it is _too_ much!"

"How much too much?" inquired the Palaeotherium, kindly taking out his
purse.

The Court Glover waved him aside with an impatient scowl.

"The vanity of the bird!" he went on--"white kid, above all others!
Why, you might have taken a dozen pairs of colored cotton gloves, and no
one would have minded in the least; but best white kid--oh! shocking!
shocking! And look at the state you've made them in! But there--what can
be expected of a creature that goes wandering about the world visiting
what-you-may-call-ems."

[Illustration: "'Bear up, old man,' said the Archaeopteryx."]

"Of course, there's nothing to be done," continued the Court Glover,
after an impressive pause, "but to execute you."

The Dodo sobbed; and Marjorie, who was greatly concerned, began: "Oh,
please----"

But the Court Glover was inexorable, and murmured solemnly, "In one
hour's time--here," he walked off towards the balloon, followed by the
Executioner, who was giggling idiotically, and had to stuff a
handkerchief into his mouth to prevent himself from laughing outright.

"Inhuman wretch--there!" said Marjorie, bursting into tears, while the
Dodo's friends assisted him up from the ground, where he was lying in a
half-fainting condition.

"Bear up, old man," said the Archaeopteryx, sympathetically, fanning him
with his tail.

"When did he say?" inquired the Dodo, faintly.

"In an hour's time," said Dick, sadly.

The Dodo shuddered.

"Stop!" said the Eteraedarium, suddenly. "I think I have found a way out
of the difficulty."

"Oh! what is it? What is it?" cried the Dodo, eagerly; while the others
all crowded round to hear what the Eteraedarium had to say.

CHAPTER XV.

THE EXECUTION OF THE DODO.

"Let us pretend," suggested the Palaeotherium, "that the Dodo is dead.
They will readily imagine that the shock has been too much for him, and,
of course, being dead, there will be no necessity to execute him."

"He--he--he! Very nice indeed. A capital arrangement!" giggled a voice
over the children's shoulder; and, turning round, they beheld the
Executioner, who had apparently overheard everything that had been said.

"Bother!" remarked the Palaeotherium; "now I shall have to invent some
other way."

"I can't think," said the Executioner, who had removed his mask, and who
the children discovered to be a very amiable-looking gentleman--"I can't
think why you are making all this fuss about the execution."

"