THE GIRL AND THE BOOLOOROO
CHAPTER 23
Trot watched from the window the escape of Ghip-Ghisizzle but did
not know, of course, who it was. Then, after the City had quieted
down again, she lay upon the bed without undressing and was sound
asleep in a minute.
The blue dawn was just breaking when she opened her eyes with a
start of fear that she might have overslept, but soon she found that
no one else in the palace was yet astir. Even the guards had gone to
sleep by this time and were adding their snores to the snores of the
other inhabitants of the Royal Palace. So the little girl got up
and, finding a ewer of water and a basin upon the dresser, washed
herself carefully and then looked in a big mirror to see how her
hair was. To her astonishment, there was no reflection at all; the
mirror was blank so far as Trot was concerned. She laughed a little
at that, remembering she wore the ring of Rosalie the Witch, which
rendered her invisible. Then she slipped quietly out of the room and
found it was already light enough in the corridors for her to see
all objects distinctly.
After hesitating a moment which way to turn, she decided to visit
the Snubnosed Princesses and passed through the big reception room
to the sleeping room of Indigo. There this Princess, the crossest
and most disagreeable of all the disagreeable six, was curled up in
bed and slumbering cozily. The little blue dog came trotting out of
Indigo's boudoir and crowed like a rooster, for although he could
not see Trot, his keen little nose scented her presence. Thinking it
time the Princess awoke, Trot leaned over and gave her snub nose a
good tweak, and at once Indigo sprang out of her bed and rushed into
the chamber of Cobalt, which adjoined her own. Thinking it was this
sister who had slyly attacked her, Indigo rushed at the sleeping
Cobalt and slapped her face.
At once there was war. The other four Princesses, hearing the
screams and cries of rage, came running into Cobalt's room, and as
fast as they appeared, Trot threw pillows at them, so that presently
all six were indulging in a free-for-all battle and snarling like
tigers. The blue lamb came trotting into the room, and Trot leaned
over and patted the pretty little animal, but as she did so, she
became visible for an instant, each pat destroying the charm of the
ring while the girl was in contact with a living creature. These
flashes permitted some of the Princesses to see her, and at once
they rushed toward her with furious cries. But the girl realized
what had happened, and leaving the lamb, she stepped back into a
corner and her frenzied enemies failed to find her. It was a little
dangerous, though, remaining in a room where six girls were feeling
all around for her, so she went away and left them to their vain
search while she renewed her hunt for Cap'n Bill.
The sailorman did not seem to be in any of the rooms she entered, so
she decided to visit the Boolooroo's own apartments. In the room
where Rosalie's vision had shown them the Magic Umbrella lying under
a cabinet, Trot attempted to find it, for she considered that next
to rescuing Cap'n Bill this was the most important task to
accomplish; but the umbrella had been taken away and was no longer
beneath the cabinet. This was a severe disappointment to the child,
but she reflected that the umbrella was surely someplace in the Blue
city, so there was no need to despair.
Finally, she entered the King's own sleeping chamber and found the
Boolooroo in bed and asleep, with a funny nightcap tied over his
egg-shaped head. As Trot looked at him, she was surprised to see
that he had one foot out of bed and that to his big toe was tied a
cord that led out of the bedchamber into a small dressing room
beyond. Trot slowly followed this cord and in the dressing room came
upon Cap'n Bill, who was lying asleep upon a lounge and snoring with
great vigor. His arms were tied to his body, and his body was tied
fast to the lounge. The wooden leg stuck out into the room at an
angle, and the shoe on his one foot had been removed so that the end
of the cord could be fastened to the sailor's big toe.
This arrangement had been a clever thought of the Boolooroo. Fearing
his important prisoner might escape before he was patched as
Ghip-Ghisizzle had done, the cruel King of the Blues had kept Cap'n
Bill in his private apartments and had tied his own big toe to the
prisoner's big toe, so that if the sailor made any attempt to get
away, he would pull on the cord, and that would arouse the
Boolooroo.
Trot saw through this cunning scheme at once, so the first thing she
did was to untie the cord from Cap'n Bill's big toe and retie it to
the leg of the lounge. Then she unfastened her friend's hands and
leaned over to give his leathery face a smacking kiss. Cap'n Bill
sat up and rubbed his eyes. He looked around the room and rubbed his
eyes again, seeing no one who could have kissed him. Then he
discovered that his bonds had been removed, and he rubbed his eyes
once more to make sure he was not dreaming. The little girl laughed
softly.
"Trot!" exclaimed the sailor, recognizing her voice.
Then Trot came up and took his hand, the touch at once rendering her
visible to him. "Dear me!" said the bewildered sailor. "However did
you get here, mate, in the Boolooroo's own den? Is the Blue City
captured?"
"Not yet," she replied, "but YOU are, Cap'n, and I've come to save
you."
"All alone, Trot?"
"All alone, Cap'n Bill. But it's got to be done, jus' the same." And
then she explained about the magic ring Rosalie had lent her, which
rendered her invisible while she wore it--unless she touched some
living creature. Cap'n Bill was much interested.
"I'm willing to be saved, mate," he said, "for the Boolooroo is set
on patchin' me right after breakfas', which I hope the cook'll be
late with."
"Who are you to be patched to?" she asked.
"A feller named Tiggle, who's in disgrace 'cause he mixed the royal
necktie for me."
"That was nectar, not necktie," corrected Trot. "But you needn't be
'fraid of bein' patched with Tiggle, 'cause I've set him loose. By
this time he's in hiding, where he can't be found."
"That's good," said Cap'n Bill, nodding approval, "but the blamed
ol' Boolooroo's sure to find someone else. What's to be done, mate?"
Trot thought about it for a moment. Then she remembered how some
unknown man had escaped from the palace the night before by means of
the wall, which he had reached from the window of the very chamber
in which she had slept. Cap'n Bill might easily do the same. And the
rope ladder she had used would help the sailor down from the top of
the wall. "Could you climb down a rope ladder, Cap'n?" she asked.
"Like enough," said he. "I've done it many a time on shipboard."
"But you hadn't a wooden leg then," she reminded him.
"The wooden leg won't bother much," he assured her.
So Trot tied a small sofa cushion around the end of his wooden leg
so it wouldn't make any noise pounding upon the floor, and then she
quietly led the sailor through the room of the sleeping Boolooroo
and through several other rooms until they came to the passage. Here
a soldier was on guard, but he had fallen asleep for a moment in
order to rest himself. They passed the Blueskin without disturbing
him and soon reached the chamber opposite the suite of the Six
Snubnosed Princesses, whom they could hear still quarreling loudly
among themselves.
Trot locked the door from the inside so no one could disturb them,
and then led the sailor to the window. The garden was just below.
"But good gracious me! It's a drop o' ten feet, Trot," he exclaimed.
"And you've only one foot to drop, Cap'n," she said, laughing.
"Couldn't you let yourself down with one of the sheets from the
bed?"
"I'll try," he rejoined. "But can YOU do that circus act, Trot?"
"Oh, I'm goin' to stay here an' find the Magic Umbrella," she
replied. "Bein' invis'ble, Cap'n, I'm safe enough. What I want to do
is to see you safe back with the Pinkies, an' then I'll manage to
hold my own all right, never fear."
So they brought a blue sheet and tied one end to a post of the blue
bed and let the other end dangle out the blue window. "Goodbye,
mate," said Cap'n Bill, preparing to descend. "Don't get reckless."
"I won't, Cap'n. Don't worry."
Then he grasped the sheet with both hands and easily let himself
down to the wall. Trot had told him where to find the rope ladder
she had left and how to fasten it to the broken flagstaff so he
could climb down into the field outside the City. As soon as he was
safe on the wall, Cap'n Bill began to hobble along the broad top
toward the connecting wall that surrounded the entire City--just as
Ghip-Ghisizzle had done--and Trot anxiously watched him from the
window.
But the Blue City was now beginning to waken to life. One of the
soldiers came from a house, sleepily yawning and stretching himself,
and presently his eyes lit upon the huge form of Cap'n Bill
hastening along the top of the wall. The soldier gave a yell that
aroused a score of his comrades and brought them tumbling into the
street. When they saw how the Boolooroo's precious prisoner was
escaping, they instantly became alert and wide-awake, and every one
started in pursuit along the foot of the wall.
Of course, the long-legged Blueskins could run faster than poor
Cap'n Bill. Some of them soon got ahead of the old sailorman and
came to the rope ladder which Trot had left dangling from the stone
bench, where it hung down inside the City. The Blue soldiers
promptly mounted this ladder and so gained the wall, heading off the
fugitive. When Cap'n Bill came up, panting and all out of breath,
the Blueskins seized him and held him fast.
Cap'n Bill was terribly disappointed at being recaptured, and so was
Trot, who had eagerly followed his every movement from her window in
the palace. The little girl would have cried with vexation, and I
think she did weep a few tears before she recovered her courage; but
Cap'n Bill was a philosopher, in his way, and had learned to accept
ill fortune cheerfully. Knowing he was helpless, he made no protest
when they again bound him and carried him down the ladder like a
bale of goods.
Others were also disappointed by his capture. Button-Bright had
heard the parrot squawking, "Oh, there's Cap'n Bill! There's Cap'n
Bill! I see him still, up on that hill! It's Cap'n Bill!" So the boy
ran out of his tent to find the sailor scurrying along the top of
the wall as fast as he could go. At once Button-Bright aroused
Coralie, who got her Pinkies together and quickly marched them
toward the wall to assist in the escape of her Commander in Chief.
But they were too late. Before they could reach the wall, the
Blueskins had captured Trot's old friend and lugged him down in to
the City, so Coralie and Button-Bright were forced to return to
their camp discomfited. There Ghip-Ghisizzle and Rosalie were
awaiting them, and they all went into the Witch's tent and held a
council of war.
"Tell me," said Ghip-Ghisizzle, "did you not take the Royal Record
Book from the Treasure Chamber of the Boolooroo?"
"I did," replied the boy. "I remember that you wanted it, and so I
have kept it with me ever since that night. Here it is." And he
presented the little blue book to the Majordomo, the only friend the
adventurers had found among all the Blueskins.
Ghip-Ghisizzle took the book eagerly and at once began turning over
its leaves. "Ah!" he exclaimed presently. "It is just as I
suspected. The wicked Boolooroo had already reigned over the Blue
Country three hundred years last Thursday, so that now he has no
right to rule at all. I myself have been the rightful Ruler of the
Blues since Thursday, and yet this cruel and deceitful man has not
only deprived me of my right to succeed him, but he has tried to
have me patched so that I could never become the Boolooroo."
"Does the book tell how old he is?" asked Button-Bright.
"Yes. He is not five hundred years old, and has yet another hundred
years to live. He planned to rule the Blue Country until the last,
but I now know the deception he has practiced and have the Royal
Record Book to prove it. With this I shall be able to force him to
resign that I may take his place, for all the people will support me
and abide by the Law. The tyrant will perhaps fight me and my cause
desperately, but I am sure to win in the end."
"If we can help you," said Button-Bright, "the whole Pink Army will
fight for you. Only, if you win, you must promise to give me back my
Magic Umbrella and let us fly away to our own homes again."
"I will do that most willingly," agreed Ghip-Ghisizzle. "And now let
us consult together how best to take the Blue City and capture the
Boolooroo. As I know my own country much better than you or the
Pinkies do, I think I can find a way to accomplish our purpose."
