s extraordinary, this truly GIGANTIC effort, Captain
Hedzoff flung up his helmet, and cried, "Hurray! Hurray! Long live King
Giglio!"

Such were the consequences of having employed his time well at College!

When the excitement had ceased, beer was ordered out for the army, and
their Sovereign himself did not disdain a little! And now it was with
some alarm that Captain Hedzoff told him his division was only the
advanced guard of the Paflagonian contingent, hastening to King
Padella's aid; the main force being a day's march in the rear under His
Royal Highness Prince Bulbo.

"We will wait here, good friend, to beat the Prince," his Majesty said,
"and THEN will make his royal father wince."

XV. WE RETURN TO ROSALBA.

King Padella made very similar proposals to Rosalba to those which she
had received from the various princes who, as we have seen, had fallen
in love with her. His Majesty was a widower, and offered to marry his
fair captive that instant, but she declined his invitation in her usual
polite gentle manner, stating that Prince Giglio was her love, and
that any other union was out of the question. Having tried tears and
supplications in vain, this violent-tempered monarch menaced her with
threats and tortures; but she declared she would rather suffer all these
than accept the hand of her father's murderer, who left her finally,
uttering the most awful imprecations, and bidding her prepare for death
on the following morning.

All night long the King spent in advising how he should get rid of this
obdurate young creature. Cutting off her head was much too easy a death
for her; hanging was so common in his Majesty's dominions that it no
longer afforded him any sport; finally, he bethought himself of a pair
of fierce lions which had lately been sent to him as presents, and he
determined, with these ferocious brutes, to hunt poor Rosalba down.
Adjoining his castle was an amphitheatre where the Prince indulged in
bull-baiting, rat-hunting, and other ferocious sports. The two lions
were kept in a cage under this place; their roaring might be heard over
the whole city, the inhabitants of which, I am sorry to say, thronged in
numbers to see a poor young lady gobbled up by two wild beasts.

The King took his place in the royal box, having the officers of his
Court around and the Count Hogginarmo by his side, upon whom his Majesty
was observed to look very fiercely: the fact is, royal spies had told
the monarc