CHAPTER XI.--WHAT HAPPENED IN THE GRIM FOREST.
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HEY entered the Palace gardens by the private gate, the key of whichKing Smith I. had given to Boy before he started, and were walkingtowards Boy's apartments when they met His Majesty, the late footman,hurrying along one of the corridors. He bowed rather distantly to theother two Kings, and said to Boy, in an excited tone of voice,--
"I've found the Portmanteau!"
"Never!" cried Boy.
"Yes," replied King Smith I., "I was sitting having my tea, whensuddenly it dropped down from somewhere on to the tea-table. I can'tthink where it came from. Come and see it;" and he led the way to hisapartments, where, sure enough, there was the Portmanteau, about whichsuch a fuss had been made. It was quite an ordinary-looking one, butthere could be no mistake as to whom it belonged, for there were thewords,
```"H.M. the King of Limesia.
````His Bag"
written on it, and below in smaller letters--
```"_Steal not this bag for fear of shame,_
```_For on it is the owner's name_."
"Where can it have come from?" asked Boy, gazing at it curiously.
"I can't think," replied King Smith I., "unless Ohah had something to dowith it. I shouldn't be at all surprised if he had a finger in the pie."
"Perhaps," suggested Boy, "he made it invisible like the Prince andPrincess, and now that he is a Kottle his charms have lost their power."
"Very likely," agreed the others. And then the question arose, "Whatshould be done with it?"
Boy thought it ought to be sent back to the King of Limesia, but theothers said "No! let him send for it, or come for it himself if he wantsit;" and King Smith I. thought that an advertisement ought to be sent tothe papers, worded something like this
FOUND A RATHER SHABBY PORTMANTEAU,
Belonging to some king or another. If not claimed within the nextten days, will be sold to defray expenses. The finder expects to behandsomely; rewarded.
They could not come to any definite arrangements about it, though, andit was placed in the corner of the room while they had their tea.
During this meal Boy was rather silent, for he was hatching in his ownmind a little plot, in which the Portmanteau was to play an importantpart.
"How far is Limesia from here?" he asked casually, while tea was goingon.
"Oh! not far," was the reply; "it is the adjoining kingdom, just throughthe Grim Forest, you know."
Boy knew where the Grim Forest was, for it had been pointed out to himfrom one of the Palace windows--a great dark-looking wood stretchingaway as far as the eye could see.
"Is there no other way of getting there?" he asked anxiously.
"No," was the reply, "that is the only way;" and Boy sat thinkingand thinking till tea was over and the other Kings went home; then hesuggested to King Smith I. that he should take charge of the Portmanteautill the King of Limesia sent for it, and this having been agreed to, hecarried it up to his own apartments.
"If I can only get it to the King of Limesia," he thought, "he would nodoubt be very pleased, and perhaps would advise me what I ought to doabout fetching the little King back again;" for you see Boy was greatlyworried at the way in which things were going on at Zum; he felt thatwith so many Kings and Queens about there was a great danger of thecountry coming to grief.
So as soon as he could he manfully set out from the Palace quite aloneto try and find his way through Grim Forest to Limesia. He had discardedhis paper crown and sceptre and carried the precious Portmanteau--whichfortunately was not very heavy--on his shoulder. He was rather alarmedat the prospect of his journey through the dark forest, but he was abrave, sturdy little fellow, and determined to make the best of it. Hecommenced whistling as he entered the wood, and had not gone far when hesaw an old man gathering sticks.
"Can you please tell me, is it far to Limesia?" he asked.
"Eh?" said the man, putting his hand to his ear.
"Is it far to Limesia, please?" repeated Boy.
"Ay! that's what I told her!" said the old man, shaking his head, "butshe would put the onions into it. I told her the gentlefolks would besure not to like'em."
"You don't understand me," shouted Boy; "I want to know the way toLimesia."
"I dare say they have, I dare say they have," replied the old man; "useis no odds in these parts, sir."
"Oh dear me!" thought Boy, "he's dreadfully deaf; I shall never make himhear, I am afraid;" and he was just going to walk away when he saw anold woman in a red cloak hobbling towards them with the aid of a crookedstick.
"My husband is very deaf," she said, "and cannot hear a word you say.Can I do anything for you, sir?"
"Oh, I was only asking the way to Limesia," said Boy.
"Why, you can't go there to-night!" said the woman; "it's ever so far;you had better stay at our cottage till the morning."
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Boy thanked her very gratefully, for he really did not care for the longwalk through the woods by himself.
The old woman gave her husband a poke with her stick, and pointed to thecottage which Boy could see in the distance; and the old man nodded hishead, and led the way with the bundle of sticks on his shoulder, whileBoy and the old lady followed behind.
"What a beautiful old house!" exclaimed Boy, when they reached thecottage; for it was indeed a lovely place, quite overgrown withclimbing roses, which were just then in full bloom. There were niceold-fashioned, latticed windows with pretty white curtains and quainttwisted chimneys above the roof, and altogether it was a charming oldplace.
"Why, it must be a great deal too big for you and your husband, surely,"said Boy, as they entered the wicket gate which led into the littlegarden before the cottage.
"Oh, it doesn't belong to us," explained the woman; "it was the lateKing of Zum's Hunting Lodge, and we live here rent free as caretakers.We have the kitchen and two small rooms, and the rest of the house hasbeen occupied this last five years or more by gentlefolks," said the oldwoman dropping her voice to a whisper and looking up nervously at theupper windows. "But come you in and have some supper; that is, if youdon't mind having it with us," and the kind old soul led the way tothe kitchen, which was scrupulously clean, and Boy sat down on a littlethree-legged stool while she made some milk hot in a caldron over thewood fire which was alight on the old-fashioned hearth.
Presently a bell rang and the old woman asked Boy to watch that the milkdidn't boil over while she went upstairs to wait on the gentlefolks.
She came down a minute or two afterwards with a piece of paper which shehanded to Boy.
"Will you please tell me what is written on there?" she said. "It'sgetting dusk, and my poor old eyes are not so good as they used to be."
"_We shall not require anything else to-night, and please let breakfastbe ready by nine o'clock to-morrow morning_," read Boy.
"Oh! that's all right then," said the old woman, pouring out the milkinto some basins for their supper.
"But why don't they tell you what they want instead of writing it?"asked Boy.
"They can't," explained the woman; "they are invisible and speechless.It's a very sad story," she said, sighing sorrowfully.
"Why, I know a lady and gentleman who are invisible too," exclaimed Boy,thinking of the Crown Prince and the Princess. "I wonder if they canpossibly be the same."
"These gentlefolks have only been like that for a few months," said thewoman; "they came here four or five years ago, a beautiful lady anda fine handsome young gentleman with one servant, a rather stout,pleasant-spoken woman, and lived here very quiet. I think the lady musthave been some one very important at one time, for when their littlebaby boy was born quite a lot of grand folks came to see her fromLimesia. Such a dear little fellow he was, and his father and motherwere so proud of him and so fond of each other. The lady would sing andplay beautifully, and the gentleman would read to her, and sometimesthey would go out for a ride in the Forest; but never very far away, andthe
y always seemed glad to be back again; till one day about two monthsago a grand gentleman came and told us the King of Zum was dead, andthen our gentleman, as I call him, went to Limesia with the dear ladyhis wife. I wish you could have seen them go. Such a lovely dress thelady had on, and beautiful jewels, and the gentleman too looked verygrand.
"Well, they drove off in a carriage and pair and we didn't see any moreof them all day, but in the evening, though, they came back, and younever saw such a sight in all your life; they both seemed to be fadingaway--bits of the gentleman here and there were quite transparent, andthe dear lady had to be carried upstairs, for she couldn't walk. Thenext day they were much worse, and gradually disappeared altogether.Just before they vanished entirely a lot of ladies and gentlemen cameover to see them from Limesia, and when they had gone back the nursetook the little boy away too, and I have never seen them again from thatday to this. I suppose the lady and gentleman are still here, for everyday I find on the table upstairs some written directions about mealsand so on, which I carry up and which disappear too, but I never seeanybody."
"Why, I do believe," exclaimed Boy, "that it must be the Prince andPrincess. I should like to see them."
"So should I," said the woman.
"Do you think I might write them a note?" asked Boy. "I have somethingvery important to tell them if they are really the Prince and Princess."
"I never tried that," said the woman; "you can do so, though, if youwish. I will take the note upstairs and put it on the table, and we willsee what happens, if you like."
Boy thought that this would be the best thing for them to do, so as soonas supper was over he wrote the following polite note:
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"To His Royal Highness The Crown Prince of Zum.
"Dear Sir,
The King of Limesia's Portmanteau has been found, and a little boy fromZum has brought it here and would very much like to tell you what ishappening there, because he really thinks that you ought to interfere.
```"Yours respectably,
````"Boy."
He meant "respectfully," of course, but you know how it is with letters.One often writes the wrong word, don't they? I know I do. Well, thisnote was taken upstairs and put on the table, and presently the bellrang again violently, and on going upstairs they found another notebeside it addressed to:
"Master Boy."
He opened it at once and found the following words:
"Ohah promised that as soon as the Portmanteau was found we should bemade visible again, so please take the' Portmanteau in one hand andsay, 'I wish the Crown Prince of Zum and the Princess his wife to becomevisible again as Ohah the Magician promised.'"
Boy ran downstairs for the Portmanteau, and grasping the handle firmlywith one hand repeated the words loudly.
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They were hardly out of his mouth before a thin mist appeared at one endof the room which gradually divided and became more and more distinct,till Boy could at last distinguish the outlines of the Prince and thePrincess, and in a very few moments he had the pleasure of seeing themquite clearly.
"Ah! that's better," said His Royal Highness, with a sigh of relief,when he was quite solid. "How do you feel, my dear?" he asked, turningto the Princess, who, however, could not answer him yet, as only theupper part of her head had appeared at present; she waved her hand,though, to show that she was all right.
"I'm sure we are very much obliged to you," said the Prince graciouslyto Boy. "How did you know we were here?"
And then Boy had to tell them all about his visit to Zum and theextraordinary events which had been happening since he had been there.
"And you are quite sure that my son is all right?" inquired the Princeanxiously.
Boy explained how he had sent him to Drinkon College under the charge ofthe Nurse and One-and-Nine.
And the Princess, who had by this time quite recovered her voice,thanked him over and over again for all that he had done, and afterarranging that the Portmanteau should be sent to the King of Limesia thenext day they determined that it would be best for them to go back toZum that very night.
So the Prince's horse was saddled, and with the Princess on a pillionbehind and Boy on a pony which belonged to the little King they rodeback through the gathering darkness to Zum.
All was quiet when they reached the Palace, and Boy led the way throughthe private entrance. King Smith had not yet retired to rest and cameforward when he heard them enter. He recognised the Crown Prince atonce, and hastily tearing off his own crown and cloak, bowed low andwelcomed him back to the Palace.
"It is indeed a good thing for Zum, Your Highness, that you havereturned," he said, "for things could not possibly have gone on likethis much longer. I am sure there is not a King in the place who willnot feel it a pleasure to abdicate in favour of Your Highness."
"Thanks!" remarked the Prince. "Now can we go to my own suite of rooms,or have they been altered during my long absence?"
"They are just as Your Highness left them," answered the footman,leading the way to another part of the Palace, and the Prince with thePrincess leaning on his arm followed, after they had both, shaken handsheartily with Boy and wished him good-night.