CHAPTER III.PURSUED.
“What shall we do now?” asked Harry in dismay, catching Wamby by the arm. “We can never go on in this darkness.”
“Wait a minute, and I’ll show you,” replied the elf.
He seemed to search about his person for something, and presently held out his hand, in which was a box containing a little round object that shone like an electric light, and lighted up the passageway brilliantly.
“What is it?” inquired Harry in wonder.
“A kind of gem that the gnomes make. We use them to light up all our rooms, and when one is put in a box like this it is like a dark lantern, only better, being so small and bright. But, come on! we are wasting precious time.”
The stone stairs seemed interminable, but at last they reached the bottom, and hurried alonga corridor that still slanted slightly downward. After a long walk they came to the brow of a steep incline.
“What’s this?” asked Harry, “another hill of glass?”
“Yes,” Wamby replied, sitting down. “Sit down behind me and we’ll slide.”
“Look here!” exclaimed Harry, “we’ve been going down for an hour or more, and if we don’t stop I’m afraid we’ll come to the centre of the earth. Where does this road lead to, I’d like to know?”
“Well,” answered Wamby calmly, “I think, from the way it keeps going down hill, that it must lead to the Gnomes; in fact, I am quite sure that this is the way they take prisoners there.”
“If that’s the case,” said Harry, “please excuse me from going any further. I may be carried down, but I’m not such a fool as to go down of my own free will.”
“Oh, come on!” said Wamby; “don’t be afraid! If we go down of our own accord we can come back at any time. You’ll understand later. Although I have never been to the Gnomes, I have often heard the soldiers,who have taken prisoners there, tell stories about the trip, and I think I know pretty well what the remainder of the road is like. Sit down close behind me and take hold of my belt, and keep your mouth tightly shut.”
“All right, go ahead,” said Harry.
Away they went, faster and faster, until Harry felt as if his breath were gone. Would the hill never end?
“Can’t—you—put on—the brakes—Wamby?” he gasped.
“Keep your mouth shut, and hold on!” shrieked the elf.
“Hold on!” thought Harry, “I wish I could hold on!”
But they reached the foot of the hill safely after awhile. Harry sat still until he had recovered his breath, and then, slowly arising, ruefully rubbed his benumbed legs, and said:
“I tell you what, old chap, if you ever want me to slide down that place again, you’ll have to provide a cushion for me.”
Wamby chuckled, and trotted onward. After another long walk through a level corridor they came to the entrance of an immense chamber or cave, so large that they could see neitherthe roof, nor opposite sides. The floor was smooth and glistening, and reflected the light which Wamby held aloft.
“What is the floor—glass?” asked Harry.
“No,” replied the elf, “it’s water. We shall have to go the rest of the way in a boat. Let me show you something,” he continued, catching Harry by the sleeve, and shutting the lid of his lantern-box. “Look way over there, a little to the left, and tell me what you see.”
“Why, it looks like a little red star. It flickers a good deal. Sometimes it blazes up brightly, and then it gets so faint that I can scarcely see it. What is it?”
“It is where the Gnomes live. That star, as you call it, is the light from their furnace fires; and when I tell you it is as bright as day over there, you can see how far away it must be from us.”
“But how can we ever get there?” demanded Harry.
“You’ll see presently,” was the answer. “First, let us eat some of that food you brought. I’m hungry.”
They hastily swallowed a few mouthfuls, and quenched their thirst with a draught of cool, clear water from the lake.
“Now, give me that pin,” said Wamby. Opening a large door at one side, he disclosed a room with the floor covered with water, on which floated a sail-boat with its sails all set. “Here,” he continued, “take hold of that bowline, and while I shove, you pull the boat around alongside of the landing-place there. Now, fasten the stern-line over that stone post, and get in the boat, and shove the bow out a little.”
Meanwhile Wamby had taken a piece of hose from the room, and fastening one end on the wall, he placed the other end on the edge of the landing-place with the nozzle pointing straight at the red star. Then he turned a stop-cock, and instantly there came a strange, rushing sound from the nozzle of the hose.
“What’s that?” cried Harry, much alarmed.
“Oh! that is only the wind that I just turned on,” said Wamby. “All we have to do is to push the boat in front of this hose, and the wind will blow us across the lake.”
“But how can we get back again if it blows so hard from this side?” inquired Harry.
“Easy enough,” responded Wamby. “This wind only blows long enough to carry us across, and then stops of itself. Now I’ll put mylantern-box on this shelf, so that when we come back we’ll know where to steer. We won’t need it till we get back again. And now we’re all ready.”
He cast off the stern-line and was just about to step aboard, when he suddenly stopped, and cried, “Listen!”
Harry listened, but could hear nothing. The elf’s ears were sharper, though, and he exclaimed, “I hear the sound of rapid footsteps up the passageway. Push off from shore—quick!”
Springing into the boat, he grasped a pole and shoved off a few feet from the edge. No sooner had he done so, when the fifty elves who had been guarding them came running up, waving their spears and shouting to them to return. Of course they refused, whereupon the leader of the soldiers ran to the hose and turned off the wind. Then he held aloft his spear, and cried, “In the King’s name, surrender!”
At the sound of that, Wamby fairly trembled, and seemed disposed to obey. But Harry pushed him aside, and called out boldly, “What do you want?”
“We want you to give yourselves up as prisoners. If you refuse, we shall have to swim out and capture you.”
Harry turned to Wamby: “What do you say? Shall we fight them?”
Poor little Wamby shook his head hopelessly.
“I’ll fight if you command me to; I am your servant; but it will do no good. There are too many of them.”
“What can we do, then?” inquired Harry.
“Nothing, except go back,” said Wamby. “Dear me! I wish I had my hat-pin now!”
“What good would that do?”
“Why, then we could control them. But they took away my hat-pin, of course, when they arrested me.”
Harry thrust his hand in his pocket and drew forth a package. “See here, Wamby,” said he, “here’s a hat-pin that I brought down as a present for you, but I forgot all about it till this moment. Would this be any good?” He opened the package and showed a large, gold-headed hat-pin, much like the one belonging to the King, only handsomer.
“Just the thing!” cried Wamby. And grasping the pin in his hand he held it up before him, and sprang upon the seat in the boat’s stern, shouting: “Behold the royal emblem!”
At the sight, every soldier dropped his spear, and bowed low to the ground.
“Ha! ha!” laughed Wamby. “You have made a mistake, my brave men, but we’ll overlook it this time. You, Smithkin, go and turn on the wind!”
The leader of the soldiers, thus commanded, immediately obeyed.
“Rise!” said Wamby. “Have you food with you?”
Smithkin bowed low, and replied: “We have, most noble possessor of the royal hat-pin.”
“Then hearken,” continued Wamby. “Sit down where you are, and remain seated until we return.” Then, turning to Harry, he grinned and said, “Shove the boat over into the wind.”
“Will they stay here?” whispered Harry.
“Oh! yes; never fear. They wouldn’t dare leave,” answered Wamby, sticking the hat-pin in his belt, and pushing the boat along.
Presently the wind struck the sails, the boat started rapidly forward into the gloom, and Wamby, sitting down in the stern, took the tiller and steered for the little red spot that showed where the Gnomes lived.