Only waiting to see the Duchess settled in the palace with a few servants and enough furniture to make her comfortable, Daimur prepared for his voyage to the Island of Despair. Prince Redmond insisted upon accompanying him, and little Princess Helda begged to be allowed to go too, as she was sure she could help them, and she wished so much to see her parents even if they were stones.
The Duchess at last consented to her going, and sent an old friend, Lady Clara Rosered, to look after her. By this time the Princess looked like a real Princess, for the Duchess had bought her the most beautiful new clothes, and since she was getting enough to eat for the first time in years she was beginning to look very pretty.
Prince Redmond was head over heels in love with her and would have asked her to marry him at once if he had had a kingdom to offer her, or any prospects at all.
Early one bright morning they set sail, and after sailing all day came within a few miles of the Island of Despair, when Daimur donned his cap and spectacles in order to steer the ship into the harbor in safety. They lay in the lee of a high cliff until dark, and then when the wind was strong enough ran the ship up into the small sheltered cove beside the Magician's house, and made it fast to the wharf with as little noise as possible.
There was nobody in sight as they cautiously crept up the path, and Redmond remarked that the witch must be away on some errand of mischief.
After waiting for an hour and seeing no one, the three adventurers went up the steps to the door of the house. They tried the handle, but it was locked.
Only then did Daimur remember that he had left his magic key in the box of magic tablets on the window sill the night they made their escape. So much had happened he had not once thought of it since, and it gave him a great shock to realize how careless he had been, for now he needed it again.
The Princess Helda, who of course knew nothing of the magic key, was already fumbling at the lock with a hairpin, and after poking at it for several minutes it flew back with a snap.
"It's a good thing I knew that lock's defects," she whispered, "or we should never have got in this way," and she turned the handle and walked into the kitchen.
With their hands on their swords Redmond and Daimur followed her.
It was quite dark in the kitchen, the only light coming from a solitary candle on a high shelf, which threw long shadows everywhere. The fire in the fireplace was out and there was no sign of life.
Motioning to the others to follow Princess Helda led the way across the kitchen to a door, which she opened and began to descend a flight of stone stairs.
The stairs led down to a wide stone flagged hall with rooms opening from it, and narrow passages running in all directions into the distance.
Here and there high up near the roof a smoky lantern burned dimly.
Across the wide hall went Helda and down one of the long narrow passages until she reached a door at the very end.
She knocked softly upon it three times. There was no answer. She knocked again, and then opened the door. There was no lock on it on the inside, only a big bolt on the outside. She glanced in. The room was completely bare.
"She is not here," she whispered to Daimur and Redmond, who followed her into the room. Lighting some matches they looked into all the rooms adjoining, but found them deserted too.
They went back up the narrow passage.
"What shall we do?" asked Prince Redmond. "Where shall we look now?"
"We must look in all of the rooms," said Helda. "They have moved her, but she is here somewhere. If we separate we shall perhaps get along better. There is no danger of getting lost as all the passages open into the wide hall."
So they separated, Prince Redmond following Princess Helda and Daimur going alone in the opposite direction, as he thought perhaps his magic cap and spectacles might help him in his quest.
Up and down the narrow passages they went, opening all the doors and looking into all the rooms, until they grew a long way apart, for these underground passages extended away into the hill and covered a much longer area than the house above.
At last Daimur opened a little door in a dark corner. It was so low that he had to stoop to get in, but once inside the ceiling was high enough.
"Oh," he said to himself, "she is not in here, I am sure."
But to his surprise his cap, which up to that time had not been able to tell him anything, suddenly told him that she was in there.
He stepped forward into the room cautiously and tried to look about, but it was so dark that he could only dimly see some articles of furniture that were very close to him.
On the further side, however, on the floor he saw a streak of light, and making his way over to it found that it came under a door. This door was not locked either, and he opened it far enough to see that the light was shining down a long hallway from a door at the other end of it. Seeing and hearing nothing, he crept down the hall until he came to the other door, which was even lower than the first. The door was open, but was hung with heavy curtains. He peered in, but could not see anyone. The room was very comfortable looking, with easy chairs, books and a piano, and on a small table lay some needlework in a basket.
While he stood considering whether he dare venture into the lighted room he heard the sound of voices, and then advancing through the room he beheld the Old Witch herself, accompanied by the witch who had been Queen of Shells.
Instantly he turned and fled down the long hall and back into the little dark room, where he felt his way into the furtherest corner and lay still hardly daring to breathe.
In a minute or two he heard them coming down the hall. They were talking in a language he could not understand.
"What if they should have a light," thought Daimur. "All would be lost, for in this place they could easily make me a prisoner."
They entered the room. As they did so the Old Witch hesitated, and Daimur noticed her voice change, but all she did was to close the door leading into the hall. Then still talking the two made their way in the dark across the room and out of the other door.
When their footsteps had ceased to echo down the corridor, for they walked noisily, Daimur came out of his corner and tried the door leading into the long passage. It was locked. Then he tried the door which led to the main hall, but that too was locked.
He was trapped.
Just at that moment a faint spicy smell came to his nostrils. He stood still, wondering what it could be. It grew stronger and stronger and sweeter and sweeter, until he could feel himself growing sleepy. Alas, he knew now that the witches had seen him.
In vain he looked around for some means of escape. There was none. His cap could tell him nothing. He beat upon the doors, but his strength soon failed him, and he fell down in a stupor.
How long he lay there he did not know, but when he awoke at length a faint light was shining into the room from a small iron grating close up to the ceiling, and the spicy smell was gone.
The first thing he did was to feel for his cap and spectacles which he had had on when he fell asleep.
THEY WERE GONE.
Poor Daimur. For the first time since the beginning of his adventure he felt completely helpless, and with a very dejected countenance indeed he sat down to await the next happening.
He had not been sitting there for more than half an hour when a light step sounded in the inner hall and stopped at the door.
A key was turned in the lock and a voice said: "Oh, bother this lock." The key rattled again, the door opened rather suddenly, and there entered—not a witch as Daimur expected—but the loveliest lady he had ever seen.
She had big blue eyes, a lovely complexion, though it was a trifle pale as if from being indoors a long time, and golden hair that hung over her shoulders in long ringlets. Her gown was of a deep blue silk that almost matched her eyes. At sight of Daimur she stood still in astonishment, then came quickly towards him.
"Oh, poor young man," she cried. "Surely you are not a prisoner too."
"I am afraid I am," answered Daimur sadly, as he gazed at the beautiful lady, "but tell me, do you know whether Queen Amy is here? I must find her."
"I am that unhappy Queen," answered the lady. "Can it be that my faithful subjects have sent you to seek me, sir?"
"Rather I have come because I wished to undo in a small measure the mischief that the Evil Magician did," and Daimur hurriedly told her something of his adventure, and finished by wishing he had his cap and spectacles back, as he was afraid without them they would have great difficulty in escaping.
Daimur at first had hopes that Princess Helda and Redmond might find them and perhaps be able to open the door, as it was only bolted on the outside, but then he remembered that the day was now well advanced and that they must either have been trapped themselves long before this or had crept back to the ship while it was still dark.
"Is there no other way of escape but by this door?" he asked Queen Amy, after some reflection.
"No," said she. "No other way excepting through the door in my sitting-room which leads into the witches' sitting-room, and that opens into the main hall. There is generally one witch stationed in their sitting-room to keep watch over me. They still hope to get my chest of gold, you see, and that is why I am kept a prisoner here."
Daimur drew his sword and announced his intention of trying to get out to the main hall if Queen Amy was willing to go with him, to which she replied that she would indeed take any risk to get out of that dungeon and back to her dear people.
She turned at once and led the way bade through her apartment to the door which was to decide their fortunes. It was a swinging door, and Daimur pushed it open and looked in. What he saw was a great bare room with cupboards all around it, and a few plain old kitchen rockers here and there. A number of the cupboard doors were open and there could be seen on the shelves dozens of bottles, boxes, tins and pots, while over the fire in a large black pot some vile-smelling mixture was cooking.
Beside the fire on a mat, lay the old witch's black cat, apparently asleep. There was no one in the room.
"Now is your chance," whispered Daimur, and sword in hand he went softly across the floor, closely followed by Queen Amy.
As they passed the cat he opened one of his green eyes and looked at them, but they did not notice him. As soon as they were out of the room and into the hall he sat up on the mat and began to yowl in a most blood-curdling manner.
"We are lost," said the Queen, wringing her hands. "Listen to that cat. We must have awakened him. He is calling the Old Witch I am sure."
"Run," said Daimur, and seizing Queen Amy by the hand he almost dragged her along the wide hall towards the staircase. But they were too late.
Down the stairs came the Old Witch, followed by her daughter and the other witch from Shells.
At the sight of Daimur with his sword drawn and the terrified Queen Amy shrinking at his side the Old Witch gave a howl of rage and said something quickly to the others.
Instantly three great tigers were bounding towards them, their teeth showing in a dreadful manner, and their deep growls filling the whole hall.
Thrusting Queen Amy behind him Daimur clutched his sword in despair and set his teeth with a determination to kill them all if possible—when suddenly he thought of the tiny silver bugle which he had had around his neck all the time.
Raising it quickly to 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!"
He was trying to induce her to make an effort to pass the dead tigers.He was trying to induce her to make an effort to pass the dead tigers.
He was trying to induce her to make an effort to pass the dead tigers.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 you did not come we grew very much alarmed, and at daybreak went back the way we had come, intending to search for you.
"Anxious not to miss finding you we even mounted a stair which led up to a long half-dark room, quite off by itself. It was full of mysterious-looking bottles and pots, many of them marked 'poison,' but the queerest thing of all was a tiny well in one corner, on the cover of which was printed in large black letters 'Enchanting Oil.'
"We lifted the cover and peered in. It was so dark in there that we could see nothing, so I lit a match and by the light of it we looked down a terrible depth and could see the oil shining dimly at the bottom.
"Just then Princess Helda accidentally touched the handle of the little brass bucket which was drawn up to the top, knocking the match out of my fingers. It fell into the bucket, which contained a few drops of the oil. Immediately a flame leaped into our very faces and shot up nearly to the ceiling. We turned and ran down the stairs again, and up another flight near it which Helda knew would take us to one of the living-rooms. There we ran about like mad shouting 'Fire,' and thinking that you and the Queen would surely perish. We knew that some of the fire must soon drop into the oil well, and when that happens I am sure it will explode."
He had hardly said the words when a terrific roar shook the earth. The flaming house suddenly scattered into a million burning pieces which dropped into the sea, and some of which fell on the ship and had to be thrown overboard.
A column of black smoke rose into the air and hid the island entirely from view.
They lay to all morning, waiting for the smoke to clear away, but it was not until mid afternoon that it began to disappear.
They sailed slowly nearer to the island, wondering what damage had been done besides the burning of the house. As they came closer they seemed to see houses by the waterside through the haze of smoke, which was steadily growing thinner, and then what appeared to be streets.
Their wonder grew when they carefully steered back to the cove and found that they were in a harbor that was lined with stone docks. Some ships lay at anchor, packages of goods were piled up on the wharves, workmen went back and forth loading and unloading the vessels, piling goods into long warehouses, and the scene was a busy one.
The first thought that sprang to Daimur's mind was that they had made a mistake and in some manner got to one of the other islands again.
It was Princess Helda who first spoke as she stepped out on the quay.
"The enchantment is broken," she cried, holding out her hands. "Welcome to Oaklands."
Nobody would have recognized in the beautiful kingdom of Oaklands the Island of Despair of rank undergrowth and poisoned fruit trees.
The afternoon sun shone down upon wide streets, clean and well kept, faced by rows of fine houses and lined with tall oak trees. The smoke had apparently drifted upwards until it was now only a small black cloud in the western sky. On the hill where had been the Magician's house there now stood a tall and stately castle built of shining white marble. There could be no doubt it was the palace.
They walked towards it and were surprised to find that they were expected, as a guard of honor stood waiting at the entrance to the grounds to conduct them to the presence of the King and Queen.
They were taken to the drawing room, and at sight of her father and mother Princess Helda burst into tears and rushed towards them. It was a touching scene.
Words could not express the gratitude of their majesties to King Daimur and Prince Redmond for their deliverance, both of whom they remembered, for having then been the stones that formed the window sill and the door sill respectively they had heard every word that was said, and had witnessed the escape from the island.
Helda's father was very anxious to have them stay and pay him a visit, even if only for a few days, but Daimur, who wanted to restore Queen Amy to her throne at once, declined, saying, however, that he had a proposal to make before leaving.
He then asked the King of Oaklands to bestow on Prince Redmond the hand of his daughter Helda, declaring that it was to Prince Redmond that they owed the breaking of the enchantment, and not to himself.
This the King was very willing to do, and Prince Redmond's joy was unbounded, for with no fortune and no throne to offer her he would never have dared to ask the Princess to marry him, and they would both have been very unhappy to the end of their lives.
It was arranged that the wedding should take place as soon as the Princess could get her trousseau made, and as Prince Redmond had decided to accept the King's invitation and stay for a few days' visit Daimur and Queen Amy said good-bye and prepared to depart, but not before they had been presented with two beautiful armchairs, each carved from a single piece of oak, which the King of Oaklands prized very much. Even Lady Clara Rosered, who had accompanied Princess Helda, was not forgotten, but received a handsome lace shawl.
Their voyage back to the Island of Roses was rather slow, owing to the poor wind, but it was very quiet and restful, and they arrived to find a large crowd gathered on the dock to meet them, all very anxious to see whether Queen Amy was aboard.
In an open space surrounded by some of the Royal Guard, who stood on either side making a long avenue right down to the edge of the quay, sat the Duchess of Rose Petals in the state carriage.
When Queen Amy appeared on the deck, looking a little pale, but otherwise as well as ever, loud shouts went up and flowers were flung at her feet as she walked up the avenue made by the Guards, King Daimur walking at her side.
"Long live our Queen. Long live noble King Daimur," resounded on every side, while rockets were sent into the air and all the bells in the kingdom were rung.
A great procession of carriages followed the Queen to the palace, where the Duchess had arranged a luncheon and a splendid reception, at which Daimur received nearly as much attention as Queen Amy.
When it was all over Daimur felt that, as he had now fulfilled his promises, he, should return at once to his own kingdom, but first he went to Queen Amy and told her that he was going away. She looked at him with tears in her eyes and begged him to let her know what she could first bestow on him as a small token of her undying gratitude. "I want nothing less than your own heart and hand," declared Daimur, and he told her that he had fallen in love with her the moment he had first seen her, but could not, of course, say anything about it until she was safely at home.
Queen Amy blushed, and acknowledged that she also loved him very dearly, so then and there they decided to be married at the same time as Prince Redmond and Princess Helda.
And so it happened. Daimur went back to his kingdom, where his faithful subjects were so proud of him that they built a magnificent new palace and presented it to him as a wedding gift.
In due time the triple marriage was celebrated at Queen Amy's palace, for Tasmir and Princess Maya, on hearing the news, insisted upon being married at the same time.
In the midst of the ceremony the good fairy appeared and gave each of them a small gold ring, which she said would bring them good luck as long as they lived.
So ended all the enchantments and wicked plots of Evil Magician, and ever after peace and happiness reigned over the Islands of Sunshine.
THE END