THE KING'S TREASURE CHAMBER
Chapter 10.
All the Blueskins assembled in the servants' hall were amazed to see thepets of the Princesses trailing after the strange little girl, but Trottook her place next to Button-Bright at the table, and the parrotperched upon her shoulder, while the peacock stood upon one side of herchair, and the lamb upon the other, and the cat and dog lay at her feet,and the blue rabbit climbed into her lap and cuddled down there. Some ofthe Blueskins insisted that the animals and birds must be put out of theroom, but Ghip-Ghisizzle said they could remain, as they were thefavored pets of the lovely Snubnosed Princesses.
Cap'n Bill was delighted to see his dear little friend again, and so wasButton-Bright, and now that they were reunited--for a time, atleast--they paid little heed to the sour looks and taunting remarks ofthe ugly Blueskins and ate heartily of the dinner, which was really verygood.
The meal was no sooner over than Ghip-Ghisizzle was summoned to thechamber of his Majesty the Boolooroo, but before he went away he tookTrot and Cap'n Bill and Button-Bright into a small room and advised themto stay there until he returned, so that the servants and soldiers wouldnot molest them.
"My people seem to dislike strangers," said the Majordomo, thoughtfully,"and that surprises me because you are the first strangers they haveever seen. I think they imagine you will become favorites of theBoolooroo and of the Princesses, and that is why they are jealous andhate you."
"They needn't worry 'bout that," replied Trot; "the Snubnoses hate meworse than the people do."
"I can't imagine a bootblue becoming a royal favorite," grumbledButton-Bright.
"Or a necktie mixer," added Cap'n Bill.
"You don't mix neckties; you're a nectar mixer," said Ghip-Ghisizzle,correcting the sailor. "I'll not be gone long, for I'm no favorite ofthe Boolooroo, either, so please stay quietly in this room until myreturn."
The Majordomo found the Boolooroo in a bad temper. He had finished hisdinner, where his six daughters had bitterly denounced Trot all throughthe meal and implored their father to invent some new and terriblepunishment for her. Also his wife, the Queen, had made him angry bybegging for gold to buy ribbons with. Then, when he had retired to hisown private room, he decided to send for the umbrella he had stolen fromButton-Bright, and test its magic powers. But the umbrella, in hishands, proved just as common as any other umbrella might. He opened itand closed it, and turned it this way and that, commanding it to do allsorts of things; but of course the Magic Umbrella would obey no one buta member of the family that rightfully owned it. At last the Boolooroothrew it down and stamped upon it and then kicked it into a corner,where it rolled underneath a cabinet. Then he sent for Ghip-Ghisizzle.
"Do you know how to work that Magic Umbrella?" he asked the Majordomo.
"No, your Majesty; I do not," was the reply.
"Well, find out. Make the Whiteskins tell you, so that I can use it formy own amusement."
"I'll do my best, your Majesty," said Ghip-Ghisizzle.
"You'll do more than that, or I'll have you patched!" roared the angryBoolooroo. "And don't waste any time, either, for as soon as we find outthe secret of the umbrella I'm going to have the three strangers marchedthrough the Arch of Phinis--and that will be the end of them."
"You can't do that, your Majesty," said the Majordomo.
"Why can't I?"
"They haven't lived six hundred years yet, and only those who have livedthat length of time are allowed to march through the Arch of Phinis intothe Great Blue Grotto."
The King looked at him with a sneer.
"Has anyone ever come out of that Arch alive?" he asked.
"No," said Ghip-Ghisizzle. "But no one has ever gone into the BlueGrotto until his allotted time was up."
"Well, I'm going to try the experiment," declared the Boolooroo. "Ishall march these three strangers through the Arch, and if by any chancethey come out alive I'll do a new sort of patching--I'll chop off theirheads and mix 'em up, putting the wrong head on each of 'em. Ha, ha!Won't it be funny to see the old Moonface's head on the little girl? Ho,Ho! I really hope they'll come out of the Great Blue Grotto alive!"
"I also hope they will," replied Ghip-Ghisizzle.
"Then I'll bet you four button-holes they don't. I've a suspicion thatonce they enter the Great Blue Grotto that's the last of them."
Ghip-Ghisizzle went away quite sad and unhappy. He did not approve theway the strangers were being treated and thought it was wicked and cruelto try to destroy them.
During his absence the prisoners had been talking together veryearnestly.
"We must get away from here, somehow 'r other," said Cap'n Bill; "but o'course we can't stir a step without the Magic Umbrel."
"No; I must surely manage to get my umbrella first," said Button-Bright.
"Do it quick, then," urged Trot, "for I can't stand those snubnoses muchlonger."
"I'll do it to-night," said the boy.
"The sooner the better, my lad," remarked the sailor; "but seein' as theBlue Boolooroo has locked it up in his Treasure Chamber, it mayn't beeasy to get hold of."
"No; it won't be easy," Button-Bright admitted. "But it has to be done,Cap'n Bill, and there's no use waiting any longer. No one here likes us,and in a few days they may make an end of us."
"Oh, Button-Bright! There's a Blue Wolf in the Treasure Chamber!"exclaimed Trot.
"Yes; I know."
"An' a patched man on guard outside," Cap'n Bill reminded him.
"I know," repeated Button-Bright.
"And the key's in the King's own pocket," added Trot, despairingly.
The boy nodded. He didn't say how he would overcome all thesedifficulties, so the little girl feared they would never see the MagicUmbrella again. But their present position was a very serious one andeven Cap'n Bill dared not advise Button-Bright to give up the desperateattempt.
When Ghip-Ghisizzle returned he said:
"You must be very careful not to anger the Boolooroo, or he may do you amischief. I think the little girl had better keep away from thePrincesses for to-night, unless they demand her presence. The boy mustgo for the King's shoes and blue them and polish them and then take themback to the Royal Bedchamber. Cap'n Bill won't have anything to do, forI've ordered Tiggle to mix the nectar."
"Thank 'e, friend Sizzle," said Cap'n Bill.
"Now follow me and I will take you to your rooms."
He led them to the rear of the palace, where he gave them three smallrooms on the ground floor, each having a bed in it. Cap'n Bill's roomhad a small door leading out into the street of the City, butGhip-Ghisizzle advised him to keep this door locked, as the city peoplewould be sure to hurt the strangers if they had the chance to attackthem.
"You're safer in the palace than anywhere else," said the Majordomo,"for there is no way you can escape from the island, and here theservants and soldiers dare not injure you for fear of the Boolooroo."
He placed Trot and her six pets--which followed her wherever shewent--in one room, and Cap'n Bill in another, and took Button-Brightaway with him to show the boy the way to the King's bedchamber. As theyproceeded they passed many rooms with closed doors, and before one ofthese a patched Blueskin was pacing up and down in a tired and sleepyway. It was Jimfred Jinksjones, the double of the Fredjim Jonesjinksthey had talked with in the servants' hall, and he bowed low before theMajordomo.
"This is the King's new bootblue, a stranger who has lately arrivedhere," said Ghip-Ghisizzle, introducing the boy to the patched man.
"I'm sorry for him," muttered Jimfred. "He's a queer looking chap, withhis pale yellow skin, and I imagine our cruel Boolooroo is likely topatch him before long, as he did me--I mean us."
"No, he won't," said Button-Bright, positively. "The Boolooroo's afraidof me."
"Oh, that's different," said Jimfred. "You're the first person I everknew that could scare our Boolooroo."
They passed on, and Ghip-Ghisizzle whispered: "That is the RoyalTreasure Chamber."
When they came to the King's apartments there was another guard beforethe door, this time a long-necked soldier with a terrible scowl.
"This slave is the Royal Bootblue," said Ghip-Ghisizzle to the guard."You will allow him to pass into his Majesty's chamber to get the royalshoes and to return them when they are blued."
"All right," answered the guard. "Our Boolooroo is in an ugly moodto-night. It will go hard with this little short-necked creature if hedoesn't polish the shoes properly."
Then Ghip-Ghisizzle left Button-Bright and went away, and the boy passedthrough several rooms to the Royal Bedchamber, where his Majesty satundressing.
"Hi, there! What are you doing here?" he roared, as he sawButton-Bright.
"I've come for the shoes," said the boy.
The king threw them at his head, aiming carefully, but Button-Brightdodged the missiles and one smashed a mirror while the other shattered avase on a small table. His Majesty looked around for something else tothrow, but the boy seized the shoes and ran away, returning to his ownroom.
While he polished the shoes he told his plans to Cap'n Bill and Trot,and asked them to be ready to fly with him as soon as he returned withthe Magic Umbrella. All they need to do was to step out into the street,through the door of Cap'n Bill's room, and open the umbrella.Fortunately, the seats and the lunch-basket were still attached to thehandle--or so they thought--and there would be nothing to prevent theirquickly starting on the journey home.
They waited a long time, however, to give the Boolooroo time to get tosleep, so it was after midnight when Button-Bright finally took theshoes in his hand and started for the Royal Bedchamber. He passed theguard of the Royal Treasury and Fredjim nodded good-naturedly to theboy. But the sleepy guard before the King's apartments was cross andsurly.
"What are you doing here at this hour?" he demanded.
"I'm returning his Majesty's shoes," said Button-Bright.
"Go back and wait till morning," commanded the guard.
"If you prevent me from obeying the Boolooroo's orders," returned theboy, quietly, "he will probably have you patched."
This threat frightened the long-necked guard, who did not know whatorders the Boolooroo had given his Royal Bootblue.
"Go in, then," said he; "but if you make a noise and waken his Majesty,the chances are you'll get yourself patched."
"I'll be quiet," promised the boy.
Indeed, Button-Bright had no desire to waken the Boolooroo, whom hefound snoring lustily with the curtains of his high-posted bed drawntightly around him. The boy had taken off his own shoes after he passedthe guard and now he tiptoed carefully into the room, set down the royalshoes very gently and then crept to the chair where his Majesty'sclothes were piled. Scarcely daring to breathe, for fear of awakeningthe terrible monarch, the boy searched in the royal pockets until hefound a blue-gold key attached to a blue-gold chain. At once he decidedthis must be the key to the Treasure Chamber, but in order to make surehe searched in every other pocket--without finding another key.
Then Button-Bright crept softly out of the room again, and in one of theouter rooms he sat down near a big cabinet and put on his shoes. PoorButton-Bright did not know that lying disregarded beneath that verycabinet at his side was the precious umbrella he was seeking, or that hewas undertaking a desperate adventure all for nothing. He passed thelong-necked guard again, finding the man half asleep, and then made hisway to the Treasure Chamber. Facing Jimfred he said to the patched man,in a serious tone:
"His Majesty commands you to go at once to the corridor leading to theapartments of the Six Snubnosed Princesses and to guard the entranceuntil morning. You are to permit no one to enter or to leave theapartments."
"But--good gracious!" exclaimed the surprised Jimfred; "who will guardthe Treasure Chamber?"
"I am to take your place," said Button-Bright.
"Oh, very well," replied Jimfred; "this is a queer freak for ourBoolooroo to indulge in, but he is always doing something absurd. You'renot much of a guard, seems to me, but if anyone tries to rob theTreasure Chamber you must ring this big gong, which will alarm the wholepalace and bring the soldiers to your assistance. Do you understand?"
"Yes," said Button-Bright.
Then Fredjim stalked away to the other side of the palace to guard thePrincesses, and Button-Bright was left alone with the key to theTreasure Chamber in his hand. But he had not forgotten that theferocious Blue Wolf was guarding the interior of the Chamber, so hesearched in some of the rooms until he found a sofa-pillow, which he putunder his arm and then returned to the corridor.
He placed the key in the lock and the bolt turned with a sharp click.Button-Bright did not hesitate. He was afraid, to be sure, and his heartwas beating fast with the excitement of the moment, but he knew he mustregain the Magic Umbrella if he would save his comrades and himself fromdestruction, for without it they could never return to the Earth. So hesummoned up his best courage, opened the door, stepped quicklyinside--and closed the door after him.
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