t would
enable her to save Cap'n Bill from being patched. No one could see her,
so no one--not even Cap'n Bill--knew she was there.

After breakfast was over, a procession was formed, headed by the
Boolooroo, and they marched the prisoner through the palace until they
came to the Room of the Great Knife. Invisible Trot followed soberly
after them, still wondering what she could do to save her friend.

As soon as they entered the Room of the great Knife, the Boolooroo gave
a yell of disappointment.

"What's become of Tiggle?" he shouted. "Where's Tiggle? Who has
released Tiggle? Go at once, you dummies, and find him, or it will go
hard with you!"

The frightened soldiers hurried away to find Tiggle, and Trot was well
pleased because she knew Tiggle was by this time safely hidden.

The Boolooroo stamped up and down the room, muttering threats and
declaring Cap'n Bill should be punished whether Tiggle was found or
not, and while they waited, Trot took time to make an inspection of the
place, which she now saw for the first time in broad daylight.

The Room of the Great Knife was high and big, and around it ran rows of
benches for the spectators to sit upon. In one place at the head of the
room was a raised platform for the royal family, with elegant
throne-chairs for the King and Queen and six smaller but richly
upholstered chairs for the Snubnosed Princesses. The poor Queen, by the
way, was seldom seen, as she passed all her time playing solitaire with
a deck that was one card short, hoping that before she had lived her
entire six hundred years she would win the game. Therefore, her Majesty
paid no attention to anyone and no one paid any attention to her.

In the center of the room stood the terrible knife that gave the place
its name, a name dreaded by every inhabitant of the Blue City. The
knife was built into a huge framework like a derrick, that reached to
the ceiling, and it was so arranged that when the Boolooroo pulled a
cord the great blade would drop down in its frame and neatly cut in two
the person who stood under it. And in order that the slicing would be
accurate, there was another frame to which the prisoner was tied so
that he couldn't wiggle either way. This frame was on rollers so that
it could be placed directly underneath the knife.

While Trot was observing this dreadful machine, the door opened and in
walked the Six Snubnosed Princesses, all in a row and with their chins
up as if they disdain