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Page 18
"How did it happen?" inquired Inga.
"I was running away from the enemy," explained the
King, "and I was carelessly looking over my shoulder at
the same time, to see if they were chasing me. So I did
not see the well, but stepped into it and found myself
tumbling down to the bottom. I struck the water very
neatly and began struggling to keep myself from
drowning, but presently I found that when I stood upon
my feet on the bottom of the well, that my chin was
just above the water. So I stood still and yelled for
help; but no one heard me."
"If the warriors had heard you," said Bilbil, "they
would have pulled you out and carried you away to be a
slave. Then you would have been obliged to work for a
living, and that would be a new experience."
"Work!" exclaimed Rinkitink. "Me work? Hoo, hoo,
heek-keek-eek! How absurd! I'm so stout -- not to say
chubby -- not to say fat -- that I can hardly walk, and
I couldn't earn my salt at hard work. So I'm glad the
enemy did not find me, Bilbil. How many others
escaped?"
"That I do not know," replied the boy, "for I
have not yet had time to visit the other parts of
the island. When you have rested and satisfied
your royal hunger, it might be well for us to
look around and see what the thieving warriors
of Regos and Coregos have left us."
"An excellent idea," declared Rinkitink. "I am
somewhat feeble from my long confinement in the well,
but I can ride upon Bilbil's back and we may as well
start at once."
Hearing this, Bilbil cast a surly glance at his
master but said nothing, since it was really the goat's
business to carry King Rinkitink wherever he desired to
go.
They first searched the ruins of the palace, and
where the kitchen had once been they found a small
quantity of food that had been half hidden by a block
of marble. This they carefully placed in a sack to
preserve it for future use, the little fat King having
first eaten as much as he cared for. This consumed some
time, for Rinkitink had been exceedingly hungry and
liked to eat in a leisurely manner. When he had
finished the meal he straddled Bilbil's back and set
out to explore the island, Prince Inga walking by his
side.
They found on every hand ruin and desolation. The
houses of the people had been pilfered of all valuables
and then torn down or burned. Not a boat had been left
upon the shore, nor was there a single person, man or
woman or child, remaining upon the island, save
themselves. The only inhabitants of Pingaree now
consisted of a fat little King, a boy and a goat.
Even Rinkitink, merry hearted as he was, found it
hard to laugh in the face of this mighty disaster. Even
the goat, contrary to its usual habit, refrained from
saying anything disagreeable. As for the poor boy whose
home was now a wilderness, the tears came often to his
eyes as he marked the ruin of his dearly loved island.
When, at nightfall, they reached the lower end of
Pingaree and found it swept as bare as the rest, Inga's
grief was almost more than he could bear. Everything
had been swept from him -- parents, home and country --
in so brief a time that his bewilderment was equal to
his sorrow.
Since no house remained standing, in which they might
sleep, the three wanderers crept beneath the
overhanging branches of a cassa tree and curled
themselves up as comfortably as possible. So tired and
exhausted were they by the day's anxieties and griefs
that their troubles soon faded into the mists of
dreamland. Beast and King and boy slumbered peacefully
together until wakened by the singing of the birds
which greeted the dawn of a new day.
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