t to return to his home in
the forest.

Nikobob carried an ax and a bundle of torches over his shoulder and he
walked with his eyes to the ground, being deep in thought as to the
strange manner in which the powerful King Gos and his city had been
conquered by a boy Prince who had come from Pingaree.

Suddenly the charcoal-burner espied a shoe lying upon the ground, just
beyond the high wall of the palace and directly in his path. He picked
it up and, seeing it was a pretty shoe, although much too small for his
own foot, he put it in his pocket.

Soon after, on turning a corner of the wall, Nikobob came to a
dust-heap where, lying amidst a mass of rubbish, was another shoe--the
mate to the one he had before found. This also he placed in his pocket,
saying to himself:

"I have now a fine pair of shoes for my daughter Zella, who will be
much pleased to find I have brought her a present from the city."

And while the charcoal-burner turned into the forest and trudged along
the path toward his home, Inga and Rinkitink were still searching for
the missing shoes. Of course, they could not know that Nikobob had
found them, nor did the honest man think he had taken anything more
than a pair of cast-off shoes which nobody wanted.

Nikobob had several miles to travel through the forest before he could
reach the little log cabin where his wife, as well as his little
daughter Zella, awaited his return, but he was used to long walks and
tramped along the path whistling cheerfully to beguile the time.

Few people, as I said before, ever passed through the dark and tangled
forests of Regos, except to go to the mines in the mountain beyond, for
many dangerous creatures lurked in the wild jungles, and King Gos never
knew, when he sent a messenger to the mines, whether he would reach
there safely or not.

The charcoal-burner, however, knew the wild forest well, and especially
this part of it lying between the city and his home. It was the
favorite haunt of the ferocious beast Choggenmugger, dreaded by every
dweller in the Island of Regos. Choggenmugger was so old that everyone
thought it must have been there since the world was made, and each year
of its life the huge scales that covered its body grew thicker and
harder and its jaws grew wider and its teeth grew sharper and its
appetite grew more keen than ever.

In former ages there had been many dragons in Regos, but Choggenmugger
was so fond of dragons that he had eaten all