ll be in their hiding place, and Inga
believed they would prove of great assistance to him and his comrades
in this hour of need. But the palace was a mass of ruins; perhaps he
would be unable now to find the place where the pearls were hidden.

He said nothing of this to Rinkitink, remembering that his father had
charged him to preserve the secret of the pearls and of their magic
powers. Nevertheless, the thought of securing the wonderful treasures
of his ancestors gave the boy new hope.

He stood up and said to the King:

"Let us return to the other end of Pingaree. It is more pleasant than
here in spite of the desolation of my father's palace. And there, if
anywhere, we shall discover a way out of our difficulties."

This suggestion met with Rinkitink's approval and the little party at
once started upon the return journey. As there was no occasion to delay
upon the way, they reached the big end of the island about the middle
of the day and at once began searching the ruins of the palace.

They found, to their satisfaction, that one room at the bottom of a
tower was still habitable, although the roof was broken in and the
place was somewhat littered with stones. The King was, as he said, too
fat to do any hard work, so he sat down on a block of marble and
watched Inga clear the room of its rubbish. This done, the boy hunted
through the ruins until he discovered a stool and an armchair that had
not been broken beyond use. Some bedding and a mattress were also
found, so that by nightfall the little room had been made quite
comfortable.

The following morning, while Rinkitink was still sound asleep and
Bilbil was busily cropping the dewy grass that edged the shore, Prince
Inga began to search the tumbled heaps of marble for the place where
the royal banquet hall had been. After climbing over the ruins for a
time he reached a flat place which he recognized, by means of the tiled
flooring and the broken furniture scattered about, to be the great hall
he was seeking. But in the center of the floor, directly over the spot
where the pearls were hidden, lay several large and heavy blocks of
marble, which had been torn from the dismantled walls.

This unfortunate discovery for a time discouraged the boy, who realized
how helpless he was to remove such vast obstacles; but it was so
important to secure the pearls that he dared not give way to despair
until every human effort had been made, so he sat him down to think
over