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Page 34
All the men of Regos bore spears and bows-and-arrows,
and some of the officers had swords and battle-axes; so
Buzzub ordered them to stand their ground and shoot and
slay the strangers as they approached. This they tried
to do. Inga being in advance, the warriors sent a
flight of sharp arrows straight at the boy's breast,
while others cast their long spears at him.
It seemed to Rinkitink that the little Prince must
surely perish as he stood facing this hail of murderous
missiles; but the power of the Pink Pearl did not
desert him, and when the arrows and spears had reached
to within an inch of his body they bounded back again
and fell harmlessly at his feet. Nor were Rinkitink or
Bilbil injured in the least, although they stood close
beside Inga.
Buzzub stood for a moment looking upon the boy in
silent wonder. Then, recovering himself, he shouted in
a loud voice:
"Once again! All together, my men. No one shall ever
defy our might and live!"
Again a flight of arrows and spears sped toward the
three, and since many more of the warriors of Regos had
by this time joined their fellows, the air was for a
moment darkened by the deadly shafts. But again all
fell harmless before the power of the Pink Pearl, and
Bilbil, who had been growing very angry at the attempts
to injure him and his party, suddenly made a bolt
forward, casting off Inga's hold, and butted into the
line of warriors, who were standing amazed at their
failure to conquer.
Taken by surprise at the goat's attack, a dozen big
warriors tumbled in a heap, yelling with fear, and
their comrades, not knowing what had happened but
imagining that their foes were attacking them, turned
about and ran to the city as hard as they could go.
Bilbil, still angry, had just time to catch the big
captain as he turned to follow his men, and Buzzub
first sprawled headlong upon the ground, then rolled
over two or three times, and finally jumped up and ran
yelling after his defeated warriors. This butting on
the part of the goat was very hard upon King Rinkitink,
who nearly fell off Bilbil's back at the shock of
encounter; but the little fat King wound his arms
around the goat's neck and shut his eyes and clung on
with all his might. It was not until he heard Inga say
triumphantly, "We have won the fight without striking a
blow!" that Rinkitink dared open his eyes again. Then
he saw the warriors rushing into the City of Regos and
barring the heavy gates, and he was very much relieved
at the sight.
"Without striking a blow!" said Bilbil indignantly.
"That is not quite true, Prince Inga. You did not
fight, I admit, but I struck a couple of times to good
purpose, and I claim to have conquered the cowardly
warriors unaided."
"You and I together, Bilbil," said Rinkitink mildly.
"But the next time you make a charge, please warn me in
time, so that I may dismount and give you all the
credit for the attack."
There being no one now to oppose their advance, the
three walked to the gates of the city, which had been
closed against them. The gates were of iron and heavily
barred, and upon the top of the high walls of the city
a host of the warriors now appeared armed with arrows
and spears and other weapons. For Buzzub had gone
straight to the palace of King Cos and reported his
defeat, relating the powerful magic of the boy, the fat
King and the goat, and had asked what to do next.
The big captain still trembled with fear, but King
Gos did not helieve in magic, and called Buzzub a
coward and a weakling. At once the King took command of
his men personally, and he ordered the walls manned
with warriors and instructed them to shoot to kill if
any of the three strangers approached the gates.
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