fed--hoo, hoo, heek, keek,
eek!--well fed. Do you see the joke, Inga?"

"Do not ask me to enjoy a joke just now, Your Majesty," begged Inga in
a sad voice; "but if you will be patient I will try to find something
for you to eat."

He ran back to the ruins of the palace and began searching for bits of
food with which to satisfy the hunger of the King, when to his surprise
he observed the goat, Bilbil, wandering among the marble blocks.

"What!" cried Inga. "Didn't the warriors get you, either?"

"If they had," calmly replied Bilbil, "I shouldn't be here."

"But how did you escape?" asked the boy.

"Easily enough. I kept my mouth shut and stayed away from the rascals,"
said the goat. "I knew that the soldiers would not care for a skinny
old beast like me, for to the eye of a stranger I seem good for
nothing. Had they known I could talk, and that my head contained more
wisdom than a hundred of their own noddles, I might not have escaped so
easily."

"Perhaps you are right," said the boy.

"I suppose they got the old man?" carelessly remarked Bilbil.

"What old man?"

"Rinkitink."

"Oh, no! His Majesty is at the bottom of the well," said Inga, "and I
don't know how to get him out again."

"Then let him stay there," suggested the goat.

"That would be cruel. I am sure, Bilbil, that you are fond of the good
King, your master, and do not mean what you say. Together, let us find
some way to save poor King Rinkitink. He is a very jolly companion, and
has a heart exceedingly kind and gentle."

"Oh, well; the old boy isn't so bad, taken altogether," admitted
Bilbil, speaking in a more friendly tone. "But his bad jokes and fat
laughter tire me dreadfully, at times."

Prince Inga now ran back to the well, the goat following more leisurely.

"Here's Bilbil!" shouted the boy to the King. "The enemy didn't get
him, it seems."

"That's lucky for the enemy," said Rinkitink. "But it's lucky for me,
too, for perhaps the beast can assist me out of this hole. If you can
let a rope down the well, I am sure that you and Bilbil, pulling
together, will be able to drag me to the earth's surface."

"Be patient and we will make the attempt," replied Inga encouragingly,
and he ran to search the ruins for a rope. Presently he found one that
had been used by the warriors in toppling over the towers, which in
their haste they had neglected to remove, and with some difficulty he
untied the knots and carried the rope to the mouth o