ng aloft their swords and spears and
battle-axes.

King Kitticut, so completely surprised that he was bewildered, gazed at
the approaching host with terror and grief.

"They are the men of Regos and Coregos!" he groaned. "We are, indeed,
lost!"

Then he bethought himself, for the first time, of his wonderful pearls.
Turning quickly, he ran back into the palace and hastened to the hall
where the treasures were hidden. But the leader of the warriors had seen
the King enter the palace and bounded after him, thinking he meant to
escape. Just as the King had stooped to press the secret spring in the
tiles, the warrior seized him from the rear and threw him backward upon
the floor, at the same time shouting to his men to fetch ropes and bind
the prisoner. This they did very quickly and King Kitticut soon found
himself helplessly bound and in the power of his enemies. In this sad
condition he was lifted by the warriors and carried outside, when the
good King looked upon a sorry sight.

The Queen and her maidens, the officers and servants of the royal
household and all who had inhabited this end of the Island of Pingaree
had been seized by the invaders and bound with ropes. At once they began
carrying their victims to the boats, tossing them in as unceremoniously
as if they had been bales of merchandise.

The King looked around for his son Inga, but failed to find the boy
among the prisoners. Nor was the fat King, Rinkitink, to be seen
anywhere about.

The warriors were swarming over the palace like bees in a hive, seeking
anyone who might be in hiding, and after the search had been prolonged
for some time the leader asked impatiently: "Do you find anyone else?"

"No," his men told him. "We have captured them all."

"Then," commanded the leader, "remove everything of value from the
palace and tear down its walls and towers, so that not one stone remains
upon another!"

While the warriors were busy with this task we will return to the boy
Prince, who, when the fog lifted and the sun came out, wakened from his
sleep and began to climb down from his perch in the tree. But the
terrifying cries of the people, mingled with the shouts of the rude
warriors, caused him to pause and listen eagerly.

[Illustration]

Then he climbed rapidly up the tree, far above his platform, to the
topmost swaying branches. This tree, which Inga called his own, was
somewhat taller than the other trees that surrounded it, and when he had
re