Full text of "John Dough and the cherub"

University of California Berkeley

Gift of
Prof. Thomas Rothwell

UNIFORM WITH
JOHN DOUGH AND THE CHERUB

THE LAND OF OZ

BY L. FRANK BAUM

Elaborately illustrated in colors

and black-and-white by

JOHN R. NEILL

and the

LFranK

Baum

AUTHOR OF
THE WIZARD OF OZ

THE LAND OF OZ
THE WOGGIE-BUG BOOK
FATHER GOOSE
QUEEN ZIXI OF IX
THE ENCHANTED ISLAND
OF YEW, ETC.

ILLUSTRATED BY

John R, Neill

CHICAGO

THE REILLY & BRIT TON COMPANY
PUBLISHERS

(PoPVRICiHT, I90b, BY

I pj_ .1 ' O /

rwyyoung friend

LIST OF CHAPTERS

THE GREAT ELIXIR . . 9

THE Two FLASKS . . 22

THE GINGERBREAD MAN . 27

JOHN DOUGH BEGINS HIS AD-
VENTURES . ..'' . 4 1

CHICK, THE CHERUB . . 59

THE FREAKS OF PHREEX . . 104

THE LADY EXECUTIONER . 121

THE PALACE OF ROMANCE . 140

THE SILVER PIG . . .159

PlTTYPAT AND THE MlFKETS . l66

THE ISLAND PRINCESS . .;'; . 185
PARA BRUIN, THE RUBBER BEAR 0.06
BLACK OOBOO . 220

UNDER LAND AND

WATER . . 238

THE FAIRY BEAVERS 252

THE FLIGHT OF THE

FLAMINGOES . 273

SPORT OF PIRATE

ISLAND . . 284

HlLAND AND LOLAND 294.

KING DOUGH AND HIS

COURT . . . 308

BOY OR GIRL?

The feat

Over the door appeared a weather-worn sign
that read: "JULES GROGRANDE, BAKER."
In one of the windows, painted upon a sheet of
cardboard, was another sign: " Home-made Bread
by the Best Modern Machinery." There was a
third sign in the window beyond the doorway, and
this was marked upon a bit of wrapping-paper,
and said: " Fresh Gingerbread Every Day."

When you opened the door, the top of it struck
a brass bell suspended from the ceiling and made
it tinkle merrily. Hearing the sound, Madame
Leontine Grogrande would come from her little
room back of the shop and stand behind the coun-
ter and ask you what you would like to purchase.

Madame Leontine or Madame Tina, as the
children called her was quite short and quite fat;
and she had a round, pleasant face that was good
to look upon. She moved somewhat slowly, for
the rheumatism troubled her more or less; but no
one minded if Madame was a bit slow in tying up
her parcels. For surely no cakes or buns in all the

The Great El

i x i r

town were so delicious or fresh as those she sold,
and she had a way of giving the biggest cakes to
the smallest girls and boys who came into her shop,
that proved she was fond of children and had a
generous heart.

People loved to come to the Grogrande Bakery.
When one opened the door an exquisite fragrance
of newly baked bread and cakes greeted the nos-
trils; and, if you were not hungry when you en-
tered, you were sure to become so when you
examined and smelled the delicious pies and
doughnuts and gingerbread and buns with which
the shelves and show-cases were stocked. There
were trays of French candies, too; and because all
the goods were fresh and wholesome the bakery
was w r ell patronized and did a thriving business.

The reason no one saw Monsieur Jules in the
shop was because his time was always occupied in
the bakery in the rear a long, low room filled
with ovens and tables covered with pots and pans
and dishes (which the skillful baker used for mixing
and stirring) and long shelves bearing sugars and
spices and baking-powders and sweet-smelling
extracts that made his wares taste so sweet and
agreeable.

The bake-room was three times as big as the

AN ARAB DASHED INTO THE ROOM.

he Great E

i x i r

shop; but Monsieur Jules needed all the space in
the preparation of the great variety of goods re-
quired by his patrons, and he prided himself on
the fact that his edibles were fresh-made each day.
In order to have the bread and rolls ready at
breakfast time he was obliged to get up at three
o'clock every morning, and so he went to bed
about sundown.

On a certain forenoon the door of the shop
opened so abruptly that the little brass bell made
a furious jingling.

An Arab dashed into the room, stopped short,
looked around with a bewildered air, and then
rushed away again and banged the door after him.

Madame looked surprised, but said nothing.
She recognized the Arab to be a certain Ali Dubh,
living in the neighborhood, who was accustomed to
purchase a loaf from her every morning. Perhaps
he had forgotten his money, Madame thought.

When the afternoon was half over he entered
again, running as if fiends were at his heels. In
the center of the room he paused, slapped his fore-
head despairingly with both palms, and said in a
wailing voice:

" They 're after me!"

Next moment he dashed away at full speed, even

T h

r e

at El

i x i r

forgetting to close the door; so Madame came from
behind the counter and did it herself. She delayed
a moment to gaze at the figure of Ali Dubh racing
up the street. Then he turned the corner of an
alley and disappeared from view.

Things did not startle Madame easily; but the
Arab's queer behavior aroused in her a mild curi-
osity, and while she stood looking through the
glass of the door, and wondering what had ex-
cited the man, she saw two strange forms glide

The Great Elixir

past her shop with a stealthy motion and proceed
in the same direction Ali Dubh had taken.

They were also Arabs, without a doubt; for
although their forms were muffled in long cloaks,
the turbans they wore and the glint of their dark,
beady eyes proclaimed them children of the desert.

When they came to the alley where Ali Dubh
had disappeared, the two strangers were joined by
a third, who crept up to them with the sly, cat-like
tread Madame had noted, and seemed to confer
with them. Afterward one turned to the east, a
second continued up the street, and the third stole
into the alley.

"Yes," thought Madame, "they are after Ali
Dubh, sure enough. But if they move so slowly
they are not likely to catch the poor fellow at all."

Now, Madame knew very little of her queer
customer; for although he made a daily visit to the
bakery for a loaf and a few cakes, he was of a
gloomy disposition, and never stopped for a chat or
a bit of gossip. It was his custom to silently make
his simple purchases and then steal softly away.

Therefore his excited actions upon this eventful
day were really remarkable, and the good lady was
puzzled how to explain them.

She sat late in the shop that evening, burning a

The Great El

i x i r

dingy oil lamp that swung in the center of the
room. For her rheumatism was more painful than
usual, and she dreaded to go to bed and waken
Monsieur Jules with her moanings. The good man
was slumbering peacefully upstairs she could hear
his lusty snores even where she sat and it was a

shame to disturb him when he must rise so early.

So she sat in her little room at the end of the
counter, trying to knit by the light of a flickering
candle, and rocking back and forth in her chair
with a monotonous motion.

Suddenly the little bell tinkled and a gust of air
entered the shop, sending the mingled odors of
baked stufF whirling and scurrying about the room
in a most fragrant manner. Then the door closed,
and Madame laid down her knitting and turned to
greet the new-comer.

To her astonishment, it proved to be Ali Dubh.
His brown cheeks were flushed, and his glittering
black eyes roamed swiftly over the shop before they
turned full upon the Madame's calm face.

"Good!" he exclaimed, "you are alone."

"It is too late for trade. I am going to bed
presently," said Madame.

"I am in great trouble, and you must help me,"
returned the Arab, hastily. "Lock your door and

The Great Elixir

come with me into your little room, so that no
one can see us through the street windows."

Madame hesitated. The request was unusual,
and she knew nothing of the Arab's history. But
she reflected that if the man attempted robbery or
other mischief she could summon Monsieur Jules
with a cry. Also, her interest had been aroused by
Ali Dubh's queer behavior during the day.

While she thought the matter over the Arab
himself locked the street door and hurried into the
little room, where Madame composedly joined him
a moment later.

"How can I help you?" she asked, picking up
her knitting again.

"Listen!' said the Arab. "I must tell you all.
You must know the truth! " Fie put his hand in
a pocket of his loose robe and drew out a small
flask. It was no bigger than two fingers and was
made of pure gold, upon which strange characters
had been richly engraved.

"This," said the Arab, in a low, impressive voice,
"is the Great Elixir! "

"What does that mean?" asked Madame, glan-
cing at the flask doubtfully.

"The Great Elixir? Ah, it is the Essence of

T h

Great Eli

x i r

Vitality, the Water of Life --the Greatest Thing
in all the World!"

"I don't understand," said Madame.

"Not understand? Why, a drop of the price-
less liquid which this Golden Flask contains, if
placed upon your tongue, would send new life
coursing through your veins. It would give you
power, strength, vitality greater than youth itself!

The Great El

i x i r

You could do anything accomplish wonders
perform miracles if you but tasted this precious
liquid!"

"How odd!" exclaimed Madame, beginning to
feel bewildered. And then she asked: "Where did
you get it?'

"Ah! that is the story. That is what you must
know," answered Ali Dubh. "It is centuries old,
the Great Elixir. There is no more of it in all the
world. The contents of this flask came into the
keeping ot the Ancestor of the Chief of my Tribe
-whom we call a Shiek and has been handed
"iown from father to son as an heirloom more
priceless than diamonds. The Chief of my Tribe,
its last owner, carried the flask always hidden in
his breast. But one day, when he and I were
hunting together, a mad camel trampled the Shiek
to his death, and with his last breath he gave the
Great Elixir into my keeping. The Shiek had no
son, and the flask was really mine. But many
other Arab Shieks longed for the treasure and
sought to gain it. So I escaped and wandered over
the world. I came here, thinking I was safe from
pursuit. But they have followed me! '

"All the way from Arabia?" asked Madame,

"Yes. To-day I saw them. They know my

The Great El

i x i r

lodgings. They are secretly hidden near, and
before morning I know they plot to kill me
and secure the Great Elixir. But for a time 1
have escaped them. I came here unseen. You
must help me. You must take charge of the
Great Elixir and keep it safely for me."

"Nonsense!' cried Madame, becoming aroused
at last.

" Do not say that, I beg of you," exclaimed the
eager Arab. "You are honest I know you are!
And they will never suspect you of having the
Golden Flask."

"Perhaps not," said Madame, "and then, again,
they may. My business is to tend the shop, and I
am not going to get myself killed by a lot of des-
perate foreigners just to oblige you. Monsieur Ali
Dubh! Take your Great Elixir to some one else.
I don't want it."

For a minute the Arab seemed in despair. Then
his face suddenly brightened.

"You suffer from rheumatism, do you not?" he
asked.

"Yes, it's pretty bad to-night," she replied.

"Then I will cure it! I will cure your pains
forever if you will keep my precious Elixir in
secret until I come to reclaim it."

The Great E

i x i r

Madame hesitated, for just then she had a very
bad twinge indeed.

"You think you can cure my pains?" she asked.

"I know it!" declared the Arab. He put his
hand in a pocket and drew out another flask a
mate to the one containing the Great Elixir; only
this was made of solid silver instead of gold.

"This flask," said Ali Dubh, "contains a positive
cure for rheumatism. It will not fail. It never
has failed. Take it and use it to make yourself
well. Five drops in a bowl of water are enough.
Bathe well the limbs that ache, and all pain will be
gone forever. Accept it, gracious Madame, and
keep for me the other flask in safe hiding until my
enemies have gone away."

Madame was a practical woman, and it seemed
an easy thing to do as the Arab desired. If she
could get relief from those dreadful pains it would
be well worth while to undertake a little trouble
and responsibility by caring for Ali Dubh's other
and more precious flask.

"Very well," said she. "I agree."

The Arab's face flushed with joy.

"Good," he cried; "I am saved! Guard well
my precious flask the one of gold. Show it to no
one not even to your good husband. Remember

T h

r e

at El

i x i r

that diamonds and rubies could not buy the Great
Elixir the marvelous Essence of Vitality. As for
the silver flask, I give it to you freely. Its con-
tents will cure all your ailments. And now, good
night, and may Allah bless you!"

Swiftly he stole from the room, unlocked the
street door and vanished into the darkness. And
Madame sat looking thoughtfully at the flasks.

Presently she remembered that the front door
was yet unlocked. So she trotted out into the
shop, bolted the door securely, drew down the cur-
tains, -and put out the dim light that had burned
over the counter. Then Madame returned to the
little room and looked at the two flasks again.

Aside from her rheumatism the good lady had
one other physical weakness; she was color-blind.
That is, she could seldom distinguish one color
from another, and was quite liable to think blue
was green and green was yellow. Many people
have this trouble with their eyes; but it never had
bothered Madame especially in waiting upon her
customers.

Now, however, when she came back into her
room and gazed at the two flasks upon her table,
she had no idea which one was of gold and which
of silver r for the weakness of her eyes prevented
her from telling them apart by means of their
color.

"Let me see," she murmured; "this must be

The Two Flasks

the flask which the Arab first drew from his pocket.
No I think this was the one." But the more she
hesitated the more confused she became, and in the
end she told herself honestly that she had not the
faintest clue to guide her in knowing which flask
contained the Essence of Vitality and which the
cure for rheumatism.

And the pains were now so bad that she was
anxious to cure them without a moment's delay.

The engraving on the two flasks was nearly the
same; and if some of those queer foreign charac-
ters really differed, Madame did not know it. Also
in size and shape the flasks were exactly alike.
Truly Madame was in a fine quandary, and there
seemed no way of getting out of it with safety.

She had almost decided to hide both flasks until
the Arab returned, when several sharp twinges of
pain caught her and made her long most earnestly
for relief. If she went to bed now she would be
sure to suffer all night, and in one of the flasks was
a sure cure.

"I'll guess at it, and take the chances!" declared
Madame, firmly. And then, choosing at hap-
hazard, she hid the silver flask behind the mirror
and put the gold one in her pocket. Afterward
she picked up the lamp and walked as silently as

T h

w o

F 1

a s

possible through the short passage that led to
Monsieur Jules' bake-room.

The big place was still and dark, and the little
lamp only brightened a small part of it. But
Madame did not care for that. Those pains were
getting extremely hard to bear, and she had even
ceased to care whether or not she had selected the
right flask.

Taking a brown bowl from the shelf she drew it
nearly full of water and then placed it upon a
corner of the long, white mixing-table, beside the

lamp. Next she
took the golden
flask from her
pocket.

"How much
did the Arab say
to put in the wa-
ter?' she won-
dered, pausing
in perplexed
thought. "I de-
clare, I've ac-
tually forgotten !
But he said it was
sure to cure me,

wo F 1 a s

so I may as well use all the flask contains.
For, after I am cured, I shall not need any more
of it."

Reasoning thus, Madame removed the stopper
and poured into the bowl every drop of that
precious Elixir which Ali Dubh had prized more
than life itself, and which his wild countrymen had
come all the way from Arabia to America to
possess. For generation after generation the price-
less liquor had been preserved with jealous care,
and now the baker's wife was rubbing it upon her
limbs in an endeavor to cure the pangs of rheu-
matism!

She used very little of the contents of the bowl,
after all. The touch of the Elixir upon her skin,
although it was diluted with so much water, sent
a glow of exhilaration throughout all her stout
body.

The pains were suddenly eased, and Madame
began to feel as light and airy as a fairy, in spite
of her great mass of flesh.

It occurred to her that she would like to dance;
to run and shout, to caper about as she used to do
as a girl. But soon her shrewd common sense re-
turned, and she told herself this was but the effect
of the wonderful medicine, and that the wisest

T h

W O

F 1

a s

thing she could do was to go to bed and sleep
soundly while she might.

Being still somewhat bewildered, the good wo-
man picked up the lamp, and, leaving the bowl
containing the Elixir standing upon the table,
mounted the stairs with lighter steps than she had
known in years.

Five minutes later she was in bed, snoring as
loudly as Monsieur Jules himself.

The baker awoke at three o'clock, and soon
afterward came downstairs yawning and rubbing
his eyes in his accustomed manner. For it is a real
hardship to arise in the middle of the night and go
to work, and Monsieur Jules sometimes regretted
he was such a skillful baker; for any other profes-
sion would have allowed him to sleep until daylight.
But the bread and rolls and gingerbread must be
fresh and warm by breakfast time, or the people
would be sadly disappointed; and the only possible
way to get them ready was to start the work at
three o'clock.

First, he lighted the big swinging lamps, which
made the room bright as day, and then he built
the fires in the great furnaces. Presently these last
were roaring in a very business-like manner, and as
soon as he heard the roar Monsieur Jules began to
whistle. It was his custom, and kept him from
getting lonesome while he worked.

The Gingerbread Man

Next he kneaded the bread, formed it into
loaves, and placed them in long rows upon the
slabs ready for the oven. The rolls were then

mixed and kneaded, and it took a longer time to
get them ready than it had the bread, for they were
small and quite daintily shaped. But at last the

The Gingerbread Man

important task was completed, and while they
were rising and the ovens heating, Monsieur mixed
his gingerbread and cakes.

Somehow, the work progressed very swiftly this
morning, and after a time the baker found he had
a good hour to spare before the ovens would be
ready.

Then a sudden idea struck him.

"Why, to-day is the Fourth of July, "he thought,
"and that is a National Holiday. I think I will
make a fine gingerbread man, such as I used to
make in Paris, and put it in the shop window to
attract attention. These Americans like enterprise,
and they have never seen a gingerbread man, for I
have not made one since I came to this country."

With Monsieur Jules, to think was to act, and
scarcely had he spoken these words when he began
to gather his material together for a great batch of
gingerbread dough. For he resolved that the man
he was about to make should be big enough and
fine enough to arouse the wonder of all be-
holders.

He began by filling a great bowl with flour, and
then rubbed into the flour some butter and lard.
" That will make it short," said Monsieur, " although
it is to be a tall man." Then he added some

The Gingerbread Man

molasses. "He will be a sweet fellow," thought
the baker, smiling at his own pleasantries. Then
he shook in the ginger and several fragrant spices,
and began mixing the dough into one great mass.

"It is too stiff," reflected the baker, a few mo-
ments later. "My man must not be stiff, for that
would render him disagreeable." He laughed at
the whimsical thought, and glancing around, saw
the brown bowl that Madame had left sitting upon
a corner of the table. It was nearly full of the
precious liquid, and Monsieur Jules, with his mind
intent upon his work, never stopped to wonder
how it came there. Perhaps he thought he had
himself unconsciously filled the bowl with water.
Anyway, he dumped all of the Essence of Vitality
the Great Elixir which could never be duplicated
in all the world into the mass of dough he was
preparing for his gingerbread man!

Monsieur merely noticed that the dough had now
become the proper consistency, and mixed easily.

Whistling merrily, he presently spread the huge
batch of dough upon the big table and began roll-
ing it and working it into the shape he desired.

Ah, but Monsieur Jules Grogrande was a true
artist, although a baker! Under his skillful hands
the gingerbread man slowly but surely took form;

THEN A SUDDEN IDEA STRUCK HIM.

The Gingerbread Man

and the form was fully as large as that of a well-
grown fourteen-year-old boy. But it was by no
means a boy that Monsieur was forming with such
care; it was, rather, the figure of a typical French
gentleman, such as may seldom be met with else-
where than on the boulevards of Paris. It was
interesting to watch the figure grow: interesting, of
course, to Monsieur Jules, as there was no one
else in the bake-room to see.

The Gingerbrea d Man

The man appeared to be dressed in excellent
fashion. Monsieur made him a collar and shirt-front
of white bread dough, which looked very beautiful in
contrast to the brown gingerbread-dough of his
clothes. Then with a lump of dough, carefully
kneaded, he formed the man's necktie, making a
very artistic bow indeed. A waistcoat of fashion-
able cut was next added. The buttons on the
man's coat were white lozenges, and to represent
shoes the baker mixed his dough with licorice, until
the shoes seemed as black and shiny as if freshly
polished.

You would have loved to see, could you have been
present, the delicate skill with which the clever
baker carved the hands and fingers of his man, using
a small but sharp knife, and patting and rounding
each dough finger into proper shape. He even
clipped from a sheet of transparent celluloid the
finger-nails, and pressed them carefully into the
dough at the ends of the fingers. Who but
Monsieur would ever have thought of such a thing?

But, after all, it was upon the face that the
baker exercised his best skill. As a sculptor forms
his models out of clay, so Monsieur pressed and
squeezed and molded his pliant dough, until every
feature of the gingerbread man became wonder-

The Gingerbread Man

fully lifelike. Of course the face
was made of the white dough,
with just a trifle of the pink
coloring mixed into it to make
it resemble real flesh. But the
wavy hair that surrounded the
face was of gingerbread-dough,
as its brown color, after it had

been baked, would be quite
natural and lifelike.

Among the things brought
from Paris by the Grograndes
was a pair of excellent glass
eyes, and Monsieur Jules rum-
maged in a drawer until he

T h e Gingerbread Man

found them, and then pressed them into the dough
face. And now it positively seemed that the
gingerbread man was looking at you, and the eyes
lent its face a gentle and kindly expression.

"There's something lacking, however," mur-
mured the baker, looking at his work critically.
"Ah, I know it's the teeth!"

Teeth for a gingerbread man! But nothing
was easier to represent, once their absence was
noted. Between the lips of the man our baker
pressed two rows of small white candies, and it was
wonderful to remark the pleasant smile that now
lent its charm to the face.

With a sigh of satisfaction in the result of his
work, the baker at last declared his gingerbread man
ready for the oven.

"And it is my masterpiece!' cried Monsieur
Jules, proudly. Never, even in Paris, have I seen
so perfect a man of dough. He is well worthy to
have a name, and I will call him John Dough,
which will be appropriate, indeed!'

But the great ovens were now glowing brightly,
so Monsieur filled them with bread and rolls, and
watched them carefully until the big and little
loaves were all done to a turn. The cakes and
cookies came next, and by the time that dawn

The Gingerbread Man

arrived the front shop was stocked with heaps of
the warm, fresh-smelling loaves and rolls, and trays
of delicious cakes and buns, hot from the ovens.

Then the baker came back to his gingerbread
man, which he first placed gently upon a great iron
slab, and then slid it all into the open door of a
perfectly heated oven.

With great anxiety Monsieur watched the oven.
The dough was properly mixed, the workmanship
was most excellent. Would the baking turn out
to be as perfect as the rest? Much good dough
may be spoiled in the baking. None knew that
better than Jules Grogrande.

So he tended the oven with nervous care, and
finally, at exactly the right moment, the baker
threw open the oven door and drew out the sheet
of iron upon which the great and grand ginger-
bread man rested.

He was baked to perfection!

Filled with pride and satisfaction, Monsieur bent
admiringly over his great creation; and as he did
so, the gingerbread man moved, bent his back, sat
up, ancHooked about him with his glass eyes, while
a wondering expression crept over his face.

"Dear me!' said he, " is n't it very warm and
close in this room?"

The Gingerbread Man

The Great Elixir had accomplished its purpose.
The wonderful Essence of Vitality, prized for cen-
turies and closely guarded, had lent its marvelous
powers of energy, strength, and life to a gingerbread
man! And all through the stupidity of a baker's
wife who was color-blind and could not distinguish
a golden flask from a silver one!

Monsieur Jules, who knew nothing of the Arab's
flasks, or of the Great Elixir, glared wildly into the
glass eyes of the gingerbread man. He was at

The Gingerbread Man

first sure that his own eyes, and also his ears, had
played him a trick.

"John Dough John Dough!' he cried, "did
you speak? Merciful heavens! Did you speak,
John Dough?"

"I did," said the gingerbread man, struggling to
rise from the slab, "and I declare that it is warm
and close in this room!'

Monsieur Jules gave a scream of terror. Then
he turned and fled.

A moment later he staggered into the shop,
tossed his hands above his head, and fell in a heap
upon the floor being overcome by a fainting spell.

Madame, who had just come downstairs and
opened the shop, gazed upon her husband's terrified
actions with an amazement that prevented her from
moving a limb or uttering a sound.

What in the world could have happened to Jules?

Then she received the greatest shock of her life.*

From out the door of the bake-room came a
gingerbread man, so fresh from the oven that the
odor of hot gingerbread surrounded him like a
cloud. He looked neither to right nor left, but
picked Monsieur's tall silk hat from off a peg and
placed it carelessly upon his own head. Next he
caught up a large candy cane from a show-case,

MONSIEUR JULES TURNED AND FLED.

The Gingerbread Man

stepped over the prostrate body of the baker, and
so left the shop, closing the front door behind him.

Madame saw him passing the windows, stepping
along briskly and
swinging the cane in
his left hand.

Then the good lady
imitated her husband's
example. She gave a

shrill scream, threw up
her hands, and tumbled
over unconscious.

Now, when John Dough left Madame Grogrande's
shop and wandered up the street, he was reeking
with the delightful odor of fresh gingerbread.
Indeed, he was still so hot from the oven that I am
positive you could not have held your hand against
him for more than a second. The Great Elixir
had brought him to life, and given him a certain
standing in the world; but during the first half-
hour of his existence John Dough was very hot-
headed. Also he was hot-footed, for he discovered
that, by walking fast, the contact with the fresh
morning air drew the heat from his body and made
him feel much more comfortable.

One virtue lent by the Great Elixir was knowl-
edge, and while John Dough felt that he possessed
unlimited knowledge (having had an overdose of
the Elixir"), he could not very well apply it to his
surroundings because he lacked experience with the
world, which alone renders knowledge of any value
to mankind. John Dough could speak all lan-

John Dough Begins His Adventures

guages modern and classic. He had a logical and
clear mind what is called a "level head," you
know; and this was coupled with good sense, fair
judgment, and a tangled mass of wisdom that had
been dumped into him in a haphazard fashion.

But these rare qualities
were as yet of no use to
our man because he had
acquired no experience.
It was like putting tools
into a scholar's hands
and asking him to make
a watch. John Dough
might accomplish won-
ders in time, if he did
not grow stale and crum-
ble; but just now he was
the freshest individual
that ever came out of a
bake-room.

It was still early morn-
ing, and most folks, were in bed. A prowling dog
smelled the gingerbread and came trotting up with
the intention of having a bite of it; but John
Dough raised his candy cane and hit the dog a clip
on the end of its nose that sent the animal in

John Dough Begins His Adventures

another direction with its tail between its legs.
Then, whistling merrily, the gingerbread man walked
on. He knew no tune whatever, but he could
whistle, and so he managed to express an erratic
mixture of notes that would have made Herr
Wagner very proud. I

His flesh (or bread, rather") was cooling off
beautifully now. He was growing hard and crisp
and felt much more substantial than at first. The
baker had made him light and the Elixir had made
him strong and vigorous. A great future lay be-
fore John Dough, if no accident happened to him.

Presently some one said, " Hello ! ' John stopped
short, for in front of him stood a bright-eyed boy
with a piece of lighted punk in one hand and a bunch
of firecrackers in the other.
It was Ned Robbins, who had
been up since daybreak cele-
brating the Glorious Fourth.

"You skeered me at first,"
said the boy, with a look of
amazement that he tried to
cover with a laugh.

"I beg your pardon, I'm
sure," returned John Dough,
politely.

John Dough Begins His Adventures

"Been to a masquerade?' asked Ned, staring
hard at the gingerbread man.

"No, indeed," replied the other. "I am not
disguised, I assure you. You see me as I am."

"G'wan!" exclaimed Ned. But he could smell
the gingerbread, and he began to grow frightened.
So he touched the punk to the fuse of his biggest
firecracker, dropped it on the ground at the feet of
John Dough, and then turned and scampered up
an alley as fast as he could go.

The gingerbread man stood still and looked after
Ned until the cracker suddenly exploded with a
bang that caused John's candy teeth to chatter.
His whole body was terribly jarred and he nearly
fell backward in the shock of surprise. Then he,
also, started to run. It was not fear, so much as
ignorance of what might happen next, that caused
him to fly from the spot; but he ran with a speed
that was simply wonderful, considering that his limbs
were of gingerbread. Truly, that Arabian Elixir
was a marvelous thing!

Bang! He had run plump into another group of
boys, knocking two of them over before they could
get out of his way. His silk hat was jammed over his
eyes and the candy cane struck the wheel of a toy
cannon and broke ofFa good two inches from its end.

THE CRACKER SUDDENLY EXPLODED

John Dough Begins His Adventures

As he pulled off his
hat he heard a shout and
saw the boys all scram-
bling for the broken end
of the candy cane. One
of them grabbed it and
ran away, and the others
followed in a mad chase
and were soon out of
sight.

John Dough looked
after them wonderingly.

John Dough Begins His Adventures

Then he drew himself up, pulled down his fine
vest, sighed at discovering a slight crack in his
shirt-front, and walked slowly along the street
again. His first experience of life was not alto-
gether pleasant.

"Good gracious!" said a voice.

He paused, and saw a woman leaning over a
gate beside him and glaring at him in mingled sur-
prise and terror. She held a broom in her hand,
for she had been sweeping the walk. John lifted
his hat politely.

" Good morning, madam," said he.

"Why, it's really alive!" gasped the woman.

"Is a live person so very unusual?" asked John,
curiously.

"Surely, when he's made of cake! " answered the
woman, still staring as if she could not believe her
eyes.

"Pardon me; I am not cake, but gingerbread,"
he answered, in a rather dignified way.

"It's all the same," she answered. "You haven't
any right to be alive. There's no excuse for it."

"But how can I help it?' he asked, somewhat
puzzled by this remark.

"Oh, I don't suppose it's your fault. But it is n't
right, you know. Who made you ? '

John Dough Begins His Adventures

"Jules Grogrande, the baker," he said, for he
had read the name over the door.

"I always knew there was something wrong with
those Frenchies," she declared. "Are you done?"

Before he could reply she had drawn a large
straw from the broom and stuck it several inches
into his side.

"Don't do that!' he cried, indignantly, as she
drew out the bit of broom again.

"I was only tryin' you," she remarked. "You're
done to a turn, and ought to make good eating
while you're fresh."

John gazed at her in horror.

"Good eating!' he cried; "woman, would you
murder me?'

"I can't say it would be exactly murder," she
replied, looking at him hungrily.

"To destroy life is murder?" he said, sternly.

"But to destroy gingerbread isn't," she rejoined.
"And I can't see that it's cannibalism to eat a man
if he happens to be cake, and fresh baked. And
that frosting looks good. Come inside while I get
a knifes"

She opened the gate and tried to grab John
Dough by an arm. But he gave a sudden back-
ward leap and then sped down the street at a furi-

"COME INSIDE WHILE I GET A KNIFE"

John Dough Begins His Adventures

ous run, looking neither to right nor left in his
eager flight.

Luckily, he was not in the center of the town,
but near the outskirts, and the houses were few
and scattered.

By and by he saw a deserted barn near the
roadside. The door was half open and sagged on
its hinges, so it could not be closed.

John darted into the barn and hid behind some
hay in the far side. He was thoroughly frightened,
and believed he must avoid mingling with the
people of the town if he would escape instant
destruction.

A knife! A knife! The word kept ringing in
his ears and filled him with horror. A knife could
slice him into pieces easily. He imagined himself
sliced and lying on a plate ready for hungry folks
to eat, and the picture made him groan aloud.

All through the day he kept securely hidden
behind the hay. Toward evening he decided to
revisit the bakery. It was a difficult- task, for he
had passed through many streets and lanes without
noticing where he was going, and it grew darker
every minute. But at last, just as he was beginning
to despair, he saw a dim light in a window and read
over the door the sign: "Jules Grogrande, Baker."

John Dough Begins His Adventures

He opened the door so softly that the little bell
scarcely tinkled. But no one would have heard it
had it rung loudly, for there was a confused murmer
of fierce voices coming from the little room Mad-
ame usually occupied.

John Dough skipped
behind the counter, where
he could see into the
room without being seen
himself.

Around the little table
stood the Arab, Monsieur
Jules, and Madame, and
they were all staring

angrily into each other's
faces.

"But the flask!' cried
"Where is my precious flask?'

"It is here," said Madame, reaching
behing the mirror and drawing forth
something that glittered in the lamp-
light.

"But this is the silver flask the
cure for rheumatism," exclaimed the Arab. "Where

my Golden Flask containing the priceless

Elixir of Life?

John Dough Begins His Adventures

"I must have made a mistake," said Madame,
honestly; "for my eyes are so queer that I cannot
tell gold from silver. Anyway, the contents of the
other flask I emptied into a bowl of water, and
rubbed my limbs with it."

The Arab shouted a despairing cry in his native
tougue and then glared wildly at the woman.

"Was it the brown bowl, Leontine?" asked
Monsieur Jules, trembling with excitement.
"Yes," she answered.

"Where is it? Where is it?" demanded the
Arab, in a hoarse voice. "The precious liquor may
yet be saved."

"Too late, Monsieur," said the baker, shaking
his head, sadly. "I used the contents of the bowl
to mix the dough for my gingerbread man."

"A gingerbread man! What do you mean?'
asked Ali Dubh.

"I baked a man out of gingerbread this morning,"

said Monsieur Jules,
"and to my horror he
came alive, and spoke to
me, and walked out of the
shop while he was still
smoking hot."

"It is no wonder," said

the Arab, dolefully; for within him was enough of
the Great Elixir to bring a dozen men to life, and
give them strength and energy for many years.
Ah, Monsieur and Madame, think of what your
stupidity has cost the world!'

"I do not comprehend," said Madame, firmly,
"how the world has ever yet been benefited by the
Great Elixir, which you and your selfish country-
men have kept for centuries corked up in a golden
flask."

"Bismillah! " shouted the Arab, striking himself
fiercely across the forehead with his clinched fist.
"Cannot you understand, you stupid one, that it
was mine mine! this Wonderful Water of Life?
I had planned to use it myself drop by drop
that I might live forever."

"I'm sorry," said Monsieur; "but it is your
own fault. You forced my wife to care for the
flask, and you would not let her tell me about it.
So, through your own stupidity, I used it in the
gingerbread man."

"Ah!' said Ali Dubh, an eager gleam in his
eyes, "where, then, is that same gingerbread man?
If I can find him, and eat him, a bit at a time, I
shall get the benefit of the Great Elixir after all!
It would not be so powerful, perhaps, as in its

John Dough Begins His Adventures

natural state; but it would enable me to live for

many, many years!'

John Dough heard this speech with a thrill of

horror. Also he now began to understand how he

happened to be alive. ,

"I do not know where the gingerbread man is,"

said Monsieur. "He walked out of my shop

while he was quite hot."

"But he can be found," said the Arab. "It is

impossible for a gingerbread man, who is alive, to

escape notice. Come, let us search for him at

once! I must find him and eat him."

He fairly dragged Monsieur and Madame from

the room in his desperation, and John Dough

crouched out of sight behind the counter until he

heard them pass through
the door and their foot-
steps die away up the
street.

The talk he had
overheard made the gin-
gerbread man very sad
indeed. The bakery was
no safe home for him,
after all. Evidently it
was the Arab's intention

John Dough Begins His Adventures

to find him and insist upon eating him; and
John Dough did not want to be eaten at all.

Therefore his enemies must not find him. They
were no safer to meet with than the awful woman
who wanted to cut him into slices; and he was
learning, by degrees, that all men were dangerous
enemies to him, although he had himself the form
of a man.

He left the bakery and stole out into the street
once more, walking now in the opposite direction
from that taken by the Arab and the Grograndes.

As he hurried along he met with few people on
the streets; and these, in the dark, paid little
attention to the gingerbread man; so gradually
his spirits rose and his confidence in his future
returned.

By and by he heard a strange popping and
hissing coming from the direction of the square in
the center of the town, and then he saw red and
green lights illuminating the houses, and fiery
comets go sailing into the sky to break into dozens
of beautiful colored stars.

The people were having their Fourth of July
fireworks, and John Dough became curious to
witness the display from near by. So, forgetting
his fears, he ran through the streets until he came

John Dough Begins His Adventures

to a big crowd of people, who were too busy
watching the fireworks to notice that a gingerbread
man stood beside them.

John Dough pressed forward until he was quite
in the front row, and just behind the men who
were firing the rockets.

For a time he watched the rush of the colored
fires with much pleasure, and thoroughly enjoyed
the sputtering of a big wheel that refused to go
around, merely sending out weak and listless spurts
of green and red sparks, as is the manner of such
wheels.

But now the event of the evening was to occur.
Two men brought out an enormous rocket, fully
fifteen feet tall and filled with a tremendous charge
of powder. This they leaned against a wooden
trough that stood upright; but the rocket was too
tall to stay in place, and swayed from side to side
awkwardly.

"Here! Hold that stick!' cried one of the
men, and John Dough stepped forward and grasped
the stick of the big rocket firmly, not knowing
there w^s any danger in doing so.

Then the man ran to get a piece of rope to tie
the rocket in place; but the other man, being
excited and thinking the rocket was ready to fire,

Jfr ''*

JOHN DOUGH IS CARRIED OFF BY THE ROCKET 57

John Dough Begins His Adventures

touched off the fuse without noticing that John
Dough was clinging fast to the stick.

There was a sudden shriek, a rush of fire, and
then slowly at first, but with ever -increasing
speed the huge rocket mounted far into the sky,
carrying with it the form of the gingerbread man !

The rocket continued to send out
fiery sparks of burning powder as it
plunged higher and higher into the black
vault of the heavens; but few of these
came in contact with John Dough, who clung
to the far side of the stick and so escaped being
seriously damaged. Also the rocket curved, and
presently sped miles away over land and sea,
impelled by the terrible force of the powder it
contained. John fully expected that it would
burst presently, and blow him to bits amid a cloud
of colored stars. But the giant rocket was not
made in the same way as the other and smaller ones
that had been fired, the intention being merely to
make it go as high and as far as possible. So it
finally burned itself out; but so great was the
speed it had attained that it continued to fly for
many minutes after the last spark had died away.

Then the rocket began to take a downward
course; but it was so high up, by that time, that
the stick and the empty shell flew onward hour

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after hour, gradually Hearing the ground, until
finally, just as a new day began to break, the huge
stick, with John Dough still holding fast to its end,
fell lightly upon an island washed on all sides by
the waves of a mighty sea.

John fell on a soft bush, and thence bounded to
the ground, where for a time he lay quite still and
tried to recover his thoughts.

He had not done much thinking, it seems, while
he was in the air. The rush of wind past his ears
had dazed him, and he only realized he must cling
fast to the stick and await what might happen.
Indeed, that was the only thing to be done in such
an emergency.

The shock of the fall had for a moment dazed

the ginger-
bread man ;
and as he lay
upon the
ground he
heard a voice

Y :

"Get off
from me! Will
you? Get off,
I

say.

Chick, the Cherub

John rolled over and sat up, and then another
person a little man with a large head also sat
up and faced him.

"What do you mean by it?'' asked the little
man, glaring upon John Dough angrily. "Can't
you see where you're falling?'

"No," answered John.

It was growing lighter every minute, and the
gray mists of morning were fading away before the
rising sun. John looked around him and saw he was
upon a broad, sandy beach which the w r aves of a great
sea lapped peacefully. Behind was a green meadow,
and then mountains that rose high into the air.

"How did you happen to be where I fell?" he
asked, turning to the little man again.

"I always sleep on the sands," replied the other,
wagging his head solemnly. "It's my fad. Fresh
air, you know. I'm called the < Fresh- Air Fiend.'
I suppose you 're a new inhabitant. You seem
rather queer."

"I'm made of gingerbread," said John.

"Well, that certainly is unusual, so I 've no doubt
you will be warmly welcomed in our Island,"
replied the man.

"But where am I?" asked John, looking around
again with a puzzled expression.

Chick the Ch

e r u

"This is the Isle of Phreex," answered the other,
"and it is inhabited by unusual people. I'm one,
and you 're another."

He made such a droll face as he said this that
the gingerbread man could not resist smiling, but
it startled him to hear another laugh at his back
a sound merry and sweet, such as a bird trills. He
swung around quickly and saw a child standing
upon the sands, . where the rays of the sun fell
brightly upon its little form. And then the glass
eyes of the gingerbread man grew big, and stood
out from his cake face in a way that fully expressed
his astonishment.

"It's a Vision!" he exclaimed.

"No, it's the Cherub whom we call Chick,"
answered the big-headed man, carelessly.

The child had fair hair, falling in fleecy waves to
its shoulders, but more or less tangled and neglected.
It had delicate features, rosy cheeks, and round
blue eyes. When these eyes were grave which
was seldom there were questions in them; when
they smiled which was often sunbeams rippled
over their blue surfaces. For clothing the child
wore garments of pure white, which reached from
the neck to the ankles, and had wide flowing sleeves
and legs, like those of a youngster's pajamas. The

" IT'S THE CHERUB"

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the C h

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little one's head and feet were bare, but the pink
soles were protected by sandals fastened with straps
across the toes and ankles.

"Good morning," said John, again smiling and
hoping he had not stared too rudely. "It gives
me great pleasure to meet you."

"My name's Chick," replied the child, laughing
in sweet trills, while the blue eyes regarded the
gingerbread man with evident wonder.
"That's a funny name," said John.
"Yes, it is funny," the child agreed, with a
friendly nod. "Chick means a chicken, you know.
But I'm not a chicken."

"Of course not," returned John. "A chicken
is covered with feathers. And you are not."

At this Chick
laughed merrily, and
said, as if it were the
simplest thing in the
world: "I'm the Incu-
bator Baby, you know."
"Dear me, I hadn't
the least idea of it,"
John answered gravely.
"May I ask what an
Incubator Baby is?"

Chick, the Cherub

The child squatted down in the sand, hugged its
chubby knees, and uttered peal after peal of joyous
laughter.

"How funny!" it gurgled; "how funny that you
don't know what the Incubator Baby is! Really,
you must be fresh-baked!'

"I am," said John, feeling rather ashamed to
acknowledge the fact, but resolving to be truthful.

"Then, of course, you are very ignorant,"
remarked the Fresh-Air Fiend, rubbing his big head
complacently.

"Oh, as for that," said John, "I acquired, in
course of manufacture, a vast deal of ancient
learning, which I got from an Arabian Elixir with
which the baker mixed me. I am well posted in
all events down to the last century, but I cannot
recall any knowledge of an Incubator Baby."

"No, they're a recent invention," declared the
big-headed man, patting tenderly the child's golden
curls. "Were you, by any chance, at the Pan-
American Exposition? Or the Lousiana Purchase
Exposition?"

"No," answered John. "My knowledge was
corked up about then."

"Well," continued the man, "there were a good
many Incubator Babies at both those expositions,

Chick, the Cherub

and lots of people saw them. But Chick is the
first and only Original Incubator Baby, and so
Chick properly belongs in the Isle of Phreex."

Chick jumped up, made a stiff bow, and with
eyes sparkling with mischief exclaimed: "I'm six
years old and quite strong and well."

"Tut-tut, Chick! " remonstrated the big-headed
man; "it was more than two years ago you were
taught to make that speech. You can't be always
six years old, you know."

The little sprite enjoyed the joke so much that
John was forced to laugh in sympathy. But just
then a thought struck him, and he asked, a little
nervously:

"Do you like gingerbread?'

"I don't know," replied Chick. "Are you
gingerbread? '

"I am," said John, bravely.

"Then I like gingerbread," the child declared;
"for you smell sweet and look kind and gentle."

John didn't know whether to accept this as a
compliment or not. He was sorry to learn that
he smetted sweet, although to be called kind and
gentle was grateful praise.

"Some folks," he remarked, timidly, "have an
idea they like to eat gingerbread."

Chick the Ch

e r u

"I couldn't eat you," the child said, seriously,
"because, being the Incubator Baby, I have to be
very careful of my diet. You might not agree
with me."

" I 'm sure I couldn't agree with any one who ate
me," John declared. "For, although as yet I have
had no experience of that sort, it seems to me a
very undesirable fate."

"Very true," remarked the big-headed man.

"Let's be friends!' exclaimed Chick, coming
close to John and taking his soft brown hand in a
firm clasp. "I'll take care of you."

John looked down at the merry little elf in
positive wonder.

"We'll be friends, all right," said he; "but instead
of your taking care of me, Chick, I'll take care
of you."

"Oh, there you are entirely wrong," broke in
the big-headed man. "Chick's a privileged char-
acter in the Isle of Phreex, and the only one of us
who dares defy our awful kinglet. And in case
of danger "

"Danger!" cried John, with a start. "Is there
danger here, too? '

Chick's laughter rang out at the foolish question,
but the man replied seriously :

Chick, the Cherub

"There is danger everywhere, to those who are
unusual, and especially in the Isle of Phreex, where
we are at the mercy of a horrid kinglet. But
come; we must go and report your arrival to that
same graceless ruler, or we shall all be punished."

"Very well," said John, meekly.

But as he took Chick's hand and turned to
depart the Fresh-Air Fiend uttered an exclamation
of annoyance, and said:

"Here's bad luck already! The Failings are
coming this way."

As he spoke a noise of shouting and chattering
reached their ears, and presently several people
came around a corner of rock and stood before
John and his newly found friends.

"It's the Brotherhood of Failings," whispered
the big-headed man. " Look out for them, or
they'll do you a mischief."

"Don't worry; I '11 take care of you," said Chick,
pressing the dough hand.

John stared at the new-comers, and they returned
the compliment by staring at him. A queerer lot
of folks could seldom have been seen together.

"This is the Blunderer," said the Fresh- Air Fiend,
indicating a short, fat man who was clothed in
glittering armor and bore a lance over his shoulder.

THE BROTHERHOOD OF FAILINGS

Chick the Ch

e r u

The Blunderer acknowledged the introduction by
bowing. "And here is the Thoughtless One,"
continued the man, pointing to a tall, lean man
who was clothed in chamois-leather and carried a
wide-mouthed blunderbuss under his arm.

"Look out for the gun," said Chick; "he never
knows whether or not it is loaded."

"And here are the Disagreeable, and the
Unlucky, and the Sorrowful, and the Ugly, and the
Awkward," continued the big-headed man, pointing
put each Failing in turn. "Their peculiarities you
will have no trouble to discover. Indeed, on all
the Isle of Phreex, there is no one more unpleasant
to meet with than this same lot of Failings."

At this the Brothers all bowed, saying at the
same time:

"We are proud of ourselves!'

At that instant the Awkward tripped over his
own toes and fell against the Blunderer, who
tumbled headlong and thrust his slim lance straight
through the body of John Dough.

"Oh!" cried Chick, greatly horrified.

" I told you so ! ' growled the Fresh- Air Fiend,
pulling out the lance hastily. " Tell me, John
Dough, are you dead, or are you just dying?'

"Neither one," said John, ruefully pushing

Chick the Ch

e r u

together the hole that the lance had made; "but it
doesn't add to my personal appearance to be
prodded in that fashion. I 'm made of ginger-
bread," he explained, turning to the man in armor.

" I beg your pardon ! I really beg your pardon!
said the Blunderer, greatly distressed at what he
had done, "I had no intention of hurting you."

"He means well," said the Incubator Baby; but
that doesn't help much."

"He won't last long in this Island," grunted the
Bad -Tempered, referring to John Dough.

"Being made of gingerbread, he can't be expected
to last," remarked the Disagreeable, smiling in a
way that made John shudder.

"He shall have my protection," said the
Blunderer. "It's the least I can do to make
amends. Here put on this armor!'

He hastily began stripping off the plates of metal,
and placed the steel helmet over the head of the
gingerbread man.

"No, no!' exclaimed John. "I don't want to
wear all that hardware."

"But you must!' cried the Blunderer. "It's
the only way you can escape accident in this awful
Island."

"That's true enough," agreed the big-headed

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man. "I advise you to wear the armor, my
gingerbread friend."

So John submitted to being dressed in the
armor, and no sooner had the plates been strapped
upon him than the wisdom of the act was apparent.
For there came a rush and whirl of sound, and sud-
denly a great monster
swept over the sands at the
very spot where they stood.
It sent the Brotherhood of
Failings sprawling in every
direction, while the Incu-
bator Baby flew to the
water's edge, and John
Dough's armor-clad body
was knocked down and
pressed into the soft sand
until it was level with the
surface.

But presently Chick
came back and made the others dig him out and
set him upon his feet again, and then it was seen
that no one had been seriously injured.

"What was it?'' asked John, gazing in amaze-
ment at the place where the monster had disap-
peared in the distance.

Chick the Ch

e r u

"It's the one-wheeled automobile," answered
the Sorrowful, "and unless it gets smashed mighty
soon the Isle of Phreex will be an Isle of Cripples.
I don't understand why they license the thing/'

"Why, to make room for new arrivals, of course,"
declared the Disagreeable. "But it was lucky for
the Pudding Man that he happened to be dressed
in steel."

"I am not pudding, if you please," said John,
indignantly. "I beg you to remember that I am
gingerbread."

"It's all one," remarked the Thoughtless, "your
cake is dough, anyhow."

"Let us return to the castle," the Ugly said.
"Our Kinglet should be introduced to his new
subject."

So they all started off across the green, Chick
leading the gingerbread man, until they came to
a path leading upward through the rocks, along
which they began to ascend. John had much diffi-
culty in keeping out of the way of the Awkward,
who tripped and stumbled constantly, while the
Blunderer insisted upon taking the wrong path,
and the Bad-Tempered stopped twice to fight with
the Disagreeable and the Thoughtless. At last,
however, they reached the top, which proved to be

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a broad plain of rock, upon which stood a great
castle with many tall spires and grim towers and
glittering minarets.

While they paused for John Dough to admire
the view, and that they all might get breath, a
sharp voice said near them:

"You're late, you lot of Failings, and the
Kinglet will scold."

John looked around, and saw perched upon a
point of rock beside the path a most curious look-
ing creature.

"Don't stare!' it said, with a laugh. "/ don't,
and I Ve got a dozen eyes to your one. Let me
introduce myself. I 'm the Prize Potato from the
Centerville Fair."

Indeed, John now noticed a big blue ribbon
twined around the middle of the potato, and on the
ribbon was printed in gold letters: "First Prize."

"Some day you'll sprout,"
said the Disagreeable, "and
then you won't have so
many eyes."

The Prize Potato winked
its numerous eyes, one after
the other, in a droll fashion,
and answered:

THE CASTLE OF PHREEX

Chick the Ch

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"Some day you'll meet with an accident, my
dear Failing; but when you 're planted in the
ground you '11 not sprout at all. That 's where
I 'm your superior, for I 'm perpetual. Every one
of my eyes is good for a half-peck of potatoes, at
least."

" Unless you 're boiled with your jacket on,"
remarked the Ugly, with a sour smile.

"Come, come! Let us on," interrupted the
little man with the big head. "Our Kinglet doubt-
less awaits us."

When they had gone a few steps farther the
Incubator Baby paused to say: "Some one is
following us, and it's a stranger."

This remark caused John to look around, and
immediately he stopped short with an expression of
horror upon his frosted face. For there, turning the
corner of the rocky path, was Ali Dubh the Arab.
The fellow at once uttered a yell of joy and
triumph, and drawing his gleaming knife he rushed
upon John Dough with great eagerness.

The gingerbread man had given up all hope of
escape and stood tremblingly awaiting his foe when,
Chick suddenly grasped the Blunderer's lance and
tripped the Arab so neatly with it that Ali Dubh
fell his full length upon the path and broke his

knife-blade into a dozen pieces. But he squirmed
forward and was about to bite into John's leg when
the big-headed man came to the rescue and threw
a handful of pebbles into the Arab's open mouth,
and so prevented him from doing the gingerbread
man any damage.

"He seems dangerous," remarked the Blunderer.
"Let's tie him up, before he hurts someone."

So while the Arab was coughing the pebbles out
of his mouth, the Brotherhood of Failings bound

Chick the Ch

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his hands and feet with strong cords, so that he
could not move.

"He's mine!" shouted the Arab, as soon as he
could speak. "He belongs to me. I claim him
for my own."

"There's no harm in that," replied the Fresh-Air
Fiend. "But one of the laws of this Isle is that no
person shall be injured by any one except the king-
let. And every one here must obey the laws. So,
unless you promise not to carve or to eat this man
of gingerbread, who is now a subject of our king-
let, we must lock you up in prison."

" I '11 eat him as soon as I have the chance. I
have a right to do so," cried the Arab.

"You're a bad man!" said Chick, stamping one
small foot indignantly.

"I'm not," answered Ali Dubh; "I'm a good
man. And I paid Jules Grogrande fifty cents for
this gingerbread imitation of a man, who is mixed
with my own magic Elixir. Also I paid a witch
nine dollars to transport me to wherever the gin-
gerbread man might be which is right here that
I might take possession of my own property. So
I 've got him, and he's paid for, and he's mine, and
I claim the right to eat him whenever I please."

"You'll do no such thing," declared Chick.

Chick, the Cherub

"Why, John Dough is alive, and no one has a right
to make him dead and then eat him even if he is
paid for! '

"Don't worry, my Cherub," said the big-headed

J ' J ' O

man, soothingly; "we'll go at once and lock this

Arab in a strong room of the castle, so that he
can't possibly escape."

Chick smiled sweetly at this promise; but the
Arab scowled and said, grimly:

"Never mind. My time will come. Some day

Chick, the Cherub

I shall surely eat that gingerbread man, in spite of
this Cherub and all the rest of you."

This defiance made the Brotherhood of Failings
and the big-headed man so angry that they at once
dragged Ali Dubh away to the castle, and John
Dough and Chick followed after, hand in hand,
and feeling quite safe.

Presently they came to a great archway that led
into the courtyard of the castle. Having passed
through this arch, the gingerbread man saw groups
of the most astonishing people, who were busying
themselves over extraordinary tasks, such as build-
ing machines, boiling strange-smelling chemicals in
queer pots, drawing curious designs, and like occu-
pations. A sudden crash announced that the
Blunderer had fallen into the middle of a delicate
machine and smashed it into bits. Before they
could pull him out the Unlucky One ran against
the whirling arm of a windmill and was tossed half-
way across the courtyard, while the Awkward
One upset a boiling kettle and set every one to
coughing who inhaled the odor of the compound
that was spilled upon the ground.

To John's surprise no one seemed much worried
over these accidents. Even the victims joined in
Chick's merry laughter, and those of the Failings

Chick the Ch

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who had escaped disaster calmly proceeded to lock
up the Arab in a cell that had a strong iron grating
for a door, and fastened with a huge padlock.

Afterward they all entered through a second
arch into the great hall of the castle.

This was a long, wide room with a tiled floor, and
walls that were covered with many trophies, such as
armor, spears, battle-axes, and swords of ancient
design.

At the farther end was a raised platform upon
which stood a gorgeous throne. Back of the throne
was an electric sign, flashing one letter at a time,
and reading: "What is Home without a Kinglet?'
Over the throne was suspended an enormous crown
big enough for a giant which sparkled with
gems. Beside the throne a very fat man sat in a
chair so low that his knees nearly touched his chin.
He wore a short red coat, a wide white vest, and
blue knee-breeches, and all were embroidered in
gold. The fat man's eyes were closed and he
seemed asleep.

Within the throne sat the kinglet, propped upon
purple cushions, so that he would fit it better. For
the kinglet was a small boy with a long, freckled
face, blue eyes, a pug nose, and black hair banged
across his forehead, and hanging in lank, straight

Chick, the Cherub

locks far down over his shoulders. He wore an
ermine cloak lined with purple, and bore in his
hand a sceptre with a jewelled ball at one end,
while beyond the ball projected a small golden
knob. The kinglet's slim legs were crossed under
him like those of a Turk, and he seemed very frail
and delicate.

However, when the Failings and the Fresh- Air
Fiend and Chick and John Dough entered, the
kinglet's brow was puckered into a frown, and his
blue eyes fairly flashed fire.

"Odds Zooks!" he cried, as they all knelt before
the throne, "why have you dared to wait until
this hour to pay me your devoirs?"

Then he leaned down and prodded the fat
man with the knob of his sceptre, so that the
sleeper started and opened his eyes. "Is that
right, Nebbie? Is 'devoir' a kingly word?' he
demanded.

"Absolutely kingly, your Majesty," said the fat
man, yawning. "It was used by King Arthur and
Richard Coeur de Leon."

"Very well!" said the kinglet, proudly. Then
he turned again to the kneeling group before him.
"Why don't you answer me? " he exclaimed. "Why
are you so late in paying me your boudoirs?'

THE KINGLET AND NEBBIE

Chick the Ch

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"Devoirs, your Majesty!' said the fat man,
hastily.

"I said < devoirs'!" returned the kinglet, turning
upon him in anger.

"We are late because we did not get here
sooner," said the Awkward; "and we could not
get here sooner because we were late."

"So!' shrieked his Majesty, with blazing eyes.
"Now by my halidom " he paused suddenly,
and turned to the fat man, prodding him so fiercely
that he jumped several feet into the air. "Is
'halidom' the right word, Nebbie?"

"Sure," said the fat man, nodding emphatically.

"What does it mean?" asked the kinglet.

"What does halidom mean?"

"Yes."

"Why, a halidom is a halidom," said the fat
man, thoughtfully; "and belongs to kings."

"But what is it?' persisted the kinglet,
impatiently.

"It's a a a sort of a royal prerogative, and
is usually painted red," returned the fat man, and
immediately resumed his seat and closed his eyes
again.

The kinglet sighed, and turned anew to the
Failings.

Chick the Ch

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"Let me see," he remarked; "where was I?"

"You were by your halidom, your Majesty,"
suggested the Blunderer.

"Oh, yes." Again the long freckled face took
on a frown. "By my halidom, churl " He
stopped to glance at the fat man.

"Churl is all right," mumbled Nebbie, without
opening his eyes.

"By my halidom, churl, you shall either swallow
my sceptre or die the death!'

"What death?" asked the Blunderer, trembling.

"The one that makes people dead," replied the
kinglet, sternly. "Choose, then, varlet "
("Varlet is good," said Nebbie, quickly, to avoid a
thrust) "whether to swallow my sceptre or die the
death!"

The Blunderer glanced at the sceptre, the
jewelled ball of which was nearly as large as his head.

"I'll swallow the sceptre," he said.

"Good," cried the king, and held it toward him.

"But not now," added the Blunderer, hastily;
"I'll take my time about it. You didn't say when,
you know."

The kinglet turned red with rage.

"Now, by the royal Juggernaut of Jowl "
he began.

Chick, the Cherub

"If I should swallow it now," continued the
Blunderer, calmly, "you would cease to be a
kinglet; for a kinglet without a sceptre is nothing
but a flibberjig."

"What!' shrieked his Majesty, jabbing the fat
man furiously.

"That's right," declared Nebbie, groaning and
rubbing his fat side dolefully. "A kinglet without
a sceptre is a flibberjig, and I'll be black and blue
by to-morrow morning!'

"Well," said his Majesty, after considering the
matter, "I forbid you, Sir Blunderer, to swallow
my sceptre until I give you leave."

Then his eye fell upon John Dough and Chick,
who were standing at one side of the Failings,
and immediately the little kinglet looked surprised,
and then curious, and then annoyed. But perhaps
the annoyed look was because Chick laughed in
the royal face in a way that was certainly disre-
spectful, and even John Dough did n't look at all
humble.

"Here, you Chick; behave yourself," com-
manded the kinglet.

"I won't," said Chick, pouting two pretty lips.

"Well, this kingdom existed at one time without
an Incubator Baby, and I believe we could spare

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you now. I '11 have your saucy head cut off,"
declared the kinglet.

"I dare you!" said Chick, making a face.

"There's a nice child, I must say!" retorted the
kinglet, scowling. "But what can we expect of a
baby that has no parents and no proper bringing-up?
Bah! I'm ashamed of you, Chick!'

"Don't you dare say
anything against my Incu-
bator!' cried Chick,
angrily. "I guess I 've had
as good bringing-up as you
have, you disagreeable

7 J D

kinglet, you ! '

His Majesty was at first
about to retort with equal
anger; but he suddenly
changed his mind and
turned to John Dough.

"Who are you,
stranger?' he asked.
"And why are you wearing the Blunderer's armor? ''

So much disrespect had been shown this kinglet
by his subjects that John was about to reply lightly
to these questions; but to his surprise Chick grasped
his hand and whispered to him to make a low bow

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and to be very careful what he said. So the
gingerbread man stepped forward and addressed
his Majesty with great ceremony.

"Oh, most puissant and serene kinglet!' he
began; "I am called John Dough, because I am
made of gingerbread; and I came to your Isle
because I could not help it."

The kinglet looked upon the stranger with a
kindly expression.

"< Puissant and serene'!' he murmured. "Evi-
dently, John Dough, you are a person of wit and
intelligence, such as are most welcome to the Isle
of Phreex. Kneel thou at my feet."

John knelt, as commanded, and the kinglet

at once dealt him a
sharp blow upon the
Blunderer's helmet
with the heavy end
of the royal sceptre.
It dented in the steel
plate, and would
have crushed the
gingerbread man's
head had it not been
so well protected
by the helmet.

Chick the Ch

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"I dub you Knight of Phreex," said his Majesty.
"Rise, Sir John Dough villain no longer, but
noble and favored among my subjects!'

John stood up and bowed, although he was
slightly dazed by the force of the blow.

"Long live the gentle Kinglet of Phreex/' he
managed to say. And Chick clapped two chubby
hands with glee, and whispered: "Well done, my
friend! '

"You please me, Sir John," remarked the
little kinglet, swelling out his chest complacently.
"I wish all the people of Phreex were so polite and
discerning." Then he looked around and inquired:
"Where's Sir Austed Alfrin, the Poet Laureate?'

Immediately a drapery parted, and a man with a
pale, thin face and long black hair entered and
saluted his Majesty with profound respect. The
Poet had a bandage over one eye and hobbled as
if lame in one leg. He was clothed all in black,
and his long frock coat had grease spots down the
front of it.

" Have you made me a sonnet to-day? " demanded
the little kinglet.

"Yes, my royal Master," answered the Poet; and,
pompously unrolling a scroll, he read in a loud,
falsetto voice, these lines:

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" There is a wise Kinglet of Phreex,
Whose wit is so great that it leaks ;

His brain is n't big,

But who cares a fig
While wisdom from him fairly reeks ? "

"Now, that's not so bad," said his Majesty,
reflectively. "But can't you make it a little
stronger, Sir Poet?'

" I '11 try," replied Austed Alfrin ; and after pencil-
ling some words on his tablets he read as follows:

"The Goddess of Wisdom felt sad;
And when asked why she whimpered so bad,
Said : c There 's one, it is true,
Who knows more than 7 do
And the Kinglet of Phreex is the lad ! ' "

Chick the Ch

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"Now that/' said his Majesty, "strikes me as
being real poetry. How does it strike you, Sir
John Dough? ''

"It's fairly good," replied the gingerbread man;
"but it hardly does you justice."

"The Poet doesn't dare do his Majesty justice,"
said the Disagreeable Failing. "If he did, there
would soon be no Poet."

"There's something in that, too," said the
kinglet. "But now, Sir Austed, write me a sonnet
on my new subject, Sir John Dough."

The Poet sighed and began writing on his tablets;
and presently he read this:

"The Kinglet of Phreex, it is said,
Has a Knight made of stale gingerbread ;
We could eat him, but yet
The dyspepsia we 'd get
Would soon make us wish we were dead."

"That," said John, indignantly, "is rank libel;
and if your Majesty will loan me your sceptre, I'll
make an end of this Poet in seven seconds by the
clock."

"You have my permission to make mince-meat
of him," replied the kinglet, cheerfully.

"Mercy! mercy, my lord!" screamed the Poet,
falling upon his knees before John and hastily

Chick the Ch

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wiping the verse off his tablets, "give me one
more chance, I beg of you!'

"Very well," said the gingerbread knight. "But
if it's no better than the last you shall be discharged.
Is it not so, your Majesty?'

"Quite so," laughed the kinglet.

The Poet nervously scribbled another set of lines,
which he read in a voice that trembled with fear:

"The Gingerbread Man is so sweet,
To eat him would be a rare treat;
He 's crisp and well spiced,
And you 'd find, were he sliced,
That the eggs in him cannot be beat ! "

"That's better," said John, "but I'm not sure
about the eggs, as I did not pay much attention
when I was mixed. However, this sincere tribute
to my excellence will save you from my displeasure,
and you may go free."

The Poet did not wait an instant, but ran from
the hall as fast as his legs would carry him.

The kinglet now dismissed the Failings, who left
the royal presence quarrelling and threatening one
another, and making so much noise and uproar that
the gingerbread man was glad to see them go.

"Aren't they nice?' 1 asked the kinglet, look-
ing after them. "I'd like to drown them all
in the castle moat, like kittens; but every king,

Chick, the Cherub

they say, has his Failings, so I suppose I must
keep mine."

He sighed, and continued: "But what did
the Poet's sonnet say about your being crisp
and well spiced, and rather good eating were you
sliced?"

"Don't pay any attention to that, your Majesty! '
said John, hastily.

"But why not?'' persisted the kinglet. "I
declare, Sir John, there 's something about you
that makes me hungry whenever I look at you.
I don't remember having eaten any gingerbread
since I was a boy ahem! I mean since I came
to rule over the Isle of Phreex. Ho there, my
guards! Fetch me a knife!'

John was now trembling with terror; but Chick
said to the kinglet: "Your Majesty forgets that
you are to have pancakes and maple-syrup for
tea. What's the use of spoiling your appetite,
when you know the gingerbread man will keep
good for weeks?''

"Are you sure?" asked the kinglet, anxiously.
"Are you sure he'll keep? Won't he get stale?"

"Of course not," answered the child. "He's
the kind of gingerbread that always keeps good.
And you must n't forget he'll be a credit to the

Chick, the Cherub

Isle of Phreex; for whoever saw a live gingerbread
man before? '

"Nobody," declared the kinglet, positively.
"You're right, my Cherub; I'll save the ginger-
bread man for another meal, and in the mean time
I can show him off before my people. We pride
ourselves, Sir John, on having a greater variety
of queer personages than any other kingdom in
existence."

"Then you ought to be careful of them, and not
permit them to be eaten," said John, still anxious.
But the kinglet did not seem to hear him.

"Pancakes and maple-syrup!' muttered his
Majesty, longingly. "Dear me, Chick; I wish tea
were ready now."

"So do I," said Chick, laughing; for John
Dough was safe from being eaten just then, what-
ever might be his future fate, and the child had
saved him by the mention of the cakes and syrup.

But now a sudden hubbub was heard at the
door, and in rushed a number of the royal guard
wheeling a big platform on which was seated a
woman so exceedingly fat that she appeared to be
much wider than she was long.

"Here! what's the trouble with Bebe Celeste?'
asked the kinglet, frowning.

BEBE CELESTE

Chick, the Cherub

"She has lost two ounces, your Majesty," puffed
one of the guards, wiping the perspiration from his
forehead with his coat sleeve.

"Two ounces! " shouted the kinglet. "Now, by
the toga of Samson by the way, Nebbie, did
Samson wear a toga?" He punched the fat man
so severely that Nebbie gave a roar of pain before
he answered.

"He wore several, your Majesty!'

"Then, by the several togas of Samson, Bebe
Celeste, how dare you come before me two ounces
shy?'

"I did n't come; I was brought," said the fat
woman, in a wheezy voice.

"She was weighed in the balance and found
wanting," said the guardsman.

"What was she wanting?" asked the kinglet.

"Two ounces, your Majesty."

The ruler rubbed his pug nose with one finger,
in a reflective manner.

"Bebe," said he, "you've been exercising again.
You're trying to reduce!'

The "woman began to cry. "'T ain't my fault,
your royal giblet "

"Kinglet, woman!' said the fat man, without
opening his eyes.

C hie k, the Cherub

"Your royal kinglet, I didn't mean to lose a
single flutter o' flesh. But my dog Duo got to
quarrelling with himself and I got exercised in my
mind "

"Oh, the loss is In your mind, is it?" interrupted
the King. "I would n't mind the loss if I had
not forbidden you to exercise at all, even in your
mind."

"I could n't help it, your fudgesty "

"Majesty, woman!" said the fat man, sleepily.

"My dog Duo got to quarrelling "

"Bring us the dog, varlets, churls, and vassals!'
screeched the kinglet, in his shrill voice.

The guards stumbled over each other to obey;
and presently they returned leading such a curious
animal that John Dough stared at it in amazement.

It was a dog, without doubt; or rather, it was
a dog's body with a head and two legs at either end
of it. So that when one end walked forward the
other end had to walk backward, and that made
the back end growl angrily. But the same end was
not always the back end of the dog; for first one
head, and then the other, would prove strongest,
and drag the curious animal forward.

When this double dog, which was named Duo,
was brought in, both heads were snarling and

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barking in a very noisy manner. But however
much enraged they were, they could never get
together to do one another mischief.

"Be silent!' yelled the kinglet, annoyed at the
clamor.

But the dog's heads paid no attention to the
command.

"Very well," said his Majesty; "I'll put a stop
to your noise for good and all! Here, you guards,
fetch me the Royal Executioner!'

The fat lady began crying anew at this, and
presently the door opened and a young girl entered
the hall. She was clothed in simple robes of pure

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white, over which her loose brown hair flowed in a
soft cloud. Her eyes were large and dark and
very gentle in expression, and her cheeks were fair
as a lily. In one hand the maid bore a long
sword, the naked blade of which shone brightly in
the light. In the other hand was a sharpening-
stone, and as she bowed before the kinglet she
rubbed the stone gently
against the keen edge of
the blade.

Although the dog's
heads were still quarrel-
ling, and Bebe Celeste
still weeping, it was upon
John Dough that the
Royal Executioner first
turned her eyes.

"I hope it is n't this
one, your Majesty! " she
said, in a voice of dis-
appointment; "for he
won't bleed at all, being
made of cake."

" I beg your pardon,"
exclaimed John, hastily,
gingerbread."

" I am not cake, but

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"It's just the same," she answered, sighing; "you
would n't bleed if I cut you into bits."

"Why are you so bloodthirsty?' asked John,
looking reproachfully into the girl's gentle eyes.

"Because I'm the Royal Executioner, I suppose,"
she answered. " I 've held the office ever since my
father was destroyed by an earthquake; but I've
never yet executed a single person. The kinglet
calls me in about a dozen times a day, but some-
thing always happens to rob me of my victim.
I 've worn out three sword blades, sharpening them,
but I've never carved anything yet!'

"Be of good cheer," said his Majesty, "for now
you shall see blood flow like water. This time
I am fully resolved to be terrible. Cut me this
snarling cur into two parts!'

"What, the dog?" asked the girl, surprised. And
Bebe began to scream loudly; and the fat man woke

up and shook his head,
and Chick patted both
heads of the animal ten-
derly, and a guardsman
cried out: "Oh, no, your
Majesty! '

"And why not?'
inquired the kinglet.

103

Chick the Ch

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"Why, this is the most valuable creature in all
your dominions! " said the guard. "Do you desire
to rob yourself of such a treasure, your Majesty?''

The kinglet hesitated, and then jabbed the fat
man with his sceptre.

"Is it so, Nebbie?" he asked.

"It is so, my Lord," answered the fat man. "If
you want to butcher anything, cut up a few of the
Royal Guards, or mince the Failings, or carve
Chick, the Cherub. But the dog Duo is one of
the remarkable features of your kingdom, and
should be preserved at all hazards. Why, he 's
worth more than Bebe Celeste."

"That reminds me of Bebe," said the kinglet,
looking at the fat one sternly. "Take her away,
guards, and stuff her with mashed potatoes and
pate de foi gras. If she does n't regain those two
ounces in three days, she '11 disgrace my kingdom,
and I '11 turn her over to the Royal Executioner."

So the guards trundled away the platform on
which the fat lady sat, and the dog Duo followed,
first one head leading, and then the other. And
now his Majesty threw off his ermine robe and laid
down the sceptre and scrambled out of the throne.

"The royal audience is ended for to-day," he
said, "and now I'll go and see if those cakes and

101

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maple-syrup are ready for tea. And see here,
you Incubator Baby, look after Sir John Dough,
and mind that nobody eats him. If there's one
bite gone when I see him again I'll turn you over
to the Royal Executioner and then there won't
be any Incubator Baby."

Then his Majesty walked away, chuckling to
himself in a very disagreeable manner. At once
the fat Nebbie rolled out of his low seat and stood
up, yawning and stretching out his arms.

" Our kinglet is a hard master," said he, with a
sigh, "and I really wish some one would get up a
revolution and dethrone him. He's been punching
my ribs all day long, and I'll be black and blue by
to-morrow morning."

102

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"He's cruel," said Chick, patting the fat man's
hand, as if to comfort him.

"Yet he's too tender-hearted to suit me," com-
plained the lovely Executioner. " If I couid only
shed a single drop of blood, I'd feel that I am of
some use in the world."

"How dreadful! " cried John, with a shudder.

"Oh, not at all!' said the girl. "For what's
the object of being an Executioner if one can't
execute ? ' And she tucked the sword under her
arm and took out her handkerchief and went
away weeping sorrowfully.

103

"Well, did n't I take care of you all right?'
laughed the Incubator Baby, leading John Dough
from the throne-room and up a broad flight of
marble stairs.

"Indeed you did," he answered, gratefully.
" Really, my dear Chick, I believe that dreadful
kinglet would have eaten me but for you."

"'Course he would," said the Cherub, nodding
gayly; "and won't he be wild when he finds there
are no pancakes and maple-syrup for tea ? "

John stopped short. "Are n't there?" he asked.
"Oh, Chick! I'm afraid he'll punish you for
deceiving him."

" I don't mind," declared the child. " No one shall
eat a friend of mine that I 've given my promise to
take care of. So come along, John Dough, and
don't worry. I Ve got a lovely room on the top
floor of this castle, and I '11 share it with you."

104

The Freaks of Phree

So John mounted more marble steps, until finally
Chick brought him to a handsome apartment on
the third story.

105

The Freaks of Phreex

" Here we are ! " cried the Baby. " Now, make
yourself at home, John, for we need n't fear the
kinglet until to-morrow morning, and then he '11
have forgotten that I fooled him."

Our hero's first act was to take off the
Blunderer's heavy armor and pile it in one corner
of the room. When free from the weight of metal
he felt more like himself again, and walked to the
window to view the scenery.

" It 's a pretty place, Chick," he remarked.

" Oh, the Isle is all right," answered the child.
" It 's the people here that are all wrong, as you '11
soon find out. Do you ever eat, John Dough ? ''

" Never," said John.

" Then, while you 're waiting here, I '11 go over
to the dairy and get my milk for tea. You don't
mind if I leave you for a few minutes, do you ? '

" Not at all," he declared. " But it has just
started to rain, outside; you '11 get wet, won't you ? "

" That 's nothing," laughed Chick. " I won't
melt."

"It's different with me," said John, sadly. "If
my gingerbread body got soaked it would fall to
pieces."

That made the little one laugh again, and it ran
merrily from the room and left John Dough alone

106

"HELLO, NEIGHBOR"

107

The Freaks of Phreex

to stare out of the window. There was a projecting
cornice overhead, so he had pushed his head well
out to observe the pretty scenery, when suddenly
he heard a voice say, in a tone of astonishment:
"Hello, neighbor!'

Turning toward the left, he saw sticking out
of the next window to his own a long bald head
that slanted up to a peak, underneath which
appeared a little withered face that was smiling in
a most friendly manner-
John bowed politely.

"Well, well," said the owner of the bald head.
"Here's another curiosity come to our island!
Wait a minute, and I '11 run in and make your
acquaintance." So presently the bald head, which
was perched upon the body of a little, dried-up
looking man, entered John's room and bowed
politely.

"I 'm Sir Pryse Bocks," he said, "and the remark-
able thing about me is that I 'm an inventor, and
a successful one. You, I perceive, are a delica-
tessen; a friend in knead; I might say, a Pan-
American. Ha, ha ! '

" Pleased to make your acquaintance," returned
John, bowing. " But do not joke about my person,
Sir Pryse. I'm proud of it."

108

The Freaks of Phreex

"I respect your pride, sir," said the other. "It's
bread in the bone, doubtless. Ha, ha!'

John looked at him reproachfully, and the little
man at once grew grave.

"This island is full of inventors," said he; "but
they 're all cranks, and don't amount to anything

except me."

"What have you invented?" asked John.
" This ! " said the other, taking a little tube from
his pocket. "You will notice that it often rains

it's raining now, if you '11 look outside. And
the reason it rains is because the drops of water fall
to the earth by the attraction of gravitation."

" I suppose so," said John.

" Now, what do people usually do when it rains ? "
asked the little man.

" They grumble," said John.

"Yes, and they use umbrellas umbrellas, mind
you, to keep themselves dry ! '

"And that is quite sensible," declared John.

The bald-headed one gave a scornful laugh.
"It's ridiculous!" he said, angrily. "An umbrella
is a big, clumsy thing, that the wind jerks out of
your hand, or turns inside out; and it 's a nuisance
to carry it around; and people always borrow it
and never bring it back. An umbrella, sir, is a

109

The Freaks of Phreex

humbug! A relic of the Dark Ages! I've done
away with the use of umbrellas entirely, by means
of this invention this little tube, which can be
carried in one's pocket ! '

He held up a small instrument that looked like
a tin whistle.

" How curious ! ' said John.

"Isn't it? You see, within this tube is stored
a Power of Repulsion that overcomes the Attraction
of Gravitation, and sends the rain-drops flying
upward again. You stick the tube in your hat-
band and walk out boldly into the rain. Immedi-
ately all the rain-drops shoot up into the air, and
before they can fall again you have passed on! It's
always dry where the wearer of this tube goes, for
it protects him perfectly. And when it stops rain-
ing, you put it in your pocket again and it 's all
ready for another time. Is n't it great, sir? Is n't
it wonderful ? Is n't the inventor of this tube the
greatest man in the world ? '

" I 'd like to try it," said John, " for no one
needs protection from the rain more than I do.
Being made of gingerbread, it would ruin me to
get wet."

"True," agreed the other. "I'll lend you the
tube, with pleasure. Stick it in your hat-band."

110

The Freaks of Phreex

"I have no hat," said John; and then he re-
membered that he had left both the baker's hat
and his candy cane lying on the sands where he
had first fallen.

"Well, carry the tube in your hand, then," said
the inventor. "It will work just as well that way,
but it's not so convenient."

So John took the tube; and having thanked the
bald-headed man for his kindness, he left the room
and walked down the stairs and through the big,
empty hall, and so out into the courtyard.

The rain seemed to
have driven every one
in doors, for not a per-
son could he see.

Holding the tube up-
right, he boldly walked
into the rain; and it gave
him great pleasure to
notice that not a drop
fell near him. Indeed,
by looking upward, he
could see the falling
drops stop short and then
fly toward the clouds;
and he began to believe

The Freaks of Phreex

that the bald-headed inventor was really as great
a man as he claimed to be.

After descending the slippery path through the
rocks, he crossed the patch of green, and at last
reached the sandy shore, where he found the baker's
hat, soaked through by the rain. As he lifted it he
saw the crooked handle of the candy cane sticking
out of the sand, and drew it forth to find it in
excellent condition, little of the dampness having
reached it.

But now, as John Dough began to retrace his
steps, he discovered that his feet were soft and
swollen. For he had been walking on the damp
ground and through the wet grass; and although
no rain had fallen upon his body, his feet were
getting to be in a dangerous condition, and the
licorice in them had become sticky. After he had
recrossed the grass and come to the edge of the
rocks he began to be frightened, for bits of his left
heel now commenced to crumble and drop in the
path; and when he tried walking on his flabby
toes, they were so soggy and soft that he knew
they would not last very long.

While he paused, bewildered, another calamity
overtook him. For the tube suddenly lost its
power of repulsion and ceased to work, and the

112

The Freaks of Phreex

raindrops began to pelt his unprotected body and
sink into his flesh. He looked around with a
groan of dismay, and discovered a round hole, or
tunnel, in the rock near by. Staggering toward
this, he entered the tunnel and found that now no
rain could reach him. The floor was smooth and
dry, and in the far distance he saw a light twinkling.

Not daring to walk farther upon his mushy feet,
John got down on his hands and knees and began
crawling toward the farther end of the tunnel.
He made slow progress, in that position; but soon
he heard a noise of machinery, and felt the warm
air of a furnace coming to meet him. That gave
him courage to proceed, and he crawled onward
until he had reached a large, circular chamber,
where a tall man with whiskers that resembled
those of a billy-goat was busily working among a
number of machines.

"Hello!' this personage exclaimed, as he saw
the gingerbread man. "What have we here?"

The voice and eyes were alike kindly; so John
told the man his story and asked permission to dry
his feet at the glowing furnace.

" Make yourself at home," said the man, and
turned to his work again.

The place was lighted by electricity, and was

113

r e a

f P h r e e x

warm and comfortable. John put his feet as near
to the furnace as he dared, and soon felt the heat
drying up his soaked feet. It was not long, indeed,
before his entire body was as crisp and solid as ever;
and then our hero stood upon his feet and found
that th-e damage to his heel would not interfere
much with his walking.

"What are you doing?" he asked the man.

"Making diamonds," replied the other, calmly.
"I suppose I am the only one in the world who ever

114

The Freaks of Phreex

succeeded in making real diamonds; but people
did not believe in me, you see, so they sent me
to the Isle of Phreex. Here I have manufactured
the finest diamonds the world has ever known, for
no one interferes with my work. Look at these."

He threw back the lid of a large tin box, and
John saw that it was full to the brim with sparkling
gems of a clear white color.

" Take some," said the man, offering him a
handful. " They are of no use to me here, because
I cannot dispose of them. But I have the satis-
faction of making them, just the same. Help
yourself! '

"No, thank you," said John. "I have no use for
diamonds, any more than you have."

" But the time may come when riches will be
a great help to you," said the man, and picking
out three very big stones he began pressing them
into John Dough's gingerbread body, one after the
other.

" There ! ' he exclaimed. " They are now safely
concealed, and if you ever need them you can dig
them out and sell them. Those three stones would
be worth several thousand dollars if you ever get
into the world again, where diamonds are valued."

"You are very generous," said John.

115

The Freaks of Phreex

"Oh, not at all, I assure you!' said the man,
wagging his goatlike beard with every word he
spoke. " In this curious island there is no value
to anything whatever, not even to life. All I can
do with my diamonds here is to stick them into
the kinglet's crown and sceptre; so I'm getting
a big stock of them laid by. Very soon I shall
begin studding the roof of the throne-room with
diamonds, and it will be a pretty sight to see them
glittering in one mass."

"Well, said our hero, "if it has stopped raining,
I believe I '11 bid you good-by."

" Never mind the rain," answered the man.
" Here is a winding staircase that leads directly up-
ward into the castle. If you go that way, the rain
cannot reach you. The tunnel through which
you entered is only used for ventilation."

John thanked the good-natured diamond-maker
and started to climb the stairs. There were a good
many steps, but after a while he came to a gallery
of the castle, and had little difficulty in finding the
passage that led to his own room.

As he walked along he heard the sound of a
piano, and paused at an open door to peer within
the room, for he imagined some one was pounding
upon the keys of the piano with a sledge-hammer.

116

THE MUSICIAN THREW HIMSELF UPON THE PIANO

117

The Freaks of Phreex

But immediately a fluffy-haired man looked up
and saw him, and the next instant pounced upon
the gingerbread man in much the same way that
a cat would pounce upon a rat, and seized him
fast, drew him into the room, and closed and
locked the door.

John was astonished, but the fluffy-haired musi-
cian began pacing up and down the room, swinging
his arms and shouting:

" I have it I I have it at last ! I am great ! I
am magnificent ! I am better than Vogner him-
self!' He paused to glare upon John. "Why
don't you shout, you baked idiot? Why don't
you weep with joy?' he cried. "It is great, I
tell you! It is great!'

"What is great?" asked John.

" The symphonic ! The divine symphonic, you
heartless molasses-cake, or devil's food, or whatever
you are! And I composed it / Tietjamus
Toips ! I am greater than Vogner!'

" I did n't hear it," said the gingerbread man.

The jnusician threw himself upon the piano, and
produced a succession of such remarkable sounds
that John was surprised.

" Did you understand it ? " demanded the fluffy-
haired one, jumping up again.

118

The Freaks of Phreex

"No," said John.

"No! Of course not! No one can understand
it. It is genius! It will be played at all the great
concerts. The critics will write columns in praise
of it. Some folks can understand Vogner a little.
No one can understand me at all ! I am wonder-
ful ! I am superb ! '

"Well," said John, "I'm not a judge. It
seemed to me like awful discord."

The musician threw himself upon his knees and
burst into tears.

"Thank you, my friend! my dear friend!'
said he, between the sobs. "Such praise gladdens
my heart and makes me very happy ! Ah ! glorious
moment, in which I produce music that is not
understood and sounds like discord ! '

John left the musician still shedding tears of
happiness, and walked to his room.

"The people of this island are certainly peculiar,"
he reflected; "and I am very glad indeed that I
am an ordinary gingerbread man, and not a crank."

He found the bald-headed inventor of the power
of repulsion awaiting him in the room.

"Well, how did the tube please you? Is it
not wonderful?" he inquired.

"It's wonderful enough when it works," said

119

The Freaks of Phreex

John; "but it suddenly quit working, and nearly
ruined me."

"Ah, the power became exhausted," returned
the man, calmly, "But that is nothing. It can
be easily renewed."

"However," John remarked, "I think that
whenever any one uses your tube as a protection
from the rain, he should also carry an umbrella to
use in case of accident."

" An umbrella ! Bah ! " cried the inventor, and
left the room in a rage, slamming the door behind
him.

120

Presently Chick returned, looking bright and
happy as ever; but when the child heard the tale
of John's wanderings in the rain he received a
sound scolding for being so careless.

"You must n't pay any attention to the
inventors," said the Cherub. "This Isle is full of
'em, and most of their inventions won't work."

" I 've discovered that," said John.

"But they're good fun, if you don't take 'em
in earnest," continued the Baby; "and as it's going
to rain all the afternoon I '11 take you around the
castle to make some calls on some of the cranks
that are harmless.

John readily agreed to this proposal; so Chick
took his hand and led him through some of the
wide halls, stopping frequently to call upon the
different inventors and scientific discoverers who
inhabited the various rooms. They were all glad
to see the pretty child and welcomed John Dough
almost as cordially.

121

The Lady Executioner

One personage presented the gingerbread man
with a smokeless cigar that he had recently invented.
Another wanted him to listen to a noisless music-
box, and was delighted when John declared he
could hear nothing at all. A third wanted him
to try a dish of hot ice-cream made in a glowing
freezer, and was grieved because the gingerbread
man was constructed in such a way that it was
impossible for him to eat.

" Really," said John, " I don't see the use of
these things."

"Oh, they're not useful at all," replied Chick,
laughing; "but these folks are all trying to do
something queer, and most of them are doing it.
Now we '11 climb this tower, and I '11 show you
what I call a really fine invention."

So up they climbed to the top of one of the
turrets, winding round and round a narrow staircase
until they came upon a broad platform. And on
this platform rested a queer machine that somewhat
resembled a bird, for it had two great wings and
a big body that glittered as brightly as if it were
made of silver.

While they stood looking at this odd contriv-
ance a door in the body of the bird opened and a
young man stepped out and greeted them.

122

''THIS IS IMAR," SAID CHICK

123

The Lady Executioner

John thought him quite the most agreeable per-
son, in looks and manner, that he had yet met
in the Isle of Phreex; excepting, of course, his
friend Chick. The young man had a sad face, but
his eyes were pleasant and intelligent and his brow
thoughtful. In a few polite and well-chosen words
he welcomed his guests.

"This is Imar," said Chick, introducing John;
"and he has invented a real flying-machine."

" One that will fly ? " asked John, curiously.

" Of course," said the Baby. " I 've had many
a ride in it have n't I, Imar?"

" To be sure," replied the young man. I have
often taken Chick to ride as far as forty yards from
the tower. If it did not rain, just now, nothing
would give me more pleasure than to prove to you
that my invention will work perfectly."

" I see you have made it resemble a bird,"
remarked John, who was quite interested in the
machine.

"Yes," said the dreamy Imar, "and the reason I
have succeeded in my invention is because I have
kept close to Nature's own design. Every muscle
of a bird's wings is duplicated in this machine.
But instead of being animated by life, I have found
it necessary to employ electric batteries and motors.

124

The Lady Executioner

Perhaps the bird is n't exactly as good as a real
bird, but it will fly all right, as you shall see when
I take you for a ride in it."

He then allowed John to enter the tiny room in
the body of the bird, which was just big enough
to allow two to sit close together. And in front
of the seat were various push-buttons and a silver
lever, by means of which the flight of the machine
was controlled.

" It is very simple," said Imar, proudly. " Even
Chick could guide the machine, if properly in-
structed. The only fault of the invention is that
the wings are too light to be strong, and that is
why I do not take very long trips in it."

"I understand," answered John. "It's quite
a distance to the ground, if anything happened to
break."

"True," acknowledged Imar, sadly; "and I do
not wish to break my neck before I am able to
make a bigger and better machine."

"That is not to be wondered at," said John.
Then he thanked the inventor and followed Chick
down the winding stairs and through the halls until
they again reached their own room, where they sat
and talked until darkness came and drove the
Incubator Baby to its snowy couch. As for the

125

The Lady Executioner

gingerbread man, he never required sleep or rest;
so he sat quietly in a chair and thought of many
things until a new day dawned.

By morning the rain had ceased and the sun
arose in a blue sky and flooded the Isle with its
warm and brilliant rays. The Incubator Baby was
so happy this pleasant day that it fairly danced
away to get its regular breakfast of milk and
oatmeal.

But John Dough's little friend was back at his
side before long, and together they went hand in
hand through the halls of the castle to the throne-
room of the kinglet.

They found his Majesty already seated in the
throne, with the fat Nebbie asleep at one side of
him and the girl executioner carefully sharpening
her sword on the other side.

" This is my busy day," said the kinglet, nodding
graciously to Chick and the gingerbread man.
" There are too many useless people in my kingdom,
and I 'm going to kill off some of them. Sit down
and watch the flash of the executioner's sword."

Then-he turned to his guards and commanded:

" Bring in the General."

Immediately they ushered before the kinglet a
soldierly man clothed in a gorgeous uniform. His

126

The Lady E

xecutioner

head was erect and his countenance calm and set.
The eyes seemed dull and listless, and he walked
stiffly, as if his limbs were rheumatic.

"Sire, I salute you!' the General exclaimed, in
a hollow voice. "Why am I brought before you
as a prisoner I, the hero of a hundred battles?"

"You are accused of being foolish," said the
kinglet, with a broad grin upon his freckled face.

"Sire, at the battle of Waterloo "

" Never mind the battle of Waterloo/' inter-
rupted his Majesty. "I am told you are scattered
all over the world,
as the result of your
foolishness."

" To an extent,
Sire, I am scattered.
But it is the result
of bravery, not fool-
ishness." He un-
strapped his left arm
and tossed it on the
floor before the
throne. " I lost that
at Bull Run," he
said. Then he un-
hooked his right leg

127

The Lady Executioner

and cast it down. " That, Sire, was blown off at
Sedan." Then he suddenly lifted his right arm,
seized his hair firmly, and lifted the head from his
shoulders. "It is true I lost my head at Santiago,"
he said, "but I could not help it."

John was astonished. The old general seemed
to come to pieces very easily. He had tucked the
head under his right elbow, and now stood before
the kinglet on one foot, presenting a remarkably
strange appearance.

His Majesty seemed interested.

"What is your head made of?" he asked.

"Wax, your Majesty."

"And what are your legs made of?" continued
the kinglet.

"One is cork, Sire, and the other the one I
am now standing on is basswood."

"And your arms?"

" Rubber, my kinglet."

"You may go, General. There is no doubt
you were very unwise to get so broken up; but
there is nothing left for the Royal Executioner
to do."^

The girl sighed and felt the edge of her blade;
and the old general replaced his head, had his
leg and arm again strapped to his body by the

128

The Lady Executioner

guards, and hobbled away after making a low bow
before the throne.

Just then a great noise of quarrelling and fight-
ing was heard near the doorway, and while all eyes
were turned toward the sound, a wooden Indian

sprang into the hall, waving a wooden tomahawk
over his head, and uttering terrible war-whoops.

Following him came a number of the Brother-
hood of Failings, trying to capture the Indian.

129

The Lady Executioner

The Awkward tripped up and fell flat on his face;
the Unlucky got in the way of the tomahawk and
received a crack on the head that laid him low;
the Blunderer was kicked on the shin so violently
that he howled and limped away to a safe distance.
But just before the throne the Disagreeable, the
Bad-Tempered, and the Ugly managed to throw a
rope about the Indian's arms and bind them fast to
his body, so that he ceased to struggle.

"What's the trouble?" asked the kinglet.

"Sir," said the Indian, proudly; "once I had
the honor to be a beautiful sign in front of a cigar
store, and now these miserable Failings dare to
insult me."

" He claims his name is Wart-on-the-Nose,"
answered the Disagreeable, "and any one can see
there is no wart at all on his nose."

" So we decided to fight him," added the Ugly.

" And he dared to resist," said the Bad-Tempered.

"I am a great chief," the Indian declared, scowl-
ing fiercely. " I am made of oak, and my paint is
the best ready-mixed that can be purchased ! '

" But why do you claim your name is Wart-on-
the-Nose ? " asked the kinglet.

" I have a right to call myself what I please,"
answered the Indian, sulkily. "Are not white girls

130

The Lady Executioner

called Rose and Violet when they have not that
color? John Brown was white and Mary Green
was white. If the white people deceive us about
their names, I also have a right to deceive."

"Now, by my my my " The kinglet
jabbed the fat man with his sceptre.

" Halidom ! " yelled Nebbie, with a jump.

" By my halidom ! ' said the kinglet, " I will
allow no one in my kingdom to tell an untruth.
There being no wart on your nose, you must die
the death ! Executioner, do your duty ! '

The Failings tripped up the Indian so that he
fell upon his face, and then the girl advanced
solemnly with her sword.

Three times she swung the glittering blade
around her head, and then she glanced at the
kinglet and said:

"Well!"

"Well, what?" asked his Majesty.

" Is n't it time to change your mind ? "

" I 'm not going to change my mind in this
case," said the kinglet. " Chop off his head ! '

At this the girl screamed and drew back.

" Do you really mean it ? "

" Of course."

"Oh, your Majesty, I couldn't hurt the poor

131

The Lady Executioner

thing!' sobbed the Executioner. "It would be
simply awful ! Please change your mind, as you
always have done."

"I won't," said the kinglet, sternly. "You do
as I tell you, Maria Simpson, or I '11 have you
executed next ! '

The girl hesitated. Then she took the sword
in both her hands, shut her eyes, and struck down-
ward with all her might. The blade fell upon the
Indian's neck and shivered into several pieces.

"He's wood, your Majesty," said the Execu-
tioner. "I simply cant cut his head off."

" Get a meat cleaver ! " cried the kinglet. " Do
you suppose I '11 allow Wart-on-the-Nose to live

The Lady Executioner

when he has n't any wart on his nose ? Get the
cleaver instantly ! '

So the girl brought a big meat cleaver, and
lifting it high in the air, struck the Indian's neck
as hard as she could.

The cleaver stuck fast in the wood ; but it
did n't cut far enough to do much harm to the
victim. Indeed, Wart-on-the-Nose even laughed,
and then he said :

"There's a knot in that neck a good oak
knot. You could n't chop my head off in a
thousand years ! '

The kinglet was annoyed.

" Pull out that cleaver," he commanded.

The girl tried to obey, but the cleaver stuck
fast. Then the Failings tried, one after another;
but it would n't budge.

" Never mind, leave it there," said the Indian,
rolling over and then getting upon his feet. "It
won't bother me in the least. In fact, it will
make a curious ornament."

" Look here, Sir John Dough," said the kinglet,
turning to the gingerbread man; "what am I
going to do ? I Ve said the Indian must die,
because he has no wart on his nose. And I find
I can't kill him. Now, you must either tell me

133

The Lady Executioner

how to get out of this scrape or I'll cut your head
off! And it won't be as hard to cut gingerbread
as it is wood, I promise you."

This speech rather frightened John, for he knew
he was in great danger. But after thinking a
moment he replied:

"Why, it seems to me very easy to get out of
the difficulty, your Majesty. The Indian's only
offense is that he has no wart on his nose."

"But that is a great offense!" cried the kinglet.
"Well, let us whittle a wart on his nose," said
John, "and then all will be well."

The kinglet looked at him in astonishment.
"Can that be done?" he asked.
"Certainly, your Majesty. It is only necessary
to carve away some of the wood of his nose, and
leave a wart."

" I '11 do it!" shouted the kinglet, in great delight.

And he at once sent for
the Royal Carpenter and
had the man whittle the
Indian's nose until a
beautiful wart showed
plainly on the very end.
"Good!" said the
King.

134

The Lady Executioner

"Good!' echoed the Indian, proudly. "Now
none of those miserable Failings dare say my name
is not suitable ! '

" I 'm very sorry about that cleaver," remarked
the kinglet. "You'll have to carry it around
wherever you go."

" That 's all right. I '11 add to my name and
call myself Wart-on-the-Nose-and-Cleaver-in-the-
Neck. That will be a fine Indian name, and no
one can prove it is not correct."

Saying this, the wooden Indian bowed to the
kinglet, gave a furious war-whoop, and stalked stiffly
from the room.

"Bring on the next prisoner!' shouted the
kinglet, and both Chick and John gave a gasp of
surprise as Imar was brought into the room. The
inventor of the flying-machine, however, did not
seem the least bit frightened, and bowed calmly
before the throne.

"What's the charge against this man?" inquired
the kinglet.

"He's accused of being a successful inventor," said
one of the guards. The other inventors claim no one
who succeeds has a right to live in the Isle of Phreex."

"Quite correct," replied his Majesty. "Cut ofF
his head, Maria."

135

The Lady Executioner

"Alas, Sire! my sword is broken!' she ex-
claimed.

"Then get another/'

"But I have no other sword that is sharpened,"
she protested.

"Then sharpen one!' retorted the kinglet,
frowning.

"Certainly, your Majesty. But a sword cannot
be properly sharpened in a minute. It will take
until to-morrow, at least, to get it ready."

"Then," said the kinglet, "I'll postpone the
execution until to-morrow morning at nine o 'clock.
"If you're not ready by that time I'll get a new
Royal Executioner and you '11 lose your job."

"I shall be ready," said the girl, and walked
away arm in arm with the sad young man, on
whom she smiled sweetly.

"It's all right," whispered Chick to John.
"Imar won't get hurt, for the kinglet will forget
all about him by to-morrow."

"And now, my guards," said his Majesty, stretch-
ing his arms and yawning, "bring hither my two-
legged horse, that I may take a ride around my
kingdom."

So presently the guards led in a big, raw-boned
nag that had two legs instead of four, and these

136

"NOW, YOU SIT STILL AND BEHAVE YOURSELF"

137

The Lady Executioner

two set in the middle of its body. It seemed rather
frisky and pranced around in a nervous manner, so
that the kinglet had great difficulty in mounting
the horse's back, whereon was a saddle made of
purple velvet and cloth of gold.

"Hold still, can't you?" cried the kinglet.

"I can; but I won't," said the horse, in a cross
tone, for it appeared the animal was able to talk.

"I'll thrash you soundly, if you don't behave!'
screamed the kinglet.

"I '11 kick you in the ribs, if you dare to threaten
me ! ' returned the horse, laying back its ears.
"Why, you miserable little freckle-faced kinglet,
I could run away with you and break your neck,
if I wanted to ! "

"That's true," said his Majesty, meekly "I beg
your pardon for my harsh words. Let us be
friends, by all means ! '

The horse snorted, as if with contempt, and the
guards finally managed to hoist the little kinglet
to his seat upon the animal's back.

"Throw away that mace!" cried the horse.

His Mayesty obeyed, at once.

"Now," said the animal, "you sit still and behave
yourself, or I '11 dump you over my head. Under-
stand ? "

138

The Lady Executioner

" I understand," said the kinglet.

" Very good ! " declared the horse. " When you 're
on your throne you 're a tyrant; but when you're
on horseback you 're a coward, because you 're at
my mercy, and you know it. Now, we are off."

The beast pranced down the hall and out of the
arched entrance, bearing the kinglet upon his back;
and when they were gone John and Chick started
to take a walk along the beach of the seashore.

But no sooner had they stepped into the court-
yard than an awful yell saluted their ears, and be-
fore them stood the form of the terrible Arab !

"He must have broken
loose ! v cried Chick. " Let us
run, John Dough, before he can
eat you."

At once John turned to fly,
with Chick grasping his hand to
urge him on. Ali Dubh had
indeed succeeded in breaking
through the iron grating of his prison, and had
even managed to untie his hands. But his
legs were still firmly bound together from his
ankles to his knees, so that he could only move
toward them by hopping.

Nevertheless, at sight of the gingerbread man,
who was mixed with his precious Elixir, the Arab
began bounding toward his victim with long hops,
and had John and Chick not run so fast as they
did it is certain the Arab would soon have over-
taken them. Through the throne-room they fled,
with Ali Dubh just behind them, and then they

140

The Palace of Romance

began mounting the marble stairways to the upper
stories of the castle.

Their pursuer, nothing daunted by his bound
legs, hopped up the stairs after them with remark-
able swiftness.

"Hurry!' cried Chick; "hurry, John Dough,
or you '11 be eaten."

They came to the second flight of stairs, and
still the Arab followed.

"We are lost," said John, in despair. "He'll
surely get me this time."

But Chick tugged at his puffy brown hand and
hurried him on, for the Incubator Baby at that
very moment thought of a clever way to save the
gingerbread man. Still holding John's hand, the
child ran through the upper passages to the foot
of the tower of Imar, and began climbing up
the steep stairs as fast as possible. Luckily for the
fugitives, these stairs to the tower were very
difficult for Ali Dubh to climb by hopping.
When he was half-way up he lost his balance and
tumbled down again, and this accident gave John
and Chick time to enter the body of the bird
flying-machine, which still lay stretched upon the
roof of the tower.

" Quick ! " shouted the child, shutting and fast-

141

The Palace of Romance

ening the silver door behind them. " Pull over
that lever, and away we go ! '

" Is it safe ? " asked John, hesitating.

" Is it safe to be eaten ? " inquired Chick.

John quickly grabbed the lever, pulled it over,
and the hugh bird fluttered its wings once or
twice and rose slowly into the air. It sailed away
from the roof just as the Arab
appeared at the top of the stairs.

"Stop!' : screamed Ali Dubh.
"You're mine, John Dough.
Come back and be eaten."

"Don't mind
him," said the
Cherub, peep-
ing at the Arab
through a little
window
bottom
bird's

in
of

the
the

body.
"And don't
worry about this
flying-machine,
either. Imar
has told me how
to run it, and it

HURRY, JOHN DOUGH, OR YOU'LL BE EATEN!"

The Palace of Romance

will carry us somewhere, never fear. This button

that I pushed is to start it, and there's another

button somewhere to stop it."
"Where?" asked John.
"I don't remember. But never mind that; we

don't want to stop just yet, anyhow."

John stooped to look through the little win-
dow, and saw spread
out beneath him the
Isle of Phreex. The
Brotherhood of Fail-
ings stood upon the
shore watching the
flight of the machine,
and the kinglet was
riding along calmly
upon his two-legged
horse without any
idea that the Incu-
bator Baby and the
gingerbread man were

leaving his kingdom for good and all and he would

probably never see them again.

The great bird flew steadily westward, and Chick

laughed and chatted, and seemed to enjoy the

journey immensely. They were flying over the

144

The Palace of Romance

ocean now, and before long the Isle they had left
became a mere speck upon the water.

"Where are we going?'' John asked.

" I don't know," answered Chick.

"What land lies in this direction?"

" I have n't the faintest idea," said the Baby.

John became thoughtful.

"How long will this machine fly?" he inquired.

"Who knows?" said Chick. "Imar was always
afraid to go very far from the island with it. We '11
just have to wait and find out."

This was not very encouraging, but it was too
late to return now, the Isle of Phreex being lost
in the vastness of the great sea. Moreover, John
reflected that he would be in greater danger there
from Ali Dubh than in riding in an untried
flying-machine. The only thing to do was to
continue the flight through the air until they
sighted some other land provided the machine
did not suddenly break down. It seemed to
be all right just at present, and John's admiration
of Imar's genius in constructing it grew steadily
as the bird flopped on and on without a sign of
giving out.

Chick was n't frightened, that was certain. The
Baby laughed and sang little songs, and seemed as

145

The Pa ace of Romance

happy and contented as when upon firm land; so
John gradually forgot his fears. The sun had sank
low upon the horizon, and was looking for a good
place to dive into the sea, when the voyagers
discovered something far ahead of them that glit-
tered brightly upon the water. Neither could
determine what the glitter meant, until they drew
nearer and saw a small, rocky islet, upon which
was perched an enormous palace that seemed to
be made of pure gold, having many crystal win-
dows set in its domes and sides.

"It is certainly a
beautiful place," said
John. " Let us land
upon the islet."

"All right,' re-
turned Chick.
" I '11 see if I can
find out which
button stops the
thing."

The Baby pushed
one of the buttons,
and at once the bird
shot up higher into
the air.

146

The Palace of Romance

"That isn't it!" cried John, in sudden alarm.
Chick pushed another button, and the machine
began whirling around in short circles.

" Dear me ! " said John; "what 's going to happen

^
to us r

Chick laughed and pushed another button.

" One of 'em must be to stop," declared Chick,
cheerfully; "and there's only two more left."

The bird paused, with a quick trembling of its
wings, and slowly fluttered downward.

"Oh, now we're all right," gayly announced the
queer child, "for there's only one button left; and
when I push it, John Dough, you must pull back
the silver lever and steer straight for the golden
palace."

Down, down they sank, and fortunately the
descent was made to the flat roof of a wing of the
palace. When they had almost reached it, Chick,
who was watching the roof through the little win-
dow, pushed the last button, while John threw over
the lever.

Immediately the flying-machine fell with a
thump that made the gingerbread man's candy
teeth knock together.

"Wow!" said Chick. "That was a jolt and a
half! I hope nothing's broken."

147

The Palace of Romance

"I don't believe I will ever ride in it again,"
said John, smoothing the wrinkles out of his frosted
shirt-front and pulling the baker's hat off his eyes,
where it had become jammed. "These air-ships
are too dangerous to suit me."

"Why, the bird has saved your life, and it
may save it again," said Chick. " For my part, I
rather like flying through the air. You never
know what 's going to happen next. And see
how lucky we are ! This is the only part of
the palace roof that is flat, and we struck it
to a dot. If we 'd fallen upon one of those
spikes" pointing to the numerous spires and
minarets "our clocks would have stopped by
this time."

"You have a queer way of expressing yourself,
my friend," said John, looking upon the child
gravely. "The vast knowledge I gained by means
of the Elixir taught me nothing of your methods
of twisting language."

"That's too bad," answered Chick. "I can't
always figure out what you mean to say; but you
always know what I mean, don't you?'

"Almost always," John acknowledged.

"Then don't complain," said the Baby, sweetly;
and the gingerbread man looked at his feet with a

149

CHICK DISCOVERS A TRAP DOOR

149

The Palace of Romance

puzzled expression, and then back into the child's
smiling face, and sighed.

By this time they had climbed out of the bird's
body and stood upon the roof. It was so high
above the rocks that it made John dizzy to look
down; but Chick soon discovered a trap-door that
led downward into the palace by means of a tiny
staircase. They descended the stairs, and, having
pushed aside a heavy drapery that hung across a
doorway, came upon a broad passage running
through the upper story of the palace. This led
to still another passage, and still another; but
although they turned this way and that in the maze
of passages, no living person did they meet with.
The tiled floors and paneled walls were very beauti-
ful and splendid; but they were so much alike that
our adventurers completely lost their way before
they came by accident to a broad staircase leading
downward to the next story. These stairs were
covered with soft carpeting and the balusters were
of filigree gold. Still no one was to be seen either
on the stairs or in the passages, and the palace was
silent as could be.

They found another staircase, by and by, and
descended to the main floor of the palace, passing
through magnificent parlors and galleries, until

150

The Palace of Romance

finally a hum of pleasant voices reached their
ears.

"I feel much relieved," said John, "for I had
begun to think the place was uninhabited."

"Let us go on," replied Chick, "and see who
these people are."

Turning first to the right and then to left, and
now following a high-arched marble passage, the
adventurers suddenly found themselves before heavy
draperies of crimson velvet, from beyond which
came clearly the sounds of laughter and the merry
chattering of many people.

They pushed aside the draperies and entered a
splendid domed chamber of such exquisite beauty
that the sight made even Chick pause in astonish-
ment.

All around the sides and in the ceiling were set
handsome windows made of bits of colored glass,
so arranged that they formed very pleasing pictures.
Between the windows were panels of wrought gold
having many brilliant gems set in the metal. The
floor was covered with priceless rugs of quaint
patterns, and the furniture consisted of many settees
and easy-chairs designed to offbrd the highest degree
of comfort.

Fountains of perfumed waters sparkled here and

151

The Palace of Romance

there, falling into golden basins; and little tables
scattered about the room bore trays of dainty
refreshments.

Seated within the room were groups of ladies
and gentlemen, all clothed in gorgeous apparel, soft

of speech, graceful and courteous in demeanor, and
with kindly faces.

These looked up with joyous surprise as the
gingerbread man and Chick entered, and the gen-
tlemen all arose and bowed politely to the strangers.

"Welcome!' cried the ladies, in a soft chorus;
and then two of their number came forward and

152

The Palace of Romance

led their unexpected guests to seats in the very
center of the room. Others offered them refresh-
ment, of which Chick eagerly partook, for the child
was hungry. John Dough was obliged to explain
that he did not eat, and they accepted his speech
very graciously and did not remark at all upon his
unusual personality.

When the child had finished eating, John said:

" May I ask what palace this is, and who rules
upon this island ? '

The ladies and gentlemen exchanged significant
looks, and smiled; but one made answer, in a
deferential voice :

" Good sir, this is the Palace of Romance ; and
we have no ruler at all, each one of our number
having equal power and authority with the others."

"We pass our time," said another, "in telling of
tales of romance and adventure; and, whenever a
stranger comes to our palace, we require him to
amuse us by telling all the stones he may know."

" That is a fair requirement," replied John. " I
think I shall like this Palace of Romance, although
I do not know many tales."

" The more tales you know the longer you may
enjoy our palace," one of the ladies remarked,
earnestly.

153

The Palace of Romance

How is that ? " asked John, surprised.

They were silent for a time, and ceased laugh-
ing. But finally one of the gentlemen said:

Our laws oblige us to destroy every stranger,
after he has related to us all the stories he knows.

It grieves us very much to tell you this; but the
laws cannot be changed, and the death is very
simple and without much pain. For you will be
dropped through a trap into a long slide leading to

154

The Palace of Romance

the bottom of the sea; and it is said there is little
discomfort in drowning."

Now, at this John looked pale and worried,
and even the laughing Chick became thoughtful.
Several of the ladies wiped their eyes with deli-
cate handkerchiefs, as if in sorrow for their fate,
and the men all sighed sympathetically.

"Why can we not live, and join your pleasant
party?' 1 asked John. "Why are your laws so
severe regarding strangers ? "

"We number exactly one hundred fifty ladies
and fifty gentlemen," was the reply. "And, as the
island is small, a large number of people would
crowd the palace and rendered it uncomfortable.
We do not entice strangers here; but neither dare
we permit them to escape and tell the world of
our pleasant home; for then the ocean would be
white with the ships of curious people coming to
visit us. So, long ago, the laws were enacted
obliging us to destroy whatever strangers chanced
upon our retreat. But you are in no immediate
danger. As long as your stories last you will live;
and while you live you shall enjoy every pleasure
our palace affords."

John tried to think how many stories he knew
through the virtue of the magic Elixir; but the

155

The Palace of Romance

startling news he had just heard so confused his
mind that it drove all recollection of romance out
of his head.

" Never mind," whispered Chick. " All stories
except the true ones have to be made up ; so I '11

make up some. And don't you worry, John
Dough. I 've been in worse boxes than this, I can
tell you."

The gingerbread man did n't know exactly what
Chick meant, but the tone of confidence relieved

156

The Palace of Romance

his embarrassment and inspired him with hope. The
ladies and gentlemen set Chick and John in the
center of their group and drew their chairs around
them and prepared to listen attentively to the
child's story.

One might suppose the Incubator Baby's life-
time had been so brief that it knew no stories at
all ; but Chick was full of imagination and glad of
the chance to invent wonderful tales for others to
listen to. And the child had resolved to make
the stories so long and so interesting that a chance
of escape from death might finally be discovered.
The flying-machine still rested upon the roof, and
if they could manage to regain it there would be
no need of their being dumped through the trap-
door into the sea.

So Chick began to tell the company a story
about an astonishing Silver Pig that once lived in
Dagupan (wherever that may be), and was the king
of all the pigs of that vast country. His squeal
could be heard for seven miles, the child solemnly
declared, and the pig's feet were so swift and tire-
less that he could have run around the world in a
single day had there been no oceans to stop him.

The ladies and gentlemen were much interested
in the story, and listened very attentively while

157

T h

v e r

Chick related a host of wonderful adventures that
befell the Silver Pig. Daylight faded away and the
golden lamps were lighted, but still the Incubator
Baby kept the story going.

Finally one of the company interrupted the tale
to say that it was bedtime and they must all retire,
but that Chick should continue the story on the
following day.

That was exactly what the Cherub wanted, and
presently John and his comrade were escorted to
beautiful rooms, and the company of ladies and
gentlemen had bidden them a gracious and kindly
good-night.

158

" How long is that story of the Silver Pig? " asked
John, when they were alone in their room.

" As long as I want to make it," answered
Chick, brightly.

"But suppose they get tired of it?" John sug-
gested, timidly.

"Then they'll finish us and the story at the
same time," laughed the child. " But we won't
wait for that, John Dough. This palace isn't a
healthy place for strangers, so I guess the quicker
we get away from it the better. When everybody
is asleep we '11 go to the place where our machine
lies, up on the roof, and fly away."

"Very good," agreed John, with a sigh of relief.
" I had begun to think we would be killed by these
pleasant ladies and gentlemen."

They waited for an hour or two, to be sure all
others in the palace were asleep, and then they
crept softly from the room and began to search for
the staircase. The passages were so alike and so

159

The Silver Pig

confusing that this was no easy task ; but finally,
just as they were about to despair, they came upon
the stairs and mounted to the upper story of the
palace. And now they really became lost in the
maze of cross passages that led in every direction;
nor could they come to that particular doorway
that led to the stairs they had descended from the
little flat roof where the flying-machine lay. Often
they imagined they had found the right place ; but
the stairs would lead to some dome or turret that
was strange- to them, and they would be obliged to
retrace their steps.

Morning found the child and the gingerbread
man still wandering through the endless passages,
and at last they were obliged to abandon the quest
and return to their room.

All that following day the fair-haired, blue-eyed
Baby continued the strange tale of the Silver Pig,
while the ladies and gentlemen of the Palace of
Romance seemed to listen with real pleasure. For,
long ago, they had told each other all the stories
they could themselves remember or imagine; so
that it^was a rare treat to them to hear of the
wonderful adventures of Chick's Silver Pig, and
they agreed that the longer the story lasted the bet-
ter they would be pleased.

160

T h

v e r

" I hope you will not die for several days," one
lady said to the child, with a sweet smile.

That made Chick laugh.

" Don't you worry about me," was the reply.
" If stories will keep me alive I '11 die of old age ! '

When bedtime again arrived the tale of the
Silver Pig was still unfinished, and once more
Chick and the gingerbread man were courteously
escorted to their chambers.

They spent the second night in another vain
attempt to find the stairs leading to the flat roof,
and morning found them as ignorant as ever of
the location of their flying-machine.

In spite of the little one's courage, the task of
carrying the Silver Pig through so many adventures
was a very difficult feat, and the child was weary
for lack of sleep.
On that third
day John fully
expected that
Chick's inven-
tion would be-
come exhausted,
and they would
both be dropped
through the

161

The Silver Pig

trap-door into the sea. Chick thought of the
sea, too, but the thought gave the child one more
idea, and it promptly tumbled the Silver Pig over
the side of a ship and landed the adventurous
animal upon the bottom of the ocean, where
(Chick went on to say) it became acquainted with
pretty mermaids and huge green lobsters, and res-
cued an amarylis from a fierce and disagreeable
sea-dragon. This part of the tale soon became
really exciting, and when bedtime again arrived
the listeners were glad to believe they would hear
more of the famous Silver Pig during the follow-
ing day.

But Chick knew very well that the story had
now been stretched out to the very limit, and when
they were alone the child took the gingerbread
man's hand and said:

" Unless we can find those stairs to-night, John
Dough, our jig is up. For by to-morrow evening
I '11 be at the bottom of the deep blue sea, and
the fishes will be having a nice supper of soaked
Incubator Baby with gingerbread on the side."

" Please do not mention such a horrible thing,"
exclaimed John, with a shiver. " The stairs are
surely in existence, for once we came down them;
so let us make one more careful search for them."

162

The Silver Pig

This they did, walking for hours up and down
the passages, pulling aside every drapery they came
to, but never finding the slender staircase that led
to the flat roof.

Even when it grew daylight they did not aban-
don the quest; for they could see their way much
better than when feeling along dim passages by the
uncertain light of the moon ; and, as the danger
grew every moment, they redoubled their eager-
ness in the quest.

All at once they heard footsteps approaching;
and, as they were standing in the middle of a long
passage, they pressed back against the marble wall
to escape discovery. At once the wall gave way,
and John tumbled backward into another passage,
with the Cherub sprawling on top of him. For
they had backed against a drapery painted to re-
present a wall of the outer passage, and now found
themselves in a place they had not before explored.

Hastily regaining their feet, the fugitives ran
down the passage, and at the end came suddenly
upon another heavy drapery, which, when thrust
aside, was found to conceal the identical flight of
steps they had sought for so long and unsuccess-
fully. '.

Uttering cries of joy, Chick and John quickly

163

The Silver Pig

mounted the stairs and found themselves upon the
flat roof.

The flying bird lay as they had left it, and they
were about to crawl inside when the sound of
footsteps mounting the stairs was heard.

"Quick!' shouted the child. "Jump in, John
Dough ! "

"Is it safe?" asked John, who remembered how
they had bumped upon the roof.

"Well, it's either air or water for us, my friend,
and I prefer the air," laughed Chick, whose cheeks
were red with exitement.

John hesitated no longer and was soon inside
the bird's body. Chick scrambled after and at
once pressed the electric button, while John threw
over the silver lever.

The big wings began to flop just as a number of
men came upon the roof, uttering loud cries at the
evident attempt of their prisoners to escape. But
the strong pinions of the bird swept them flat, like
so many ten-pins, and before they could get upon
their feet again the flying-machine was high in the
air and well out of their reach.

THE ESCAPE

" This invention works better than I thought it
would, after getting that bump," John remarked,
as they flew onward over the vast expanse of
rolling waves.

"It's a bit wobbly, though," said Chick.
" Don't you notice it flops a little sideways ? '

" Yes," answered John, " and it seems to me the
bird does not move so swiftly as it did at first."

" Guess the 'lectricity 's giving out," returned
Chick, calmly. " If it does, what '11 happen ? '

"We'll be drowned, I suppose," said John. "I
don't understand electricity, for the wisdom I de-
rive from the magic Elexir dates far back beyond
the discovery of electric fluid."

"Your wisdom's bald-headed, I'm afraid,"
observed the child, smiling at the solemn counte-
nance of the gingerbread man. "But, say! Isn't

166

Pittypat and the Mifkets

that another island over there?" Chick continued,
after a look through one of the little windows.

" It appears to be an island," replied John, also
gazing through the window.

Even as he spoke the bird gave a lurch and
swooped downward toward the sea, tipping at such
an angle that Chick and the gingerbread man were
both tumbled off their seats. John's glass eyes had
a look of fear in them, but Chick laughed as
merrily as if there was no danger at all, and began
pushing the electric buttons with great vigor, one
after another.

The result was that the flying-machine paused,
righted itself, plunged higher into the air, circled
around a few times, and then sailed rapidly toward
the west. Chick scrambled back to the seat and
threw over the steering wheel in order to make the
machine head directly toward the island they had
seen.

" If we can keep her going till we get to that
island, I don't care what happens afterward," said
the child. "But if we're dumped in the sea I'm
afraid we can't swim far."

" I can't swim at all," John returned ; " for in
three strokes my gingerbread would become soaked
through and fall to pieces. And the water would

167

Pittypat and the Mifkets

dilute the Elixir that I am mixed with and destroy
all its magic powers. By the way, what's the thing
doing now ? '

"It's getting more wobbly. But never mind.
It's lots of fun, is n't it, John Dough ? "

"Not-exactly fun," said John, seriously; "but
I will admit this voyage is rather exciting."

Just then something snapped, and they heard a
rapid whir of machinery inside the bird, a squeak

168

Pittypat and the Mifkets

that sounded like a wail of despair, and then a dull
crash. The big machine trembled, ceased flopping
its wings, and remained poised in the air like an
immense kite.

" It 's all up," said Chick. " The thing's busted."

"What's goingto happen ? " asked John, anxiously.

"Wait and see," returned Chick, with a laugh.

"It's cruel to laugh when we are in such grave
danger! " said John, reproachfully.

" Shucks! " cried the child. "It might be my last
laugh, and I 'd be foolish to miss it."

The bird was still floating, for its broad wings
were rigidly spread out to their fullest extent; but
every moment the machine sailed nearer to the
sea, and although it was surely nearing the island,
neither John nor Chick could decide whether it
would finally succeed in reaching the shore or fall
into the water.

Even the careless Cherub paused with bated
breath to watch the final catastrophe, and John,
resigned to whatever fate might befall him, never-
theless passed the most anxious moments of his
brief lifetime.

The bird sailed down, rested upon the water
a few feet from the shore, and floated upon the
surface.

169

Pittypat and the Mifkets

Chick and John dared not open the door for
fear of letting in the ocean and so being drowned.
Neither could they now see where they were, for
the green water pressed close against the little
windows. So they sat silently within the machine
until there came a sudden jar and the bird
rolled over upon one side and lay still.

"We're saved!' cried the Cherub. For now
one of the windows was raised above the water and
enabled them to see that the bird had drifted to
the shore of the island and was fast upon the beach.

Chick unfastened the door and crawled out;
and then the child assisted John to leap from the
machine to the shore without even wetting his feet.
And it was indeed fortunate they acted so promptly,
as no sooner were they safely upon the island than
a big wave dashed up, caught the broken flying-
machine in its grasp, and rolled it out to sea again,
where it quickly sank to the bottom and dis-
appeared from their view forever.

"That's all right," said the child. "I wouldn't
care to ride in the thing again, anyhow. Would
you, John Dough ? '

" No," answered the gingerbread man. " But
what a shame it was to accuse Imar of being a
successful inventor! If the Kinglet of Phreex

170

CHICK ASSISTS JOHN TO LAND

171

Pittypat and the Mifkets

could have watched our flight he would know that
Imar has n't solved the flying-machine problem yet."

" Still, it carried us away from two bad places,"
said Chick, " and that 's all we wanted of it.
Come on, John Dough; let's go and explore our
island."

It did not take our adventurers long to discover
they were in a really remarkable place. Near the
shore was a strip of land that at first sight seemed
thickly covered with grass; but when Chick
examined it closely it was found to be a mass of
tiny trees set close together, and each tree was full
of small and tender green leaves. And, as the
trees were only an inch or two high, they really
looked like grass from a distance and proved to be
soft and pleasant to walk upon.

But behind this green sward towered a forest so
strange and magnificent that both Chick and John
Dough held their breaths in amazed awe as they
gazed upon it. For they beheld a confused group
of the most gorgeous plants imaginable, most of
them having broad leaves as big as the sails of a
ship and of exceedingly vivid colorings. There were
violet and carmine leaves side by side with brilliant
yellows and pinks, blues and ambers, and among
them great bunches of pure white leaves that

172

Pittypat and the Mifkets

in fairness rivaled those of a lily. Some of the huge
forest plants were low and broad no taller than
an ordinary house but many of them shot up
into the sky like spires and church steeples. And
another strange thing was the fact that they were all
filled with clusters of flowers of many beautiful
shapes and designs. And the flowers were of
various tints of greens running from a delicate
pea-green through all the different shades to bright
emerald, and then to deep bottle-greens. Yet the
flowers were the only green colors in all the vast
forest of brilliant plants which glowed so magnifi-
cently under the rays of the sun that the eyes of
our friends were fairly dazzled as they gazed.

"My!' gasped Chick. "Isn't it splendiferous,
John Dough ? "

" It is, indeed very gorgeous and beautiful,"
answered the gingerbread man. But has it oc-
curred to you, little friend, that there may be noth-
ing for you to eat in all this wilderness of color."

" Eat ? " exclaimed Chick. Why, John Dough,
I 'm hungry this very minute! I haven't had a bite
to eat since I left the Palace of Romance, and
now you mention it, I'm half starved. But per-
haps there isn't a smitch of oatmeal or cream on
all this island ! "

173

Pittypat and the Mifkets

"Couldn't you eat anything else? " asked John.

" Oh, I could, I suppose. But other food
might make me ill, you know. Incubator Babies
have to be very careful of their diet."

"But if you don't eat you will die," said John;
"so it will be best for you to dine upon whatever
you may find."

" There may be fruits in the forest," said Chick,
thoughtfully; "but it's such a queer forest that
quite likely the fruits are poisonous."

" Still, you 'd better try them," persisted the
gingerbread man. " If you don't you'll die; and
if you are poisoned you '11 die. But there is a
chance of your finding healthful fruits instead of
poisonous ones. I regret that in all my store of
wisdom, derived from the Arabian Elixir, there is
no knowledge of such a forest or the fruits these
gay plants may bear."

"Well, you wait here till I come back," said
Chick, more cheerfully. " I '11 explore and see
what I can find. There 's no need to worry until
the time^ comes, anyhow."

With that the little one waved a chubby hand
toward John Dough, and then ran into the forest
and disappeared beneath th great purple and orange
colored leaves.

174

Pittypat and the Mifkets

And now it occurred to the gingerbread man to
make an examination of himself and see what an
extent of damage he had suffered since he had come,
hot and fresh, from Monsieur Jules' bakery.

His lovely shirt-front was cracked in several places
and speckled with tiny black spots where the pow-
der of the rocket had burned it. His left shoulder
was also black-
ened with burned
powder, and he
had lost one of
the lozenge but-
tons from his red
vest. Also, one of
his heels was
slightly crumbled,
and there were
three marks in his
body where the
diamonds had
been pressed into
him, beside the
lance-thrust of
the Blunderer.

These damages
were not at all

175

Pittypat and the Mifkets

serious, however, and he was beginning to con-
gratulate himself upon his escape, when he dis-
covered a curious sensation in his nose. Raising
his hand, he found that the extreme end of his
nose had been chipped off in some way during
his escape from the Palace of Romance, and this
rather marred his personal appearance. The
discovery made him sigh regretfully; and when he
looked around, in the newly arrived sunlight, it
seemed that his vision had become in some way
twisted and unnatural. He could not understand
this at first, and rose to his feet rather dazed and
unhappy. Then an idea occurred to him, and he
felt of his glass eyes and found that one the left
eye had become loose in its socket and turned
inward, making him cross-eyed. He remedied this
by turning it with his fingers until it looked
straight ahead again, and matched the other eye;
but often thereafter that left eye would get
twisted and bother him until he turned it straight
again.

While he awaited Chick's return, John strolled
to the edge of the forest and sat down upon a big
yellow mushroom that was strong enough to bear
his weight. It seemed to be a peaceful island, and
the gingerbread man was well pleased with his

176

Pittypat and the Mifkets

surroundings, having at that time no idea of all
the desperate adventures that were to befall him
before he saw the last of those brilliant shores.

From his feet the beach sloped gently to meet
the waves of the blue ocean, and on the sands
were many shells of curious shapes and colors.
The breath of the wind was full of the fragrance
of the flowers, and in the forest plants many
birds sang sweet songs.

As he watched the waves, the birds, and the
flowers, John heard a slight rustling sound, and
turning his glass eyes downward saw at his feet a
small animal which sat upon its haunches and
regarded him with big and earnest eyes.

" Who are you ? ' asked the gingerbread man ;
" and what is your name ? '

"My name is Pittypat, and I'm a rabbit,"
answered the animal. " But tell me, please, who
you are, and what may be your name; for I have
never seen your like before."

" I am a gingerbread man, and my name is John
Dough," he replied, readily. And then, more
anxiously, he asked : " Do you eat gingerbread,
friend Pittypat ? '

" No, indeed," was the reply. " I prefer clover
and sweet roots. But please answer another

177

Pittypat and the Mifkets

question. How is that you understand my lan-
guage, and can talk to me ? '

I cannot tell you that, I 'm sure," said John,
"unless it's the effect of the Elixir. That seems
to be responsible for almost everything, you know."

178

Pittypat and the Mifkets

The rabbit did not know, of course, and looked
at its new acquaintance in a puzzled sort of way.

" Are there any more like you on this island ? '
inquired John Dough

" Oh, yes ; there are lots of us! ' exclaimed the
rabbit. " But not so many of us as there are
Mifkets."

" And what is a Mifket ? " asked John.

" A sort of creature that is neither an animal
nor a man," answered Pittypat. "And the Mif-
kets rule this island because they are bigger and
fiercer than we rabbits are. Also I know many
squirrels and birds and mice, and the Fairy King
of the beavers for I am well acquainted here.
But I do not like the Mifkets, and scamper away
when they come near. There is a bouncing brown
bear, also, who lives on a hill yonder, and once he
claimed to be king of all the animals. But the
Mifkets found out that our bear is not nearly so
dreadful as he seems; so they refused to obey him,
and now have a king of their own. For my part,
however, I like the brown bear best of all our in-
habitants, for he has a jolly nature and never hurts
any one."

" But are there no men no people like me
upon this island?" asked John.

179

Pittypat and the Mifkets

" No one like you, most surely," answered Pitty-
pat, staring at the gingerbread man with its big
eyes. " But as for human creatures, there are
three who dwell with the Mifkets, near the other
side of the forest."

"Dear me!' sighed John; "I'm sorry to hear
that. Who are the humans?'

"Well, one is the Princess, and the Princess is
very beautiful and lovely," answered Pittypat. " She
isn't much bigger than the child I saw here with
you a few minutes ago; but our little Princess is
beloved by every creature on the island except,
perhaps, the Mifkets, who love only themselves."

" Does the Princess live in a palace ? " asked John.

"Oh, yes; a beautiful palace made by bending
downward the big leaves of the roi-tree and fastening
the ends to the ground. One of the leaves is left
loose, for a doorway, and in the room thus formed
the Princess lives in great state and loneliness, and
sleeps upon a bed of fragrant mosses."

"Does she like gingerbread?' inquired John,
after a thoughtful pause.

" I dorTt believe she knows what gingerbread is,"
the rabbit replied. But you may be sure the
Princess will not harm you, however fond she
might be of gingerbread."

180

THE HOME OF THE PRINCESS

181

Pittypat and the Mifkets

" I 'm glad to hear that," said John. " But your
Princess is the only one of the three human
creatures you mentioned. Who are the others ? '

"Her father and mother," said the rabbit.
" The three landed here in a small boat some years
ago. They were shipwrecked, I suppose, and the
boat is still lying upon the north shore. But the
terrible Mifkets captured the father and mother
of the Princess and- made them slaves, to wait
upon them and obey their wishes ; and as the
little girl was delicate and not very strong, they
let her live by herself in the palace of the roi-
tree, and mocked her by calling her a Princess.
If she grows up to be strong I think they will
make her a slave, too ; but she is so frail and
weak that none of us rabbits believe she will live
very long."

" This is all very interesting," said John. " I 'd
really like to meet these humans."

" Then come with me and I will guide your
steps to where they are," promised the rabbit.

"I must wait until Chick comes back," said the
gingerbread man, looking toward the plant forest.

" Is Chick the child I saw going into the
forest?" asked the rabbit.

"Yes," replied John. "It's an Incubator Baby

182

Pittypat and the Mifkets

and very jolly and kind. Chick ought to be back
in a few minutes."

"I 'm rather nervous when children are around,"
declared the rabbit, hesitating. "Are you sure
Chick is kind?"

"Very," said John, with conviction; "so don't
you worry, friend Rabbit."

At that moment the Cherub came running up
with both hands full of fruits, which were indeed
odd in shape, but delicious in odor and enticing
in appearance.

"I won't starve, John Dough!' was the merry
greeting. " The forest is full of fruit plants, and
I 've eaten some already, and have n't been
poisoned. But where did you find this pretty
rabbit? And how tame it seems to be! '

"It's a friend of mine named Pittypat, and I've
discovered I can speak its language," replied John.
"Also there's a Princess living near by, and Pitty-
pat has promised to guide us to her royal
palace."

" All right ! ' exclaimed Chick, busily eating of
the fruit. " Let's go now."

John turned to the little animal beside him and
said, in the rabbit language : " We are ready to
start, my friend."

183

Pittypat and the Mifkets

"You'll have to meet the Mifkets, you know,"
said Pittypat, rather fearfully.

"Never mind; we're not afraid," answered
John, boldly ; and Chick, who as yet had heard
nothing of the Mifkets, continued to munch the
fruit with perfect composure.

So the rabbit whisked around, lifted its big ears
a moment, sniffed the air, and then sprang away
with long and graceful leaps along a tiny path
that led through the magnificent forest.

184

John settled the baker's hat (which was showing
distinct signs of having been frequently crumpled)
upon his gingerbread head, picked up the remains
of his candy cane, and followed the guidance of
the white rabbit. Chick came after, tripping
lightly along the path. Before they had gone
very far beneath the bright-hued, mammoth foliage
Pittypat gave a sudden whisk and disappeared from
sight, having popped into a hole. John Dough,
of course, stopped and gazed around with his glass
eyes to see what had become of his new friend, and
at the same moment a queer creature dropped
from an overhead leaf and stood in the path of
the gingerbread man. Another followed, and still
another, and the three strange beings looked at
John curiously, as if as much surprised at the
meeting as he could be. Chick pressed close to
the side of the gingerbread man and stared with
big eyes at the new arrivals.

Perhaps nowhere else in all the world could be

185

The Island P

r i n c e s s

found such unusual creatures as these Mifkets.
Their heads had the appearance of cocoanuts, and
were covered with coarse hair clipped close, and
turning upward until it ended in a sharp peak at
the very top. Their faces were like putty, with
small, beady eyes that glittered brightly, flat noses,
and wide, grinning mouths. The Mifkets bodies

were shaped like pears, and their legs were short
and their arms long. For clothing they wore gay
leaves of the forest plants, twisted and woven
together- in quite a clever way: and taken all

O 1 J '

together, they were as unlike any creatures that
inhabit our part of the world as can well be
imagined.

186

The Island P

r i n c e s s

"Ah, these must be the beings called Mifkets,"
remarked John Dough, speaking aloud in a
language he had never used before, but that
seemed well fitted to such creatures.

"That's easy enough to guess," retorted one of
the group, coming nearer to the gingerbread man
and impudently thrusting forward its putty-like
face, which it wrinkled and distorted in a disturbing
manner. "It's easy enough to tell we're Mifkets;
but what in the name of Jucklethub are you ?
And what strange child of the human's is this with

you

"I'm a gingerbread man," answered John, with
dignity; "and this is my friend Chick."

"We know
what a man is;
and we know
what a child
is; but what's
gingerbread ? ''
demanded an-
other of the
Mifkets.

"I'm gin-
gerbread," said
John.

187

The Island Princess

"We'll take your word for it," growled the
third creature. And then it added: "What are
you doing here ? '

"Standing still, just now," said John, gravely.

To his surprise all three began laughing at this
reply, and they seemed so greatly amused that one
hit another a merry cuff upon the ear, which he in
turn passed on to the third. But the third the
growling one turned suddenly upon John Dough
and gave him such a sounding cuff upon the side
of his head that the blow dazed him for a moment.
At this Chick doubled two fat fists and ran at the
queer Mifkets so fiercely that they were greatly
astonished at the angry buffets they received, and
fell back a few steps from the path. Immediately
John Dough recovered his wits and aimed a strong
blow with the candy cane at the wild people of
the forest. Much to his astonishment it sent all
three of them tumbling to the ground one over-
turning the others. For so great was the energy
and strength lent to his gingerbread arm by the
magic Elixir that the Mifkets could not stand
before i^

Chick laughed merrily at the howls of their
enemies, who quickly scrambled to their feet and
leaped into the leaves of the giant plants, where

188

The Island Princess

they were hidden from sight. But the sound of
their rapid retreat could be heard until it died away
in the distance.

Then the rabbit stuck its nose from the hole in
which it had hidden and said :

" Bravely done, little one. Bravely done, John
Dough. Yet I warn you to beware these wicked
Mifkets, who will now consider you both their
enemies."

"I don't care," said Chick; "and I'm not
afraid," added John, who was quite pleased to find
himself so powerful.

"Well, let us continue our journey," suggested
Pittypat ; " for I want you to meet our sweet
Princess. But I advise you, whenever you meet
with more of those Mifkets, to try to be friendly
with them. There are hundreds of them, you
know, and only two of you."

" That sounds like good advice," acknowledged
John.

Again they started along the path, and presently
it led them out of the forest to another part of the
shore of the island, where a rocky headland curved
into the sea in the shape of a new moon, forming
a pretty bay, on which floated a small boat at
anchor. On the inner edge of this headland and

189

The Island P

r i n c e s s

facing the bay stood a tall plant, whose broad
colored leaves were bent downward to form a dome-
shaped room, one leaf being turned up to make an
opening that served as a door.

"You must whistle at the door, and the Princess

will appear," said Pittypat. "I cannot talk with
her as I do with you, Mr. Dough; so I'll leave
you now, and run home to tell my folks of the
new friends I have found." With these parting

190

The Island P

r i n c e s s

words away darted the rabbit, and John and Chick
shyly approached the novel palace of the Princess.

"Can you whistle. Chick ? " asked the gingerbread
man; and the Baby, in reply, made so shrill a
sound through the puckered pink lips that John
gave a start of surprise.

Almost immediately a girl appeared in the door-
way of the plant-palace, and both John and Chick
bowed low and then stood motionless to stare at
the beautiful face that confronted them. For this
mock Princess of the Mifkets was quite the loveliest
and sweetest maiden that any one has ever looked
upon; and so round and innocent were her clear
eyes and so gentle
and winning her
smile, that to see
her but once was
to love her dearly.
John did not marvel
that the wild crea-
tures of the forest
had set this girl
apart as too hal-
lowed to become
either their slave or
companion; and he

191

The Island Princess

instantly accepted this shipwrecked waif as a real
Princess, and from that moment worshipped loyally
at her shrine.

Chick, standing solidly with brown feet spread
wide apart, chubby fists clutching the last of the
forest fruits, and tangled locks flowing carelessly
around the laughing face, was a strong contrast to
the little lady who advanced from the door with
dainty steps to welcome the strangers. The Prin-
cess wore a gown of woven leaves plucked from
the island plants, but so slight and graceful was her
form that any sort of dress would be sure to seem
fit and becoming if the maid wore it.

" Hello ! " said Chick. "We 've come to see you."

" I 'm glad of that," answered the girl, in a soft
voice, as she came close and kissed the Cherub's
rosy mouth. "It has been dreadfully lonesome in
this place without any one to play with or to keep
me company. But may I inquire who you are ? '

"This is John Dough," answered the Cherub,
briefly; "and I 'm Chick."

"I'm pleased to make your acquaintance," said
the girl. ^ " They call me the Princess; but that is
in mockery, I am sure."

"But are you not treated as a Princess?" asked
John.

192

The Island P

r i n c e s 5

"Yes; and that is why I am so lonely," the girl
replied, sadly. "The naughty Mifkets have made
my poor father and mother their slaves, and mock
me by shutting me in this tree-house and calling it
a palace and me a Princess. But really I am as
much a slave as either of my dear parents."

" Can't you go out if you want to ? " asked
Chick.

"Oh, yes; but the island is small, and there is
no one to play with except Pittypat, who is a
white rabbit, and Para Bruin, who is a bouncing
brown bear."

"What strange companions ! " said John. "I 've
met Pittypat, and like the white rabbit very much;
but a bouncing brown bear must be a dreadful
creature."

" Not at all, I assure you," returned the girl,
earnestly. "Just wait until you meet him, and
you'll see that he couldn't hurt any one if he
would, and would n't if he could."

"That's all right," said Chick.

" But do the Mifkets illtreat you in any way ? "
asked John.

" Oh, no ; until now they have done me no
real injury whatever," the Princess answered, "but
their tempers are so hateful that I am in constant

193

The Island P r

i n c e s s

fear of them. You must meet the Mifkets, of
course, since you cannot leave this island; and
you must obey them as we all do. But perhaps
Mr. Dough, being made of gingerbread, will be
treated with more respect than human beings are."

" Or with less/' said John, with a shudder.
" Nevertheless, we will meet the Mifkets boldly,
and I am not going to make myself unhappy by
being afraid of them."

"Nor I," said Chick. "They're only beasts."

" Then, if you will please follow me, I will lead
you to the king's village," said the girl ; " and
there you may see my father and mother."

" Very well," agreed John. " But I must tell
you that we have already encountered three of
these creatures, and defeated them easily."

" I pounded 'em like sixty," added the Cherub,
with a nod and a laugh.

The Princess led them by a path deep into the
forest, passing underneath the broad leaves of the
plants, which were so thick that they almost shut
out the daylight and made the way gloomy and
fearsome. But before long a big clearing was
reached, in the center of which was a rocky mound
with a broad, flat stone at the very top. All
around were houses made by bending down the

194

THE KING OF THE MIFKETS

195

The Island P

r i n c e s s

huge leaves of the plants and fastening them to the
ground with wooden pegs, thus forming circular
rooms. None of these houses seemed quite so
handsome as the palace of the Princess; but they
were big and of many colors, and when our
friends stepped into the clearing a swarm of the
Mifket people crowded out of the doorways to
surround the strangers and gaze upon them
curiously.

Upon the flat stone in the center of the clear-
ing reclined an aged Mifket, who was lazily sunning
himself, and who seemed to pay no attention to the
chattering of his fellows. Yet it was toward this
stone that the Princess, after a half-frightened look
at its occupant, led her new friends; and all the
Mifkets, big and little, followed them and formed a
circle around them and the aged one.

"This is the King," whispered the girl. "Be
careful not to anger him."

Then she knelt humbly before the flat stone that
served as a throne, and John Dough knelt beside
her. But Chick stood upright and laughed at the
sight of the lazy Mifket King reclining before them.

The short, coarse hair that covered the head of
the King was white, proving him to be very old ;
and his raiment was woven of pure white leaves,

196

The Island Princess

distinguishing him from all the others of his band.
But he was not especially dignified in appearance.

Hearing the murmur around him the King
slowly rolled his fat body over and sat up, rubbing
his eyes to clear them of the cobwebs of sleep.
Then he looked upon John and Chick and gave a
grunt. Immediately a little man rushed out of a
dwelling just back of the
throne and hurried to the
King with a gourd filled
with water. This the aged
Mifket drank greedily, and
while he was thus occu-
pied the Princess grasped
the hand of the little man
and pressed it affec-
tionately.

" This is my father,"
she whispered to John
Dough and Chick.

The little man seemed fussy and nervous, but
perhaps this was caused by the fear in which he
constantly lived. There was little hair upon his
head, but he wore chin whiskers that were bright
red in color and luxuriant in growth, and har-
monized nicely with Jiis light blue eyes. He wore

197

The Island P

r i n c e s s

a faded and ragged suit of blue clothes, to which
he had doubtless clung ever since the days when
he had been shipwrecked and cast upon this island.

John Dough was about to express in polite
words his pleasure in meeting the father of the
Princess, when the King, having finished drinking,
suddenly flung the gourd at the little man's head.
He ducked to escape it and the gourd struck the
forehead of a big Mifket just behind and made a
sound like the crack of a whip. At once the big
Mifket who was remarkable for having black hair
upon his head instead of the dingy brown that
was common to all the Mifkets uttered a roar of
rage and aimed a blow at the bald head of the
luckless slave. But the little man ducked this
blow also, and then scampered away to the
royal dwelling as fast as his thin legs could carry
him.

"Let him go," said the King, speaking sleepily in
the Mifket language. Then he turned to the black
one and asked : " Who are these creatures, Ooboo ?
and how came they here ? '

" I don't know," answered Black Ooboo, sulkily;
" the girl brought them."

" Perhaps I can explain," said John Dough,
speaking in their language. ",My friend Chick and

198

THE MIFKETS HOWLED WITH DELIGHT

109

The Island Princess

I arrived here but a short time ago in a flying-
machine, which unfortunately broke down and pre-
vented us from getting away again."

The Mifkets looked at the gingerbread man
in astonishment. Not because they had any idea
what a flying-machine might be, but to hear their
own language spoken by so queer a personage,
filled them with amazement.

" Are you one of those miserable creatures called
humans ? ' asked the King, blinking his eyes at the
gingerbread man.

" I cannot, in truth, claim to be precisely human,"
replied John, " but it is certain that I possess a
degree of human wisdom. It comes from the
Elixir, you know."

"What are you made of ? " demanded the King,
who was certainly puzzled by John's words.

Now, the gingerbread man realized that if he
told the Mifkets he was good to eat he would soon
be destroyed; so he answered:

" I am made of a kind of material known only
to civilized men. In fact, I am very different from
all the rest of the world."

The King did n't understand, and when he
didn't understand it made him very tired.

" Oh, well," said he, lying back in the sun, "just

200

The Island Princess

make yourself at home here, and see that you
don't bother me by getting in my way."

That might have ended the interview had not
Black Ooboo, scowling and angry, stepped forward
and said :

" If the stranger is to live with us he must fight
for the right to live in peace. It is our custom,
your Majesty."

" So it is," returned the King, waking up again.
" The stranger must fight."

At this decision all the Mifkets howled with de-
light, and Chick and the Princess began to be
uneasy about their friend. But John said, calmly :

" I have never fought with any one, your Ma-
jesty; but I'll do the best I can. With whom
must I fight ? '

"Why, with Black Ooboo, I suppose," said the
King; "and if you can manage to give him a
sound thrashing I '11 be your friend for life."

Ooboo scowled first at the King and then at
John, and all the other Mifkets scowled with him,
for the black one was seemingly a great favorite
among them.

" Whatever material you may be made of, bold
stranger," he said, " I promise to crush you into
bits and trample you into the dust."

201

The Island Princess

Then the crowd having pressed backward, the
black Mifket sprang upon the gingerbread man,
with long, hairy arms outstretched as if to clutch
him. But John was quicker than his foe. He
grasped Ooboo about the waist, lifted him high in

f ./'/ ' ' n in' / - -^ ", j&*

The Island P

r i n c e s s

the air big and heavy though he was and flung
him far over the throne whereon the King squatted.
The black one crashed into the leaves of a forest
plant and then tumbled to the ground, where he
lay still for a moment to recover from his surprise
and the shock of defeat.

The rabble of Mifkets did n't applaud the fall
of their champion, but they looked upon the gin-
gerbread man with wonder. And the King was so
pleased that he laughed aloud.

"Well done, stranger," said he. "Ooboo needed
to be taken down a peg, and you did it very
neatly. Now get away, all of you, and leave me
to sleep." He proceeded to curl himself up once
more upon the flat stone, and the Mifkets obeyed
his command and stole away to their dwellings.
John advanced to where Chick and the Princess
stood, and the Cherub patted him on the hand
and said:

"I'd no idea you could do it, John. Wasn't
it lovely, Princess, to see him toss that black beast
like a football ? '

"I 'm glad your friend won the fight," answered
the girl; "but Black Ooboo is a dangerous enemy,
and even the King is afraid of him. Now come
with me, please. I want you to meet my dear

203

The Island P

r i n c e s s

mother, who is unfortunately degraded to the posi-
tion of the King's cook '

They entered with the Princess into the royal
dwelling, where a woman quickly seized the girl
in a warm embrace and kissed her tenderly. When
Chick managed to get a. full view of the woman
she was seen to be nearly as round as an apple in
form, with an apple's rosy cheeks, and with cute
corkscrew curls of an iron-gray color running from
her ears down to her neck. When her daughter
entered she had been busily engaged cooking a
vegetable stew for the King's dinner, nor dared she
pause long in her work for fear of the King's anger.
Chick was dreadfully sorry for these poor ship-
wrecked people, thus compelled to be slaves to the
fierce Mifkets, and hoped they might find some way

to escape. The
little man with the
red whiskers pres-
ently crept in and
joined them, and
they had a long talk
together and tried
to think of a plan
to leave the island,
but without success.

204

The Island P

r i n c e s s

Yet John encouraged them to believe a way would
soon be found, and they all had great confidence
in his ability to save the entire party; for he had
proved himself both wise and powerful.

While they were still talking the King rolled his
fat body into the dwelling and demanded his din-
ner, at the same time ordering the Princess to get
back to her own palace and to stay there. But he
favored John Dough by sending several of the Mif-
kets to build a dwelling for the gingerbread man
and the Incubator Baby just beside that of the
little Princess, which pleased them all very much.

205

Next morning the little Princess came to the
door of the new dwelling built for Chick and
John Dough, and said to them:

"Let us take a walk, and I will show you how
beautiful our island is in those parts where there
are no Mifkets to worry us."

So together the three walked along the shore
until they drew near to a high point of rock, the
summit of which was reached by a winding path.
When they had climbed up the steep the Princess
had to stop to rest, for she was not strong and
seemed to tire easily. And now, while they sat
upon some rocks, a big brown bear came out of a
cave and stood before them.

"Don't be afraid," whispered the Princess. "He
won't hurt us. It's Para Bruin."

The ^bear was fat and of monstrous size, and
its color was a rich brown. It had no hair at all
upon its body, as most bears have, but was smooth
and shiny. He gave a yawn as he looked at the

206

Para Bruin, the Rubber Bear

new-comers, and John shuddered at the rows of
long, white teeth that showed so plainly. Also he
noticed the fierce claws upon the bear's toes, and
decided that in spite of the rabbit's and the
Princess' assurances he was in dangerous company.
Indeed, although Chick laughed at the bear, the
ginger bread
man grew quite
nervous as the
big beast ad-
vanced and
sniffed at him
curiously al-
most as if it
realized John
was made of
gi n ge rbread
and that gin-
gerbread is
good to eat.
Then it held out a fat paw, as if desiring to shake
hands; and, not wishing to appear rude, John placed
his own hand in the bear's paw, which seemed even
more soft and flabby than his own. The next mo-
ment the animal threw its great arms around the
gingerbread man and hugged him close to its body.

207

Para Bruin, the Rubber Bear

John gave a cry of fear, although it was
hard to tell which was more soft and yielding
the bear's fat body or the form of the gingerbread
man.

" Stop that ! ' he shouted, speaking in the bear
language. " Let me go, instantly ! What do you
mean by such actions ? '

The bear, hearing this speech, at once released
John, who began to feel of himself to see if he
had been damaged by the hug.

"Why didn't you say you were a friend, and
could speak my language?" asked the bear, in a
tone of reproach.

"You knew well enough I was a friend, since
I came with the Princess," retorted John, angrily.
" I suppose you would like to eat me, just because
I am gingerbread ! '

" I thought you smelled like gingerbread," re-
marked the bear. " But don't worry about my
eating you. I don't eat."

" No ? " said John, surprised. " Why not ? '

"Well, the principal reason is that I'm made of
rubber,"^said the bear.

"Rubber! " exclaimed John.

" Yes, rubber. Not gutta-percha, you under-
stand, nor any cheap composition ; but pure Para

208

"STOP THAT!" JOHN SHOUTED

209

Para Bruin, the Rubber Bear

rubber of the best quality. I 'm practically in-
destructible."

"Well, I declare!" said John, who was really
astonished. "Are your teeth rubber, also?'

" To be sure," acknowledged the bear, seeming
to be somewhat ashamed of the fact; "but they
appear very terrible to look at, do they not ? No
one would suspect they would bend if I tried to
bite with them."

" To me they were terrible in appearance," said
John, at which the bear seemed much gratified.

" I don't mind confiding to you, who are a
friend and speak my language," he resumed, " that
I am as harmless as I am indestructible. But I
pride myself upon my awful appearance, which
should strike terror into the hearts of all beholders.
At one time every creature in this island feared
me, and acknowledged me their king; but those
horrid Mifkets discovered I was rubber, and have
defied me ever since."

"How came you to be alive?' asked John.
" Was it the Great Elixir ? '

" I Ve never heard of the Great Elixir,"
replied the bear, " and I 've no idea how I
came to be alive. My earliest recollection is
that I was living in much the same way that I
am now. Do you remember when you were not

1!5 >
iving r

210

Para Bruin, the Rubber Bear

" No" said John.

This conversation, which she could not at all
understand, surprised the Princess very much.
But she was glad to see that the rubber bear and
the gingerbread man had become friends, and so
she took Chick's hand and led the smiling Cherub
up to where they stood.

" This is my new friend, whose name is Chick,"
she said to the bear, for the girl was accustomed
to talking to Para Bruin just as she would to a
person; "and you must be as good and kind to
Chick as you have been to me, my dear Para, or I
shall not love you any more."

The bear gave the Princess a generous hug, and
then he hugged Chick ; but the words the girl had
spoken seemed to puzzle him, for he turned to
John and said :

"Why do you suppose so many different lan-
guages were ever invented ? The Mif kets speak
one language, and you and I speak another, and
the Princess and Chick speak still another! And
it is all very absurd, for the only language I can
understand is my own."

" I can speak with and understand the Princess
and the Mifkets as well as I can speak with you,"
declared John.

211

The bear looked at him admiringly.

" If that is so, then tell me what the Princess
said to me just now," he requested.

So John translated the girl's words into the bear
language, and when Para Bruin heard them he
laughed with delight.

" Tell the Princess that I '11 be as good to her
friend Chick as possible," said he, and John at once
translated it so that the Princess understood.

" That 's nice," said she. " I knew Para would
be friends with Chick. And now ask the bear to
bounce for us. He does it often, and it is a very
interesting sight."

So John requested the bear to bounce, which he
at once agreed to do, seeming to feel considerable
pride in the accomplishment.

From the point upon which they stood, the hill
descended in a steep incline toward the forest, and
at the bottom of the hill was a big flat rock.
Curling himself into a ball, the great bear rolled
his body down the hill, speeding faster every
moment, until he struck the flat rock at the
bottoms Then he bounded high into the air
(in the same way that a rubber ball does when
thrown down upon a hard pavement"), and made a
graceful backward curve until he reached the top

212

Para Bruin, the Rubber Bear

of the hill again, where he bounced up and down
a few times, and then stood upright and bowed
before the gingerbread man and the gleeful Cherub
who was rapturously delighted by the
performance.

" Great act, is n't it ? " asked Para Bruin,
grinning with pride. " No ordinary bear
could do that, I assure you. And it proves
the purity and high grade of my rubber."

" It does, indeed ! '
declared John. "I
am greatly pleased to
have met so remark-
able and talented a
bear."

213

Para Bruin, the Rubber Bear

" You must visit me often," said the bear, making
a dignified bow. " It is a great treat to hear my
own language spoken, for I am the only bear upon
the island. I have n't any visiting cards, but my
name is Para Bruin, and you are always welcome
at my cave."

I am called John Dough," said the gingerbread
man. " I cannot claim to be indestructible, but
while I last I shall be proud of your friendship, and
will bring the children to visit you often."

o J

"Try to teach them my language," suggested
Para Bruin ; " for I love children and have often
wished I might talk with them. As for the little
Princess, all the island people love her dearly
except, of course, the Mifkets and we all worry,
more or less, over her health. She 's weak and
delicate, you know; and her life here is made so
unhappy by the separation from her parents that
I 'm afraid she won't be with us very long.

He wiped a tear from his eye with a puffy paw
and glanced affectionately at the girl.

'"What's the matter with her?" asked John,
anxiously.

" No strength and vitality," answered the bear.
" She 's failing every day, and there is n't a drug-
store or a doctor on the island. But don't tell

214

Para Bruin, the Rubber Bear

her, whatever you do. Perhaps she does n't realize
it, and the knowledge would only make her more
unhappy."

Then the bear, wno seemed remarkably tender-
hearted, trotted with bouncing footsteps into his
cave, so that the little Princess for whom he grieved
might not see the tears that stood in his rubber
eyes.

After that John and Chick and the Princess
started to return to their dwellings by means of a
short cut through the forest, known to the girl.
John was feeling very contented in the companion-
ship of the two children, and reflected that in spite
of the Mifkets his life on this beautiful island bade
fair to be pleasant and agreeable. But his content
was suddenly inter-
r u p t ed by the
Cherub, who gave
a loud cry and
pointed excitedly
into the forest.

The gingerbread
man had cast but
one look when he
began to tremble
violently. For there

215

Para Bruin, the Rubber Bear

before him only a few paces away stood his
bitter and relentless enemy, Ali Dubh the Arab !

"At last," said Ali Dubh, smiling most
unpleasantly, " I have again found you."

John was too agitated to reply; but Chick
asked, boldly:

" How on earth did you ever get to this
island? "

" By means of the witch," the Arab replied. " I
purchased from her two transport powders. One
transported me to the Isle of Phreex, and when
you then escaped me the other powder transported
me here. But I cannot allow the gingerbread
man to escape me again, because I have no more
powders, nor any \vay to reach the witch who
makes them. So, my dear John Dough, please
accept your fate, and permit me to eat you at
once."

"That I cannot do," said John, firmly; "for if
I am eaten, that is the end of me."

" How selfish ! " exclaimed the Arab. "Who are
you, to be considered before Ali Dubh, son of a
mighty Shiek, and chief of an ancient Tribe of the
Desert ? Remember, sir, that when I have eaten
you I shall gain for myself the priceless powers of
that Great Elixir contained in your gingerbread, and

216

ALI DUBH ATTACKS JOHN

217

will thus become the most powerful and most
intelligent man in the world/ besides living forever !
Dare you, sir, allow your selfish motives to interfere
with so grand a result ? '

" I dare," replied John.

" But you have nothing to say about it," con-
tinued the Arab. "You are not your own master.
You belong to me, for I purchased you from Jules
Grogrande, the baker, who made you, and I am
therefore entitled to eat you whenever I please."

" Nevertheless," answered John, " I will not be
eaten if I can help it."

"Ah! but that is unjust!" protested the Arab.

" If to be unjust is to be eaten," said John,
" you need not look to me for justice. I may be
wrong in this decision, but it is better to be wrong
than to be nothing."

" Then," remarked Ali Dubh, sadly, " you force
me to eat you without your consent, which it will
grieve me to do."

With this he drew his terrible knife and sprang
upon John Dough with great ferocity. But in the
recent encounter with Black Ooboo the ginger-
bread man had learned how powerful the Elixir
made him ; so he did not run this time from the
Arab, but avoided the thrust of the knife and

218

Para Bruin, the Rubber Bear

caught the body of All Dubh in a strong clasp.
Next moment he had lifted him up and tossed him
high into the air, as easily as he had tossed the
Mifket. The Arab alighted in the top branches
of a tall scarlet plant and clung to them in great
fear lest he should fall to the ground and be killed.
Indeed, so frightened was he that he uttered
screams of terror with every breath, and forgot all
about eating John Dough in the more important
thought of how he might reach safety.

" Let 's run ! ' exclaimed Chick, grasping John's
hand. "Don't mind the Arab. If he falls it's
good enough for him ! '

" The Mif kets will rescue
him, I 'm sure," added the
Princess. " See ! there come
some of the creatures now,
with Black Ooboo at their
head."

Hearing this, John hesitated
no longer, but fled down an-
other pathway with the chil-
dren, and soon left the sound
of Ali Dubh's cries far behind
him.

219

ack Ooboo

That evening, when John came out of his tree
house to watch the sunset, he found Pittypat, the
white rabbit, sitting before his door.

" I 've news for you, my friend," began the
rabbit, in a grave voice. " Black Ooboo and the
Arab who wanted to eat you have become fast
friends, and together they are determined to
destroy you."

" How did you know tnat the Arab wants to
eat me? ' asked John.

" I was hidden among the plants when you
met, and heard your talk," replied the rabbit.
"You must look out for Ooboo and the Arab, or
they will surely do you a mischief, for the Mifkets
now know that you are good to eat."

"It's kind of you to warn me," said John; but
can you tell me of any way to escape from this
island, good Pittypat ? '

220

Black O o

o o

"Not just at present," returned the rabbit;
" but our Prince is very wise indeed, and I will ask
him what is best to be done. In the meantime
you must keep away from your enemies as much
as possible."

With these words the rabbit sprang into a low
bush and disappeared, leaving John Dough to sad
reflections upon his dangerous position in this
lonely island.

Soon after daybreak next morning, while Chick
and the Princess were out hunting berries for their
breakfast, John went for a walk along the shore,
and so engrossed did he become in his thoughts
that he did not notice when a band of Mifkets
stole upon him from behind and threw a coil
of stout rope around his shoulders. Before he
realized his misfortune he was bound fast with
many turns of the rope. Then he found that he
had fallen into the hands of his old enemy, Black
Ooboo ; but the Arab, to his great relief, was not
with the party that had captured him.

Shouting with glee at the capture of the ginger-
bread man, the Mifkets led him away through the
forest paths until they arrived at the clearing
wherein the King lazily reclined upon his flat
rock.

221

Black O o

o o

Ooboo at once awoke the aged ruler, who sat
up and said in a weary tone :

" Have you taken the stranger prisoner, as I
commanded ? '

"We have," answered the black one.

John Dough was very indignant at the treat-
ment he had received, so he addressed the King
angrily, saying:

" By what right do you command me to be
bound in this disgraceful manner ? Did you not
give me permission to live among you in peace ?"

" I am a king, and the promises of kings should
never be relied upon," said the old Mifket,
winking slyly at his prisoner. " Since I first saw
you the Arab has arrived, and he tells us that the
material you are made of is very good to eat."

" Can the Arab understand your language ? '
asked John, in surprise.

" It seems so," answered the King. " In some
parts of Arabia the people speak exactly as we do ;
so the Arabs are probably descended from our
race. Anyhow, Ali Dubh understands us and we
understand him, and we 've decided to have a bite
of you before he can eat you himself."

This was disturbing news to the gingerbread
man, and he stood before the King wondering how

222

THE MIFKETS RECAPTURE JOHN

223

B 1

he might escape from this awkward situation when
the black Mifket, who was squatting beside him,
opened his mouth and bit off the thumb from
John's left hand, which was tightly bound to his
side.

"How does is taste, Ooboo ? ' inquired the

King, while the black one
was chewing the thumb.

"I can't exactly describe
the flavor," said Ooboo,
boldly biting off the fore-
finger of the hand.

John was enraged
at this dreadful treat-
ment, and his glass
eyes had a dan-
gerous flash in
It didn't*

Black O o

o o

pain him especially, for he had no nerves; but to
be chewed up by a common forest Mifket was a
liberty that any gingerbread man might well resent.

" Seems to me there 's molasses in him," said
Ooboo, with a wink at the King, and immediately
he bit off another finger and ate it. " Also a bit
of ginger," he continued, calmly, eating the next
finger. " And spices." Another finger was gone.
" It is n't exactly cake, and it is n't exactly bread,"
the black one proceeded, smacking his lips; "but
it's pretty good, whatever it is"; and with that he
ate the last finger remaining on John's left hand.

The King was no longer sleepy. He had be-
come quite interested, and the circle of Mifkets
that stood silently back of John were looking at
their victim with hungry eyes.

" Bring him here to me," said the King. " I '11
eat the other hand and see what it's like."

Ooboo immediately pushed the prisoner toward
the rock; but John was now terribly frightened,
and had made up his mind not to allow the rest
of his body to be eaten without a struggle to save
himself. So he suddenly exerted all the strength
the Great Elixir had given him, and burst his rope
bonds as easily as if they had been threads. At
the same instant the Arab leaped into the group

225

Black O o

o o

that surrounded the throne and placed himself
between the King and John Dough.

" Stop ! " he screamed, his voice shrill with anger.
"How dare you eat the gingerbread I have bought
and paid for ? "

"There's enough for all," said the King. "We'll
divide him up, and have a feast."

"Not so!" shouted the Arab. "He's mine, and
mine alone ! '

But while they were thus quarreling the ginger-
bread man, free of his bonds, turned and fled
swiftly into the forest, and before the Mifkets or
Ali Dubh knew he had gone their intended victim
was far away.

Chick was very indignant when John Dough
entered the tree house and showed his mutilated
hand.

"You ought to stay near me every minute," said
the Cherub, " so I can take care of you and keep
you from getting into trouble. If this thing keeps
on, John Dough, you won't be able to present a
respectable appearance."

"I know it," said John, sadly. "I'd escape in
that little boat on the beach; only, if a rain-storm
came up, there 'd be no shelter and I'd become
soaked and fall to pieces."

226

"HE'S MINE, AND MINE ALONE!

227

Black O o

o o

"It isn't our boat, either," said Chick. "It
belongs to the father and mother of the little
Princess, and they may want to use it themselves,
some day, to escape in."

"That's true," said John. "How is the Prin-
cess to-day ?

"She's worse," answered Chick. "Seems to me
she gets weaker and more delicate every day."

"That's what the rubber bear says," John re-
marked, thoughtfully.

" See here," said the child, " that gingerbread of
yours is full of strength and power, isn't it? '

" That 's what Ali Dubh says," John responded.
" The Elixir that I am mixed with is claimed to be
very powerful."

"And it's true," declared Chick, "for I've seen
you do things no gingerbread man could ever do
without some magic Elixir being mixed up with
him. Well, then, why don't you, let the Princess
eat the rest of your left hand, and get well ? The
hand is n't any use to you since Black Ooboo ate
off the fingers."

John i^oked at his left hand nervously.

"What you say, Chick, appears to be true," said
he; "but you've no idea how I dread to be eaten.
I 'm not very substantial at the best, and during

228

Black O o

o o

my brief lifetime I Ve been crumbled and chipped
and bitten to such an extent that I dread to lose
even a crumb of my person more than is absolutely
necessary. Of course I 'd like to help the Princess,
and restore her to health and strength; but
perhaps we can find some better way to do that
than to feed her on my gingerbread."

"Very well, John Dough," said the Cherub,
getting up to go to the Princess, " I suppose you
can do as you please about feeding yourself to your
friends ; but if / was gingerbread you can just bet
I wouldn't be so stingy with myself!'

Left alone, John sighed and wondered if it was
really his duty to sacrifice his left hand to save the
frail little girl and restore her to strength and
health. He wanted to be kind and generous, yet
the very thought of being eaten filled him with
horror.

Presently he left the tree house and wandered
along the coast. Chick's rebuke disturbed him
not a little, and he wanted time to think it over.
So by and by, when he thought he was alone, he
sat down upon a rock and tried to decide what to
do. Suddenly a low rustle disturbed him, and he
looked up to see the brown bear squatting beside
him.

229

Black O o

o o

"Where's the Princess?' asked Para Bruin.

" Are n't you a good way from your mountain ? '
inquired John, instead of answering the question.

" Yes, I don't often stray so far," was the reply,
" but I had an idea of calling on the Princess.
Where is she ? '

"She's sick to-day," said the gingerbread man.

"That's bad," declared the bear, shaking his
head sadly. " She seems to be failing every day.
Poor little Princess ! '

John moved uneasily, for every word was a
reproach to him.

" How are you getting on with the Mifkets ? '
asked Para Bruin.

" They made me a prisoner this morning, and
abused me shamefully," said the gingerbread man.
"See here! " and he held up the stump of his left
hand.

" What has become of your fingers ? '

"A black Mifket named Ooboo bit them off
and ate them," was the answer.

"That's curious," said the bear, rubbing his
nose thoughtfully with one paw. " Do you know,
the Mifkets had an exciting time an hour ago ? I
watched them from my mountain, and saw every-
thing. Black Ooboo had a fight with the King

230

Black O o

o o

and knocked him off his rock. That's really sur-
prising, for Ooboo has always before been a
coward, and afraid of the King. But now he has
declared he'll be king himself, and offers to fight
any one who opposes him. Isn't that funny? I
don't know where Black Ooboo got so much
courage and strength all of a sudden, I Im sure."

"I know," said John. "He got it from my
fingers, which he ate. My dough is mixed with
the Great Elixir, you know, which is nothing less
than concentrated energy and strength and vitality
and knowledge. The fingers have made Ooboo
the most powerful Mifket in the island, so it is no
wonder he has become king."

Para Bruin listened to this carefully, and after a
moment's thought he said:

" If that is the case, John Dough, you must feed

7 J D ' J

some of yourself to the Princess to make her
strong again."

"That's what Chick says; but I don't like to
do it," said John.

"You will do it, though," said the bear; "for if
you don't you are no friend of mine, or of any
other honest person. I'm going back to my
mountain, and if you don't save the little Princess
I '11 never speak to you again."

231

B 1

O O

Away stalked Para Bruin, and John Dough arose
with a sigh and walked far into the forest, trying
to make up his mind what to do. He came to
the bank of the brook presently, and seating him-
self upon a fence beside the stream gazed into the
rushing water in deep thought. From the distance
came the roar of water falling over the big dam
which the beavers had built, and once or twice a
Mifket strayed that way and looked curiously at
the silent figure of the gingerbread man. But
they had orders from the Arab and Ooboo not to

232

Black O o

o o

disturb him, so they crept away again and joined
their fellows among the giant plants.

A long time John Dough sat there by the
stream, until suddenly he was aroused from his
musings by a shriek of discordant laughter behind
him.

"Ho, ho, ho! What an absurd thing! Who'd
ever have thought it ? '

He turned around and saw a gorgeous macaw
standing on a log back of him. The bird was all
aglow with crimson and green feathers, and its
black eyes twinkled mischievously, while contin-
uous shouts of laughter came from its ruffled
throat.

"Keep still, can't you?' said John, in an
annoyed tone. "What are you laughing at,
anyway ?"

The bird pushed its head underneath a wing
and shook with suppressed mirth.

"Oh dear! It's too funny for anything! What
a lark hoo, hoo, hoo! What a lark it is ! '

Its voice was somewhat smothered by the
feathers, but John heard every word, and it made
him angry.

"You're a rampsy, that's what you are!' he
cried.

233

B 1

O O

" There are two of

two of us two of

us ! ' shrieked the macaw, hopping around and
fluttering its brilliant plumage. "Honestly, my
dear breakfast, I never had so much fun in my
life ! "

John turned his head and looked at the bird

earnestly.

"Why do you call
me your 'dear break-
fast'?" he asked, with
sudden suspicion.
"Because that's

what

you are, my poor
innocent! Ha,
ha, ha! Break-
fast is ready ! '
The bird
made a quick
thrust with its
beak, and the
next moment
fluttered around
in front of John
with its mouth
full of ginger-
bread.

234

Black O o

o o

Our hero quickly stood up and put his right
hand behind him. The baker had made two little
coat tails at the back of his waist, and as John felt
for them he found that the thieving macaw had
eaten both of these coat tails entirely off, while he
had sat upon the log thinking.

"How stupid I am!' he exclaimed, with real
grief. " I might have given those coat tails to the

Princess, and now this silly bird has eaten them

I >>
up !

" I said you were a chump ! v remarked the
macaw, winking, and then laughing again. " The
idea of your sitting there and letting me eat you!
I never had so much fun in all my life."

Just then a great chattering reached his ears,
and looking around, he found that a numerous
band of the fierce Mifkets had stolen upon him,
and were now coming forward armed with huge
clubs which they had broken from the forest plants,
and which were as solid and heavy as the branches
of trees.

"Surrender!" cried the leader, knowing that the
gingerbread man understood their language; "King
Ooboo wants you for his luncheon, and Ali Dubh
is also hungry."

For a moment John Dough was most frightened.

235

Black O o

o o

It was not likely that his strength would enable
him to escape from so many of his enemies, and he
almost gave himself up for lost. For before him
was the stream 'of water almost as deadly to him
as the close ranks of the Mifkets behind him. The
macaw was strutting up and down beside him, and
at his look of despair the bird said:

"You're surely in a bad way, my friend; but I
believe I can save you. When I fly up, grab my
feet, and I '11 carry you away to your dwelling."

"You!' he exclaimed, gazing at the bird in
surprise; "you are by no means big enough to fly
away with me."

" Size does n't count for much," chuckled the
macaw; "and since I breakfasted off your coat-
tails I feel myself to be as strong as an ox. Just
grab my legs, as I tell you to."

John decided that it was worth attempting, be-
ing the only thing to do. The Mifkets were press-
ing closer, and soon he would be within reach of
their clubs. So, as the macaw flew into the air
John grasped its legs with his right hand (which was
the only hand that had fingers'), and, sure enough,
the strength of the little bird was so great that it
easily drew him up into the air, high above the
heads of his chattering and disappointed foes.

236

B I

"Fooled again," cried the macaw; but of course
the Mifkets did not understand the words. Away
over the tops of the giant plants flew the bird, with
John Dough clinging to its legs, and it was not long
before it gradually descended again and landed the
gingerbread man safely before the door of his own
dwelling.

" Don't thank me, " said the macaw, turning
toward him one black eye, in a saucy manner, and
winking comically.
" I ate part of you
for my breakfast,
and feel greatly
refreshed. Were it
not for the Arab
I'd hope to get
another meal off
you, but between

the Arab and
Mifkets you 're
not likely to last
long. Good
bye."

And then it
flew away into
the forest.

the

237

Chick met him at the door.

"There's less of you than ever," said the child,
looking him over carefully. "Your coat tails are
gone now."

"Yes," said the gingerbread man, "a macaw ate
them a few minutes ago. But there will be even
less of me in another minute. Have you a knife,
Chick?"

" What are you going to do ? " asked the Cherub,
with sudden interest.

" I 'm going to save the Princess before I'm gone
entirely," said John, with decision. " Not that I
have overcome my dislike to being eaten, you
understand, but if a black Mifket and a foolish
bird find it so easy to feast upon my person, Ali
Dubh rs^ sure to get me in time, and before that
happens I want to do one good deed, and help the
little girl to regain her strength and health."

" Good ! " exclaimed Chick, approvingly. "You 're

238

Under Land and Water

all right, John Dough, even if it did take you a
long time to make up your mind. But we haven't
any knife."

"What shall we do?" John asked, anxiously.

"Can't we break off a chunk of you?" the
Cherub inquired.

" No ! " replied the man, with a shudder.

"Wait a minute!' cried Chick, "I've an
idea."

Away trotted the chubby legs, and presently
the child returned with a long, slender leaf, plucked
from one of the strange forest plants.

" This '11 saw gingerbread all right, I'm sure.
Hold out your hand, John Dough! '

John turned away his head and held out his left
hand the one from which Black Ooboo had
eaten the finger.

"There! It's all over. Did it hurt?" asked
Chick.

" No." John looked at the arm where his hand
had been.

"It is n't much worse than it was before," said
the child. "You'll never miss it in the world.
Now wait here while I go to the Princess."

After Chick had vanished into the girl's dwelling
the gingerbread man gave a sigh of relief.

239

Under Land and Water

"It wasn't as bad as I feared," he said to him-
self; "but I'm glad the ordeal is over. If I take
good care of myself hereafter, and manage to
escape from Ali Dubh, I can get along very well
without the gingerbread I have lost."

The Princess slept sweetly that night, after her
supper of gingerbread, and the next morning was
so fresh and bright, and had so pretty a color to
her cheeks, that Chick hugged her delightedly,
and John Dough was proud and glad to think his
small sacrifice had wrought such good results.
Together they strolled into the forest, along

r\ .
cji s ^

240

Under Land and Water

the banks of the stjeam, and presently met
Pittypat.

" Be careful where you go," said the rabbit, in a
worried tone. " The Arab is after John Dough,
and I hear that Black Ooboo has determined to
destroy the little man with the red whiskers and
the fat woman with the corkscrew curls, who are
the father and mother of our Princess."

" Are you sure ? ' asked the girl, clasping her
hands in real terror.

" There 's no doubt of it," Pittypat replied.
" And I 'm not sure but the Princess will share their
fate These are troublous times, since the Arab
arrived and Black Ooboo became king."

" There 's the boat," said Chick, turning to the
girl; "can't your parents escape in that?"

" They have always said they would use the
boat to leave the island, if there was any danger,"
answered the Princess. " But the ocean is so
big and the boat so very little that they did not
like to make such a voyage unless it became
necessary."

"Well, it seems to be necessary now," said John.
" But what will become of the rest of us ? The
boat will only hold two."

"It might hold me as well as my parents, if the

241

Under Land and Water

water was calm," said the. girl ; " but I will not
escape and leave you and Chick to your fate.
Unless we can find some way to save us all I will
let my parents escape alone in the boat."

"That's foolish," said Chick. "You go in the
boat. John Dough and I will get along all right."

But this the Princess refused to do, and after
a long discussion the rabbit decided to go and
consult a gray owl which was renowned for its
wisdom. The others walked up to Para Bruin's
cave, and the first thing the bear said was:

" Look out for yourselves. Black Ooboo has
ordered all the humans on this island to be killed,
and the Mifkets are arming themselves with long
sticks, to which they have bound sharp thorns torn
from a tree in the forest. The gingerbread man is
to be eaten, I understand; so there's likely to be
an end of all of you, very soon."

" Is there no way to escape ? " asked John.

" None that I can think of," said the bear.
" But you can depend upon my assistance, if there
is anything I can do. How well the Princess looks
to-dayt'

"Yes," answered John, proudly; "she's been
eating some of my gingerbread."

Hearing this, Para Bruin gave John a grateful

242

Under Land and Water

hug; and then he hugged the Princess and even
Chick, so happy did the bear feel at the girl's
recovery.

Then he bounced for them several times, rolling
himself down hill against the flat rock and then
bounding high into the air. But the little Princess
was worried and anxious about her parents, so the
party soon bade good bye to Para Bruin and
started to return to their dwellings.

The forest seemed very quiet and peaceful as
they walked along, and they had almost forgotten
their fears, when, just as they reached the banks of
the brook, a sudden sound of shouting fell upon
their ears, mingled with the wail of human voices.

"Oh, dear!' cried the little Princess, wring-
ing her hands in great fear; "the Mifkets have
attacked my dear parents, I am sure, and they
will both be killed!"

John strove to comfort her, but he suspected
that the Princess had guessed truly, and that her
parents were in great danger. They dared not
return to the seashore, for that would mean their
own destruction; so they remained hidden in the
forest, while the Princess sobbed as if her heart
was broken, and John wiped away her tears with
her handkerchief. He had one of his own;

243

Under Land and Water

but it was gingerbread, and would not stand the
dampness.

Suddenly they heard pattering footfalls, and the
white rabbit crouched at their feet. He was pant-
ing from a hard run, and his eyes were big and
bright.

" They are gone ! ' said he, as soon as he could
speak.

"Who are gone?" asked John, anxiously.
" The red-whiskered man and the woman with
the corkscrew curls," replied Pittypat. "The Mitkets

chased them
to the shore,
but they
jumped into
the boat and
rowed away
in time to
escape. The
Mifkets threw
sticks at
them and
Black Ooboo
screamed with
rage; but the
father and

244

mother of our Princess got away without being
hurt in the least."

This good news greatly pleased the girl, and
her anxiety was much relieved. But the ginger-
bread man had become thoughtful, and asked
Pittypat:

"What are the Mifkets doing now."

"They are getting ready to search the forest for
you and Chick and the Princess," was the reply.
" The Arab is with them."

" This is certainly unpleasant news," remarked
the gingerbread man. " Did the gray owl tell you
how we may escape ? '

" The owl sent me to the King of the Fairy
Beavers," replied the rabbit, " and he has consented
to hide you in his palace. It is a rare favor, I
assure you ; but the Mifkets cannot reach you
there."

"A Fairy Beaver!" cried Chick, gleefully; and
the Princess asked, wonderingly: "Can a beaver
be a fairy ? "

"Why not?" inquired Pittypat. "All the ani-
mals have their fairies, just as you human folks do;
and it is lucky for us that the Fairy Beaver lives on
this very island. There is only one danger- that
the Mifkets find you before I can lead you to the

245

Under Land and Water

Beaver King. So follow me at once, I implore
you, before it is too late ! '

He turned, with these words, and led them
along the river bank at such a swift pace that the
Princess could hardly keep up with him.

"How far is it?" asked John.

" The palace of the beavers is somewhere under
the big dam in the river, which is not far away.
The King promised to meet us at the waterfall;
but he will not allow me to enter, because I am
a .rabbit, so you must go in alone. But have no
fear. The King will allow nothing to harm you."

As Pittypat spoke they could hear the distant
roar of the waterfall at the beavers' dam. But
another sound also fell upon their ears a sound
that quickly renewed their terror for it was the
yells of the approaching Mifkets. Presently the
fierce creatures appeared, coming swiftly through
the forest.

"Hurry!' called Pittypat. "Hurry, or it will
be too late ! '

John picked up a' great wooden club that lay
near their path, and while Chick and the Princess
hurried after the rabbit he stopped and hurled it
toward the Mifkets. It fell among them with such
force that several were knocked over and many

246

Under Land and Water

others howled with pain. It did not prevent them
from coming on, but they kept at a more respect-
ful distance from the gingerbread man, never
doubting they would be able to capture him in
time.

"This way! " cried the rabbit, leaping down the
bank to the side of the river, where they could
travel more swiftly.

The others followed, and now before them
appeared a wide and high sheet of water that fell
over the great dam that the beavers had built many
years before. They had almost reached it, and
Pittypat had called out that he saw the Beaver
King waiting behind the waterfall, when the fugi-
tives stopped short with cries of despair. For just
before them appeared another band of Mifkets,
armed with the thorn sticks, and now they saw that
they would be unable to reach their place of
refuge.

John looked around in desperation. There were
Mifkets behind them and Mifkets before them;
and on one side was the deep river, and on the
other side a steep bank too high for the children
to climb. It really seemed to the gingerbread man
that they were lost, when suddenly a cry was heard,
and looking upward he saw Para Bruin standing

248

Under Land and Water

upon his high peak and watching them. The bear
doubtless saw the danger of his friends, for he
called to them:

"Look out I'm coming to the rescue!'
Then he quickly curled his great body into a
monster ball and rolled swiftly down the side of
the mountain that faced them.

The Mifkets who were near the waterfall turned
curiously to watch the
bear. They had often
seen him roll against the
flat stone and bound
back to his place again,
and thought he would
do the same
thing now.
But old Para
Bruin was
more clever
than they
suspected.
He missed the
flat stone alto-
ge th er and
came bound-
ing along at a

249

Under Land and Water

terrific speed. Before the group of Mifkets, who
stood close together near the waterfall, knew what
the bear meant to do, old Para's body shot upon
them and dashed them in every direction. Some
lay stunned upon the ground; but most of them
were tumbled into the river, where they struggled
frantically to regain the shore.

"Quick!" cried Pittypat, "your friend has saved
you. But do not lose an instant's time!'

The children and the gingerbread man obeyed
at once, and in a few steps reached the waterfall.

" Creep behind the sheet of water! " commanded
the rabbit. "You will find the Beaver King await-
ing you. Do as he tells you, and I promise that
you will be safe."

" Good bye, Pittypat ! ' called the Princess, as
she clung to the damp rocks behind the waterfall.

"Good bye!' echoed Chick. "Much obliged
to you, Pittypat! '

" Good bye ! ' answered the white rabbit.
"Don't forget me."

Then he whisked away, and John Dough, shrink-
ing as far from the spray as possible, crept under
the waterfall and followed after the little ones.

250

"CREEP BEHIND THE SHEET OF WATER"

251

The Mifkets uttered cries of rage as they ob-
served the escape of their intended victims, and
rushed forward to follow them. But immediately
a great flood of water began falling just at the
place where the children and John had entered,
and as the Mifkets recoiled from this new danger
our friends heard a soft voice say, with a little
laugh :

"They will not dare to follow you now. Come
with me, and be careful not to slip."

John looked down, and saw a handsome beaver
standing beside him. His fur was the color of
silver, and upon his head was a tiny golden crown
set with jewels so bright and sparkling that the
rays lighted the dim place like so many sunbeams.
The Beaver King's face was calm and dignified, and
his eyes kindly and intelligent. Without further
speecrPhe led the way far under the roaring water-
fall; and the space between the dark wall of the
dam and the sheet of water was so narrow that the
air was filled with a fine spray, which moistened

252

T h

airy

e a v e r s

John's gingerbread in a way that caused him great
uneasiness.

But, lighted by the radiance of the King Beaver's
crown, they soon came to a place directly under
the center of the fall, and here their conductor
halted and tapped three times upon the surface of
the wall. It opened instantly, disclosing a broad
passage, and through this the King led them, the
wall closing just behind them as they entered.

The noise of the waterfall now sounded but
dimly in their ears, and presently they emerged
into a large vaulted room, which was so beautiful
that the little Princess clasped her hands with a
long-drawn sigh of delight, Chick laughed, and
John removed from his head the crumpled and
soiled silk hat that he had clung to ever since he
had left the bakery.

He had seen beautiful rooms in the Island of
Romance, but nothing there
could compare with the mag-
nificence and grandeur of this
hall of the Fairy Beaver's
palace. The walls were set
thick with brilliant jewels,
arranged in a way that
formed exquisite pictures, all

253

The Fairy Beavers

of these borrowing color from the natural tints
of the gems. The ceiling was clustered with tiny
glass globes, in each of which was a captured
sunbeam; and these lent a charming radiance to
the splendid room. Many cushions were strewn
upon the floor, and the floor itself was of gold,
richly engraved with scenes depicting the lives and
adventures of beavers.

While our friends admired the loveliness of the
Hall of the Beavers, the silver-furred King spoke
again, in his soft voice :

"You are now underneath the deep water
formed by our dam, which was built by the
beavers who were our forefathers many years ago,
and which has endured until now. But in all the
years of its existence the little Princess and the
Incubator Baby are the first human beings to be
admitted to our fairy palace. Your companion, my
dears, is merely gingerbread, and lives by means of
fairy powers that make him a fit comrade for fairies
the world over."

"It was very good of you to save us from the
Mifkets, and we are grateful," said the girl.

"You 're all right!" added Chick, emphatically.

" I am glad to be of service to one so sweet and
beautiful," returned the King, with a dignified bow

254

The Fairy Beavers

toward the Princess, "and to one so merry and
frank," he continued, turning to Chick. "And
now, if you will kindly follow me, I will show you
the rooms of my palace, and introduce you to my
people. You must be content to remain my guests
until I can find means to restore you to the free-
dom of the upper world in which you are accus-
tomed to exist.

He led them through the gorgeous hall and
along delightful passages into various rooms. Some
were large and some were small, but all were ex-
tremely beautiful, and Chick wondered greatly at
the extent of this under-water palace, the existence
of which no one could suspect who stood in the
forest above, beside the dam of the beavers.

"Are all beavers' homes like this?' asked the
child.

"No, indeed!' answered the King, laughing
softly. "They are usually houses composed of mud,
mixed with bits of wood and the leaves and
branches of trees. But I am King of the Beaver
Fairies, who watch over the fortunes of all ordinary
beavers and take care of them. We are invisible,
even to beavers; and the eyes of mankind can
never see us unless, as in your case, we permit them
to do so. These rooms seem to you deserted, but

255

The Fairy Beavers

I assure you they are filled with many beaver
fairies, who are even now watching you with much
curiosity."

Both the children started at hearing this, and
glanced hastily around; but nothing but the walls
of the palace met their gaze, and the King smiled
upon them indulgently.

"At our banquet, this evening," said he, "I will
permit you to see my people. But now please
come to the music-room, where you may enjoy the
strains of harmony that provide us with one of our
chief amusements."

He led the way to another room, the roof of
which was dome-shaped. From different points in
this dome projected the ends of many silver tubes,
and near the floor of the room, directly underneath
each of the tubes, was placed a plate of glass or
of metal.

The King invited his guests to seat themselves,
and then pressed a diamond button that was placed
in the wall. This allowed the water from the river
above them to drip slowly through the silver
tubes; ^nd as it fell, drop by drop, on the plates
beneath, it made sounds that were very sweet and
harmonious. The metal plates gave out deep
and resonant sounds, while the smaller glass plates

256

T h

airy

e a v e r s

tinkled melodiously as the drops of water fell
upon them.

Neither Chick nor the Princess recognized the
first tune that was played, for it had been composed
by one of the Fairy Beavers; but afterward the
King played "Home, Sweet
Home," for them, and "Annie
Laurie"; and the music was
so exquisitely
sweet and soft
that the girl
declared she
would never
have imagined
that sounds
so delightful
could be pro-
duced, and
Chick pro-
nounced the
entertainment
"all right."

The ginger-
bread man was also pleased; for it was the first
real music he had ever heard, and it soothed and
comforted him beyond measure.

257

The Fairy Beavers

The Fairy King seemed glad to give his new
friends pleasure; and when the Princess remarked
that she would like to know what the Mifkets
thought of their sudden escape, the beaver led them
to what he called the "Observation Room." In it
was a square box, draped with black silk and having
a window in one side.

Seating the girl and her companions before this
window, the King said:

"You will now observe what the Mifkets are
doing."

Instantly a picture appeared in the box, and it
seemed that through the little window they were
gazing upon a section of the forest they had re-
cently left. There were the Mifkets, indeed, with
Black Ooboo and the Arab among them, and all
were quarreling and fighting among themselves in
their usual way, and trying to decide what had be-
come of the gingerbread man and the children.

"They are drowned and at the bottom of the
river, by this time," Black Ooboo said; and his
words came as distinctly to their ears as if they had
been standing beside him.

"I hope not," answered Ali Dubh; "for I've
never yet had a single bite of the gingerbread man,
although I bought and paid for him."

258

IN THE "OBSERVATION ROOM

259

The Fairy Beavers

Then the scene changed, and they saw Para
Bruin climbing slowly up the side of the steep hill
to his den. He seemed none the worse for his roll
down the mountain and his bath in the river, and
they noticed that he laughed and chuckled to him-
self as if much amused.

" That was a good fight," John Dough heard
him murmur, in the bear language; "and I 'm
mighty glad I was in time to save the Princess,
Chick, and the delicatessen man. They 're safe
enough with the beavers by this time, the white
rabbit says!'' Then he laughed again; and, reach-
ing the top of the hill, entered his cave and lay
down to rest.

Again the scene changed, and the Princess be-
held the open sea, upon which floated the boat
that bore safely her father and mother. They
seemed to be quite comfortable, and the girl was
pleased to see that they had put enough provisions
and fresh water into the boat to last them during
a long voyage. The man, although little, was
strong, and pulled sturdily at the oars; and the
woman steered the boat in the right direction.

Our Princess was very glad to see these sights,
and to know Para Bruin was safe, and that her dear
parents had escaped the fierce Mifkets. In com-

260

The Fairy Beavers

pany with her friend Chick and the gingerbread
man, she wandered through the palace during all
that afternoon, seeing many wonderful things that
the Fairy Beavers had provided for the comfort and
amusement of their community. It was, indeed,
a little world by itself, placed under land and water,
where no mortal could guess its existence.

In the early evening the King escorted them to
a splendid banquet hall, where a long, low table was
set in the center of the room. The dishes "were
all of sparkling cut-glass, and the eatables proved
to be very delicious foods made from vegetables
that grew at the bottom of the river, together with
fish and lobsters and oysters, and many rare sweet-
meats that could only have been created by the
magic of the fairies themselves.

Around the long table were rows of silken
cushions; but when the children and the ginger-
bread man entered, the room seemed deserted by
all save themselves and the King.

His Majesty the King of the Fairy Beavers sat
upon a cushion at the head of the table and
graciously placed the Princess and Chick close to
his right hand and John Dough at his left. Then
he blew softly upon a silver whistle, and at once
before the eyes of his guests appeared rows of

261

The Fairy Beavers

Fairy Beavers, occupying the cushions beside the
low table.

They were all pretty to look upon, having
silvery fur as soft as satin, and large dark eyes that

regarded the strangers pleasantly and without fear.
From the neck of each was suspended, by means
of silken cords, a richly embroidered cloak, ex-
quisitely woven from a material unknown to the

262

The Fairy Beavers

Princess, and blazoned with an emblem denoting the
rank or degree of the wearer. Also each of the
Fairy Beavers wore a jeweled circlet upon the brow;
but none of these was so magnificent as the diadem
of their King.

While our friends gazed wonderingly upon the
Fairy Beavers, the King introduced them, saying:

"This is a little mortal Princess named Jacquelin,
whom I have protected because her heart is as fresh
and innocent as the daisies that grow in the fields.
This is Chick, known also as the Cherub, an In-
cubator Baby without relatives, but who is not
lacking in friends. And this is John Dough, a
strange creature, having the form of a man, made
out of gingerbread. He is not exactly a fairy, but
lives through the magic of a fairy compound known
as the < Great Elixir,' and is therefore not respon-
sible for being alive and is liable to perish before
he has grown very old. Each of these guests is, I
believe, worthy of our friendship and protection,
and I trust that my people will join me in welcom-
ing them to our palace."

Answering the King's speech, all the Beaver
Fairies gracefully arose from their cushions and
bowed thrice once to the Princess and once to
Chick and once to John Dough. Then they all

263

T h

airy

e a v e r s

reseated themselves and drank to the health of
their guests from dainty tumblers no bigger than
harebells, which contained water as pure as crystal.

Then, while the feast began, a
chorus of black beavers entered and
chanted a pretty song; and afterward other beavers,
so small that the Princess thought that they were
quite young, entered and danced a minuet for the
amusement of the entire company.

Chick and the Princess Jacquelin were really
hungry, and although the children at first feared
the food placed before them was not such as they

264

The Fairy Beavers

could enjoy, they tasted some of the dishes and
found them so delicious that both ended by eating
heartily, and afterward decided they had never
enjoyed a meal so much.

Of course John Dough missed the pleasure of
eating, but he had a good time listening to the
music and watching the dancers; so he was quite
content. Later he amused the company by telling
the story of his adventures since he had come to
life in the bake-shop. He spoke in the beaver
language, so that all understood him; and even the
Princess could understand most of his speech, for
the portion of gingerbread she had eaten had con-
veyed to her some share of the powers of the Great
Elixir. The Fairy Beavers were much interested,
and loudly applauded the recital.

After dinner the girl was escorted by six pretty
Beaver Fairies to a cosy little room decorated with
pink and white shells, which were polished smooth
as glass. There was no regular bed in the room,
but the beavers heaped many of the soft cushions
into a corner, and upon these the Princess lay down
and slept very peacefully until the next morning.
Chick had a room of blue and gold, in the four
corners of which perfumed fountains shot their
sprays into the air. The tinkling sounds of these

265

The Fairy B

e a v e r s

fountains might have soothed any child to sleep,
yet Chick could have slept as soundly in the open
forest as within this luxurious room.

John Dough also was supplied with a room in
the palace; but as he did not sleep he had no need
to lie down, and so amused himself during the
night by looking at the beautiful pictures that
decorated the walls and ceiling. Most of these
depicted the work of beavers engaged in building
dams and houses; John found them very interesting,
and therefore passed a pleasant night.

Soon after daybreak the Beaver King came to
John and escorted him to the Observation Room,
where he found Chick and the Princess who had
already risen and finished their breakfasts gazing
earnestly through the window of the black box.
He also approached the box to gaze at the shift-
ing pictures, and discovered that the forest had
become as quiet as usual, the Arab and Black
Ooboo having returned to the village in the clearing,
and only a few of the Mifkets being left to wander
along the sides of the brook and watch the water-
fall at the dam of the beavers.

"Now," said the Fairy Beaver to the girl, "I can
do one more thing to please you. Make a wish,
Princess, and I will grant it."

266

267

The Fairy Beavers

"Thank you!' she cried, eagerly. "I wish to
rejoin my dear father and mother, wherever they
may be."

"Very well," returned the King; "come with me."

He led them through many passages, until they
reached a sort of tunnel that brought them to a
rocky cave under the river bank, some distance
below the waterfall. The water of the river covered
half the floor of the cave, and upon the sandy
beach at its edge rested a large glass cylinder, which
was pointed at both ends and had a door in the
top. Harnessed to one end of the glass tube were
twenty-four strong beavers, who sat motionless
beside it.

"The boat in which your father and mother are
still riding is far out in the ocean," said the King
to the Princess; "but in this submarine boat you
will be drawn by my swimming beavers so swiftly
that the journey will not seem long to you."

"Are we not to go with the Princess?' 1 asked
the gingerbread man.

"There is room for only one more in the boat,"
replied ^the King, "so the Cherub and you must
bid farewell to your friend, in order that she may
safely rejoin the parents she so dearly loves."

"I'm sorry," said John, sadly.

268

T h

airy

e a v e r s

"I 'm sorry, too," declared the little Princess,
"for you have been very good to me, John Dough.
Yet my parents need me more than you do, and it
is my duty to rejoin them."

"That is true," said John. "Good bye, little
friend, and may your life be long and happy."

Chick said nothing, but hugged the little girl in
a long and warm
embrace and
kissed both her
pretty cheeks.

The King now
opened the door
in the top of the
cylinder and the
girl stepped inside.
The space was just
big enough to per-
mit her to lie down
comfortably, and
the bottom of the
cylinder had been
thickly covered
with soft cushions
brought from the
palace.

269

The Fairy Beavers

When the King had closed and fastened the
door, he gave a signal to the four-and-twenty
beavers, and at once they dashed into the water,
drawing the glass submarine after them, and began
swimming with powerful strokes down the river.
They swam well under the surface of the water,
and the glass boat followed them without either
touching the bottom or rising to the top.

At first the Princess was much bewildered by
her strange journey, for it seemed as if the water
was pressing upon her from all sides. But presently
she realized that she was quite safe in the glass tube,
and began watching curiously the pretty weeds and
water-flowers that grew at the bottom of the river,
and the queer fishes that swam around her.

The speed of the swimming beavers was surpris-
ing. It was not long, indeed, before they reached
the mouth of the river and swam boldly out into
the sea. Jacquelin had no idea of the direction
they took, but she trusted to the wisdom of her
friend the Fairy Beaver, and was not at all
frightened.

And: now the sights that she saw were very
strange indeed; for the seaweeds were of most
gorgeous hues, and there were not only big and
little fishes of every description, but brillant sea-

270

T h

airy

e a v e r s

anemones and jelly-fish floating gracefully on all
sides of her.

The journey was long, but not at all tiresome,
and the girl had not realized how far she had been
drawn through the waters of the ocean when a
dark gray object appeared just overhead, and the
beavers came to a halt.

Slowly the glass cylinder rose to the surface of
the waves, and Jac saw just beside her the boat
containing her parents. The girl's mother also
saw, to her great surprise and joy, the
form of her daughter lying in the glass

case, and at once
unfastened the door

T h

airy

e a v e r s

and assisted the child to crawl out and scramble
into the boat.

The first act of the little Princess was to kiss
her father and mother delightedly, and then she
leaned over the side of the boat and refastened
the door of the cylinder.

"Tell your King that I thank him!' she called
to the beavers, trying to speak their own language;
and the intelligent little creatures must have
understood, for the glass cylinder sank swiftly
beneath the water, and she saw it no more.

Many days the Princess and her parents rode
in the boat, until one morning they came to
another small island and ventured to land upon
it. They found it to be a beautiful place, in-
habited by no savage beasts of any sort, and con-
taining a grove of trees that bore figs and bananas
and dates and many other
delicious fruits.

So they built themselves
a cottage on this island, and
lived there in peace and
happiness for many years.

272

After the Princess had left them, John Dough
said to the King: "What is to become of Chick
and of me? We cannot stay with you always."

" I hardly know," answered the Beaver Fairy.
"Is there any place you especially desire to visit?"

" No special place is known to me/' said the
gingerbread man.

"It doesn't matter where we go, so long as we
keep going," added the practical Chick

"You have been very kind to us," continued
John, "and we may rely upon your friendship.
Since you possess such wonderful fairy powers,
perhaps you will assist us to leave this island and
get out into the world again, where we may seek
new adventures."

"It shall be as you wish," promised the King.
" But I must think of a way for you to leave my
palace in perfect safety. Chick is in no great

273

The Flight of the Flamingoes

danger, but should Black Ooboo or the terrible
Arab chance to capture you, they would cut your
gingerbread to bits in no time, and you would be
ruined. For this reason it will be best for you to
leave this island as quickly as possible."

John readily agreed to this, and the King
remained silent for several minutes, engaged in
deep thought. Then he said:

" I believe I know a way to save you, John
Dough. But I must have your permission to cut
you into nine pieces."

" What good will I be when cut into pieces ? ' :
asked John, somewhat alarmed at the suggestion.

" Do not fear," said the beaver. " I promise to

The Flight of the Flamingoes

again restore you to your present form. The
Mifkets have placed spies all about our dam, and
if you attempted to walk away from here they
would soon discover you. Therefore I will cut
you into nine pieces, wrap each piece in a bit of
cloth, and send the parcels by my beavers along
different paths to the top of the hill where Para
Bruin lives. There the bear and Chick can put
you together again, for the child will have no
trouble in reaching the bear's cage. After the nine
parts are in place I will give you a magic cordial to
drink; it will render your body as solid and
substantial as it is now."

" But how can we escape from the island, once
we have reached Para Bruin's cave?" asked John.

" The Flamingo people owe me many favors,"
answered the King. " You do not weigh much, so
I will ask one of the flamingoes to fly with you to
some other country. It will take two of the birds
to carry Chick; but, if the child is not afraid, the
journey will be perfectly safe."

"I'm not afraid," said Chick. "Anything suits
me."

" I think your plan is an excellent one," declared
John, "and we are both greatly obliged to your
Majesty for your kindness."

275

The Flight of the Flamingoes

So the King brought a great knife, and with the
assistance of Chick, who was much interested in
the operation, cut John Dough into nine pieces.
These were wrapped into packages and eight
beavers were summoned, who carried eight of the
packages through secret passages to the forest and
then up the mountain-side to the cave of Para
Bruin. The ninth package, containing the head
of John Dough, the King undertook to carry him-
self, and although the Mifket spies of Black Ooboo
noticed the nine beavers carrying packages up the

hillside, they paid little attention to them, never

suspecting that

in this queer
fashion the
gingerbread
man was mak-
ing his escape.
And Chick
walked boldly
along the river
bank and up
the hill to
meet Para
Bruin, who
hugged the

276

The Flight of the Flamingoes

child joyfully in his rubber arms, and tried to lick
the plump cheeks with his pink rubber tongue.
The Mifkets were puzzled by Chick's appearance,
and wondered where the little one had come from ;
but they did not offer to interfere with the child in
any way.

It was not long before the Beaver King reached
the bear's cave and laid the ninth package, contain-
ing John's head, beside the other eight, which had
already arrived.

"What's all this?" asked Para Bruin, eying the
packages with much surprise.

" Be patient and you will see," replied the King,
and then unwrapped John's head. When the
bear saw it he uttered a groan and exclaimed:

"Alas! my poor friend has come to a sad end!'

"Not so," answered John's head. "The Fairy
Beaver has cut me apart, but he has promised to
put me together again, so that I will be as good as
new. And you must assist us, friend Para."

"Most willingly!" declared the bear.

Then, under the King's direction, Para Bruin
and Chick set up John's legs, and placed the sec-
tions of his body upon them, and afterward perched
his head upon the body. John expected to tumble
down at any moment, for he was just like a house

277

The Flight of the Flamingoes

of blocks that a child builds, and every one knows
how easily that falls apart; but he kept as still as
possible, and at length all the nine parts of him
were in their proper places.

Then the King handed a small silver flask to the
child, and told Chick to pour the contents into
John's mouth just between the candy teeth.
Chick, by standing on tiptoe, was able to do this,
and John drank the cordial to the last drop. He
seemed to feel it penetrate and spread through all
his gingerbread body; and, as it did so, every one
of the cut places became solid again, and presently
John took a step forward, looked himself over, and
found he was indeed as good as new.

" That cordial is
great stuff*," he said
to the King. "It's
almost as powerful
as the Great Elixir
itself.

" It is an excellent

remedy
replied
as

cuts,

King,

for
the

" and as you are so
crumbly and unsub-

give

stantial I will

278

The Flight of the Flamingoes

you anotner bottle of it, so that if you ever meet
with an accident you may drink the cordial and
recover." He handed John another silver flask
containing the wonderful liquid, which John
accepted with much gratitude.

"Now I must leave you," said the King. "The
flamingoes have promised to send her their strongest
flyers to bear you and the Incubator Baby to another
land, so I believe you will both live to encounter
many further adventures."

Chick and John again thanked the kind beaver
for all the favors they had received, and then the
King and his people returned to their beautiful
palace, and left the gingerbread man and the
cheerful Cherub and Para Bruin alone upon the
mountain-top.

" What has become of the Princess ? v asked
the bear.

John told him the story of her escape, and
Para said :

" Well, I 'm glad the dear child was able to
rejoin her parents; but this island will be a dreary
place without her. I wish I could leave it as
easily as you and Chick can."

" Perhaps," said John, " the flamingoes will also
carry you."

279

The Flight of the Flamingoes

" Do you think so ? " asked Para, eagerly.

" I '11 ask them about it, for I understand their
language," promised John; and this so delighted
the rubber bear that he bounded up and down
in glee.

Before long four great birds were seen approach-
ing through the air, and soon they alighted upon
the mountain close to where our friends stood.

" We were sent to carry a gingerbread man and
a fair-haired child away from this island," said one
of the birds, in a squeaky voice.

"I am the gingerbread man," replied John,
speaking as the flamingoes did; "and here is the
fair-haired child. But we also wish you to carry
our friend Para Bruin w^'th us. One of you can
carry me, and two can carry Chick. That will
leave the fourth to fly with Para Bruin, if you will
kindly consent."

"What, that monstrous bear!" exclaimed one of
the birds, indignantly.

"He's large, it is true," replied John; "but he's
made of rubber, and is hollow inside; so he really
doesn't^weight much more than I do."

"Well," said the flamingo, "if that is the case
I do not object to carrying him."

John related this conversation to the bear, who

280

"NICE RIDE, ISN'T IT?"

281

The Flight of the Flamingoes

was overjoyed at the thought of getting away from
the island.

A stout cord had been tied to the feet of each
of the flamingoes, and John now proceeded to
fasten the loose end of one of the cords around
his own body, tying it in a firm knot, so it would
not come undone and let him drop. The cords
hanging from the two birds that were to carry the
Cherub were tied together in a hard knot, and
thus formed a swing in which the child sat quite
comfortably. Para Bruin now tied himself to the
fourth flamingo, and the preparations were com-
plete.

" Are you ready ? " asked the leader of the
flamingoes.

"Yes," said John.

" Where do you wish to be taken ? '

"We don't much care," replied the gingerbread
man. " Let us get to some island where there are
no Mifkets. As for Ali Dubh, he will be obliged
to stay here with his friend Black Ooboo, and once
I am away from these shores I shall be sure he can
never eat me."

So the big birds flew into the air, carrying with
them the gingerbread man and the fair-haired
child and the rubber bear, and so swift was their

282

The Flight of the Flamingoes

flight that in a few moments the island of the
Mifkets had vanished from their view.

"Nice ride, isn't it?" Chick called to John.

" Rather nice," answered the gingerbread man.
"But this cord is so tight it's wearing a crease in
my body."

"What a pity you are not made of rubber, as I
am I ' said the bear, cheerfully. " Nothing ever
injures me in the least. I 'm practically inde-
structible."

"How are you getting on, Chick? " asked John.

" Fine ! ' answered the Cherub. " This knocks
Imar's flying-machine into a cocked hat."

Then for a time they sailed on in silence, dan-
gling from the ends of their cords, while the strong
wings of the flamingoes beat the air with regular
strokes just above their heads.

283

The birds flew close together and made great
speed, and in about three hours from the time they
started an island appeared just ahead of them.
Whereupon John said to the bird that bore him :

" Let us stop here, so we can examine the island
and see how we like it. This cord is cutting into
my gingerbread body, and I 'd like to stop for a
time, anyway."

"Very well," answered the bird; and when they
were over the center of the island the flamingoes
gradually descended and alighted upon the ground.
John untied the cord from his waist, and also
assisted Chick and Para Bruin to free themselves.
The bear was not injured at all, but the cord had
worn a straight line around John's body, although
not very deep; and in some way the gingerbread
man had lost another of his lozenge buttons.

The^place where they had alighted was covered
by grass and surrounded by groves of trees.

" This looks like a fine country," said Chick,
gazing around.

284

Sport of Pirate Island

"It's better than our old island, anyway," re-
marked Para Bruin.

But just as he spoke the flamingoes uttered
shrill screams and flew quickly into the air, and
our friends turned in time to see a most curious
creature come from the grove and approach them.

It had somewhat the likeness of a man, yet was
too queer ever to be mistaken for a human being,
although it was certainly alive. Its body was a
huge punching-bag, and its head was a foot-ball.
For legs it had two of those golf-clubs called
"putters," and one of its arms was a tennis-racket
and the other a
base-ball club.
This was curious
enough, in all
conscience; but
the face was more
curious yet. For
the eyes were golf
balls, and the nose
a square of bil-
liard-chalk, and its
mouth a mere slit
in the foot- ball
where the lacing

285

Sport of Pirate Island

had come undone. Taken altogether, this odd
creature presented a most surprising appearance,
and while John Dough and Para Bruin stared at it
in amazement Chick boldly asked:

"Who are you ?'

"Sport is my name, and sport my nature," an-
swered the creature, winking one eye frightfully,
and grinning until its queer mouth curled up at
both corners of the slit.

"Sport," remarked the rubber bear, gravely, "is
something amusing; so I am sure you are mis-
named."

"Oh! you're a balloon," returned Sport, kicking
at the bear with one of his golf-club feet; "the
kid's a chucklehead and the other's a bun."

" I 'm not a bun ! " exclaimed John, indignantly.

"Yes, you are! Cross bun, too. Hot cross
bun. Cool off, old chap, and look pleasant."

John was too angry to reply to this speech, but
Chick said to the creature:

" If you 're going to be so disagreeable, you 'd
better leave us. We don't care to associate with
people-of your sort."

"Ho, ho! ha, ha!' laughed Sport; "don't care
to associate, eh ? Do you know where you are ? '

"No," said Chick, "and I don't care."

286

THE RETIRED PIRATES

287

Sport of Pirate Island

"Well, this island is inhabited by retired pirates
and bandits, who make every one that lands here
pay a heavy ransom, or else "

" Or else what ? ' asked John, as Sport stopped
short and gave another horrid wink.

"Or else they boil 'em in oil for three days,"
was the reply.

"Well," said the bear, "we can't pay a ransom,
that's certain; but I'm not afraid of being boiled
in oil. I 'm practically indestructible."

"But I'm not!' cried John, much alarmed.
" It would ruin my gingerbread to be boiled in oil,
and Chick would certainly get overheated. I 'm
afraid it would rnelt your rubber, too, my dear
Para."

" Would it ? ' asked the bear, with a start.
" Then let us get away from this island at once ! '

" By all means! " agreed John Dough.

" And the sooner the better," declared Chick.

But as they turned to look for the flamingoes,
the creature who called himself Sport began pound-
ing his punching-bag body with his tennis-racket
arm, aiid at the sound a crowd of men ran out of
groves of trees and quickly surrounded the rubber
bear and Chick and the gingerbread man.

These men had heavy beards, hooked noses, and

288

Sport of Pirate Island

piercing black eyes ; and they wore red sashes tied
around their waists; and laced leggings, and blue
flannel shirts open at the throats ; and in their
belts were stuck many daggers and knives and
pistols.

"Whoop! whoo o o!' they screeched, yell-
ing like Indians ; and their leader, who was uglier
looking than any of his followers, cried out:

"Avast, there, my hearties! Here's a chance
for either a fine ransom or a pot of boiling oil ! '

"Then it's the oil," said Para Bruin, despon-
dently; "for we have no ransom."

"You may as well start the bonfire," remarked
Chick.

But John Dough stepped up to the pirate chief
and asked :

"How much ransom do you require?'

" Well," answered the chief, " you 're not worth
much, yourself, and the child's too small to
count; but a fine rubber bear like that is worth
ten pieces-of-eight or a sparkling jewel."

" I will give you a sparkling jewel for him, as a
ransom," said John, "provided you will then permit
us to depart in peace."

"All right," agreed the pirate; "hand over the
sparkler and you may go."

Sport of Pirate Island

So John borrowed a dagger from the chief and
picked out of his body one of the three diamonds
which 4:he inventor had given him in the Isle of
Phreex. It glittered most beautifully in the sun-
light, and the eyes of the pirate also glittered with
greed. For he had noticed two other scars on

290

Sport of Pirate Island

John's gingerbread body, similar to the one the
diamond had been picked out of. Taking the
diamond in his dirty hand he said :

"Well, where are the other jewels ?"

" You agreed to accept this one as our ransom,"
answered the gingerbread man.

"You misunderstood me. I said three," declared
the pirate; and turning to his men he shouted:
" Did n't I say three, boys ? '

" You did ! You said three sparklers ! " cried the
retired pirates and bandits, in a loud chorus. So
John, with a sigh of regret, picked the other two
diamonds out of his body and gave them to the chief.

" Now," said the pirate, " I will allow you to go.
But where you can go to is a mystery to me, for
you are on an island."

"Stop!' cried another man, as they turned to
depart. " You 've got to settle with me, now. I 'm
the bandit chief, and I also demand a ransom."

" I have given the pirate chief all the diamonds
I had," said John.

" Then you shall surely boil in oil ! ' shouted
the bandit, scowling fearfully. " Seize them, my
men, and away with them to the fiery furnace."

But just then came a flutter of wings, and the
four flamingoes flew down and sailed along just

291

Sport of Pirate Island

over the heads of the prisoners. Instantly the bear
clutched the end of a cord and was drawn upward
by one of the birds. John Dough grasped the foot
of another flamingo with his right hand, and was
also raised high above the heads of the astonished
pirates and bandits, while Chick coolly sat within
the loop of string dangling from the two remaining
birds and sailed into the sky with admirable grace.

Meantime the robbers shook their fists and yelled
at the escaped prisoners in a frenzy of helpless
rage.

" Wait a minute ! ' Para Bruin called to the
flamingo which was carrying him ; for he observed
that just beneath him was the form of the dreadful
person who had called himself Sport. The bird
obeyed, remaining poised in the air; and at once
the bear curled himself into a ball, let go the cord,
and fell downward toward the ground.

The ball of rubber, rapidly descending, struck the
surprised Sport and smashed him flat upon the
ground. Then up into the air bounded the bear
again, and caught once more the cord that was at-
tached to the flamingo's foot.

"Well done!' called the Cherub, while the
pirates and bandits were rushing to assist the help-
less Sport.

292

Sport of Pirate Island

" That was a noble deed, my good Para ! ' said
the gingerbread man.

"Oh, I 'm a bouncer, all right!' answered the
bear, proudly. " But now let us get away from
this awful place as soon as possible."

So the flamingoes flew swiftly across the sea with
them, and John Dough found that he sailed more
easily while clutching the bird's foot than when
the cord had been fastened around his body. Chick
also rode with perfect comfort, but Para Bruin was
obliged to wrap the cord several times around his
fat paw, to prevent it from slipping out of his grasp.

293

After a long and steady flight the birds reached
another island, larger than the first, and much
more beautiful. The adventurers looked down
upon green valleys and vine-covered hills, patches
of stately forest and fields of waving grain. But
aside from the scattered farm-houses, they saw no
cities or villages until they were over the exact
center of the island, where a most curious sight
met their view.

The island was divided into two halves by a
high and strong wall of stone, that ran from ocean
to ocean, passing exactly through the center of the
land. In the middle of the island the dividing
wall was broken by a great castle, which looked
upon both sides of the wall, and had many impos-
ing towers and turrets and spires stretching high
into the air. Clustered near to the castle and
upon the east side of the wall were many
tall an dp narrow buildings, some of them rising to
a height of three or four stories. The windows
in these buildings were tall and narrow, and the
doors were tall and narrow, and the chimneys were

294

THE CASTLE OF HILAND AND LOLAND

295

Hiland and Loland

tall and narrow. It was quite a city in size, but
the houses all looked as if they were set upon
stilts, while the streets were also narrow.

On the west side of the wall, adjoining the
castle, was also a city, but of a quite different sort.
For the houses were low, none being of more
than one story, and the windows and doors in them
were so broad and low that they were wider than
they were high. As for the streets, they were re-
markably broad. The cities upon both sides of
the wall were pretty and well built, and there
were many beautiful parks and pleasure grounds
scattered about.

Our friends had not much time to observe these
things closely, for at John's request the flamingoes
alighted upon the top of the great wall, near to an
entrance of the castle.

"We must leave you now," said one of the birds,
"for we are obliged to hurry home again. But I
am sure you will be quite safe in this beautiful
country."

"Good-by," said John, "and thank you very
much for bringing us here."

Chick and the bear also thanked the kind
flamingoes, and then the birds flew into the air and
soon disappeared.

296

H i 1

a n

d L o 1

a n

"What a lovely place to bounce!' said Para
Bruin, leaning over the edge of the wall nearest to
the tall houses and gazing downward into the street.

"It's a good way down," said Chick. "You'd
better be careful."

"Nonsense!" replied the bear, scornfully. "The
higher the wall the finer the bounce."

With that he made a ball of himself and rolled
off the wall.
John and Chick
leaned over and
saw the rubber
bear strike the
pavement far be-
low and then
bound upward
again. When he
was on a level
with the top of the
walls he reached out
his paws, caught the
edge of the stones, and
drew himself up be-
side them.

"Great, was n't
it ? '" he asked, proudly.

297

Hiland and ol

a n

"Yes; but I advise you to be careful," said the
gingerbread man. " We know nothing of the
people who inhabit this country, and if you should
chance to miss the wall when you bound upwards
you would become a prisoner and be at the mercy
of those who captured you."

"That's true," agreed the bear. "I'll be more
careful until we get better acquainted. What shall
we do now ? '

"Let's try to find a way into the castle," sug-
gested Chick. "It's the only way to get off this
wall, for I can't bounce as you do, Para Bruin."

"Nor can I," added John. "How strange it is
that the island should be divided by this great wall !
And how queer to have everything short on one
side and tall on the other! But perhaps the people
in the castle can explain it all."

They walked along the broad wall toward the
castle, and presently came to the large entrance
gate, one of the wickets of which stood ajar, as if ,
inviting them to enter.

"Shall we go in ? " asked John, hesitating.

" Of course," decided Chick, promptly. "What 's
the use of staying outside, when the door's open ? '

So they passed through the wicket and entered
a lofty arched hall, built of blocks of exquisite

298

Hiland and Loland

marble, that gave it a grand and majestic appearance.
There was a small stairway leading upward and a
large stairway descending to the lower floors of the
castle; but no one was in sight to greet them, so
they decided to go down the stairs.

" Evidently they did not expect us," remarked
Para Bruin.

" This must be the castle of the ruler, or king,"
replied John, " and perhaps the royal family is at
dinner, or the king is holding court."

But at the foot of the stairs they found the hall-
ways and rooms as deserted and empty as could be,
and their footsteps echoed with a hollow sound
upon the tiled floors.

The furniture of the castle was magnificent be-
yond description, and the draperies and pictures
upon the walls were of exceptional beauty. Every-
thing was in perfect order, yet the place seemed
wholly deserted.

After inspecting the Brooms on this floor of the
castle they found another stairway, built of polished
white marble, with elaborately carved marble balus-
trades. This they also descended, and discovered
that the rooms on the lower floor were even more
splendid than those they had already seen.

Occupying the entire central portion of the castle

299

Hiland and ol

a n

was a great marble hall, having a domed ceiling, and
windows which looked upon the tall city to the
east of the wall, as well as upon the low city to the
west. There were also great entrance doors, ad-
mitting people from both sides of the wall; but
these doors were closed.

They were not locked, however, and John said
to his companions : " We know nothing of the
owner of this castle, nor of the people inhabiting
the opposite sides of the great wall. They may
prove to be either our enemies or our friends, so I
advise that we be cautious until we know what
treatment we may expect from them. Two of us
should remain here while the third boldly enters
inot the cities to make inquiries."

" I '11 go," said Chick.

"No, indeed; you're too young and too small,"
objected Para Bruin.

"But I'm just a regular child, while you're a
rubber bear and John Dough's a gingerbread man,"
said the Cherub. "They wouldn't think anything
of my being here; but if either of you two go
there 's^iable to be trouble."

" The Cherub is wise for one so young," observed
John. " Therefore we will let the child visit the
cities and report to us. Having found the castle

300

"THE CHERUB IS WISE FOR ONE SO YOUNG"

30!

Hiland and ol

a n

deserted, we will take the liberty of occupying it
until our little friend returns."

So they opened one of the great doors, and Chick
walked boldly out into the main street of the high
and narrow city to the eastward.

Pacing before the entrance, as if guarding the
doorway from without, was a soldier who stood
more than seven feet in height, but who was
so exceedingly thin and slender that it really
seemed as if some strange power had stretched
him out lenghtwise. But Chick noticed that all
the people walking along the streets of this city
were just as tall and slight as the soldier, and
quickly understood why the doors and windows
of their houses had been built so singularly tall
and narrow.

The soldier seemed surprised when the Cherub
emerged from the deserted castle, but he took off
his tall hat and bowed politely. His uniform was
of blue cloth, with brass buttons.

"What place is this?" asked Chick.

" This, beauteous stranger, is the great coun-
try of^Hiland," answered the soldier, respectfully.
"And this is the great city of Hie which you see
before you ; and the great people you observe are
called Hilanders; and I do not suppose there is so

302

H i 1

a n

d L o 1

a n

great and wonderful a country, or city, or people
anywhere else in all the world."

"What is the castle called?" asked the child.

"We call it the castle of Hilo," said the man.
"It was the dwelling of the former King of Hilo,
who ruled over our great nation as well as over
the miserable creatures residing
on the other side of the wall."

" But where is your King
now?' inquired Chick.
" The castle is empty."

" To be sure the castle
is vacant at present, for
our King is long since
dead," the soldier re-
plied. " But we are
patiently awaiting
the arrival of his
There

successor.

303

is a prophecy that
our next ruler will
be a King who is
wise and just, but
not made of flesh
and blood, and al-
though this

Hiland and ol

a n

an impossible thing, our people hope that the
prophecy will some day be fulfilled."

"But why don't you make one of your own
people king?" asked Chick.

" Because the island is divided into two sections,
and one king must rule both sides of the wall,"
replied the man. " Of course we would not allow
one of the insignificant Loes to rule us, nor will
they consent to allow one of our noble Hies to
rule them. Therefore we must get along without
a king until the arrival of the wise and just ruler
who is neither flesh nor blood."

"Who are the Loes?" the child asked.

" I have never seen them, my dear, for the great
wall divides them from our superior nation," said
the soldier ; " but they are said to be short and squat,
and very disagreeable. They live on the other side
of the island."

"Thank you for the information," said Chick,
and then turned and re-entered the castle.

"What did you find out?" inquired John and
Para Bruin, in the same breath.

Th^child carefully related the conversation with
the Hie soldier, and then said:

" Now, I '11 go into the other city, and find out
what the people on that side of the wall have to say."

304

H i 1

a n

d L o 1

a n

So John and Para opened the door at the oppo-
site side of the arched hall, and the Cherub passed
out and came upon another soldier, who seemed to
be standing guard at the castle entrance. This one
was dressed in a red uniform, with silver buttons,
and was the shortest and fattest person Chick had
ever beheld. But his broad face was smiling and

good-natured in expression, and he tipped his. low,
flat hat gracefully to the pretty Incubator Baby.

"What country is this?" asked the child.

" This, most lovely one, is the superb and grand
country of Loland," replied the man ; " and this
splendid city you behold is the city of Lo ; and
our magnificent people are called Lolanders."

305

Hiland and Loland

" What is the castle called ? " Chick inquired,
curiously.

"It is the Castle of Lohi, inhabited by our King
when we have one who also rules the poor
barbarians who dwell outside of our paradise, on
the other side of the wall."

"When do you expect to have another king?"
asked the Cherub.

"Whenever one comes who is wise and just, and
is not made of flesh and blood," replied the man.
"We have a legend that such a king shall rule us,
but for my part I do not believe there is a person
of that description in all the world."

"Yet there may be," suggested Chick, who had
been thinking that the description just fitted John
Dough.

" Oh, of course there may be," agreed the man,
cordially; "and if there is, and he comes to our
island, every one on both sides the wall will hail him
as king."

Looking along the streets of the city of Lo,
Chick saw that all the people were as short and fat
as this^soldier, and that they waddled like ducks
when they walked. But they seemed as busy as
bees in a hive, and appeared to be happy and con-
tented; so the child could not decide which was

306

H i 1

a n

d L o 1

a n

the finest country that of the short people or
that of the tall ones. Both cities seemed prosper-
ous, and on both sides of the wall the island was
charmingly beautiful.

It may appear strange to the reader that neither
of the soldiers Chick had spoken with made any
attempt to question the child. But afterward our
friends found that one of the established laws of
the island forbade any of the people to ask ques-
tions either of strangers or of those inhabiting the
country on the opposite side of the wall. How-
ever, they were not forbidden to answer any ques-
tions properly addressed to them, and by nature
both the tall people and the short people were
extremely courteous and polite.

Chick decided this queer law was to blame
for the misunderstanding
between the two nations,
for, as neither country knew
anything at all about the
other one, a feeling of mu-
tual contempt and indiffer-
ence had arisen between
them.

307

King Dough

After the conversation with the soldier, Chick
went back to the hall of the castle and told John
Dough and Para Bruin what the man had said.

"They all expect a wise and just ruler, who is
not made of flesh and blood," reported the little
one ; " so I guess it 's up to you, John, to run this
island."

" I 'm surprised," said Para Bruin, " that they do
not prefer a king who is made of pure rubber and
can bounce. But if they want John Dough instead
of me I 'm willing to yield in his favor."

"You shall be my Chief Counselor," replied
John ; " only I reserve the right to act as I please
in case I do not like your counsels."

"That is entirely fair and reasonable," declared
Para Bruin, " and I thank you for the honor you
have conferred upon me."

"I 'm going to be Head Booleywag," said Chick,
gravely.

308

King Dough and His Court

"What's that?" asked John.

"It's the one that rules the ruler," said the
smiling Cherub. " So just behave yourselves
you and your Chief Counselor and you'll both
find I know my business."

Thereupon the child led John Dough to the
King's attiring-room, and hunted in the closets
until a fine ermine robe and a crown and scepter
were discovered. The crown was a little tarnished

309

King Dough and His Court

from lack of use, -but the jewels in it still sparkled
brightly; so the bear set it upon John's gingerbread
head and put the scepter in his right hand. Chick
folded the ermine robe around him in such a way
that his missing left hand was not noticed, and
then they led the gingerbread man to the great
hall and placed him in the royal throne.

He might have looked more dignified had not
his nose been badly chipped and his left glass eye
so loose in its socket that it rolled every way but
the right way; however, the robe concealed the
fact that his shirt-front was soiled and cracked, and
that several lozenge-buttons had broken off during
his recent adventures. But kingly robes and a
kingly crown cover many defects, and when Para
Bruin and the Cherub stood back and took a
critical look at their friend they felt quite proud of
his regal appearance.

When all had been made ready and John was
seated in the throne, Chick went to the west door
of the castle hall and threw it open, and at the
same time Para Bruin opened wide the east door.
Then, together, they cried out to the people:

"The King has come! Enter his castle, all ye
Hilanders and Lolanders, and greet the new ruler
in a fitting manner!'

310

KING DOUGH THE FIRST

311

So the tall and slender people trooped in at one
door and the short and fat people trooped in at
the other; and all gazed with awe and reverence
at the strange form of the gingerbread king, who

312

King Dough and His Court

was surely not flesh and blood, and might easily be
a wise and just ruler.

There was no disputing the fulfillment of the
prophecy ; so all bowed humbly before John, whom
Chick introduced to his subjects in a shrill, child-
ish voice as "King Dough the First, ruler of the
Twin Kingdoms of Hiland and Loland."

Afterward there was feasting and rejoicing in
both cities, and John made a royal procession on
both sides of the great wall, being everywhere
received with shouts of enthusiastic joy.

The gingerbread man proved a very successful
ruler; and as neither he nor Para Bruin ate any-
thing and Chick returned to a diet of oatmeal and
cream, the King's expenses were very light, and he
was not obliged to tax his people to support his
royal state.

One of the first laws he made was that no one
in the two nations should eat gingerbread that was
more than three days old, under pain of death;
this prevented his ever being in danger when he
traveled in either land.

Another thing he did was to engage a fat little
woman of Loland to make and bake him a new
gingerbread hand, having five excellent fingers at
the end of it. Also she made gingerbread patches

313

King Dough and His Court

to fit his broken ear and his crumbled nose and his
damaged heel, as well as some lovely new coat-
tails ; and when the hand and all these patches
were placed where they belonged, John drank the
cordial contained in the silver flask that the Beaver
Fairy had given him, and at once the new ginger-
bread became a part of his body, and he was as
perfect as the day he had left Monsieur Jules'
bake-shop.

The woman also repaired his frosting and
fastened some new lozenge-buttons to his waist-
coat, after which John presented so neat and
respectable an appearance that all his people were
very proud of him.

Para Bruin also became a great favorite in the
two cities, and the tall and short folks loved
to watch him stand upon the high wall that
divided the two nations, from which he would
leap to the ground and immediately bound back
again to his station on the wall. He was always
good-natured and cheerful, quite winning the
hearts of the Hilanders by poking fun at the
Lolanders, and afterward delighting the Lolanders
by jeering at the Hilanders.

So Para Bruin's life was a happy one, and for
countless years he remained the close friend and

314

King Dough and His Court

companion of King Dough the First, the popular
and worthy ruler of Hiland and Loland.

The Records of the Kingdom say very little of
Chick's later history, merely mentioning the fact
that the King's most valuable assistant was the
Head Booleywag, who grew up to be the especial
favorite of all the inhabitants of the island. But,
curiously enough, the Records fail to state whether
the Head Booleywag was a man or a woman.

THE END

PBAIRIEBOG
TOWN

LAURA BANCROFT

LAUR.A BAN C R. O F T

THE TWINKLE TALES

SIX CHARMING NEW STORIES FOR CHILDREN

BY LAURA BANCROFT

Miss Bancroft has a delightful vein of humor of the quaint, sparkling variety which readily
appeals to children of all ages. Several critics who have read The Twinkle Tales
favorably compare Miss Bancroft's stories to Mr. Baum's works.

For this series the clever artist, Maginel \V right Enright has made over one
hundred special drawings admirably illustrating the text. The pictures, all full page, are
beautifully reproduced in many colors, each book containing fifteen pictures and a
decorated title page. The bindings are of imported vellum stamped in four colors with
striking designs.

The Twinkle Tales are entertaining to read; splendidly illustrated; beautiful in
appearance ; perfectly printed on fine paper ; excellently well bound. Price 50 cents per
volume.

TWINKLES
ENCHANTMENT

THE CHRISTMAS f

STOCKING SERIES

Six beautifully made books designed for little children; with
a charming introduction written especially for the series by

L. FRANK BAUM

The books selected for The Chrismas Stocking Series may well be called

Children's Classics. They are :

Little Black Sambo
A Child's Visit to the Zoo
Fairy Tales from Grimm
Fairy Tales from Andersen
The "Night Before Christmas

Cinderalla and the Sleeping
Beauty

Great care has been taken to make these books attractive. For the cover of each an
appropriate panel was painted by a clever artist. These panels, which all have a back-
ground of holly-leaves and berries, are reproduced in full color and are very bright and
gay. Genuine English vellum cloth is used for the binding. Every volume contains from
fifteen to twenty-seven full page pictures in colors, besides from twenty to forty black-and-
white illustrations. The type is large and clear and the paper of fine quality. All the
books have fancy end-sheets with emblematic designs, and each volume has a specially
drawn pictorial title page in colors.

The small size of these books 5 x 3 inches together with the gay covers, make them
especially pleasing to children.

Price 35 cents per volume

THE CHILD'S LIBRARY

MADE UP OF THE

CHRISTMAS STOCKING SERIES

The six volumes
are put up in a
miniature book-
case made of Jap-
enese wood-veneer

These cases are
very dear to the
little folks, the trans-
parent doors being
hinged so they open
and shut

inches high; 5 inches wide; 3^2 inches deep.
Beautifully finished, dainty and Unique.
Price $2.00

T w o Volume Sets Boxed as Follows

The Night Before Christmas
Little Black Sambo

A Child's Visit to the Zoo
Cinderella and the Sleeping Beauty

Fairy Tales from Andersen
Fairy Tales from Grimm

Put up in fancy boxes. Price 75 cents per set.

THE LAND OF OZ

BY L. FRANK BAUM

A SEQUEL TO THE WIZARD OF OZ

The Land of Oz gives an account of the further adventures of the Scarecrow and Tin
Woodman, and introduces Jack Pumpkinhead, the Animated Saw-Horse, the Highly
Magnified Woggle-Bug; the Gump and many other delightful characters.

Nearly 1 50 black and white illustrations and 1 6 full-page pictures in colors by
JOHN R. NEILL

8vo, 300 pages. Uniform in size with John Dough and the Cherub.
Handsomely bound in cloth, stamped in three colors. Price $1.25

THE WOGGLE-BUG BOOK

BY L. FRANK BAUM

In this book Mr. Baum has told in his inimitable style, the remarkable tale of the Woggle-
Bug's love affairs. It will be enjoyed by every one men, women and children.
Different from any other book. Novel in story, pictures, size, printing and general
make-up. Illustrated on every page with grotesque pictures by Ike Morgan.

Size 15 x 1 1 inches; bound in stiff cardboard handsomely decorated; printed
throughout in many colors. Price 50 cents.

S - ....

dOHN DOUGH

MYSTERY