grape arbor and as I was
respectfully saluting the cheek of the Princess, two of the King's
guards seized me and beat me terribly before the very eyes of Gloria,
whom the King himself held back so she could not interfere."

"Why, this King must be a monster!" cried Trot.

"He is far worse than that," said Pon, mournfully.

"But, see here," interrupted Cap'n Bill, who had listened carefully to
Pon. "This King may not be so much to blame, after all. Kings are proud
folks, because they're so high an' mighty, an' it isn't reasonable for
a royal Princess to marry a common gardener's boy."

"It isn't right," declared Button-Bright. "A Princess should marry a
Prince."

"I'm not a common gardener's boy," protested Pon. "If I had my rights I
would be the King instead of Krewl. As it is, I'm a Prince, and as
royal as any man in Jinxland."

"How does that come?" asked Cap'n Bill.

"My father used to be the King and Krewl was his Prime Minister. But
one day while out hunting, King Phearse--that was my father's name--had
a quarrel with Krewl and tapped him gently on the nose with the
knuckles of his closed hand. This so provoked the wicked Krewl that he
tripped my father backward, so that he fell into a deep pond. At once
Krewl threw in a mass of heavy stones, which so weighted down my poor
father that his body could not rise again to the surface. It is
impossible to kill anyone in this land, as perhaps you know, but when
my father was pressed down into the mud at the bottom of the deep pool
and the stones held him so he could never escape, he was of no more use
to himself or the world than if he had died. Knowing this, Krewl
proclaimed himself King, taking possession of the royal castle and
driving all my father's people out. I was a small boy, then, but when I
grew up I became a gardener. I have served King Krewl without his
knowing that I am the son of the same King Phearse whom he so cruelly
made away with."

"My, but that's a terr'bly exciting story!" said Trot, drawing a long
breath. "But tell us, Pon, who was Gloria's father?"

"Oh, he was the King before my father," replied Pon. "Father was Prime
Minister for King Kynd, who was Gloria's father. She was only a baby
when King Kynd fell into the Great Gulf that lies just this side of the
mountains--the same mountains that separate Jinxland from the rest of
the Land of Oz. It is said the Great Gulf has no bottom; but, however
that may be, King Kynd has never been seen