaped volcanic bombs shot up with tremendous velocity\nfrom the crater's boiling mouth, formed from the precious minerals\nstored for centuries deep in the treasury of the earth. And all of these\nin a molten red-hot liquid mass were flowing swiftly and irresistibly in\na bubbling, hissing, steaming, seething, blood-red river straight on to\nwhere the unfortunate Brownies were among the ruins of the once proud\nand haughty palace.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBefore all this occurred Florimel's quick eye had noticed the audacious\nRed Spirit with his stolen bow and arrows, and he had sprung forward to\nwrest them from him. But the strange, repulsive creature evaded him\nmockingly, and flew off with his booty.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe disappointment of the prince was transformed to delight when the\nnext moment he beheld Titania running to him with arms extended. But\nthey never met, for before she could reach his side the terrible\ncatastrophe of the earthquake and volcano happened, and they were\njostled and crowded apart by the throng, who in their great terror\nseemed to have lost all control of their senses. In all the turmoil\ncareful watch was kept of the captives. Nearer and nearer came the\nmolten stream of lava, and hotter and hotter grew its scorching breath,\nwhile huge trees in its remorseless path flared up and shriveled away in\nan instant.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWhen the stunning shock to his nerves was exhausting itself, King\nStanislaus in a dazed way began to think, with the full realization that\nwhatever there was to be done had to be accomplished quickly.\n\nSuddenly he recalled the frame building they had passed in going to\nthe palace. If it housed as he most fervently hoped it did a complete\nequipment for fighting fires it might prove the very means by which the\nBrownies could grapple with a situation that was becoming more and more\nintolerable.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nPromptly he communicated his plan to various members of the band, as he\nspied them, and the word was passed around from one to the other, until\nall were fully conversant with His Majesty's views. And very soon all\nthese agile sprites, with King Stanislaus and Prince Florimel in the\nlead, were racing helter-skelter back to the wooden structure that bore\nthe inscription: NEPTUNE HOOK AND LADDER CO. NO. 1.\n\nThey broke in the doors, and soon were prying into every nook and corner\nof the place. And, while King Stanislaus forthwith seized a fire-trumpet\nthat was hanging from a hook on the wall, Brownies were donning with the\ngreatest haste fire helmets that even with paper stuffed in them came\ndown over their ears, and putting on rubber boots and coats intended by\nDragonfel for his followers, and which proved but sorry fits, for the\nboots came well up over their waists, and had to be turned back, and the\ncoats trailed after them like the long trains of fashionable ladies'\ngowns.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe energetic monarch was rather disappointed to find upon inspection\nthat the machine instead of being one of the modern, up-to-date kind\nwas of a very antiquated type, a brake-engine with man-handles that had\nto be worked by hand to throw a stream of water. But he was greatly\nrelieved to discover that there was an abundant supply of hose, for in\nproviding himself with this the enchanter evidently had made a nice\ncalculation of the distance from the crater of the volcano to the\nstand-pipe connection in the palace, and he had allowed plenty to spare.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nIn stentorian tones His Majesty shouted out his orders through the\nfire-trumpet, and the Brownies hauled out the engine and hose-carriage.\nThen they all took hold of the long ropes attached to them, and started\non a run for Dragonfel's ruined palace, that now was little more than a\ntumbled heap.\n\nBrownies perched on the engine, and one kept clanging the bell\nfuriously. Some who ran with the ropes tripped on the trailing tails of\ntheir rubber coats, but they never let go, and were dragged along by\ntheir surer-footed companions.\n\nAfter they had gone some distance the Policeman began shouting in\nremonstrance, and King Stanislaus ordered a halt to hear what he had to\nsay. \"What is it, officer?\" asked His Majesty. \"We've got to go back,\"\npanted the Policeman. \"Some of us forgot to put on red shirts.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThough King Stanislaus felt very much chagrined at such neglect, he\nrealized that it was now too late to remedy this most important matter,\nfor every passing moment was precious. So he bellowed through the\ntrumpet instructions to continue, and pulling and straining at the ropes\nthey flew on, with the engine and hose-carriage bumping, lurching, and\nswaying after them.\n\nOn and on they went, pit-patting at last across the rickety old wooden\nbridge, but before they could drag the engine across it one of the\nplanks snapped in two under its weight, and the wheels on one side went\ndown through the opening almost as far as the water below.\n\nThe engine was firmly stuck, and though the Brownies tugged and strained\nat the rope, puffing, panting, and exerting all their strength, they\ncould not even so much as budge it.\n\nNearer and nearer came the terrible river of fire, and the volcano\nseemed to be reaching even greater activity. It looked as though this\neffort of the Brownies was in vain.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVII\n\nTHE BROWNIES FIGHT THE FLAMES\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut once more the indomitable spirit of King Stanislaus manifested\nitself. Though the fire-engine was jammed in between the joists and\ntimbers of the bridge, and could not be extracted by pulling the rope,\nthe plucky monarch would not allow himself to be vanquished without a\nstruggle.\n\nHe caused the Brownies to bring heavy planks, and farther directed them\nto wrench off the guard-rails of the bridge. The ends of these were\nplaced under the engine, while at those opposite the sprites exerted as\npowerful a leverage as they could at the same time comrades were pulling\nwith all their might and main at the rope.\n\nFinally their combined efforts resulted in raising the engine up on the\nbridge again, after which it was easily rolled upon the road.\n\nThis unfortunate delay had seemed much longer than it really was, owing\nto the exigency of the situation, but they made up for lost time during\nthe rest of the distance, and reached the site of the ruins without\nfurther mishap.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe lava was almost upon them, and they were nearly suffocated by the\nintense heat. But, while King Stanislaus ran here and there directing\nthe preparations, and shouting his orders through the fire-trumpet, they\nquickly unwound the coils of hose and effected a connection with the\nstand-pipe.\n\nThe water was thereupon turned on, and while Brownies in helmets, rubber\ncoats, and boots held grimly on to the hose and trained the big brass\nnozzle on the fast approaching lava, others manned the handles of the\nengine, a half dozen or more being required at each end, and flew\nhanging to them up and down through the air to furnish the necessary\npressure.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThough the engine was old and out of repair, it had one redeeming\nfeature. It could throw two or three streams of water at once as well as\none, and the Brownies in their great need forced it to the limit.\n\nImmense volumes of water gushed out at the lava, and their contact\nproduced a hissing, boiling sound, while the air was almost immediately\nfilled with steam which became so thick that it could almost be cut\nwith a knife. In the thick vapors that arose their forms could only be\ndistinguished dimly, and they seemed like shadows flitting to and fro.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAt times the hose burst in various places, and streams of water from\nthem spouted high into the air involving waste, but King Stanislaus\nproved himself equal to all emergencies.\n\n\"Stick your fingers in the holes to keep the water in,\" he shouted\nthrough the trumpet.\n\nBrownies either poked their fingers through the openings or held their\nhands against them to prevent the escape of water. The hose got away\nfrom those who were holding it, and the terrific stream drenched the\nDude, Chinaman, and Indian who were directly in its path, sweeping them\noff their feet. In another moment the Brownies regained their mastery of\nit, and once more the water was directed full at the blazing lava.\n\nSuch efforts were bound to achieve results, and these King Stanislaus\nnoted with great satisfaction.\n\n\"We're gaining on it!\" he announced exultantly. \"Just keep it up, boys,\nand we'll soon have the fire out.\"\n\nThus encouraged, higher and higher flew the Brownies on the handles of\nthe engine, while others continued to play the hose upon the descending\nlava, which hissed, steamed, and bubbled as the water struck it.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAs the lava cooled off it formed a composition resembling asphalt, and\nupon this the Brownies could walk, unwinding as they did so more and\nmore hose, and all the while getting nearer and nearer to the volcano.\n\nFinally they were directing the stream down the crater's mouth, which\ngurgled, gasped, and then instead of flame began to emit smoldering\nsmoke which grew less and less in volume.\n\n\"I guess that settles Mr. Volcano!\" triumphantly cried King Stanislaus,\nas he wiped beads of perspiration from his royal brow.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"It's a pity the palace was destroyed,\" remarked the Student.\n\n\"It's Dragonfel's own fault,\" said the king, \"and he has only himself to\nblame. I wouldn't have that man's mean disposition, no, not for all the\njewels and mines he possesses.\"\n\n\"Even if he has lost his palace,\" said the Dude, \"he's got a fine new\nmacadamized road to the volcano. With a jitney-bus he can make a lot of\nmoney from tourists.\"\n\nThe fire was practically extinguished, and all danger from it had\npassed. It was well that this was so, for the first rays of the sun were\nbeginning to appear in the brightening east, and the mystic powers of\nthe Brownies which come at night were fast being exhausted.\n\nWhen the valiant fire-fighters at last had the volcano under control,\nPrince Florimel gazed anxiously around for Queen Titania, Dame Drusilda,\nViolet, and Daffodil, but none of them was in sight.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nNeither could he observe Dragonfel nor any of his followers, for when\nthey had become assured of safety these cravens had fled, leaving the\nBrownies to do all the work.\n\nFlorimel ran hither and thither, searching among the ruins for those he\nwas so eager to find, and calling aloud their names, but there was no\nresponse to his cries, nor could he discover the slightest trace of them\nanywhere, which alarmed him greatly.\n\nThe Brownies were taking a much needed rest, but he got them all to join\nin the quest, and they hunted in every nook and corner thereabout\nwithout success.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"This is indeed strange,\" said King Stanislaus, very much puzzled. \"They\nwere here just a little while ago, for I saw them myself. I didn't pay\nany particular attention to them at the time, for the volcano was\nkeeping me pretty busy.\"\n\n\"They have made their escape,\" said Florimel, \"and have again carried\noff the queen and her companions. The question is, where have they\ngone?\"\n\n\"I do not think they have gone far,\" said the king, and his eye swept\nthe harbor where the galleon was plainly visible. \"Perhaps they are on\nthe ship, but I very much doubt it. It may be they are hiding somewhere\nnear.\"\n\nSuddenly the Policeman who was still prowling stealthily around poked\nhis club in a dark, out-of-the-way corner into something flabby which at\nonce emitted a queer, cackling shriek so uncanny that everyone jumped\nback in fright.\n\nThe next moment he quickly reached in his arm and drew out by the ear\nthe quaking, shaking Demon Usher who had no opportunity to practice his\neccentric locomotion, but was obliged to crawl after his captor on his\nhands and knees.\n\nThe Policeman led him by the ear to King Stanislaus who eyed him\nsternly.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Mercy, have mercy!\" shrieked the Demon Usher, in abject terror, and he\nshook as though he had the dumb ague, chills and fever, and something\nelse besides. \"Oh, kind sir, I will be your slave for life, and obey\nyour slightest wish. Only don't kill or torture me, I beg you!\"\n\n\"Tell the truth, or it will be the worse for you,\" said King Stanislaus.\n\nHis words in no sense were a threat, for it is always the worse for\nanyone who does not tell the truth. But they only served to increase\nthe fears of the poor, frightened wretch who shook as if he had added\nSt. Vitus dance to all his other symptoms.\n\n\"Spare my life!\" he whined, with his teeth clicking against each other\nlike castenets. \"Oh, please, sir, spare my life! Ask me anything you\nlike, and I will answer you. Yes, and though it is very hard for me to\ndo so, I will speak the truth. Let me be your slave, and fan you, and\nblack your boots!\"\n\n\"Where is your master?\"\n\n\"He is gone.\"\n\n\"Yes, we know that already. Where has he gone?\"\n\nThe Demon Usher looked around timidly as though to assure himself that\nneither Dragonfel nor any of his followers was within hearing, and then\nsaid, with an air of great cunning:\n\n\"If I tell you, will you let me go?\"\n\n\"Yes,\" said King Stanislaus. \"I give you my promise.\"\n\n\"Then I will tell you,\" said the Demon Usher. \"He has flown with his\ncaptives to his mine.\"\n\n\"His mine?\" echoed His Majesty.\n\n\"Have you not heard of it?\" asked the Demon Usher in great surprise.\n\"Why, it is the most wonderful mine in all the world. Every jewel known\nto a lapidary is there.\"\n\n\"Where is it?\"\n\n\"Near by.\"\n\n\"Lead us to it,\" broke in Florimel eagerly.\n\n\"Come with me,\" said the Demon Usher. \"I will show you the secret\npassage-way through which Dragonfel and the rest entered.\"\n\nFlorimel made an impatient start to be off, and the Brownies showed\ntheir willingness to follow him through all dangers, but King\nStanislaus, more careful, raised his hand to call a halt.\n\n\"Stay!\" he cautioned. \"This may only be a ruse to trap us. How do we\nknow this is the truth?\"\n\n\"It is the truth,\" averred the Demon Usher. \"Follow me and I will soon\nprove it to you.\"\n\nHe moved off with his queer half-skip and half-jump, cocking his eye\nbehind at them as if he feared they would try to stop him. But no one\nmade any attempt to do so, and he appeared very much relieved.\n\nClose at his heels came Florimel and the Brownies, with King Stanislaus\namong them, but the monarch looked ill at ease, as though he suspected\ntreachery of some kind.\n\nThe Demon Usher led them to a slight rise where there was a rocky\nformation, and stopped before a boulder so huge that it would have\nrequired the strength of many men to move it.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSearching with his long, thin fingers for a certain place, he found it\nat length, and pressed against it as hard as he could.\n\nTo the surprise of all the rest, the boulder began to slide easily away,\ndisclosing the entrance to a dark, subterranean passage.\n\n[Illustration: \"TRICKED!\"]\n\n\"Follow the passage,\" cried the Demon Usher triumphantly, \"and it will\nlead you to Dragonfel and his captives!\"\n\nFlorimel and the Brownies at once entered, and King Stanislaus ran after\nthem.\n\n\"Stop!\" came his warning. \"Before we go any farther let us first\nconsider.\"\n\nBut when they were all inside it suddenly grew pitch-black, as the\nboulder quickly slid back into its place.\n\nFrom outside they heard the Demon Usher give a hoarse cackle of\nexultation.\n\n\"Tricked!\" ejaculated King Stanislaus. \"We are caught like rats in a\ntrap!\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVIII\n\nTHE FLIGHT TO THE MINE\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nIn bringing about the destruction of his palace Dragonfel's only thought\nhad been the destruction of the Brownies. He had hoped to crush the\nsprites by means of the falling walls and columns, and when he invoked\nVulcan for the assistance he felt sure would be given to him he was very\ncareful to keep out of harm's way himself.\n\nBut like many another vindictive, revengeful person the wicked enchanter\noverreached himself. He had no idea when he called upon Vulcan to get\nbusy that the latter would make such a good job of it.\n\nHe fully expected the palace to topple down, for that was what he had\nasked for. But he did not want the volcano that had been thrown in for\ngood measure. It made things too hot and uncomfortable.\n\nHe was very much alarmed when he saw the volcano in violent eruption,\nfor he realized that the downpour of lava boded ill for himself as well\nas for others over whose safety he was not at all concerned.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThinking only of himself, he was on the point of ordering out his\nvolunteer fire department to subdue the flames in the crater when to his\ngreat relief he noticed that King Stanislaus had taken the matter out of\nhis hands.\n\nFrom his place of safety Dragonfel watched the operations of the\nBrownies, and he breathed more freely when he noticed that they were\ngetting the fire well under control, so that the prospect of all danger\nwas fast being removed through their energetic efforts.\n\nHe realized that after the volcano was subdued these indomitable little\npeople would devote their attention to him, and in considering what the\noutcome would be he grew more and more uncertain. As a matter of fact,\nhe was beginning to fear the mystic power of the Brownies, and he very\nmuch doubted if his big followers with all their boasted strength were a\nfit match for these sprites who had not only cunning but courage.\n\nHe decided that in the clash which was bound to come it was best not to\nrisk any chance of defeat in a fair, open fight, but by underhanded\nmeans to overpower them.\n\nThen the diabolical scheme of making the Brownies prisoners, and setting\nthem to work in his mine, presented itself. If he fled there with his\ncaptives, they would undoubtedly follow in pursuit, and once in the mine\nthey easily could be made helpless.\n\nThe Demon Usher at his feet was going through all sorts of contortions\nof fear, and Dragonfel looked sneeringly down at him.\n\n\"Stop your shaking, and listen to me,\" he commanded. \"We are going to\ntake the captives to the mine.\"\n\n\"Let us start at once, kind master,\" said the Demon Usher, in a fever of\nimpatience. \"If it gets cool here it will be too hot to hold us.\"\n\n\"You will be the only one to stay,\" said Dragonfel.\n\n\"Oh, say not so, kind master!\" cried the Demon Usher, shaking with even\ngreater violence than before. \"If they catch me they will kill me.\"\n\n\"Then it will be good riddance to bad rubbish,\" was Dragonfel's\nunfeeling retort. \"I said you were to stay, so that settles it. When the\nBrownies ask you where we've gone, you're to tell them to the mine.\nThey'll probably make you lead them to it. When they do take them to the\nsecret entrance, and after they are in close the boulder on them. Do you\nunderstand me?\"\n\n\"Yes, I grasp you perfectly,\" said the Demon Usher, \"but, oh, kind\nmaster, I have a weak heart, and at times it fails me. Would it not be\nbetter to intrust a delicate matter like this to Snoutpimple?\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"After they are imprisoned,\" went on Dragonfel, unheeding the\nsuggestion, \"you can come around by the main entrance, and let me know.\"\n\nJust as soon as he was fully convinced that all danger was over the\nenchanter passed the word around among his followers to decamp, and this\nwas effected so insidiously that the Brownies did not notice it.\n\nThey laid rough hands on Queen Titania, Dame Drusilda, Violet, and\nDaffodil, muffling the cries for help they tried to make, and bore them\nwith great haste from the scene of excitement; the waving arms and\nkicking availed them nothing.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWith their struggling, protesting burdens in their arms they ran toward\nthe mine, and descended into it by the main entrance. When they reached\nthe great shaft where the mine-sprites were hard at work, Titania, Dame\nDrusilda, Violet, and Daffodil were released, and they looked around\nwith wonder and surprise.\n\nThe mine-sprites cast furtive glances of curiosity at these strange new\nfaces that invited confidence, but so frightened were they when they saw\ntheir cruel master that they redoubled their efforts, and their fingers\nfairly flew as they dug them in the earth for precious stones.\n\n\"Poor little things!\" was Queen Titania's involuntary cry. \"The work is\ntoo hard for them.\"\n\n\"I've been thinking of that,\" said Dragonfel, with a chuckle, \"and I've\ndecided to put an extra force on.\"\n\n\"Do you mean to set us to work?\" asked Dame Drusilda indignantly.\n\n\"Perhaps,\" said Dragonfel, with a horrid grin. \"Just now, though, I'm\ngoing to take you all to another part of the mine where we'll await\ndevelopments.\"\n\nAs he spoke he seized Titania's hand, and began to drag her off down one\nof the dark passage-ways. In the same manner Mandrake followed with Dame\nDrusilda, while after him came Boundingbore with Violet and Daffodil.\n\nThe mine-sprites watched their retreating forms, but they were too\nterrified to speak a word, and were helpless to aid them in any way.\n\nDragonfel led the rest along the subterranean passage until at last they\ncame to a square chamber that had been cut with much skill into the\nsolid rock.\n\nWhen Mandrake lit a crystal lamp the great magnificence of the place was\nrevealed.\n\nThe floor and walls were inlaid with precious jewels in designs that\nwere truly wonderful. Divans were built in at the sides, and the various\ncreatures of the wild were represented everywhere.\n\nFor all his short-comings, Dragonfel seemed to have a great respect for\nanimals, and gave their skins at least a rest on his floors and walls\nwhere they could grin at spiders and moth-millers with some show of\nsatisfaction.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAt the ceiling which was thickly crusted with diamonds there was a\nslender open shaft that evidently had been made to provide air and light\nbut which was too small to provide a means of escape.\n\n\"This is where you'll stay,\" announced Dragonfel. \"The place isn't\nhalf-bad, as things go, so you ought to make yourselves fairly\ncomfortable in it. You'll find both hot and cold water in the little\nante-room screened off by those peacock-feather porti\u00c3\u00a8res. Your meals\nwill be brought to you. If you want to read there's the dictionary.\"\n\n\"How long are you going to keep us here?\" asked Titania, with a sinking\nof her heart.\n\n\"Always, and maybe longer,\" was Dragonfel's gruff response. \"Have you\nbrought your knitting with you?\"\n\n\"If you think you can keep us here against our will,\" said Titania, in a\ndecided tone, \"you will find that you are very much mistaken.\"\n\n\"How so?\" said Dragonfel contemptuously.\n\n\"It won't be long before the Brownies are here.\"\n\n\"That's what I fully expect,\" said the enchanter, with a knowing wink,\n\"and after they come there'll be something doing, BELIEVE ME!\"\n\nHe laid great emphasis upon the last two words, and in spite of all her\nconfidence in Florimel and the Brownies Titania was filled with great\nuneasiness.\n\nBut she knew that further words would be wasted on him, so she said\nnothing more. With Dame Drusilda, Violet, and Daffodil she retired to\na corner of the room, as far removed from him as possible, where\nthey discussed among themselves in whispers this new phase of the\ndisagreeable situation.\n\nThey hoped that Dragonfel and the rest would go, but still they\nlingered, and the enchanter at times looked up at the narrow opening cut\ninto the ceiling. Finally he gave expression to a grunt of satisfaction\nas something he had been watching for met his gaze, and they noticed\nwith him that a golden flood of sunshine was pouring through the\nopening.\n\n\"Day at last!\" he cried, and, almost with his words, the Demon Usher\nmade his appearance with a hop, skip, and jump, while at his back stood\na half-starved looking demon whose hair had not been cut for a long\ntime, and who had a distinctly artistic appearance.\n\n\"Master, kind master,\" the Demon Usher joyously cackled, \"I bear good\nnews. The little commission you intrusted me with I executed to the best\nof my ability. Oh, master, you should have seen how brave I was. I was\nwith them single-handed, yet I was more than a match for them all. I had\nthe whole band in terrible fear of me.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Stop throwing bouquets at yourself!\" ordered Dragonfel. \"Tell me where\nthey are.\"\n\n\"It's all easy now,\" went on the Demon Usher. \"The dangerous part has\nbeen done by me. I've got them so cowed that now they'll eat out of\nyour hand. I captured them all by myself, and drove them into the south\nlode, where they wait to do your bidding.\"\n\n\"Will you permit me a word, kind master?\" then spoke up the half-starved\nlooking demon, as he unrolled a large sheet of paper. \"He doesn't\ndeserve a medal, or even honorable mention. I took a rough sketch of him\nwhen he had the Brownies at his mercy, and here it is.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nDragonfel stared at the effort in astonishment.\n\n\"You have missed your calling,\" he remarked. \"You should be in the\nAcademy of Design.\"\n\nTitania had listened with fast increasing alarm, and now with Dame\nDrusilda, Violet, and Daffodil she advanced quickly toward him. \"Of whom\nis this creature speaking?\" she asked, in evident distress. \"Of the\nBrownies?\"\n\nThe Demon Usher uttered his disagreeable cackle as Dragonfel exultingly\nresponded:\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Yes, the Brownies! They are prisoners like yourselves. Their nights of\nadventure are over, and they'll never more delight in harmless pranks\nand helpful deeds. Those who seek their aid will henceforth look for\nthem in vain. They are doomed to slave in this mine for the rest of\ntheir lives!\"\n\nThen Grouthead came up running, and he cried in great excitement:\n\n\"Master, kind master, we have captured all the Brownies, and they are\nhelpless. What shall we do with them?\"\n\n\"Set them to work at once,\" spoke Dragonfel. \"I will go back with you to\ngloat over them.\"\n\nHe started immediately, and Titania and her companions attempted to\nfollow, but Mandrake barred the way, and held them back.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIX\n\nTHE MISSION OF THE DOVE\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAfter the huge boulder had shut in the unsuspecting Brownies their only\nalternative was to follow the winding passage-way of the mine wherever\nit might take them. They could not remain where they were to perish\nmiserably of hunger and thirst, so they crept cautiously along in the\ndark with the faint hope that in some way they might gain the open. But\nthe passage they were forced to travel led them direct to the main-shaft\nwhere the mine-sprites were at work. Nearly all of Dragonfel's followers\nwere there waiting to receive them. For the Demon Usher after\nimprisoning them had descended by the main entrance and gleefully\nimparted the news, claiming high honors.\n\nSheepishly the Brownies slunk in, with the Dude's white handkerchief\nfluttering at the end of his cane in token of the band's complete\nsurrender, for King Stanislaus knew how useless it would be to offer any\nresistance.\n\nThey were all huddled together in a body, and a sorry, crestfallen lot\nthey were. Never before had such great misfortune overtaken them.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nAt times the Student Brownie would discourse on Liberty, Justice, or\nGood Fellowship, and find appreciative listeners, and he lifted up their\nhearts by assuring them that history repeats itself, and that they would\nyet enjoy the freedom of the comets and wandering stars.\n\nWhile others of Dragonfel's followers guarded the Brownies so that they\ncould not escape, and brandished sharp-pointed spikes, battle-axes,\nbludgeons, and other formidable-looking weapons significantly, Grouthead\nran in hot haste to inform his master.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSoon the wicked enchanter made his appearance, and his rubicund face\nshowed high elation.\n\n\"Put 'em all to work!\" he shouted.\n\n\"Don't let 'em stand here idle.\"\n\n\"What do you want me to do?\" asked King Stanislaus meekly.\n\n\"Here, stop your talking, and get busy!\" cried Snoutpimple, thrusting in\nthe king's hand a pick.\n\n\"I haven't any choice,\" said His Majesty, \"so I'll have to take my\npick!\"\n\nThe airy persiflage was lost upon Dragonfel, who frowned on him\nseverely.\n\n\"I'm a king in my own right,\" continued the monarch, pointing to his\ncrown, \"and never used a pick except to bury a dead dog, but I'll not\nmake a scene in the presence of my subjects, so here goes for the\njewels.\" His cheerfulness told on others.\n\n\"If it was digging shedder-crabs or scallops,\" remarked the Sailor,\n\"I'd soon fill a basket.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"I've broken stones before,\" said the Irishman, \"but this is the first\nchance I ever had to get a whack at diamonds.\"\n\n\"Vell,\" said the German Brownie, \"if I see somedings in dot blace\nshining like blitzen I bulls him oudt alretty yed und say noddings!\"\nThey were then hustled off to their new tasks.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nWith the mine-sprites and Brownies the king started to dig away, and he\ntried not to shirk, but to do his stint with the rest of them. The sight\nof royalty reduced to hard labor affected all his subjects greatly,\nthough they had little opportunity for sympathy so severely did their\ntaskmasters press them.\n\nThe heaps of precious stones piled up higher and higher, and their eyes\nfairly blinked at the sight of them.\n\n\"I never saw so many jewels before in all my life,\" declared His\nMajesty, wincing as he felt a sudden crick in his back. \"Whenever I\nlook at them I feel just as though I were going to break out with\ncarbuncles.\"\n\n\"I wonder when they'll bring us something to eat,\" said Florimel, who\nwas beginning to grow hungry.\n\nHe was very much relieved when some time later Boundingbore appeared\nwith a cauldron of lukewarm soup, which was served in skimpy little\nplates.\n\n\"Here, take mine back,\" complained King Stanislaus. \"Look what's in it!\nJust imagine what would have happened to me if I had swallowed it.\"\n\nAs he spoke he held up a pin which he had found in his soup.\n\n\"It wouldn't have hurt you, Your Majesty,\" said the Policeman. \"It's a\nsafety pin.\"\n\nNow and then some adventurous Brownies would discover a new dark\npassage, and with the hope that it might lead to liberty the more\nprogressive would get their heads together and plan a break for freedom.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nFor a time it looked as though one of these attempts would be crowned\nwith success, and liberty itself seemed to beckon in the offing. But,\njust as promising enterprises in our own uncertain careers often end in\ndisappointment, so would each noble effort only result in a punishment\nof heavier burdens and shorter rations.\n\nMandrake with a tray of food went down one of the dark passages, and\nsoon returned empty-handed. This Florimel noted, and he said to King\nStanislaus:\n\n\"Your Majesty, Titania and her companions must be over there. I am going\nto try to find them.\"\n\nHe took from the Sailor, who had charge of it, Euphrosyne's dove, and,\nopening the bosom of his jacket, let it cuddle close against his breast,\nwith just its head now and then showing.\n\nAt a moment when the attention of all Dragonfel's followers was\ntemporarily diverted by some remarkable discovery he made a sudden dash\ndown the passage where he believed Queen Titania and the others were\nimprisoned.\n\nHis companions grouped themselves together to screen his fleeing form as\nbest they could, and he succeeded in getting away without detection.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nFlorimel ran along the passage, and his supernatural vision guided him.\nSo when he came to a gem-crusted door he was able to see stretched\nbefore it a form that he at once recognized as the Red Spirit.\n\nThe lazy fellow had been left to guard the prisoners, but had neglected\nhis duty, and was fast asleep.\n\nFlorimel heard him snoring away so that he knew his slumber was a heavy\none, and he tiptoed up to him with confidence.\n\nHe was rejoiced to see lying beside him the bow and four arrows, and he\nnoiselessly reached for the bow, and restored the arrows to his quiver.\n\nThen he turned the big diamond that served as a knob for the door, and\nstepping cautiously over the unconscious Red Spirit, entered.\n\nTitania, Dame Drusilda, Violet, and Daffodil were seated upon one of the\ndivans, and they sprang up joyously when they saw him.\n\n\"Florimel!\" cried Titania, and ran toward him.\n\n\"'Sh!\" he warned, and closed the door softly after him. \"The Red Spirit\nis supposed to be guarding you, but he has fallen asleep. We must be\ncareful not to wake him.\"\n\nThey embraced fondly, and Titania asked:\n\n\"When will the Brownies take us away from here?\"\n\nFlorimel shook his head despondently as he answered:\n\n\"I am sorry to say that we are all prisoners like yourselves. See,\nTitania, I have brought you this. I thought perhaps that it might help\nus.\"\n\nHe took the little cooing creature from the bosom of his jacket and\nstroked its soft sides.\n\n\"Euphrosyne's dove!\" exclaimed Titania. \"There is a shaft above through\nwhich it can escape. Let us send it with a message to her.\"\n\nUpon a scrap of paper she hastily wrote the words:\n\n  \"_Euphrosyne, Fair Goddess of Mirth:_\n\n  \"Dragonfel the wicked enchanter holds us captive in his country.\n  Help us, we beseech you, before it is too late.\n\n                                              \"QUEEN TITANIA.\"\n\nWhile she wrote Florimel noticed with some uneasiness that water was\ntrickling down the walls and that in some places on the floor pools had\nalready formed.\n\n\"Tie the note to the dove's neck,\" he said. \"Let us dispatch it\nimmediately.\"\n\nThey did so, and he flung the little creature upward toward the shaft.\nIts talons clutched a side precariously while it fluttered its wings to\nsustain itself in the frail, uncertain hold it had.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"Poor little thing!\" said Titania, when she noticed that it was in great\ndanger of falling. \"It cannot help us.\"\n\n\"Look!\" cried the excited Violet. \"It is making for the opening.\"\n\nTo the relief of all its watchers the bird crept through the shaft and\ndisappeared.\n\n\"Good luck go with it!\" was Dame Drusilda's fervent ejaculation.\n\n\"Oh, Titania, Titania,\" said Florimel, \"it may be our happiness depends\nupon that bird!\"\n\nThen almost immediately afterward to their utter horror and\nconsternation water in immense volumes began to pour down through the\nshaft until blinded and drenched as they suddenly became it seemed to\nthem as if all the flood-gates of the earth had been opened.\n\n\"Quick!\" shouted Florimel. \"We must get out of here!\"\n\nHe flung open the door, fearing that the Red Spirit was still outside,\nbut the terrified clamor of voices that rose from all sides had caused\nhim to desert his post.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe water which in an incredibly short time had risen nearly to their\nwaists began racing down the passage, but still it did not appear to\nrecede. \"Let us go at once,\" urged Florimel, \"for if we stay here we\nshall be lost.\" He gathered up the trembling Titania in his arms, and\nwith his burden staggered through the water toward the door, while Dame\nDrusilda, Violet, and Daffodil followed close upon his heels.\n\nDown the passage that had now become a violent raceway of raging,\nfoaming water they all fled, for Florimel realized that their only\nchance of escape, small as it might be, was to join those who were\nfamiliar with the entrances to the mine.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut as they got closer to the main-shaft the confusion and uproar grew\nwilder, and with a sickening feeling he became aware that those whose\nhelp he had hoped for were quite as powerless as he. Ear-splitting\nshrieks of horror made a very pandemonium of awful sound, and over all\nwas heard the despairing cry of Grouthead: \"The mine is flooded, and the\nforce-pumps can't save us. We shall all be drowned!\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XX\n\nDISASTER TO DRAGONFEL\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nDragonfel's mine was flooded, and as the water kept pouring in from all\nsides, there was no escape for the unfortunates who were in its\nchambers.\n\nThe passage which was mainly used in a descent to the mine had become a\nraging river impossible to withstand so deep was it and with a current\nso strong.\n\nThe way by which the Brownies had entered the mine was blocked by the\ngiant boulder which could only be removed by the pressure of a secret\nspring from the outside. The boulder had brought captivity to the band,\nand now it threatened even direr results, for those several tons of\nstone stubbornly barred the way to safety.\n\nIt was evident that the violent disturbances deep down in the earth\nwhich had caused the earthquake and volcano were likewise responsible\nfor the flood.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe water came in streams from the entrances, cracks, and fissures until\nthe main-shaft was transformed into a lake that constantly grew deeper,\nand through this with shrieks and screams all plunged, fleeing hither\nand thither, but with no definite point in their dazed minds.\n\nDragonfel and his followers in particular lost their heads, and their\nfear and cowardice were indeed pitiable. All their bravado had deserted\nthem, and from the blustering bullies they had been they became sorry,\ntrembling wretches vainly beseeching help and voicing the terror at\ntheir hearts in wild, unearthly cries.\n\nBut, though the Brownies were alarmed like all the rest, they still\nretained their presence of mind, and under the cool-headed direction of\nKing Stanislaus they at once set about to do certain things, with the\nhope that a way would afterward be found to get them out of all danger,\nhelping hands were busy.\n\nPrince Florimel assisted Titania, Dame Drusilda, Violet, and Daffodil to\na ledge that was still out of the reach of the advancing waters,\ncharging them most earnestly to remain there, after which he ran back,\nand added his efforts to those of his companions.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe little mine-sprites were most in need of aid, and to them the\nBrownies devoted the work of rescue. They were all in great peril of\ndrowning, and though it seemed that such a fate could only be delayed\nfor a time, they started to remove the poor, frightened creatures to\nplaces as far beyond the rapidly encroaching waters as possible.\n\nBrownies scaled the walls and lodged themselves in a pocket up to which\nthey hauled with great effort a number of mine-sprites in one of the\nlarge baskets that were used in loading the jewels before they were\ncarted away.\n\nOthers of the terrified sprites sought refuge by climbing over the\nBrownies' willing backs to a temporary refuge high among the rocks.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe Irishman, Scotchman, and German put three in a wheelbarrow, and\nstarted to trundle them off, but to their great dismay it turned over,\nand spilled them out. Assistance, however, was quickly rendered, and\nwith the mine-sprites back in the wheelbarrow they continued on their\nway.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nStill the waters rose, and the excitement increased.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nDragonfel in the most abject terror stormed and shouted at his\nfollowers, issuing angry commands for them to exert themselves to do\nsomething, but they were all helpless, and his words were wasted on the\nair to no purpose.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey were too frightened to be of assistance, even if it had been\npossible to render it, though in cases where one was overcome there were\nthose who attempted the work of resuscitation.\n\nThe wicked enchanter ran about like a maniac, with little or no thought\nof where he was going, until suddenly with a shriek of fright he plunged\ninto a circular pit that had been dug deep into the earth for a distance\nof perhaps fifty feet.\n\nThere was sufficient water at the bottom of the pit to break his severe\nfall, which was fortunate for him, as otherwise it would have resulted\nin his end.\n\nHe was stunned and dazed, but in nowise injured beyond some bruises, and\nhe frantically reached up and clutched a jagged point of rock by which\nhe pulled himself out of the water that was nearly to his neck and\npromising him more.\n\nThe horror of his situation was at once made plain to him. Beyond this\nrock there was nothing by which he could maintain even the slightest\nhold, and the waters which were steadily rising would soon submerge him\nand end all.\n\nHis evil scheming had led to his own undoing, and in causing misfortune\nto so many he had brought upon himself the most terrible misfortune of\nall.\n\nLooking up helplessly he could see a number of the Brownies trying to\npeer down at him through the darkness. They lay flat on their stomachs,\nand leaned as far out over the hole as prudence would permit.\n\n\"Help! help!\" screamed Dragonfel, in a frenzy of fear. \"Save me! save\nme!\"\n\nHis piteous cries were heard by all the Brownies, and they looked\nat each other in doubt and uncertainty. When the monster whom they\nhad every reason to fear had met with the mishap which now made him\npowerless it was not to be gainsaid that a feeling of great relief was\nexperienced by one and all. No matter what harm might come to them from\nother sources, certainly his power to injure them was gone.\n\n\"Why should we help him?\" said one of the Brownies. \"He has harmed us\nall he could.\"\n\n\"If he drowns,\" said another, \"he will never have a chance to do so\nagain.\" But King Stanislaus looked very grave.\n\n\"No matter how much he has wronged us,\" he said decidedly, \"he needs our\nhelp, so we must give it.\"\n\n\"But he is our enemy,\" objected the Policeman.\n\n\"That makes no difference,\" said His Majesty. \"He will drown if we do\nnot aid him.\"\n\n\"If we save him,\" said Uncle Sam, \"he will only make trouble for us\nagain.\"\n\n\"We must not think of that,\" said King Stanislaus. \"He's in distress,\nand doesn't need to advertise it. That's where the Brownies step in.\"\n\nHe gave his orders, and the Brownies with the realization that there was\nnot a moment to be lost ran with all possible speed for the long rope\nwhich they had used in hauling up the mine-sprites in the basket. This\nthey brought to the opening, tripping and sprawling over it in the\neagerness and anxiety they displayed.\n\nThey stood in a line, and lowered the rope down into the pit.\n\n\"Slip the noose at the end of the rope under your arms,\" shouted King\nStanislaus to Dragonfel, \"and we will pull you up.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThe water was nearly over Dragonfel's head by this time, and he had\nceased his cries for help, for whenever he opened his mouth he choked\nand strangled. He heard the welcome words of the king as in a dream,\nbut half unconscious as he was he reached out, and caught the rope,\ntightened his grip upon it. He discovered the slip-noose at the end,\nand with his senses fast leaving him had just enough strength left to\nadjust this under both his arms. When the Brownies felt the rope grow\ntaut they began to haul away with might and main. Around the pit now\nthere were willing minds and itching fingers. Some fell over with\ntheir exertions, but in a trice they were up again to contribute all\nthe strength they had to the work. \"Pull away, boys!\" shouted King\nStanislaus encouragingly, with his own royal digits wound tightly\naround the rope. \"A long pull, a strong pull, and a pull all together!\nThat's the ticket! Hurray! We'll soon have him up.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHis words incited them so that through undue effort they suddenly lost\ntheir balance and sprawled over backward like ten-pins.\n\nLike a shot Dragonfel fell back into the water again, almost dragging\nafter him a half-dozen Brownies who still clung to the rope. But others\nquickly grasped them by the legs, and prevented them from going over\ninto the pit until a fresh hold of the rope was secured, and another\nattempt was made.\n\n\"Avast there, messmates!\" cried the Sailor. \"Give an old salt a chance\nat the fore-clutch on the hawser, and the old pirate will soon come up\nfrom the bottom of the sea!\"\n\nThis time the Brownies were successful, and they pulled Dragonfel to the\nbrink, and rolled him over to a place of temporary safety.\n\nWater poured from his drenched form, and with a groan he relapsed into\nunconsciousness.\n\nThe Brownies looked first at him, and then at each other. Though no one\nsaid a word, all had the same thought.\n\nSoon Dragonfel would revive, and then what would happen? They had saved\ntheir foe, but to what purpose? If by any chance they should escape the\npresent dreadful danger they were in they would still be in the wicked\nenchanter's power.\n\nHow would he use it?\n\n[Illustration: NEARING A FINISH.]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XXI\n\nAND THEY LIVED HAPPILY EVER AFTER\n\n\n[Illustration]\n\nDragonfel had been rescued by the Brownies at a crucial time when\nperhaps they might have been justified in trying to save themselves\ninstead.\n\nThe water kept on swiftly rising, and it forced them out of the\npositions they occupied to ledges and pockets higher up on the rocks.\nTo these all were forced to retreat, and the still senseless enchanter\nwas carried after them by some of his cowardly, frightened followers\nwho would have left him behind if it had not been for the stern\ncommand of King Stanislaus.\n\nStill higher and higher rose the water till they were again threatened\nin their new places of refuge, and it soon became evident that\nsomething had to be done, and that quickly.\n\nThere was but one passage-way through which the water was not pouring\nlike that of a swift mill-race, and this was the one in which the\nBrownies had been trapped.\n\nAs the water ascended they were forced into it, and they continued on\nthrough it well knowing from bitter experience that the huge boulder\neffectually blocked the exit, and would hold them powerless until\nfinally they were submerged by the relentless flood.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBut still they went on, hoping against hope, until they came to the\nboulder. It was still in place, and though they exerted all their\nstrength in trying to remove it they could not budge it to even the\nextent of a millionth of an inch.\n\nBrownies used sticks as levers, and the demons employed brute force, but\nall their efforts proved in vain.\n\n\"It's no use,\" at last said King Stanislaus, wiping his perspiring brow.\n\"It looks as though this would be the end.\"\n\nA sudden thought entered Florimel's head--a wild, foolish thought\nperhaps, but not any more so than when he had aimed his magic arrow at\nthe crescent moon.\n\n\"Stand back, all of you!\" he shouted.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nHe took one of the four arrows that were in the quiver, and placed it in\nthe bow. Then he aimed it at the rock, and pulled the cord, making no\nparticular attempt at a display of strength which he realized fully\ncould not accomplish his purpose.\n\nBut to the infinite delight and astonishment of all a strange thing\nhappened, that made the eyes pop in from every head.\n\nThe arrow struck the base of the rock, which at the moment of contact\nburst into hundreds of jagged pieces that flew up into the air. As these\nfell they formed a series of steps that were as good as any mason could\nhave planned.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nThey ascended these steps with all possible haste up into the open,\nwhere the blue sky was above them, and where they could breathe freely\nthe air that never before had seemed so sweet and pure.\n\nLooking around they could note the ravages of the flood, for with it\nthere had come a mighty tidal wave from the sea, with abnormally high\nwater that had changed the low marshlands into lakes, and had swollen\nthe small creeks to roaring, rushing rivers.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nJust then a vivacious little mine-sprite found an opportunity to whisper\nto the Policeman:\n\n\"This is leap-year, officer, and, to speak freely, I loved you at first\nsight.\"\n\n\"Well,\" said the Policeman, with his usual composure, \"to speak even\nmore freely, your love at second sight is not returned.\"\n\n\"I would be willing,\" she said, \"to fly with you to parts unknown.\"\n\n\"That's the trouble,\" said the Policeman. \"No parts are unknown to the\nBrownies. The world was our oyster, and we've opened it. We're just as\nwell known in Timbuctoo as Tarrytown!\"\n\nThere was an angry swell that caused Dragonfel's galleon to toss\nviolently up and down, but it still held secure to its anchor, and\nformed a picture inviting to a sailor's eye.\n\nThe enchanter was laid upon the greensward by those who bore him, and he\nstirred uneasily, while his hand sought his forehead. Then he opened his\neyes, and unsteadily tried to get on his feet, in which effort others\nsprang to his assistance.\n\n\"Where am I?\" he asked, as dazed and puzzled he looked around. \"What has\nhappened?\"\n\nHis gaze took in the Brownies, and, in spite of all they had just done\nfor him, it was not a reassuring one. But somehow they feared him no\nlonger, for they felt that no matter what further villainy he might\nattempt they were more than a match for him.\n\nBut before some one could answer Dragonfel Euphrosyne, the Goddess of\nMirth, suddenly appeared in their midst, though no one could tell just\nhow or from whence she came.\n\n\"Meddlesome spirit that you are,\" she said sternly, addressing her words\nto the crestfallen enchanter, \"you can no longer trouble the Brownies.\nYour commission to do evil has expired.\"\n\n\"How so?\" he demanded. \"I made application for a renewal.\"\n\n\"Yes,\" she said, \"but, through an error in the date, you were too late.\"\n\n\"Too late?\" he repeated blankly.\n\n\"Yes, by thirteen seconds,\" she announced triumphantly, \"and Beelzebub\nrefuses to renew the policy.\"\n\n\"Great Scott!\" ejaculated Dragonfel, with much chagrin. \"This comes of\ntrying to run business without an almanac!\"\n\n\"Henceforth you will be compelled to be good,\" said Euphrosyne.\n\n\"Yes,\" said Dragonfel, in a rather shamefaced manner. \"It may come\nrather hard at first, but I suppose I will get used to it in time. As a\nmatter of fact, I'm growing rather tired of being bad. There's nothing\nto it, after all. The only thing one gets from being bad is a lack of\nrespect in the community.\"\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"I see you're somewhat repentant,\" said Euphrosyne encouragingly. \"It's\na little late, of course, but still it's better late than never. You\nunderstand, don't you, that after this you're to let the Brownies\nalone?\"\n\n\"I should say I will let them alone,\" coincided Dragonfel heartily. \"The\nBrownies are too much for me. They have beaten me at every point. Even\nif I were disposed to do them further mischief I am placed in a rather\ndelicate situation. I owe my life to the Brownies.\"\n\n\"There is one thing on which I insist,\" spoke up King Stanislaus. \"You\nmust do something for these poor mine-sprites.\"\n\n\"I will see that they are restored to their parents from whom they were\nstolen,\" asserted Dragonfel hastily. \"Furthermore they shall all be\ngiven handsome dowries, with a beautiful solitaire diamond of a\nhalf-dozen karats more or less for each, so that when the right young\nman comes along the engagement-ring will be easy.\"\n\nHere the mine-sprite who had expressed her preference for the Policeman\ngave him a coy glance, but he twirled his club, and looked the other\nway.\n\n[Illustration]\n\n\"It's too bad about your palace,\" said the Dude to Dragonfel.\n\n\"Oh, don't trouble yourself about that,\" said the enchanter cheerfully.\n\"I never did like its style of architecture, anyhow.\n\nI'll soon have it rebuilt, and give the Union scale for labor, with\ndouble pay for over-time. The palace was a rather tame affair anyway,\nI ran too much to the emerald, topaz, and turquoise in its composition.\nI'll make more use of the sapphire, the ruby and cornelian, in the\nmakeup of the new structure; and those columns, I always felt a little\nweak over them, as they were only imitation chalcedony, the real thing\ngoes in the next one, if I have to import it from Palestine.\" The\nglances the Brownies exchanged showed they felt that they had struck a\nmaster in his line.\n\nIt is said, that some of the Brownies, to this day, annually celebrate\ntheir deliverance from the mine, and the reformation of Dragonfel, by\nproudly parading half the night, bearing the implements they had to use\nwhile in captivity.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSo delighted was King Stanislaus over the general outcome that his\nblithe spirits found expression in a jolly song that was a great\nfavorite of his, and the Brownies all joined in the chorus. The words\nfollow:\n\n\nI'M RULER OF THE BROWNIE BAND!\n\nKING STANISLAUS\n\n    I'm ruler of the Brownie band,\n      Most favored of personages;\n    I sway my sceptre o'er a land\n      Not found upon hist'ry's pages;\n    I take my nightly promenade\n      By anarchists unmolested;\n    On me no bomb or hand grenade\n      Has ever by them been tested!\n    If you could only see me dine,\n      You'd find me extremely placid;\n    I never fear a dish of mine\n      Is seasoned with prussic acid!\n\nBROWNIES\n\n    Oh, you're all right!\n\nKING STANISLAUS\n\n              Eh, I didn't catch it quite;\n    Repeat it, please! I didn't understand.\n\nBROWNIES\n\n    Why, you, you, you, you! You're all right!\n\nKING STANISLAUS\n\n    And so is the Brownie band!\n\nKING STANISLAUS\n\n    I need no sabre, lance, or spear\n      To guard me whene'er I slumber;\n    My people kneel, but not thro' fear;\n      Love governs the entire number.\n    My slightest wish they all obey;\n      I never use any axes;\n    I always let them have their way;\n      They don't have to pay high taxes;\n    No undertaker need apply;\n      I'm not for embalmment crazy;\n    My subjects cry as I pass by,\n      \"The Brownie king is a daisy!\"\n\nBROWNIES\n\n    Oh, you're all right, etc.\n\nThe refrain was so rollicking and infectious that when it was repeated\nDragonfel and his followers could not keep from joining in with the\nBrownies, and they lustily roared out the words with a right good will.\n\nThe delayed wedding of Prince Florimel and Queen Titania was celebrated\nvery soon after in the fairy-palace with all the joy and happiness that\ncan come to such a momentous occasion.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nBrownies and fairies vied with each other in having a good time, and the\nwalls rang with their innocent merry-making. Everyone said that King\nStanislaus was the life of the party.\n\nDragonfel and his followers participated in the festivities, this time\nunfeared, and to the strains of a Brownie orchestra they mingled with\nothers in the dance. Dragonfel even tried to do the fox-trot with Dame\nDrusilda, which greatly delighted Euphrosyne who was among those\npresent.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nIn place of the useless, cumbersome presents he had first brought the\nenchanter gave the bride the more appropriate and useful gift of a dozen\nbushels of precious stones.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nSo in this wonderful country King Florimel and his beautiful queen are\nstill living and ruling wisely, and, to make their happiness complete,\nthere are little children round them.\n\nTo these King Florimel will leave the heritage of the magic bow and\narrows, for life has glided smoothly on, and the time has never been so\ngrave or distressing, as to necessitate their use. But should that time\never come the king has full confidence in his ex-fairy godmother's gift.\n\n[Illustration]\n\nTo the palace the Brownies come frequently, and it is needless to say\nthat they are welcome, just as they are welcome everywhere.\n\nBut they cannot be there as often as King Florimel would like them to be\nbecause their kindly spirit takes them over the whole world to promote\npeace, good humor, and good will to all human kind.\n\n\n[Illustration: END]","title":"The Brownies and Prince Florimel; Or, Brownieland, Fairyland, and Demonland","tradition":"folklore-oral-tradition","translated_text":null,"word_count":38370}