CHAPTER VI.THE TABLES TURNED.
“Look here, Wamby,” said Harry, “don’t get excited. Let’s talk over the matter. There must be some way for us to get out.”
Wamby shook his head disconsolately.
“Maybe the soldiers can help us,” Harry went on. “They are able to open the door above; couldn’t we induce them to get ropes and draw us out?”
“’Tisn’t possible,” replied Wamby. “In the first place, we can’t communicate with them unless they open the trap-door, and you must remember that they are afraid of us as well as of Smithkin, for they consented to our being dumped down here; then again, even if they were willing to draw us out, how could they get the rope necessary? Certainly, they wouldn’t dare go near the King, after having let us escape.”
Just then there was a loud shriek from one of the elves at the other end of the room, followed by a chorus of shrill, elfish laughter.
“What’s the matter?” asked Wamby rather sternly.
“Kitey sat down on a pin,” was the reply, “and he jumped up at least a foot high.”
Kitey was seen rubbing himself and examining the skirt of his jacket, and then suddenly he uttered a surprised exclamation and ran up to Wamby.
“Here’s the door-pin!” he cried; “it was sticking in my coat.”
“How did it get there?” demanded Wamby.
“Perhaps,” said Harry, “when we tumbled down here it got loose and stuck in Kitey’s jacket. I remember now, I fell on top of Kitey.”
Wamby eagerly seized the pin, and putting it in the hole, pressed upon it and repeated the usual words. The door opened and revealed a flight of steps immediately under the incline. They ascended these, and at the top Smithkin showed them a door through which they emerged in the passageway near where the soldiers were. At sight of them the soldiersscampered into the room containing the trap-door.
Wamby’s quick eye noted that they had neglected to remove Smithkin’s door-pin from the hole, so he ran up, and placing his finger on the head of the pin, shouted “Surrender instantly, or I’ll dump you all down below! Lay down your arms and walk out here, and I’ll promise to treat you well.”
Boy kneeling
Without hesitation the scared soldiers dropped their spears, and hurried out into the passageway.
“Now,” said Wamby, drawing forth the pin, “Kitey, you take fifty of our men and arm them with those spears, and keep guard over these soldiers.”
Then Wamby nodded to Harry, who in a second seized Smithkin, took away his spear, and held him fast while two of the elves bound his hands behind him.
“Guard him closely, and keep him separate from the rest,” ordered Wamby.
After Smithkin had been removed to a distance, Wamby turned to the disarmed soldiers and said, “Do any of you know where the royal armory is?”
“Smithkin is the only one who knows,” one of the men replied. “We common soldiers were never allowed to go to the armory.”
Wamby beckoned Harry aside, and whispered, “What can we do now? It seems impossible to arm the rest of our men.”
“I have a scheme that may answer,” said Harry. And he whispered the scheme in Wamby’s ear.
Wamby pondered a minute. “It’s very bold,” he said, “but it strikes me as the only course open to us. Let us try it.”
Then, returning and addressing the soldiers: “Do you fellows know the way to the Grand Royal Reception Hall?”
The soldiers consulted together a moment, and then one of them stepped forward, and answered, “I know the way.”
“I want you to lead us there,” said Wamby. “If we succeed in what we are about to attempt, I promise that each one of you fifty will be well rewarded. If we fail, you will be no worse off than you are now. Will you conduct us?”
The spokesman nodded, and answered boldly, “We will. We are under your orders.”
They forthwith proceeded under the guidance of the spokesman, and soon came to a large chamber, somewhat broader than the one containing the trap-door. Here the soldier stopped, and pointing to a passageway at the other end of the chamber, said in a low tone, “The Hall is at the end of that short passageway. The door is the one you may have seen on the left of the King, near the throne. There are two soldiers guarding the door, but if you will permit one of my companions and myself to go to them alone, I think we canentice them to this room, and you can capture them.”
Wamby looked at him sharply. “I’ll trust you,” said he; “take a man with you, and go.”
When they had gone, Wamby ordered the elves to stand along the walls so as not to be seen by any one in the passageway, and then he placed his fifty armed men on each side of the entrance.
After a little silent waiting, the two soldiers came running into the chamber, followed closely by the two guards. The latter of course were speedily captured, disarmed, and bound.
“Now,” said Wamby to his armed followers, “you men remain concealed as before on each side of this entrance, and await further orders. And the rest of you keep where you can’t be seen from the passageway.”
Beckoning to Harry, he entered the passageway and came to the door at the end.
“First let us take a peep,” said he; and opening the door on a crack, they looked out into the Reception Hall.
After the door closed, Harry whispered, “There are only a few of the body-guard there. No doubt the King has heard of our escapefrom the prison, and sent most of his soldiers to find us. Are you all ready? Be sure to shut the door after I come out, and keep it shut as long as you can. I am ready.”
Wamby pressed upon the pin, and the door swung open. With a yell loud enough to scare a thousand elves, Harry dashed up to the throne, picked the little King up bodily, and rushed back through the doorway before any of the soldiers had a chance to touch him. Without stopping he ran on to the chamber, and laying the King down, called out, “Here, some of you fellows, come and help me!” For by this time the King was struggling, scratching, and biting like a vicious cat.
But not an elf moved. They simply looked on in amazement and fear.
“Afraid, eh?” cried Harry. “Well, perhaps you’d better not have a hand in it.”
Placing one knee on the King’s body, he drew forth the royal hat-pin and stuck it in his own coat. Then he took off the crown and placed it over Wamby’s hat on top of his own head, and loosing the royal mantle, pinned it over his own shoulders.
“Now,” said he, springing up, “Iam king.Take that fellow and bind him. Don’t hurt him, though,” he cried, as he saw the vengeful, angry looks with which the elves rushed upon their disrobed tyrant. “Any one that injures him will be sent back to the Gnomes. He’ll be punished in due time. You men that are armed, follow me to relieve Wamby.”
They were just in time; for, notwithstanding Wamby’s efforts, the door was being gradually forced open by the ex-King’s body-guard.
“Let ’em come, Wamby!” shouted Harry.
As the door flew open, Harry stepped forward with a stern, commanding look, and held up the royal hat-pin. The soldiers stopped, looked in bewilderment at the crown on his head, and then bowed low to the floor.
“Drop your spears! Rise! March into that chamber!” cried Harry. The terrified soldiers instantly obeyed. “Kitey,” called Harry, “have some of our men arm themselves with those spears, and follow me.”
By this time a large crowd of the elves in the Hall had gathered about the doorway.
“Clear the way to my throne,” commanded Harry, addressing his fifty armed men. “Come, Wamby,” he continued, and marching solemnlyforward, he ascended the steps to the throne and seated himself, motioning Wamby to a seat on his right, and Kitey to one on his left.
“Now,” began Harry,—and then he suddenly stopped and glared at Wamby, whose face showed an almost irresistible tendency to burst out laughing.
“What are you grinning at?” demanded Harry sternly.
“Please excuse me, master,” said Wamby; “but you do look awfully funny!”
He certainly did look comical. The King’s mantle was like a little baby’s cape on his shoulders, and the collar of it would not reach half-way around his neck. Wamby’s pointed hat was so small that it simply perched on top of his head. And the crown, with the hat poking through it, while it was very beautiful, with its gold and diamonds and rubies, yet looked like some little toy crown.
As Harry thought of it all, he nearly burst out laughing himself, especially when he noticed how solemnly he was holding up that ridiculous hat-pin sceptre. But of course he realized that it would never do to laugh as long as he was king, so he frowned very hard at Wamby, andsaid in a solemn tone, to one of his fifty armed men, “Cause all of the Pin Elves to assemble in my presence. Take some soldiers with you and bring hither also the former King and Smithkin.”
“Now,” continued Harry, when this had been done, “let us proceed to business.”
But before he had a chance to say more, there was a loud knock on the outside of the door by which they had come in, and, as if in answer to it, another loud knock was heard on a door at the opposite side of the Hall.
Harry leaned over towards Wamby, and whispered, “What does that mean?”
Wamby shook his head seriously, and replied, “I don’t know.”