THE KING'S TREASURE CHAMBER
CHAPTER 10
All the Blueskins assembled in the servants' hall were amazed to see
the pets of the Princesses trailing after the strange little girl,
but Trot took her place next to Button-Bright at the table, and the
parrot perched upon her shoulder, while the peacock stood upon one
side of her chair, 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 of the Blueskins insisted that the animals and
birds must be put out of the room, but Ghip-Ghisizzle said they
could remain, as they were the favored pets of the lovely Snubnosed
Princesses.
Cap'n Bill was delighted to see his dear little friend again, and so
was Button-Bright, and now that they were reunited--for a time, at
least--they paid little heed to the sour looks and taunting remarks
of the ugly Blueskins and ate heartily of the dinner, which was
really very good.
The meal was no sooner over than Ghip-Ghisizzle was summoned to the
chamber of his Majesty the Boolooroo, but before he went away, he
took Trot and Cap'n Bill and Button-Bright into a small room and
advised them to stay there until he returned so that the servants
and soldiers would not molest them. "My people seem to dislike
strangers," said the Majordomo thoughtfully, "and that surprises me
because you are the first strangers they have ever seen. I think
they imagine you will become favorites of the Boolooroo and of the
Princesses, and that is why they are jealous and hate you."
"They needn't worry 'bout that," replied Trot. "The Snubnoses hate
me worse than the people do."
"I can't imagine a bootblue becoming a royal favorite," grumbled
Button-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
of the Boolooroo, either, so please stay quietly in this room until
my return."
The Majordomo found the Boolooroo in a bad temper. He had finished
his dinner, where his six daughters had bitterly denounced Trot all
through the meal and implored their father to invent some new and
terrible punishment for her. Also, his wife, the Queen, had made him
angry by begging for gold to buy ribbons with. Then, when he had
retired to his own private room, he decided to send for the umbrella
he had stolen from Button-Bright and test its magic powers. But the
umbrella, in his hands, proved just as common as any other umbrella
might be. He opened it and closed it, and turned it this way and
that, commanding it to do all sorts of things, but of course the
Magic Umbrella would obey no one but a member of the family that
rightfully owned it. At last the Boolooroo threw 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
for my 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
angry Boolooroo. "And don't waste any time, either, for as soon as
we find out the secret of the umbrella I'm going to have the three
strangers marched through 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
lived that length of time are allowed to march through the Arch of
Phinis into the 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 Blue
Grotto until his allotted time was up."
"Well, I'm going to try the experiment," declared the Boolooroo. "I
shall march these three strangers through the Arch, and if by chance
they come out alive, I'll do a new sort of patching--I'll chop off
their heads 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 buttonholes they don't. I've a suspicion
that once they enter the Great Blue Grotto that's the last of them."
Ghip-Ghisizzle went away quite sad and unhappy. He did not approve
the way the strangers were being treated and thought it was wicked
and cruel to try to destroy them.
During his absence, the prisoners had been talking together very
earnestly. "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
much longer."
"I'll do it tonight," said the boy.
"The sooner, the better, my lad," remarked the sailor, "but seein'
as the Blue Boolooroo has locked it up in his Treasure Chamber, it
mayn't be easy 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 these
difficulties, so the little girl feared they would never see the
Magic Umbrella again. But their present position was a very serious
one, and even Cap'n Bill dared not advise Button-Bright to give up
the desperate attempt.
When Ghip-Ghisizzle returned, he said, "You must be very careful not
to anger the Boolooroo, or he may do you a mischief. I think the
little girl had better keep away from the Princesses for tonight
unless they demand her presence. The boy must go for the King's
shoes and blue them and polish them and then take them back to the
Royal Bedchamber. Cap'n Bill won't have anything to do, for I'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
small rooms on the ground floor, each having a bed in it. Cap'n
Bill's room had a small door leading out into the street of the
City, but Ghip Ghisizzle advised him to keep this door locked, as
the city people would be sure to hurt the strangers if they had the
chance to attack them.
"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 the
servants and soldiers dare not injure you for fear of the
Boolooroo."
He placed Trot and her six pets--which followed her wherever she
went--in one room, and Cap'n Bill in another, and took Button-Bright
away with him to show the boy the way to the King's bedchamber. As
they proceeded, they passed many rooms with closed doors, and before
one of these a patched Blueskin was pacing up and down in a tired
and sleepy way. It was Jimfred Jinksjones, the double of the Fredjim
Jonesjinks they had talked with in the servants' hall, and he bowed
low before the Majordomo.
"This is the King's new bootblue, a stranger who has lately arrived
here," said Ghip-Ghisizzle, introducing the boy to the patched man.
"I'm sorry for him," muttered Jimfred. "He's a queer-looking chap,
with his pale yellow skin, and I imagine our cruel Boolooroo is
likely to patch him before long, as he did me--I mean us."
"No he won't," said Button-Bright positively. "The Boolooroo's
afraid of me."
"Oh, that's different," said Jimfred. "You're the first person I
ever knew that could scare our Boolooroo."
They passed on, and Ghip-Ghisizzle whispered, "That is the Royal
Treasure Chamber." Button-Bright nodded. He had marked the place
well so he couldn't miss it when he wanted to find it again. When
they came to the King's apartments there was another guard before
the 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 royal shoes and to return them when they are blued."
"All right," answered the guard. "Our Boolooroo is in an ugly mood
tonight. It will go hard with this little short-necked creature if
he doesn't polish the shoes properly."
Then Ghip-Ghisizzle left Button-Bright and went away, and the boy
passed through several rooms to the Royal Bedchamber, where his
Majesty sat undressing.
"Hi, there! What are you doing here?" he roared as he saw
Button-Bright.
"I've come for the shoes," said the boy.
The king threw them at his head, aiming carefully, but Button-Bright
dodged the missiles, and one smashed a mirror while the other
shattered a vase on a small table. His Majesty looked around for
something else to throw, but the boy seized the shoes and ran away,
returning to his own room.
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
with the 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 the handle--or so they thought--and there would be
nothing to prevent their quickly starting on the journey home.
They waited a long time, however, to give the Boolooroo time to get
to sleep, so it was after midnight when Button-Bright finally took
the shoes in his hand and started for the Royal Bedchamber. He
passed the guard of the Royal Treasury and Fredjim nodded
good-naturedly to the boy. But the sleepy guard before the King's
apartments was cross and surly.
"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
the boy quietly, "he will probably have you patched."
This threat frightened the long-necked guard, who did not know what
orders 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 he
found snoring lustily with the curtains of his high-posted bed drawn
tightly around him. The boy had taken off his own shoes after he
passed the guard and now he tiptoed carefully into the room, set
down the royal shoes very gently and then crept to the chair where
his Majesty's clothes were piled. Scarcely daring to breathe for
fear of awakening the terrible monarch, the boy searched in the
royal pockets until he found a blue-gold key attached to a blue-gold
chain. At once he decided this must be the key to the Treasure
Chamber, but in order to make sure he searched in every other
pocket--without finding another key.
Then Button-Bright crept softly out of the room again, and in one of
the outer rooms he sat down near a big cabinet and put on his shoes.
Poor Button-Bright did not know that lying disregarded beneath that
very cabinet at his side was the precious umbrella he was seeking,
or that he was undertaking a desperate adventure all for nothing. He
passed the long-necked guard again, finding the man half asleep, and
then made his way 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 the apartments of the Six
Snubnosed Princesses and to guard the entrance until morning. You
are to permit no one to enter or leave the apartments."
"But--good gracious!" exclaimed the surprised Jimfred. "Who will
guard the Treasure Chamber?"
"I am to take your place," said Button-Bright.
"Oh, very well," replied Jimfred. "This is a queer freak for our
Boolooroo to indulge in, but he is always doing something absurd.
You're not much of a guard, seems to me, but if anyone tries to rob
the Treasure Chamber you must ring this big gong, which will alarm
the whole palace 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
the Princesses, and Button-Bright was left alone with the key to the
Treasure Chamber in his hand. But he had not forgotten that the
ferocious Blue Wolf was guarding the interior of the Chamber, so he
searched in some of the rooms until he found a sofa-pillow, which he
put under 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 heart was beating fast with the excitement of the moment,
but he knew he must regain the Magic Umbrella if he would save his
comrades and himself from destruction, for without it they could
never return to the Earth. So he summoned up his best courage,
opened the door, stepped quickly inside, and closed the door after
him.
