sight so strange to them that it filled them all with
wonder. Presently the King asked:

"How did you penetrate to this hidden country? Did you cross the desert
or the mountains?"

"Desert," answered Cap'n Bill, as if the task were too easy to be worth
talking about.

"Indeed! No one has ever been able to do that before," said the King.

"Well, it's easy enough, if you know how," asserted Cap'n Bill, so
carelessly that it greatly impressed his hearers. The King shifted in
his throne uneasily. He was more afraid of these strangers than before.

"Do you intend to stay long in Jinxland?" was his next anxious question.

"Depends on how we like it," said Cap'n Bill. "Just now I might suggest
to your Majesty to order some rooms got ready for us in your dinky
little castle here. And a royal banquet, with some fried onions an'
pickled tripe, would set easy on our stomicks an' make us a bit happier
than we are now."

"Your wishes shall be attended to," said King Krewl, but his eyes
flashed from between their slits in a wicked way that made Trot hope
the food wouldn't be poisoned. At the King's command several of his
attendants hastened away to give the proper orders to the castle
servants and no sooner were they gone than a skinny old man entered the
courtyard and bowed before the King.

This disagreeable person was dressed in rich velvets, with many
furbelows and laces. He was covered with golden chains, finely wrought
rings and jeweled ornaments. He walked with mincing steps and glared at
all the courtiers as if he considered himself far superior to any or
all of them.

"Well, well, your Majesty; what news--what news?" he demanded, in a
shrill, cracked voice.

The King gave him a surly look.

"No news, Lord Googly-Goo, except that strangers have arrived," he said.

Googly-Goo cast a contemptuous glance at Cap'n Bill and a disdainful
one at Trot and Button-Bright. Then he said:

"Strangers do not interest me, your Majesty. But the Princess Gloria is
very interesting--very interesting, indeed! What does she say, Sire?
Will she marry me?"

"Ask her," retorted the King.

"I have, many times; and every time she has refused."

"Well?" said the King harshly.

"Well," said Googly-Goo in a jaunty tone, "a bird that can sing, and
won't sing, must be made to sing."

"Huh!" sneered the King. "That's easy, with a bird; but a girl is
harder to manage."

"Still," persisted Googly-Goo, "we must overcome difficulties.