Dick, Marjorie and Fidge: A Search for the Wonderful Dodo
The Ambassador smiled blandly, while he kept time with his foot.
Presently the children caught sight of a curious procession approaching.
The Little Panjandrum, a little fat man in Oriental costume, was
preceded by two attendants--one playing a kind of drum, and the other a
jew's harp, while a third attendant held an enormous umbrella over His
Importance's head. On the top of the umbrella were a number of curious
signs, of which the children could not possibly imagine the meaning.
"Obbly--bobblee--wallee--bobbel--ob," said the Ambassador, bowing three
times, and dragging the Dodo's head down with him each time.
"Flop!" replied the Little Panjandrum, and the two musicians fell on
their faces.
"Um--sopelee--gumbos--galapaloo--glab," remarked the Ambassador.
"Ploff!" said the Little Panjandrum, and the black slave at the back
jigged the State Umbrella up and down several times very violently.
"What a funny language," whispered Marjorie. "I wonder what they are
talking about?"
"Semlifee--dobbel--bingle--bingle--boff," cried the Ambassador, lifting
up one leg, while the Dodo painfully followed his example.
The Little Panjandrum gravely kicked the two musicians, who were still
prostrate on the ground before him, and they immediately arose and stood
on one leg each, like the Ambassador. Then His Importance himself
balanced himself in the same way. The black slave at the back, whose
legs were attached to those of the Little Panjandrum, imitated him.
The children were highly interested in this proceeding, when the
Ambassador, without speaking, motioned them to stand on one leg each,
too.
"Come on, let's do it," said Dick, "and see what they are going to do."
So the three children solemnly hopped upon one foot, too.
For a moment or two no one spoke. And at last the Dodo, gasping out,
"Oh! I can't keep it up any longer," fell to the ground, and everybody
else put their leg down again.
"Ough!" said the Ambassador, in a disgusted voice. "Of course, _you_
must needs spoil it all. Most disrespectful behavior to the Little
Panjandrum, I call it."
"I couldn't help it," gasped the Dodo, apologetically.
"Oh, of course not," said the Ambassador. "A bad excuse is better than
none."
"Well, _I_ couldn't have kept it up much longer," declared Marjorie;
"could you, Dick?"
"No," said Dick; "I can't think what we are doing it at all for."
"Court etiquette demands it," said the Ambassador, importantly. "Hush!
His Importance is about to speak."
"Gobloblee! grabluff!" said the Little Panjandrum.
"Go on, Dodo," said the Ambassador. "_Gobloblee, grabluff_, at once when
His Importance tells you."
The Dodo gave a sigh, and went up to the Little Panjandrum's Umbrella
and gave it a twirl. When it stopped, a little finger at the top pointed
to the word "Guilty," which was painted in large letters in one section
of the Umbrella.
"Again," said the Ambassador.
The Dodo, looking very dejected, gave the Umbrella another twirl. This
time it stopped at the words "Hard labor."
The Dodo groaned.
"Once more!" shouted the Ambassador.
For the third time the unlucky bird spun the Umbrella round, and this
time it stopped at "Fine."
"How much, your Importance?" asked the Ambassador of the Little
Panjandrum.
"_Cablofechee!_" was the reply.
"Your gloves are forfeited," declared the Ambassador.
The Dodo gave a despairing glance at the children, and began to remove
his one glove.
"What's he being tried for?" asked Dick, in a whisper.
"Contempt of Panjandrumosity," said the Ambassador. "It's a dreadful
offence. All trials are conducted by means of the State Umbrella; it
saves all the bother of judges and juries, you know. But, look out! the
Little Panjandrum is off again."
"Dumflopety--golopegee--gal--popo--sum--delopotomex," remarked the
Little Panjandrum, as he walked away, escorted by his retinue.
"He says that your 'hard labor' sentence is, to carry the State Umbrella
in future, and that you are to commence your duties in one hour from
now; in the meantime you may consider yourself at liberty till then."
The Ambassador followed after the Little Panjandrum, and the children
gathered around the poor Dodo, full of sympathy for his misfortunes.
"Have they gone?" whispered the Prehistoric Doctor, coming forward from
behind a bush, behind which he had been hiding.
"Yes," said Marjorie. "Isn't it a shame the poor Dodo should always be
getting into hot water?"
"Never mind," said the Doctor; "I've found something that will make him
happy. Look here!"
The Dodo raised himself up from the ground, and gave an inquiring glance
at the Doctor who held out a pair of boxing-gloves.
"Oh! what beauties!" said the Dodo. "How fat they are! Are they for me?"
"Yes, if you would like them," said the Doctor. "I have a pair, too.
Let's try a round together--shall we?"
"All right!" shouted the Dodo, getting up excitedly, and hastily
fastening on the gloves. "Now then--guard!" And he went for the Doctor
furiously. The Doctor squared up, and was soon boxing as skilfully as
the Dodo.
The Palaeotherium and the Eteraedarium, hearing the noise, came forward
and joined the crowd of creatures, which by this time had collected in a
ring. And amid shouts of "Go it, Dodo!" "Three cheers for the Dodo!"
the first round concluded, the ungainly bird winning a decided victory.
They were just about to begin again, when they heard a succession of
piercing screams from the direction in which the lake was situated.
CHAPTER XXII.
TURNED TO STONE.
"Good gracious! what's that?" inquired the Dodo, as the screams
continued.
"We'd better go and see," said Dick, practically running off in the
direction of the lake, followed by the others.
On passing the clump of trees and evergreens, which obstructed their
view, they discovered the Little Panjandrum, in a great state of
agitation, hiding behind the official Umbrella, his body-attendant lying
prone on the ground in a state of abject fear; while the rest of the
suite, having cast aside their musical instruments, were rushing away,
shouting lustily.
On the opposite side of the path stood a few of the prehistoric
creatures which accompanied the children on their excursion to the
Crystal Palace.
They were looking at the Little Panjandrum with a mild surprise, and
seemed quite at a loss to know what all the hullabaloo was about.
"Gulla--hubly--olla--bolee!" shouted the Little Panjandrum, pointing to
the animals with his umbrella.
"Oh, they're all right, your Importance," said the Dodo; "they are
friends of mine."
"Friends, indeed!" exclaimed the Ambassador, coming from where he had
been hiding behind a tree. "Pretty friends! What do you call the
creatures?"
"Oh, there's the Archaeopteryx, you know, and the Eteraedarium, and the
Palaeo----"
"Stop! stop!" interrupted the Ambassador, as each of the animals
mentioned bowed gravely. "I absolutely decline to know creatures with
names like _those_. I'm sure they are not respectable, and I'm not at
all sure, even now, that they are not dangerous; however, I shall know
how to deal with _them_ presently. The penalty for alarming the Little
Panjandrum is a very severe one." And he frowned very sternly at the
creatures, who looked rather uncomfortable, and waddled off in the
direction of the lake, whispering together in a decidedly scared way.
"You didn't tell me you had all these hideous objects with you,"
continued the Ambassador, addressing the Dodo.
"I thought you knew," stammered the unlucky bird; "they are prehistoric,
you know," he added, apologetically.
[Illustrastion: There was some consolation, he was allowed to wear his
gloves.]
"That only makes it worse," declared the Ambassador. "In that case they
ought to be dead, every one of them, ever so long ago. They have no
right to be prowling about at a highly-respectable place like the
Crystal Palace. No wonder there's nobody about; they've frightened them
away, that's what it is. And you're to blame as much as anybody for
bringing them here."
"I didn't!" gasped the Dodo.
"You did," said the Ambassador, emphatically. "You said they were your
friends; so they _must_ have come with you. And I'll tell you what, in
order to prevent you from picking up any more undesirable acquaintances,
you shall just commence your duties as Umbrella Bearer at once," and,
untying the ribbons by which the Little Panjandrum's attendant was
attached to His Importance, the Ambassador, bringing forth a heavy pair
of chains from his capacious pockets, proceeded to chain the Dodo up to
the Little Panjandrum's waistband.
The poor Dodo looked the picture of misery as the Umbrella was put into
his hand.
"M--may I have m--my gloves?" he whimpered.
The Ambassador, after considering a minute, gave his consent, on the
score that it _might_ improve his appearance, and caused the black
attendant to hunt for the missing one, which had been thrown down on
the ground near to the roundabout.
He soon returned with it, and the Dodo, with a delighted chuckle, put
the pair on, and, after smoothing them carefully, regarded his hands
very complacently, and seemed to consider having them some compensation
for the degraded occupation to which he had been put.
"I'll go now and settle the others," declared the Ambassador. "What did
you say their names were?" he inquired, sternly, of the Dodo.
The poor bird called out the names one by one, and the Ambassador
carefully entered them in his pocket-book, and then stalked majestically
away in the direction of the lake, while the Little Panjandrum settled
himself on a gaudily-colored rug, which the black attendant carefully
spread on the ground at his feet, and with a self-satisfied smile on his
little round face gravely twiddled his thumbs and took no notice of
anybody.
"Go and see what he does to them," whispered the Dodo, referring to the
Ambassador and the creatures.
Nothing loth, the children ran off to the lake to see what was
happening. Pushing aside the bushes, they could see the Ambassador
standing on the edge of the path, waving a wand in one hand, while in
the other he flourished a legal-looking document.
The prehistoric creatures were scrambling through the water, and getting
as far away as possible on to the islands in the middle of the lake.
"All you Palaeotheriums, Eteraedariums, Archaeopteryx, Megatheriums,
Pleisiosauruses, Ichthyosauruses, and other prehistoric wretches, in the
name of the Panjandrum, I command you--_be turned into stone_."
When the Ambassador uttered these terrible words a most singular thing
happened. In whatever attitude the creatures were they remained so; and
gradually each assumed a stony and lifeless expression, and the spell or
incantation which the Ambassador had pronounced had evidently taken
effect.
The children were very much alarmed, and ran back to the Dodo, and in a
hurried whisper informed him of what had occurred.
"Turned all the prehistoric animals into stone, has he?" said the bird,
gleefully; "then I can see a splendid way out of my troubles. Wait till
the Ambassador returns, and you will see some capital fun." And the Dodo
struck a rigid attitude, and remained in that position, totally
disregarding the questions with which the children plied him.
CHAPTER XXIII.
THE DODO'S LITTLE RUSE.
The State Umbrella, which the Dodo had been carrying, fell to the ground
with a crash, and so startled the Little Panjandrum that he jumped to