Rinkitink in Oz
to proceed as they would, and while the slaves cast curious glances at
the boy and girl and man and goat, they dared say nothing. But now the
boy walked up to some of the men of Pingaree and asked news of his
father, telling them not to fear the guards as he would protect them
from the whips.
Then he learned that King Kitticut had indeed been working in this very
cavern until the evening before, when King Gos had come and taken him
away--still loaded with chains.
"Seems to me," said King Rinkitink, when he heard this report, "that Gos
has carried your father away to Regos, to prevent us from rescuing him.
He may hide poor Kitticut in a dungeon, where we cannot find him."
"Perhaps you are right," answered the boy, "but I am determined to find
him, wherever he may be."
Ingo spoke firmly and with courage, but he was greatly disappointed to
find that King Gos had been before him at the mines and had taken his
father away. However, he tried not to feel disheartened, believing he
would succeed in the end, in spite of all opposition. Turning to the
guards, he said:
"Remove the chains from these slaves and set them free."
The guards laughed at this order, and one of them brought forward a
handful of chains, saying: "His Majesty has commanded us to make you,
also, a slave, for you are never to leave these caverns again."
Then he attempted to place the chains on Inga, but the boy indignantly
seized them and broke them apart as easily as if they had been cotton
cords. When a dozen or more of the guards made a dash to capture him,
the Prince swung the end of the chain like a whip and drove them into a
corner, where they cowered and begged for mercy.
Stories of the marvelous strength of the boy Prince had already spread
to the mines of Regos, and although King Gos had told them that Inga had
been deprived of all his magic power, the guards now saw this was not
true, so they deemed it wise not to attempt to oppose him.
The chains of the slaves had all been riveted fast to their ankles and
wrists, but Inga broke the bonds of steel with his hands and set the
poor men free--not only those from Pingaree but all who had been
captured in the many wars and raids of King Gos. They were very
grateful, as you may suppose, and agreed to support Prince Inga in
whatever action he commanded.
He led them to the middle cavern, where all the guards and overseers
fled in terror at his approach, and soon he had broken apart the chains
of the slaves who had been working in that part of the mines. Then they
approached the first cavern and liberated all there.
The slaves had been treated so cruelly by the servants of King Gos that
they were eager to pursue and slay them, in revenge; but Inga held them
back and formed them into companies, each company having its own leader.
Then he called the leaders together and instructed them to march in good
order along the path to the City of Regos, where he would meet them and
tell them what to do next.
They readily agreed to obey him, and, arming themselves with iron bars
and pick-axes which they brought from the mines, the slaves began their
march to the city.
Zella at first wished to be left behind, that she might make her way to
her own home, but neither Rinkitink nor Inga thought it was safe for her
to wander alone through the forest, so they induced her to return with
them to the city.
The boy beached his boat this time at the same place as when he first
landed at Regos, and while many of the warriors stood on the shore and
before the walls of the city, not one of them attempted to interfere
with the boy in any way. Indeed, they seemed uneasy and anxious, and
when Inga met Captain Buzzub the boy asked if anything had happened in
his absence.
"A great deal has happened," replied Buzzub. "Our King and Queen have
run away and left us, and we don't know what to do."
"Run away!" exclaimed Inga. "Where did they go to?"
"Who knows?" said the man, shaking his head despondently. "They departed
together a few hours ago, in a boat with forty rowers, and they took
with them the King and Queen of Pingaree!"
The Flight of the Rulers
CHAPTER 15
Now it seems that when Queen Cor fled from her island to Regos, she had
wit enough, although greatly frightened, to make a stop at the royal
dairy, which was near to the bridge, and to drag poor Queen Garee from
the butter-house and across to Regos with her. The warriors of King Gos
had never before seen the terrible Queen Cor frightened, and therefore
when she came running across the bridge of boats, dragging the Queen of
Pingaree after her by one arm, the woman's great fright had the effect
of terrifying the waiting warriors.
"Quick!" cried Cor. "Destroy the bridge, or we are lost."
While the men were tearing away the bridge of boats the Queen ran up to
the palace of Gos, where she met her husband.
"That boy is a wizard!" she gasped. "There is no standing against him."
"Oh, have you discovered his magic at last?" replied Gos, laughing in
her face. "Who, now, is the coward?"
"Don't laugh!" cried Queen Cor. "It is no laughing matter. Both our
islands are as good as conquered, this very minute. What shall we do,
Gos?"
"Come in," he said, growing serious, "and let us talk it over."
So they went into a room of the palace and talked long and earnestly.
"The boy intends to liberate his father and mother, and all the people
of Pingaree, and to take them back to their island," said Cor. "He may
also destroy our palaces and make us his slaves. I can see but one way,
Gos, to prevent him from doing all this, and whatever else he pleases to
do."
"What way is that?" asked King Gos.
"We must take the boy's parents away from here as quickly as possible. I
have with me the Queen of Pingaree, and you can run up to the mines and
get the King. Then we will carry them away in a boat and hide them where
the boy cannot find them, with all his magic. We will use the King and
Queen of Pingaree as hostages, and send word to the boy wizard that if
he does not go away from our islands and allow us to rule them
undisturbed, in our own way, we will put his father and mother to death.
Also we will say that as long as we are let alone his parents will be
safe, although still safely hidden. I believe, Gos, that in this way we
can compel Prince Inga to obey us, for he seems very fond of his
parents."
"It isn't a bad idea," said Gos, reflectively; "but where can we hide
the King and Queen, so that the boy cannot find them?"
"In the country of the Nome King, on the mainland away at the south,"
she replied. "The nomes are our friends, and they possess magic powers
that will enable them to protect the prisoners from discovery. If we can
manage to get the King and Queen of Pingaree to the Nome Kingdom before
the boy knows what we are doing, I am sure our plot will succeed."
Gos gave the plan considerable thought in the next five minutes, and the
more he thought about it the more clever and reasonable it seemed. So he
agreed to do as Queen Cor suggested and at once hurried away to the
mines, where he arrived before Prince Inga did. The next morning he
carried King Kitticut back to Regos.
While Gos was gone, Queen Cor busied herself in preparing a large and
swift boat for the journey. She placed in it several bags of gold and
jewels with which to bribe the nomes, and selected forty of the
strongest oarsmen in Regos to row the boat. The instant King Gos
returned with his royal prisoner all was ready for departure. They
quickly entered the boat with their two important captives and without a
word of explanation to any of their people they commanded the oarsmen to
start, and were soon out of sight upon the broad expanse of the Nonestic
Ocean.
Inga arrived at the city some hours later and was much distressed when
he learned that his father and mother had been spirited away from the
islands.
"I shall follow them, of course," said the boy to Rinkitink, "and if I
cannot overtake them on the ocean I will search the world over until I
find them. But before I leave here I must arrange to send our people
back to Pingaree."
Nikobob Refuses a Crown
CHAPTER 16
Almost the first persons that Zella saw when she landed from the
silver-lined boat at Regos were her father and mother. Nikobob and his
wife had been greatly worried when their little daughter failed to
return from Coregos, so they had set out to discover what had become of
her. When they reached the City of Regos, that very morning, they were
astonished to hear news of all the strange events that had taken place;
still, they found comfort when told that Zella had been seen in the
boat of Prince Inga, which had gone to the north. Then, while they
wondered what this could mean, the silver-lined boat appeared again,
with their daughter in it, and they ran down to the shore to give her a
welcome and many joyful kisses.
Inga invited the good people to the palace of King Gos, where he
conferred with them, as well as with Rinkitink and Bilbil.
"Now that the King and Queen of Regos and Coregos have run away," he
said, "there is no one to rule these islands. So it is my duty to
appoint a new ruler, and as Nikobob, Zella's father, is an honest and
worthy man, I shall make him the King of the Twin Islands."
"Me?" cried Nikobob, astounded by this speech. "I beg Your Highness, on
my bended knees, not to do so cruel a thing as to make me King!"
"Why not?" inquired Rinkitink. "I'm a King, and I know how it feels. I
assure you, good Nikobob, that I quite enjoy my high rank, although a
jeweled crown is rather heavy to wear in hot weather."
"With you, noble sir, it is different," said Nikobob, "for you are far
from your kingdom and its trials and worries and may do as you please.
But to remain in Regos, as King over these fierce and unruly warriors,
would be to live in constant anxiety and peril, and the chances are that
they would murder me within a month. As I have done no harm to anyone
and have tried to be a good and upright man, I do not think that I
should be condemned to such a dreadful fate."
"Very well," replied Inga, "we will say no more about your being King. I
merely wanted to make you rich and prosperous, as I had promised Zella."
"Please forget that promise," pleaded the charcoal-burner, earnestly; "I
have been safe from molestation for many years, because I was poor and
possessed nothing that anyone else could envy. But if you make me rich
and prosperous I shall at once become the prey of thieves and marauders
and probably will lose my life in the attempt to protect my fortune."
Inga looked at the man in surprise.
"What, then, can I do to please you?" he inquired.
"Nothing more than to allow me to go home to my poor cabin," said
Nikobob.
"Perhaps," remarked King Rinkitink, "the charcoal-burner has more wisdom
concealed in that hard head of his than we gave him credit for. But let
us use that wisdom, for the present, to counsel us what to do in this
emergency."
"What you call my wisdom," said Nikobob, "is merely common sense. I have
noticed that some men become rich, and are scorned by some and robbed by
others. Other men become famous, and are mocked at and derided by their
fellows. But the poor and humble man who lives unnoticed and unknown
escapes all these troubles and is the only one who can appreciate the
joy of living."
"If I had a hand, instead of a cloven hoof, I'd like to shake hands with
you, Nikobob," said Bilbil the goat. "But the poor man must not have a
cruel master, or he is undone."
During the council they found, indeed, that the advice of the