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Page 38
They carefully bolted the door of their room, that no
one might enter, and then got into their beds, where
Rinkitink fell asleep in an instant. The boy lay awake
for a while thinking over the day's adventures, but
presently he fell sound asleep also, and so weary was
he that nothing disturbed his slumber until he awakened
next morning with a ray of sunshine in his eyes, which
had crept into the room through the open window by King
Rinkitink's bed.
Resolving to begin the search for his parents without
any unnecessary delay, Inga at once got out of bed and
began to dress himself, while Rinkitink, in the other
bed, was still sleeping peacefully. But when the boy
had put on both his stockings and began looking for his
shoes, he could find but one of them. The left shoe,
that containing the Pink Pearl, was missing.
Filled with anxiety at this discovery, Inga searched
through the entire room, looking underneath the beds
and divans and chairs and behind the draperies and in
the corners and every other possible place a shoe might
be. He tried the door, and found it still bolted; so,
with growing uneasiness, the boy was forced to admit
that the precious shoe was not in the room.
With a throbbing heart he aroused his companion.
"King Rinkitink," said he, "do you know what has
become of my left shoe?"
"Your shoe!" exclaimed the King, giving a wide yawn
and rubbing his eyes to get the sleep out of them.
"Have you lost a shoe?"
"Yes," said Inga. "I have searched everywhere in the
room, and cannot find it."
"But why bother me about such a small thing?"
inquired Rinkitink. "A shoe is only a shoe, and you can
easily get another one. But, stay! Perhaps it was your
shoe which I threw at the cat last night."
"The cat!" cried Inga. "What do you mean?"
"Why, in the night," explained Rinkitink, sitting up
and beginning to dress himself, "I was wakened by the
mewing of a cat that sat upon a wall of the palace,
just outside my window. As the noise disturbed me, I
reached out in the dark and caught up something and
threw it at the cat, to frighten the creature away. I
did not know what it was that I threw, and I was too
sleepy to care; but probably it was your shoe, since it
is now missing."
"Then," said the boy, in a despairing tone of voice,
"your carelessness has ruined me, as well as yourself,
King Rinkitink, for in that shoe was concealed the
magic power which protected us from danger."
The King's face became very serious when he heard
this and he uttered a low whistle of surprise and
regret.
"Why on earth did you not warn me of this?" he
demanded. "And why did you keep such a precious power
in an old shoe? And why didn't you put the shoe under a
pillow? You were very wrong, my lad, in not confiding
to me, your faithful friend, the secret, for in that
case the shoe would not now be lost."
To all this Inga had no answer. He sat on the side of
his bed, with hanging head, utterly disconsolate, and
seeing this, Rinkitink had pity for his sorrow.
"Come!" cried the King; "let us go out at once and
look for the shoe which I threw at the cat. It must
even now be lying in the yard of the palace."
This suggestion roused the boy to action. He at once
threw open the door and in his stocking feet rushed
down the staircase, closely followed by Rinkitink. But
although they looked on both sides of the palace wall
and in every possible crack and corner where a shoe
might lodge, they failed to find it.
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