wers lengthened, and was never broken. Whenever he had any
message to send to the Queen, or any other person in the palace, he
shouted it to the officer next him, who shouted it to the one next to
him, and it was so passed on until it reached the palace. If he
needed food, clothes, or any other necessary thing, the order for it
was shouted along the line, and the article was passed to him from
man to man, each one carrying it forward to his neighbor, and then
retiring to his proper place.

In this way the King walked on day by day until he had passed
entirely out of his own kingdom. At night he stopped at some
convenient house on the road, and if any of his followers did not
find himself near a house or cottage when the King shouted back the
order to halt, he laid himself down to sleep wherever he might be. By
this time the increasing line of followers had used up all the
officers of the court, and it became necessary to draw upon some of
the under government officers in order to keep the line perfect.

The King had not gone very far outside the limits of his dominions
when he met a Sphinx. He had often heard of these creatures, although
he had never seen one before. But when he saw the winged body of a
lion with a woman's head, he knew instantly what it was. He knew,
also, that the chief business of a Sphinx was that of asking people
questions, and then getting them into trouble if the right answers
were not given. He therefore determined that he would not be caught
by any such tricks as these, and that he would be on his guard if the
Sphinx spoke to him. The creature was lying down when the King first
saw it, but when he approached nearer it rose to its feet. There was
nothing savage about its look, and the King was not at all afraid.

"Where are you going?" said the Sphinx to him, in a pleasant voice.

"Give it up," replied the King.

"What do you mean by that?" said the other, with an air of surprise.

"I give that up, too," said the King.

The Sphinx then looked at him quite astonished.

"I don't mind telling you," said the King, "of my own free will, and
not in answer to any questions, that I do not know where I am going.
I am a King, as you may have noticed, and I have been banished from
my kingdom for a year. I am now going to look into the government of
other countries in order that I may find out what it is that is wrong
in my own kingdom. Every thing goes badly, and there is something
very faulty at