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Page 43
"If I had only known that there was nobody but a little girl on board!
I thought, of course, he had a boat-load of pirates."
Corette asked a great many questions about everything that had happened
on the ship, for she had heard the noise and confusion as she sat below
in the little boat; but her companion was disposed to be silent, and
said very little in reply.
When the trip was over, and they had reached the island, the Reformed
Pirate made his boat fast, and taking little Corette by the hand, he
walked up to the house of the Practicing Wizard.
This was a queer place. It was a great rambling house, one story high
in some places, and nine or ten in other places; and then, again, it
seemed to run into the ground and re-appear at a short distance--the
different parts being connected by cellars and basements, with nothing
but flower-gardens over them.
Corette thought she had never seen such a wonderful building; but she
had not long to look at the outside of it, for her companion, who had
been there before, and knew the ways of the place, went up to a little
door in a two-story part of the house and knocked. Our friends were
admitted by a dark cream-colored slave, who informed them that the
Practicing Wizard was engaged with other visitors, but that he would
soon be at leisure.
So Corette and the Reformed Pirate sat down in a handsome room, full of
curious and wonderful things, and, in a short time, they were summoned
into the Practicing Wizard's private office.
"Glad to see you," said he, as the Reformed Pirate entered. "It has
been a long time since you were here. What can I do for you, now? Want
to know something about the whereabouts of any ships, or the value of
any cargoes?"
"Oh, no! I'm out of that business now," said the other. "I've come this
time for something entirely different. But I'll let this little girl
tell you what it is. She can do it a great deal better than I can."
So Corette stepped up to the Practicing Wizard, who was a pleasant,
elderly man, with a smooth white face, and a constant smile, which
seemed to have grown on his face instead of a beard, and she told him
the whole story of the fairy sisters and their cottage, of her great
desire to see it, and of the difficulties in the way.
"I know all about those sisters," he said; "I don't wonder you want to
see their house. You both wish to see it?"
"Yes," said the Reformed Pirate; "I might as well go with her, if the
thing can be done at all."
"Very proper," said the Practicing Wizard, "very proper, indeed. But
there is only one way in which it can be done. You must be condensed."
"Does that hurt?" asked Corette.
"Oh, not at all! You'll never feel it. For the two it will be one
hundred and eighty ducats," said he, turning to the Reformed Pirate;
"we make a reduction when there are more than one."
"Are you willing?" asked the Reformed Pirate of Corette, as he put his
hand in his breeches' pocket.
"Oh yes!" said Corette, "certainly I am, if that's the only way."
Whereupon her good friend said no more, but pulled out a hundred and
eighty ducats and handed them to the Practicing Wizard, who immediately
commenced operations.
Corette and the Reformed Pirate were each placed in a large easy-chair,
and upon each of their heads the old white-faced gentleman placed a
little pink ball, about the size of a pea. Then he took a position in
front of them.
"Now then," said he, "sit perfectly still. It will be over in a few
minutes," and he lifted up a long thin stick, and, pointing it toward
the couple, he began to count: "One, two, three, four----"
As he counted, the Reformed Pirate and Corette began to shrink, and by
the time he had reached fifty they were no bigger than cats. But he
kept on counting until Corette was about three and a half inches high
and her companion about five inches.
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