his lips he blew three times upon it. The faint
sound it made was not heard amid the terrible roaring of the tigers,
but before he had finished the last blast there stood in front of him
three giants, so tall that their heads almost touched the high ceiling,
and that was more than ten feet. They were dressed like Roman soldiers
and each carried a huge flat sword.

"The tigers. Kill the tigers!" cried Daimur.

It all happened so suddenly that the tigers did not have time to stop
their rush, and in a second the giants were upon them and you may be
sure soon cut their heads off. Then before Daimur could even say
"Thank you," they had disappeared again.

The three witches lay dead at their feet and they were free.

Daimur turned towards Queen Amy and found her leaning against the wall
in a half-fainting condition, and while he was trying to induce her to
make an effort to pass the dead tigers and get away upstairs there
suddenly rang out a loud cry of "Fire! Fire!"

[Illustration: He was trying to induce her to make an effort to pass
the dead tigers.]

Daimur recognized Prince Redmond's voice. Doors banged overhead and
footsteps scurried across the floor. Daimur waited for no more.
Picking up the Queen in his arms he almost flew towards the staircase
and up the stairs. As he reached the top a puff of smoke came from an
inner room and half blinded him. He rushed across the kitchen and at
the door almost ran into Prince Redmond and Princess Helda, who were
coming in again shouting his name at the top of their voices.

"Here I am," said Daimur breathlessly. "Help me to carry the Queen
out."

"To the ship instantly," shouted Prince Redmond, as he seized Queen Amy
from Daimur's arms and ran towards the shore. Daimur snatched Helda's
hand and they hurried after him.

Shouting orders to the sailors Prince Redmond boarded the ship. Up
went the sails, and as there was a good breeze the boat began to move
out. It was not a moment too soon.

They were not more than a hundred feet away when a long flame burst
through the roof of the Evil Magician's castle and in a moment the
whole building was burning.

"What happened?" cried Daimur.

"We accidentally set the place on fire," said Prince Redmond.

"Last night," he continued, "after wandering about those long passages
without finding the Queen, and seeing no sign of you, we crawled
through a small window in the coal cellar and Came back to the ship.
Then as