ines; so they followed
the path toward the north, Inga going first, and then Zella following
him, while Rinkitink brought up the rear riding upon Bilbil's back.

Before long they saw a great wall of rock towering before them, in
which was a low arched entrance, and on either side of this entrance
stood a guard, armed with a sword and a spear. The guards of the mines
were not so fierce as the warriors of King Gos, their duty being to
make the slaves work at their tasks and guard them from escaping; but
they were as cruel as their cruel master wished them to be, and as
cowardly as they were cruel.

Inga walked up to the two men at the entrance and said:

"Does this opening lead to the mines of King Gos?"

"It does," replied one of the guards, "but no one is allowed to pass
out who once goes in."

"Nevertheless," said the boy, "we intend to go in and we shall come out
whenever it pleases us to do so. I am the Prince of Pingaree, and I
have come to liberate my people, whom King Gos has enslaved."

Now when the two guards heard this speech they looked at one another
and laughed, and one of them said: "The King was right, for he said the
boy was likely to come here and that he would try to set his people
free. Also the King commanded that we must keep the little Prince in
the mines, and set him to work, together with his companions."

"Then let us obey the King," replied the other man.

Inga was surprised at hearing this, and asked:

"When did King Gos give you this order?"

"His Majesty was here in person last night," replied the man, "and went
away again but an hour ago. He suspected you were coming here and told
us to capture you if we could."

This report made the boy very anxious, not for himself but for his
father, for he feared the King was up to some mischief. So he hastened
to enter the mines and the guards did nothing to oppose him or his
companions, their orders being to allow him to go in but not to come
out.

The little group of adventurers passed through a long rocky corridor
and reached a low, wide cavern where they found a dozen guards and a
hundred slaves, the latter being hard at work with picks and shovels
digging for gold, while the guards stood over them with long whips.

Inga found many of the men from Pingaree among these slaves, but King
Kitticut was not in this cavern; so they passed through it and entered
another corridor that led to a second cavern. Here also hundreds of men
were wor