ey presently became terror-stricken
and fled in a panic up the slope toward the city, and Buzzub was
obliged to chase after them and shout threats of punishment before he
could halt them and form them into a line of battle.

All the men of Regos bore spears and bows-and-arrows, and some of the
officers had swords and battle-axes; so Buzzub ordered them to stand
their ground and shoot and slay the strangers as they approached. This
they tried to do. Inga being in advance, the warriors sent a flight of
sharp arrows straight at the boy's breast, while others cast their long
spears at him.

It seemed to Rinkitink that the little Prince must surely perish as he
stood facing this hail of murderous missiles; but the power of the Pink
Pearl did not desert him, and when the arrows and spears had reached to
within an inch of his body they bounded back again and fell harmlessly
at his feet. Nor were Rinkitink or Bilbil injured in the least,
although they stood close beside Inga.

Buzzub stood for a moment looking upon the boy in silent wonder. Then,
recovering himself, he shouted in a loud voice:

"Once again! All together, my men. No one shall ever defy our might and
live!"

Again a flight of arrows and spears sped toward the three, and since
many more of the warriors of Regos had by this time joined their
fellows, the air was for a moment darkened by the deadly shafts. But
again all fell harmless before the power of the Pink Pearl, and Bilbil,
who had been growing very angry at the attempts to injure him and his
party, suddenly made a bolt forward, casting off Inga's hold, and
butted into the line of warriors, who were standing amazed at their
failure to conquer.

Taken by surprise at the goat's attack, a dozen big warriors tumbled in
a heap, yelling with fear, and their comrades, not knowing what had
happened but imagining that their foes were attacking them, turned
about and ran to the city as hard as they could go. Bilbil, still
angry, had just time to catch the big captain as he turned to follow
his men, and Buzzub first sprawled headlong upon the ground, then
rolled over two or three times, and finally jumped up and ran yelling
after his defeated warriors. This butting on the part of the goat was
very hard upon King Rinkitink, who nearly fell off Bilbil's back at the
shock of encounter; but the little fat King wound his arms around the
goat's neck and shut his eyes and clung on with all his might. It was
not until h