he emitted were quaint and droll
and tempted every hearer to laugh with him.

"Heh, heh--ho, ho, ho!" he roared. "Didn't expect me, I see.
Keek-eek-eek-eek! This is funny--it's really funny. Didn't know I was
coming, did you? Hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo! This is certainly amusing. But I'm
here, just the same."

"Hush up!" said a deep, growling voice. "You're making yourself
ridiculous."

Everyone looked to see where this voice came from; but none could guess
who had uttered the words of rebuke. The rowers of the boat were all
solemn and silent and certainly no one on the shore had spoken. But the
little man did not seem astonished in the least, or even annoyed.

King Kitticut now addressed the stranger, saying courteously:

"You are welcome to the Kingdom of Pingaree. Perhaps you will deign to
come ashore and at your convenience inform us whom we have the honor of
receiving as a guest."

"Thanks; I will," returned the little fat man, waddling from his place
in the boat and stepping, with some difficulty, upon the sandy beach.
"I am King Rinkitink, of the City of Gilgad in the Kingdom of
Rinkitink, and I have come to Pingaree to see for myself the monarch
who sends to my city so many beautiful pearls. I have long wished to
visit this island; and so, as I said before, here I am!"

"I am pleased to welcome you," said King Kitticut. "But why has Your
Majesty so few attendants? Is it not dangerous for the King of a great
country to make distant journeys in one frail boat, and with but twenty
men?"

"Oh, I suppose so," answered King Rinkitink, with a laugh. "But what
else could I do? My subjects would not allow me to go anywhere at all,
if they knew it. So I just ran away."

"Ran away!" exclaimed King Kitticut in surprise.

"Funny, isn't it? Heh, heh, heh--woo, hoo!" laughed Rinkitink, and this
is as near as I can spell with letters the jolly sounds of his
laughter. "Fancy a King running away from his own ple--hoo, hoo--keek,
eek, eek, eek! But I had to, don't you see!"

"Why?" asked the other King.

"They're afraid I'll get into mischief. They don't trust me.
Keek-eek-eek--Oh, dear me! Don't trust their own King. Funny, isn't it?"

"No harm can come to you on this island," said Kitticut, pretending not
to notice the odd ways of his guest. "And, whenever it pleases you to
return to your own country, I will send with you a fitting escort of my
own people. In the meantime, pray accompany me to my palace, where
everythi