both
the boy and the goat into the well, to keep Rinkitink company. But they
pulled sturdily, being aware of this danger, and at last the King popped
out of the hole and fell sprawling full length upon the ground.

For a time he lay panting and breathing hard to get his breath back,
while Inga and Bilbil were likewise worn out from their long strain at
the rope; so the three rested quietly upon the grass and looked at one
another in silence.

Finally Bilbil said to the King:

"I'm surprised at you. Why were you so foolish as to fall down that
well? Don't you know it's a dangerous thing to do? You might have broken
your neck in the fall, or been drowned in the water."

"Bilbil," replied the King solemnly, "you're a goat. Do you imagine I
fell down the well on purpose?"

"I imagine nothing," retorted Bilbil. "I only know you were there."

"There? Heh-heh-heek-keek-eek! To be sure I was there," laughed
Rinkitink. "There in a dark hole, where there was no light; there in a
watery well, where the wetness soaked me through and
through--keek-eek-eek-eek!--through and through!"

"How did it happen?" inquired Inga.

"I was running away from the enemy," explained the King, "and I was
carelessly looking over my shoulder at the same time, to see if they
were chasing me. So I did not see the well, but stepped into it and
found myself tumbling down to the bottom. I struck the water very neatly
and began struggling to keep myself from drowning, but presently I found
that when I stood upon my feet on the bottom of the well, that my chin
was just above the water. So I stood still and yelled for help; but no
one heard me."

"If the warriors had heard you," said Bilbil, "they would have pulled
you out and carried you away to be a slave. Then you would have been
obliged to work for a living, and that would be a new experience."

"Work!" exclaimed Rinkitink. "Me work? Hoo, hoo, heek-keek-eek! How
absurd! I'm so stout--not to say chubby--not to say fat--that I can
hardly walk, and I couldn't earn my salt at hard work. So I'm glad the
enemy did not find me, Bilbil. How many others escaped?"

"That I do not know," replied the boy, "for I have not yet had time to
visit the other parts of the island. When you have rested and satisfied
your royal hunger, it might be well for us to look around and see what
the thieving warriors of Regos and Coregos have left us."

"An excellent idea," declared Rinkitink. "I am somewhat feeble from my