Chapter VIII: Part III: 50. The Doings at Home 139 (6)

It is of course not very probable that any of my readers will visit this land, but if by chance they should do so I recommend them to take special note of the fresco which was painted to commemorate this historic scene, for it well repays inspection. It is in the vaulted corridor on the left of the hall, next to the cloak-room.

NECESSARY EXPLANATIONS

Formalities were soon over, and King Kul ordered that the two children be brought to greet their friends. In the meantime, he stood, his hands lightly clasped behind him, talking to Vanderdecken, who had been presented to him with due ceremony and whose sterling qualities he could both discern and appreciate. Though but a merchant adventurer Vanderdecken was of good family; he had as we know some knowledge of the classics, he spoke easily and well, there was no hesitation or _mauvaise honte_ about the man; though his dress was rough and perhaps ill-fitted to the brilliant scene, he bore himself with proper pride. As the late Lord Buscoe said to one who expostulated with him for coming to dinner in plus-fours, you cannot disguise a gentleman.

Sylvia and Joe, in their fine and fancy garb, were brought into the hall by the Lady Ermyntrude and affectionately greeted and kissed by King Merse. They instantly told him that he must demand the release of Gorbo, for he had been put in a dungeon.

“By the way, your Majesty,” said King Merse, turning to his brother monarch, “what about my subject, Gorbo? I hear he is in trouble.”

“You shall see him,” replied the other with a touch of sternness (with two kings conversing the reader will have sometimes to judge their identity by the matter of their speech). “Ho there! bring hither that fellow!”

Metallic sounds caused all to look towards the council chamber where Gorbo had been left with his guards. He came forward, carrying his chain with difficulty and occasionally stumbling over it. He looked at his liege lord with a sheepish smile.

“Hail, Gorbo,” said King Merse, amid a deep silence.

“May your shadow ever be a wide one,” murmured Gorbo.

“You seem to have got tangled up with some iron, Gorbo. What is it this time?”

Gorbo gave no reply, but only toyed with a link of his chain.

“Let me ask you, our cousin,” said King Kul impressively. “Suppose an utter stranger were to come into your hall unannounced and hand you one of the very best with a stout sapling while you were reaching across your own supper-table, what would you say?”

King Merse thought diligently for a moment; then he shook his head. “I give it up,” he said. “But,” he added half-unconsciously touching the hilt of his sword, “I might be able to tell you what I would _do_, if that is of any use to you.”

“Exactly!” said King Kul; “that is just my point. This subject of yours did so behave to us. And you can scarcely credit what a stinger he gave us. I ask you.”

“Well, Gorbo,” said King Merse after a serious pause, “to put it in the very mildest way, you are not improving. Can you make anything of this strange case?” he asked of Vanderdecken.

Vanderdecken did not reply in words; he merely grasped his beard and shook his head slowly from side to side as one who is utterly defeated.

“I suppose,” went on King Merse, “it were too much to expect that the fellow had some dim shadow of a reason, at the back of what for want of a better word we must call his brain, for this outrage?”

“Oh, we have found reason enough!” cried King Kul, with a slight tendency to rave. “He did it, he says, to save these little children from execution at our hands! These--_these_ whom we were at the moment stuffing with muffins! Oh----” here his sense of the bitter indignity overcame him again and he could only articulate words which I prefer to represent by dashes.

“This is a blow to me,” said King Merse, sadly. “I had hoped that when I found Gorbo I would also find that his mind had been broadened by foreign travel; it is said to have that effect. But what hope now?”

“It’s all very well,” said Gorbo sullenly, “but if you’d heard what Golithos said about the King, and what Mother Meldrum said about him, perhaps you’d have made a little mistake too. And Baldry said----” here he stopped suddenly, for Baldry was his sworn friend and he felt that to go on would not be cricket.

“Baldry!” exclaimed King Merse. “Ah, now the matter is clearing. Tell me what that reprobate said about me.”

But Gorbo remained silent.

“Bring hither our one-time jester,” said the King to an officer. “I think, cousin, we may find some extra reason for this matter.”

BALDRY’S SENTENCE

Baldry was brought in, chewing a straw. There were straws sticking in his hair and more on his clothes. He stood before the King with his eyes cast down and his hands clasped before him, a dejected figure.

“Thou insolent!” said the King, after regarding him for a moment. “Thou impertinent one! Think not to trick me by this show of sorrow. Tell me, have you said aught to this stranger that would lead him to believe me a tyrant?”

Baldry took the straw from his mouth, dried it carefully and deposited it within the bosom of his doublet. He placed his hand daintily over his mouth and coughed a little cough. Then he spoke:

“My liege lord and master, it is true that I did in some sort induce my dear friend Gorbo to believe you more despotic than is perhaps the case. But in my defence I must say that I had some good reason for it, namely, to wit”--here he checked off the items on his fingers--“Firstly, the idea occurred to me a choice one. Secondly, it seemed to be full of humour. Thirdly, I was highly amused at it. Fourthly, it tickled me greatly. Fifthly----”

“Silence me that lewd mouth!” cried the King to the jailor. A kerchief was hastily whipped round Baldry’s mouth and held while they waited further orders.

“Listen to my words,” said the King sternly, “for you will hear but few again. We can pardon much levity in a professional fool, but this more than reaches the limits of our patience. Go forth from our presence and from our palace and from our City--and keep on going. Know all,” he continued, turning to the court, “that Baldry is henceforth exiled from our dominions.”

Baldry started violently and stared at him as if he could not comprehend. Then, as the bitter truth dawned upon him, he turned, and with bowed head, paced slowly forth. But after some four or five steps he paused, placing his hand upon his heart as if with a sudden pang. Then, raising his hands aloft with a gesture of despair, he swayed, and fell at full length on his face, as falls a tree.

There was general consternation, and all rushed forward. One, skilled in leechcraft, knelt down and, bending his head sideways, listened carefully. Then he rose. “I cannot hear his heart beat,” he said sadly. “He is dead.”

They made way for the King, from whose countenance the stern look had faded, giving place to one of deep sorrow. He stood looking down at the prostrate figure and heaved a deep sigh, almost a groan. At length he spoke--in blank verse, for nothing less could express his bitter feelings:

“Alas, poor fool! is’t thus that comes the end,
The terminus of all your antic ways?
Could not the fate which spares the grim tom-cat
That yesternight did rack my harmless slumbers,
Making the moonlight tremble with his yells,
Have spared thee too? Can’st ne’er again
Devise thy lightsome jests, thy bonnetings,
Thy traps of booby poised on half-op’d door,
Or juggle with the table furnishings?
No, thou art dead, and I without my fool
Am left to mourn the law inscrutable
That gives us chiefly what we would not have.
The violet withers while the rhubarb thrives,
The buttered slice falls ever upside-down,
The horse we back does seldom find a place,
The horse we back not comes a romping in.
Too late, poor fool, this unavailing woe!
I loved thee more than thou did’st ever know.”

“Then in that case,” said Baldry, turning smartly over on to his back, “why are you making things so difficult?”

ROYAL CLEMENCY

It was characteristic of Baldry that he always (in seafaring phrase) sailed pretty close to the wind, and it was lucky for him in this case that the King’s satisfaction in knowing that he was not dead after all slightly outbalanced his new rage at finding that not only had he been tricked, but that he had wasted some rather superior blank verse. But Baldry dexterously twisted himself out of reach of the King’s itching foot and fled to where Sylvia and Joe were standing (both rather perplexed with these happenings) and embraced them with ardour.

“Ah, our cousin of Snerg!” said the King with a mournful smile, “well has the poet said that beneath a monarch’s crown there is often a sore head. But now let me recount to you what other reasons this Gorbo of yours gave for his behaviour. It will take some believing.”

King Merse, after hearing full details of how Gorbo had been cozened into perpetration of the outrage, gave his opinion that, the man being the ass he was, it would be best to pass the matter over as an error of judgment.

“That’s one way of looking at it,” said King Kul rather peevishly. “Of course it was I who got the stinger, not you. But,” he added with true nobility, “the quality of mercy is not strained like cabbage. Ho there, guards! unchain that extraordinary person. He is free.”

Gorbo’s fetters were instantly removed and carried away in a basket. He murmured some inarticulate thanks to the King and then went over to his brother Snergs, who were ranged against the wall and who greeted him with affection mingled with scarcely dissembled mirth. But he was cheered by the sudden impact of two small bodies; Sylvia and Joe had flung themselves at him and were hugging him tight.

King Kul watched the scene for a moment with a benevolent smile; then he turned to King Merse and Vanderdecken.

“Come,” he said, “to my privy chamber, where a stoup of wine and a mixed biscuit awaits us. The Master of the Buckhounds will see to it that your men are cared for. Pray mind the step.”

THE NEXT DAY

The next day passed happily and to the contentment of all except Sir Giles, who instead of walking for hours in the gardens with the Lady Ermyntrude, as he hoped to do, had to mount and away in order to bring Golithos and Mother Meldrum up for judgment. He started early and went off at great speed with his men. Since the job had to be done he would get it over quickly.

The Snergs and the Dutchmen were well entertained by the townspeople. They visited some public places, such as the building of Science and Arts, and were present at the ceremony of unveiling a new horse-trough in the market-place. A good spread, at which the Mayor presided, was given to them in the Town Hall.

Sylvia and Joe enjoyed themselves to the full. They went out shopping with the Lady Ermyntrude, who needed some lining and a piece of narrow insertion, and they roamed about with Gorbo afterwards and each bought a little china mug and saucer as a souvenir. They were very happy for it had been on the whole a most successful and interesting expedition; though they were to start on the homeward journey on the next day but one (a Snerg had been sent post haste to let Miss Watkyns know they were safe) and they would have preferred to stop a little longer, they were also looking forward to the time when they would be back with the other children and telling them all about it. And they really wanted to know what Miss Watkyns and the other ladies would think of it all.

There was a ball that night at the palace. Among those present were Joe and Sylvia, but only for a short time because the King said they were too young for dissipation. They went to sleep, soothed by the distant music of rebecs, psalterys and viols de gamboys. Truly a happy time.

AND THE DAY AFTER THAT

“Aha!” said King Kul, striking his hands lightly together as he glanced round the breakfast table, “what good things have we to eat this morning? I see kidneys--kippers--a dressed ham--pies of various sorts. Come, our cousin of Snerg, let me recommend the grouse pie.”

“Thank you,” replied King Merse, helping himself to a good deal. “Are grouse plentiful here?”

“Very plentiful. When you come again we must get up some hawking parties. Mynheer Vanderdecken, this wine is a good breakfast vintage. Let me fill your goblet--But where are our little guests? I heard their merry prattle from my window long ago, when I was having my early hippocras and sandwich.”

Before anyone could answer, the Lady Ermyntrude came rushing into the hall holding her skirts some six inches from the ground to facilitate her movements.

“Sire,” she panted, “the children cannot be found! I left them about an hour ago in order to powder my--I mean to arrange my coiffure--and they have gone!”

“Gone where?” exclaimed both monarchs, rising to their feet.

“Alas, I cannot say. The household varlets have searched the gardens and called to them, but they cannot be found. The guards at the palace gates have not seen them pass. But they are lost!”

“Tut, tut!” said King Kul, “that seems impossible. They are playing some prank on you. Have you searched the herbaceous borders?”

“Yes, sire, everywhere. But they cannot be found.”

Amid general consternation the Captain of the Gate was sent for and came on the run, bolting a crust and brushing crumbs from himself.

“Come, come!” said the King angrily, “you must learn to eat in your own time. We like not this munching in our presence. Now tell me if those children passed the gates this morning.”

The Captain made an effort and bolted what was left of the crust. “No, sire,” he replied. “Only serving-men have passed in or out on your Majesty’s affairs. They and one old man.”

“What manner of old man?”

“Of very indifferent manner, sire. He came early this morning to offer fat boiling fowls for your Majesty’s kitchen. He had a thin grey beard and he wore a high peaked hat and a cloak and he rode an ass.”

“That does not help us very much,” remarked the King, pondering deeply.

“Not at all, sire. We were glad to see him pass out, for when he had sold his fowls he brought forth bagpipes from under his cloak and played most execrable music. He went out a-riding his ass, with his feet disposed on his two covered baskets that hung on either side, and there were none that did not stop their ears as he passed. My own ears still ding with the fearsome squealing.”

“Enough of this old man and your ears,” said the King impatiently. “Now let my soldiers search----”

He was interrupted by the sudden appearance of Gorbo, who darted out from the throng and flung out his arms before him.

“It’s Mother Meldrum!” he cried, “The old man was Mother Meldrum! She’s got them after all!”

“Got them _where_?” roared the King and a few other people.

“In the baskets! She popped them in the baskets and played bagpipes so that people wouldn’t hear them screaming! Oh!”--here he flung his cap on the ground and jumped on it and tore his hair.

There was a momentary silence of astonishment. That Gorbo, already widely known in these parts as the prize fool of the strange race of Snergs, should find the solution of the mystery came as a bit of a shock. King Merse stared at him as if he were experiencing something of a miracle.

“He is right,” exclaimed King Kul. “If this toss-pot and muncher had had the sense to see what is plain to us all” (he forgot that he hadn’t seen it himself until it was shouted at him) “those children would not be now in the power of that wretch. Let no one rest until they are found, or avenged--Ha, here comes one who may help us,” he went on. “Welcome back, Sir Giles. Have you any news?”

“Ay, your Majesty, lots,” replied that capable knight, clanking up the hall. “But I have not found Golithos. His tower is empty except for miscellaneous rubbish, and the doors swing idly in the wind. He has flown.” His voice was hoarse with weariness and his mail showed signs of hard travel.

“Flown, has he? And Mother Meldrum?”

“She also has flown--probably on a broomstick. Her house is dismantled and deserted, and doubtless the foul things of the haunted woods will hold their revels there to-night. Ugh!” He shuddered, for though he was dauntless where a reasonable number of caitiffs were concerned he had no taste for the supernatural.

“Strange,” said the King musingly. “The plot thickens--But you are weary, Sir Giles. Pray seat yourself beside us while we consider the matter.”

“Thanks, sire, but I prefer standing. I have sat some score of hours or more.”

“I fear you will have to sit some more, good knight, for you must mount and lead your men again. Come, sirs, let us consider what course we are now to take.”

CAPTIVES AGAIN

In a wood of scattered and stunted trees many miles from Banrive, Mother Meldrum was urging on her heavily loaded ass with the assistance of a cudgel. Beside her strode the gigantic form of Golithos, with a big bundle tied to his shoulders and carrying his mighty axe. There was a kind of horrible contentment about the two as they went along in silence only broken by an occasional chuckle from Golithos and the thumping of the cudgel as it came down on the animal’s ribs. Round about them walked seven large black cats.

“We can take it a bit easier now,” said Mother Meldrum at length. She had taken off her cloak and in her man’s dress and with the false beard removed she looked a particularly hideous figure; the beard had at least hidden part of her face. “It’s not far now to the barren rocks and nobody ever comes as near to them as this. Everything’s going very nicely.”

“Yes, isn’t it,” he said. “Do you know I got very worried, waiting outside the town with your bundles and the cats. I thought you’d never come. I was afraid something had happened and you couldn’t find the little ones.”

“That’s because you’re a fool,” she said with her usual candour. “I got them almost at once, as I knew I would. Don’t you start complaining about me!”

“No, of course not. But the cats worried me so much--snarling and rolling about and getting their ropes entangled. And when I tried to sort them out they simply bit pieces out of me. Look at my hands.”

“Glad they did; I wish they’d done more to you. You lost one of my cats, too, you lout! If it doesn’t come along soon, I’ll remember it when we settle up.”

“But it really wasn’t my fault,” he said quickly. “I just untied it a moment to disentangle it and it clawed me and bolted off. It’ll come along all right.”

“There’ll be trouble for you if it doesn’t. Now let’s stop a bit and see how things are.”

“Yes, let’s,” said Golithos eagerly.

“You keep away! No touching.” She lifted up the lid of one of the baskets on the ass and untied the neck of a coarse sack within. “Aha, you’re tired of grizzling now, are you? That’s a good thing for you.”

The head of Joe came out and stared at her, white and horrified.

“Get out and walk!” she ordered. “No, wait a bit: I’ll have to tie your hands behind you.”

She tied him up and lashed the rope to the huge bundle that formed the principal load of the ass. Then she went to the other basket and liberated Sylvia.

Poor Sylvia’s eyes were swollen with weeping and her face showed a stunned horror. She shook with fear as she got out, her pretty silk dress with the golden flowers and bees all crumpled and stained with the filthy sack she had been tied in, and looked up in the old witch’s face.

“Keep apart,” she shouted, for Joe had got close to Sylvia to give her what consolation he could, which was not very much. “One on each side. Now march!”

They started off again, Joe and Sylvia walking in a dazed way on either side of her, Golithos coming behind with his load and leading the ass, and the cats surging about them like a pack of grim black hounds.

“You were clever to get them, the way you did,” said Golithos, to put her in a good humour. “You seem to manage everything the way you want it.”

“Oh, I’m clever enough. I just went in with my half-dozen fat hens and offered them for next to nothing, and I talked to the fat old cook about things in general until I saw these brats coming along and looking for something new. They got something new all right enough. I just gave them good morning and asked them if they knew of a nice quiet place in the garden where I could turn a little rabbit loose, because it was so cruel to keep a rabbit cooped up and it’d be much happier in the garden. And they took me to very nice quiet place, all thick bushes and the like. Ho, ho, ho! I had them twisted up in two sacks before they could begin to think what was happening. And by the time they’d started to yell I had them in the baskets and hopped on top of the ass and started the bagpipes. And some gardeners and people came running up and out but I went a-galloping and blowing the pipes and all they wanted was to see the last of me. And out in the street some stared at me and some pitched carrots and things at me, but I didn’t stop blowing until I was clear out of Banrive. Ho, ho, ho!”

Golithos laughed hideously and the children cowered as they stumbled along. Mother Meldrum jerked furiously at the ropes that held them and told them to step out smartly if they didn’t want some extra trouble.

“Don’t make them walk too fast,” said Golithos. “Poor things, it won’t do to get them too tired! Children _do_ get thin so easily,” he added with a touch of pathos.

“They’ll walk and you’ll walk and I’ll walk just as long as it suits me!” she shouted with one of her sudden changes to fury.

“Oh, yes, of course,” he said hastily. “I was merely suggesting----”

“Well, don’t. You’ve got your job to attend to before you need worry whether they’re thin or fat. As soon as we get beyond the barren rocks you’re finished with them until you’ve done your job.”

“Oh, I’ll do it all right,” he said, twirling his gigantic axe. “The sight of them has done me ever so much good. I’ll go back and just hide near Banrive until I get my chance. It won’t take long because you tell me the King goes out hawking every other day or so and it won’t be at all difficult to creep up when he’s sitting on his fat old horse and staring up in the sky. I’ll have him hacked to bits in no time. And if any twenty of his men come up I’ll cut them all down, as I used to do in the fine old days.” He roared with laughter and made the air whistle as he swung the axe over his head.

“At last I’m getting part of what I want,” said Mother Meldrum as she watched him approvingly. “Only part, because there’s others in the town I’m going to get square with. Wait till we’re comfortably settled beyond the barren rocks and we’ll be able to do quite a nice lot of damage one way and another. When they find their little children disappearing every now and then they’ll wish they’d left me alone in my comfortable little town business and not got the King to turn me out.”

Golithos did an ungainly dance of joy at the mention of a good supply of his natural food. “I suppose,” he said when his transports had calmed down a little, “there’s no chance of their finding the way through the rocks?”

“Not a bit of chance. The way through is by a hole just near the top of the big cliff, and even if they found the hole they’d lose their way in two minutes if they tried to follow the road. There’s fifty little tunnels branching in all directions and I’m the only one who knows the right one. Besides, they wouldn’t dare to follow us in: there’s other things there besides bats and darkness. No, we’ll be comfortable enough. There’s an old tower which you can take for your very own, and there’s a little house in the trees that will just suit me and I’ll settle down very comfortably with my cats.”

They trudged on in contented silence for a time. Sylvia and Joe were, luckily for them in one way, too stupefied with horror to realize the hideous fate that had come upon them and they went on as well as they could, Mother Meldrum occasionally hinting by a ferocious pick at the ropes that they were not walking fast enough.

THE BARREN ROCKS

Half an hour later Mother Meldrum gave a grunt of satisfaction. “Here we are at last,” she said. “Look up, little dears, and see where you’re going to climb to.”

They had passed out of the thicker part of the stunted trees into an open space, and the shuddering children saw before them a deep ravine of dry and jagged rocks. On the farther side the walls rose in a cliff which, though not very much higher than they were standing, was very precipitous and evidently difficult to climb for anyone who did not know the path. Nowhere about the rocks was there any sign of life or vegetation. It was a new strange land on which a blight had fallen; a land over which a dull horror seemed to brood.

“We’ll go down a nice little path I know of,” said Mother Meldrum, with a deep chuckle, “and then we’ll go up a nice little path I know of. And close to the top is a nice little tunnel I know of, and we’ll go ever so far through it until we come to a nice little house I know of. _Now_ don’t you wish you hadn’t run away from dear old Mother----”

She stopped and turned round and stared. Golithos, who had been grinning savagely at her words, stopped and looked quickly in the same direction.

“I thought I heard Gubbins,” she said (Gubbins was the missing cat).

“Oh, I’m so glad!” he said, “I wouldn’t have liked you to lose him. He must have caught us up. Ah, there he is! I thought he wouldn’t be long in finding us.”

“Yes, you fool!” snarled the old woman, choking with rage. “And see who’s coming after him! This comes of trusting a lubber like you!”

“It’s that Snerg again,” said Golithos uneasily.

The children’s hearts gave a bound of joy and hope. A long way off, and far beyond the black cat that came trotting up, they saw a little figure running. It was Gorbo, and the dead weight of terror seemed to lift from them at the sight.

“I don’t seem able to shake him off somehow,” went on Golithos, not at all with the air of a man who was ready to do great deeds. “But he hasn’t seen us yet because we’re hidden by these trees. Let’s get into the thick part and hide until he comes up and then I’ll jump out and cut him down before he can shout.”

“Come along, you brats, or I’ll murder you here!” shouted Mother Meldrum.

She dragged fiercely at the ropes and they had to follow her into the trees. Golithos hauled on the leading rope of the ass, and the ass, as its nature taught it to do, hauled back. With a howl of rage he took a firmer grip of the rope and dragged the ass a few feet. Then the rope snapped and the animal turned and trotted back on the path they had come.

“Now you’ve done it, you great lout!” screamed Mother Meldrum. “Now he’ll know we’re here! Oh, I’ll settle accounts with you, Golithos, once we’re out of this!”

“But there’s no great harm done,” pleaded Golithos. “He’ll come along looking for us just the same. Oh, please keep quiet, he may be coming along now. If he hears us I won’t be able to jump out on him!”

The old woman controlled herself sufficiently to keep silent, though her face was livid with rage. She dragged the children into a thicker part of the trees and pushed them over and crouched down by them, surrounded by her cats, who stopped still at an order from her and lay quiet on the ground. Golithos stooped behind a tree with his axe ready.

Gubbins, the missing cat, came trotting up. They could see him stop and sniff about. Then he looked back invitingly and saying “Me-reow! me-reow!” in a high and strong voice, came purring in among the trees and greeted his mistress and his brother cats. Mother Meldrum silenced him with a clump on the head and he too crouched down.

There was a dead silence for a minute or two. Then suddenly the witch gave a little grunt, for Gorbo came into view, walking with a silent tread and peering in all directions, with an arrow fitted to his bow.

HOW GORBO FOUND THE WAY

The measures taken by King Kul to search for the children would have, by themselves, resulted in failure and a tragedy. Though of an estimable character he was not remarkable for handling difficult situations, especially those which for want of a better term we must call matters of police. His dominion had been peaceable so long that he had lost the knack of it; besides, his subjects, an amiable but rather muddle-headed offshoot of mediæval days, were of little assistance in the case, for no one could give information as to the road taken by the alleged old man with the ass and big baskets and bagpipes. The knights too--with the exception of Sir Giles, who had plenty of ginger in him (which is why he had secured the prettiest girl at court)--were rather lacking in practice owing to the decay of dragons, caitiffs, and other undesirable inhabitants, and they rather played at chivalrous doings than took any active interest in them. Consequently, though troops were sent searching in all directions, they went without definite instructions, and they merely wandered about, putting innocent people through severe cross-examinations, inspecting cock-lofts in lonely but peaceful farmhouses, and generally making themselves thoroughly disliked without obtaining any useful hints.

Sir Giles, however, had hit on an idea which had some reason at the back of it. The far western border of the land was some half-day’s ride away and the country beyond, though no one knew anything definite about it, had a very unsavoury reputation. It was generally considered to be the part where the dragons and caitiffs and others had gone during the past few centuries, and he considered it probable that Mother Meldrum and Golithos had selected it as a suitable spot for their future home; therefore he had taken his squire and ten picked men and gone there at full speed. The idea, as I have said, was on the whole a good one. The one reason against its being a successful one was that Mother Meldrum and Golithos had gone in the opposite direction.

While King Kul was discussing the situation and making suggestions, King Merse rushed off with Gorbo and collected his men, and Vanderdecken joined them with his immediately afterwards. But they, like the others, had little notion of which would be the best direction to take until Gorbo gave them a second shock by making a really practical suggestion.

While the men were formed up and waiting for orders, with King Merse and Vanderdecken at their wits’ end to know what orders to give, Gorbo suddenly ran off and peered between the legs of some citizens who formed a little crowd near the ancient Cloth Hall. The citizens were looking at a cat of exceeding bigness and blackness which was engaged with a bone. There were none present who had visited Mother Meldrum professionally so no one recognized this as one of her cats; they were merely wondering at its appearance, the cats of Banrive being as a rule small and either fawn colour or grey with stripes.

Gorbo acted with a promptness inspired by his grief and his knowledge that time was flying. He rushed to a fish stall and demanded a pound of sprats on the King’s affairs and a straw-bag to put them in. He returned and, pushing his way through the crowd, offered the animal a sprat. It took it with a fierce growl and ate it, and then looked up hopefully for more. Gorbo did not give it another yet but patted and stroked it instead, allowing it to sniff at the bag.

“Did ums old cats want um sprats?” he said soothingly. “Then um good old cats must work for um sprats.”

The animal, though evidently intelligent above its kind, could not of course wholly understand. It got easily as far as understanding that this small man (whom it remembered seeing before) was one who had control of fish in a bag, and he set up a roaring purr and rubbed hard against him in the hope that he would do the decent thing and give him another.

Gorbo held out another sprat and walked backwards towards his brother Snergs, the cat following.

“See!” he said to King Merse; “one of Mother Meldrum’s cats! Perhaps it can lead us to her.”

King Merse stared at him in wonder at his penetration. Vanderdecken smote Gorbo on the shoulder. “This man of yours is improving,” he said. “We can but try it.”

“We will,” said the King. “Go ahead, Gorbo, with your cat, and we will follow some way behind.”

The inhabitants were ordered to clear the road and Gorbo, after giving a third sprat for encouragement, walked towards the town-gate. The cat followed him, chewing and growling. On arriving at a clear space beyond the walls Gorbo urged it by gestures to take the road. After a few moments it looked about and sniffed the ground; went on a bit and sniffed again. Gorbo looked on anxiously.

“Home to mother then!” he said, holding up his bag. “Home to other old black cats.”

The animal turned and looked at him and then, giving a terrific wail, started off at a trot. Gorbo followed and the cat, merely stopping an instant to make sure that the bag of fish was coming close behind, went on down a narrow trail that led to some woods.

It went steadily on and Gorbo trotted steadily behind it. And a quarter of a mile or so behind them came the soft padding footsteps of the Snergs and the clumping of the Dutchmen’s sea-boots as they followed at the double.

THE REFORM OF GOLITHOS

As Gorbo appeared in the open space beyond the trees, Mother Meldrum shook her fist fiercely at Golithos to encourage him, and for an instant had her attention taken away from the children. But this instant was enough for Joe, who had been working his hands loose from the rope (he had learned rope tricks in his circus life), and who now had them free. He quickly untied Sylvia’s hands and then very gently helped her to her feet. “Run,” he whispered close to her ear. And with a bound they were off, Joe holding her hand with a tight grip and hauling her along through the trees.

They heard a savage yell from behind them; but they were out in the open and running up to Gorbo, who sprang forward to meet them with a shout.

“Hide in the trees!” screamed Joe. “There’s Golithos coming!”

Gorbo jumped and looked quickly round. Then in an instant he sprang with them into the shade of the trees on the other side of the open space. He gave a little sound of wonder and joy, something like a sob, and then faced round, again with his bow held ready. “Lie down and hide,” he said, without turning his head.

“But there’s Golithos there!” wailed Sylvia. “Let’s run, Gorbo!”

“Not me,” said Gorbo. “Just lie quiet.”

There was a dead silence for a time. Then they heard the voice of Golithos hailing from the opposite side of the open spot.

“Is that you, Gorbo?” he called.

“It’s me,” replied Gorbo.

“Look here,” went on the voice, “you go away and I’ll let you keep the little ones. There!”

“Thanks,” said Gorbo.

“Oh, but do be reasonable. Let’s talk it over quietly; it’s no good being unfriendly. Just come out in the open and we’ll talk it over.”

“All right,” said Gorbo. “You come too.” He walked to the edge of the trees and stood looking across at the other side.

“But I can’t see you,” said Golithos. “You must really show some confidence in me, and then I’ll come.”

“Will this suit you?” Gorbo walked out some half-dozen steps.

“Yes, that’s better, Gorbo. You see I don’t want to harm you.” (From their hiding-place the children could hear him blundering through the bushes and twigs.) “I’ve always rather liked you and if we can just talk over matters----”

With a rush and roar he sprang out, his mighty axe swung up high.

_Whang._

Golithos stopped his rush within six feet of Gorbo and stood swaying. His axe fell crashing to the ground.

_Whang--Whang._

Golithos toppled and fell headlong with a thump that shook the ground. Three arrows stuck out from behind his head.

MOTHER MELDRUM GOES

The children flung themselves at Gorbo and hugged him, and Sylvia was shaking with sobs. He squeezed them to him for just one instant and then jumped away. “Where’s Mother Meldrum?” he said quickly.

“She’s in there,” replied Joe, pointing across.

Gorbo crept up cautiously, looking about him as he went. Suddenly he gave an exclamation. “Look!” he cried, pointing to the opposite side of the ravine.

The old witch was climbing, climbing up the rocks, and behind her came the black cats. Gorbo rushed to the edge of the ravine and shot. The arrow fell short. He shot again and again, but it was useless; the distance was too great for a bow. And Mother Meldrum climbed and climbed, with an agility and strength that appeared miraculous.

Gorbo turned again, for there was a mighty trampling behind him. Up came the Snergs and the Dutch seamen, headed by their leaders. The children and fallen body of Golithos took but an instant of their attention for Gorbo shouted that Mother Meldrum was escaping.

The Snergs ranged along the edge of the ravine and shot thick and fast so that the air was full of arrows, but the old witch was well out of range and she knew it. She had reached a flat part near the summit of the cliff, and the tunnel that led through the barren rocks was close at hand. With a shrill screaming laugh that sounded horridly across the ravine she danced a fantastic dance of triumph, something between an Irish jig and a coranto. O hideous sight!

But little did this hag of mediæval days know of the strides of science. The voice of Vanderdecken (who had so wisely trained his seamen in the part) rang out:

“Musketeers, advance! Handle your muskets! Cock your muskets! Aim your muskets! _Fire!_ Recover your muskets!”

At the word “_Fire_,” three-and-thirty shots shook the air and echoed from the rocky crags. A dark cloud of smoke hung over the scene.

The smoke drifted away.

“Where,” said King Merse, “is Mother Meldrum?”

Vanderdecken handed him his telescope. “There is something like bits of rags sticking on the rocks,” he said. “And I think I can see a hand hanging over the edge of the cliff. See what you can make of it.”

“Yes,” agreed King Merse as he looked, “it is undoubtedly as you say. That is Mother Meldrum--or part of her.”

Thus it was. When three-and-thirty muskets of the kind made in Vanderdecken’s day, loaded with double bullets and a half handful of buckshot, are fired simultaneously by expert marksmen at the same target the result is effective. Mother Meldrum had been blown to bits.

ALL TROUBLES OVER

There was a good deal of ringing of bells at Banrive when the joyous band of Snergs and Dutchmen arrived with the children safe and sound, and it was known that Golithos and Mother Meldrum had passed away.

The ass had been found trying to rub its load off against a tree, and the Snergs had untied the bundles and selected whatever there was of value in them and thrown the rest away. Then they put Joe and Sylvia on the ass and started back, singing sea chanties which the Dutchmen had taught them. Sylvia soon got over the worst of her shock, and though she was a good deal worried about the crumpled and dirty state of her pretty new dress, she was able in time to join modestly in the chorus. Joe did not have so much shock to get over because he was the sort that does not trouble about troubles that are past and he sang lustily.

Gorbo was given the place of honour in front and he came along with a light step although he was carrying Golithos’ enormous axe, which was his according to the rules of war. He was the subject of a good deal of jovial badinage on account of the cat Gubbins, which had not gone to join its brother cats (now doubtless great hunters in the land of barren rocks) but had attached itself to him. It may have been that it liked Gorbo’s cast of countenance or it may have been that it considered a man with a bag of fish something to stay by, but I leave this for naturalists to decide; all I know is that it went ahead of him, with its tail well up, stepping rather in the manner of goats belonging to certain British regiments.

King Kul embraced the children, almost with tears, and with his own hands gave Sylvia the puppy, which had been wandering disconsolately about looking for them. He made a speech thanking the Snergs and the seamen for their great service in his dominions. When King Merse told him that Gorbo had slain Golithos single-handed he merely said, “Indeed? And very creditable of him--considering.” He could never quite overcome his dislike of Gorbo.

But nobler feelings prevailed. He went to his privy-chambers and rummaged in a little chest of drawers. Returning to the hall he bade Gorbo approach and kneel.

“By this,” he said, placing round his neck a cherry-coloured ribbon with a medallion, “I make you a Companion of the Order of Errant Tinkers. See that you wear it worthily.”

Amid a murmur of applause the blushing Gorbo rose and thanked him gratefully and retired backwards. He was filled with a pride and joy that left him dizzy. At last it was officially recognized that he had escaped from the reproach of being the biggest fool of the race of Snergs. Sylvia and Joe ran to him and demanded to see. The medallion was a tasteful thing, representing a man in full armour mending a saucepan (Sir Bors, a tinker knighted on the field of battle). The order was an ancient one and Gorbo had full reason to be proud. It carried with it the freedom of the City and the right to remove his boots (if they hurt him) in the presence of the King.

The Lady Ermyntrude took charge of the children and told them to change into their Watkyns Bay uniforms (which had been washed and ironed) while their new clothes were sent to the dry cleaners. These were expeditious people and they promised to have them restored to their original beauty by noon on the following day; to the great joy of Sylvia, who loved her dress with the golden bees.

It was a happy time for all. Sir Giles returned in a very peevish frame of mind at the ill-success of his journey, but when he heard that the children had been brought safely back he came clashing in and embraced them with ardour. He said that perchance now they would let him look forward to a good night’s rest. He changed from his travel-stained armour into a suit of murrey-coloured velvet in which he looked rather well, and he sat with the Lady Ermyntrude behind some curtains and held her hand, in spite of her warnings that people would see. Baldry (who I fear will never learn) tried to promote the gaiety of courts by creeping behind him and smiting him on the head with his bladder stick; but he had to flee from the palace and hide for the rest of the day, since the King refused to grant him protection, saying: “Now perhaps you’ll think before acting.”

BACK ACROSS THE RIVER

Another day passed and then, at an early hour, the homeward journey was begun. Cheerful farewells were exchanged and amid the shouts of the populace the Expeditionary Force passed out of the town-gate which they had entered with such doubtful anticipations a few days before, with Joe and Sylvia riding on small ponies (wearing their fancy clothes) and two sumpter-mules in the charge of responsible churls. One mule was laden with presents from King Kul for the royal house of Snerg and other presents for Miss Watkyns and her staff (including some curiously wrought silver cups and an antique carved unicorn’s horn suitable for a centre-piece), and the second mule bore two barrels of special wine for Vanderdecken.

King Kul promised to visit the Snergs if something in the way of a bridge could be made across the deep river, and Vanderdecken said he would give thought to the matter and devise a substantial swinging bridge that would not wobble too much.

They stayed for the night at the comfortable little castle of the Lord of the King’s Marches, who was at home when they arrived and who, they found, was an agreeable man though with a slight touch of pomposity, like his steward. He accepted apologies for their former invasion of his stronghold and occupation of his best beds, and was quite nice about it, telling them that he appreciated the urgency of the case and they were heartily welcome. He seemed on the whole rather relieved to find his job gone. Throughout a long life he had been (nominally) guarding the border against a chance attack of Snergs, and now they had proved to be a good-natured and friendly people and he might have just as well been attending to other matters. He said that in future he would devote his time to gardening, for which he had a passion.

They bade him farewell in the morning and in a few hours were on the precipitous cliff that overhung the river, where they were greeted with great joy by the band of Snergs who had been left there to prevent any interference with the rope. They had made a little fort with a trench round it and they had sentries posted in the proper way. King Merse gave them a word or two of soldierly praise.

Sylvia was sent across with Tiger in a large basket, which the seamen rigged up in the manner of life-saving devices, and arrived safely, though rather giddy and frightened owing to the terrific height over which she had passed. Joe declined to go in the basket and jerked himself across the rope at great speed, as did the Snergs and Dutchmen. The presents were then put in the basket and hauled across, and then came the two barrels of wine. Vanderdecken superintended the lashing up of these himself as he said he wasn’t going to take any silly risks with them. Gorbo swarmed over (amid cheers and laughter) with the cat clinging to his person, because they could not induce it to go in the basket.

BACK TO THE TOWN

It was only a league or a bit more to the town, where the news had already arrived. As the children drew near they noticed three figures conspicuous for their height among the small Snergs. Miss Watkyns, together with the Misses Scadging and Gribblestone, had come on good steady bears on the previous day to meet them, and there they had heard for the first time of their terrible final adventure.

When they saw the children coming along in their beautiful costumes of a long bygone age, they burst into weeping. This, though something in accord with the character of two of these ladies, came rather as a surprise from Miss Watkyns, who loathed display of sentiment. But she did not weep much. With a stern word to the others to have done with sloppiness she asked both children whether they were, or were not, thoroughly ashamed of themselves. It occurred to both Sylvia and Joe at this point that perhaps they ought to be, and they said they were ashamed. I believe this to be true, though most of the feeling wore off in ten minutes.

It is almost unnecessary to say that this was the occasion for a feast, and it must be noted that Gorbo no longer sat in the suburbs but was only seven places down from the King. In addition to the Order of Errant Tinkers (regarded rather enviously by many present) a brazen nutmeg glittered upon his breast, for King Merse felt that he had fairly earned it.

BACK TO WATKYNS BAY

It occurs to me here that there is some difficulty in proving a really useful moral from this tale, although I have almost boastfully referred to it as coming in due course for the instruction of my younger readers. For however reprehensible the children were in their disobedience and irresponsibility it cannot be denied that the general results of their conduct were beneficial. They were instrumental in bringing a swift finish to two persons who constituted a serious menace to the public. They had brought about the establishment of friendly relations between two countries, and removed doubts that had existed for centuries. Lastly, they had returned magnificently dressed and bearing expensive gifts. So perhaps the only definite moral that can be deduced is, if you by any chance meet an ogre who claims to be reformed, pretend to believe him until you have got a gun and then blow his head off at the first opportunity.

On their arrival at Watkyns Bay the other children crowded round Sylvia and Joe with cries of delight and admiration, for nothing more gorgeous had been seen even in a picture-book, and there was at this point some danger of the swollen-headedness which Miss Watkyns had dreaded. But she soon put it right by ordering them both to change into their plain but serviceable two-piece garments, and stating that the others should be kept for very special occasions, such as fancy-dress affairs. This, by the way, led to the institution of fancy-dress dances and caused a great deal of extra needlework and ironing.

Sylvia and Joe were very glad to get back to their little cots with the hop mattresses, and when at last they dropped off to sleep (very late, for there was a good deal of whispering because the other children wanted to hear more) lulled by the distant breaking of the sea and the light rubbing of cinnamon bears against the fence without, they felt very peaceful and happy and resolved to be really good for a reasonably long time.

TO FINISH UP