Arrival at the Castle of the Red Jinn
The further they traveled into Ev, the more interesting the country
became to Planetty and Thun. Now wild orange and lemon trees added
their spicy tang to the salty air; waving palms edged the sandy
roadway, and after traversing a grove of lordly cocoanut trees the four
suddenly found themselves facing the great, green, rolling Nonestic.
"A spring!" caroled Planetty, galloping Thun down to the water's edge.
"Oh, never have I seen so netiful a spring!"
"Not a spring, Princess, an ocean," corrected Kabumpo, ambling good
naturedly after Thun. "This is a salt salt sea, full of ships, sailors,
shells, crabs, islands, fish and fishermen."
"And will I see all of them?" Slipping from Thun's back Planetty waded
out a little way, hopping gleefully over the edges of the smaller waves.
"Some time," promised Randy, dismounting hastily to keep her from
venturing too far. "Look over your shoulder, Netty," he urged, drawing
her back toward shore, "and then tell me what you think!"
Explaining this gay, wide and wonderful world to the little Princess of
Anuther Planet, Randy found more fun than anything he had ever done or
imagined. Tense with expectation, he and Kabumpo watched as Planetty
gazed off to the right.
"Why--'tis a high, high hill of red that glitters! Or what? What is
it?" Planetty whirled Thun round so he could see, too.
"It's a castle, m'lass." Kabumpo swaggered down the beach, as if he
alone were responsible for all its splendor and magnificence. "There
you see the imperial palace of the Wizard of Ev, built from turret to
cellar of finest red glass studded with rubies, and there, this night,
we will be suitably entertained by Jinnicky himself."
"The inside's even better than the outside," Randy whispered in
Planetty's ear, as she tapped out this astonishing news to the Thunder
Colt. "Come on, come on, it's not more than a mile, and we can go
straight along the edge of the sea shore. Say, weren't we lucky not to
run into Gludwig?" Pulling himself up on Kabumpo's back, Randy spoke
the words softly. "It would have been too bad to have the first person
outside of ourselves that Planetty met turn out a villain. I believe
that sign WAS a joke."
"Well, everything seems all right so far," admitted the Elegant
Elephant guardedly. "But keep your eyes open, my boy--keep your eyes
open. Is that a welcome committee marching along the beach, or is it an
army?"
"They're still too far away to tell," answered Randy. "Looks to me like
all Jinnicky's blacks; I can see their baggy red trousers and turbans."
"Yes, but what's that gleaming in the sunlight?" demanded Kabumpo,
curling up his trunk uneasily.
"Only their scimiters," Randy said, standing up to have a better
view. "Each man is carrying a scimiter over his shoulder, but that's
perfectly all right, they're probably parading for our benefit."
"Mm-mm! Sometimes things are not what they scim-iter!" sniffed Kabumpo,
snapping his eyes suspiciously. But Randy, paying no attention to
the Elegant Elephant's remark, was feeling round in the net bags
for Chillywalla's band box, and next moment the lively strains of a
military march filled the air.
Swinging along in time to the music, Kabumpo peered sharply at the
oncoming host for signs of Alibabble, or Ginger, the slave of the
bell, or some of Jinnicky's other old and trusted counselors. But in
all that great throng there was no one familiar face, and because he
was beginning to feel more than a bit worried, Kabumpo lifted his feet
higher and higher. "Everything looks black, very black," he muttered
dubiously.
"Why not?" cried Randy, waving his arms like a bandmaster. "They're all
as black as the ace of spades. Mind you, Planetty, it takes all these
black men to take care of Jinnicky and his castle."
"And will they take care of us?" Planetty eyed the marchers with
positive amazement and alarm. "So many," she murmured in a hushed
voice, "so black. I thought everyone down here would be like you and
Bumpo."
"My, no," Randy told her complacently. "Everyone is liable to be
different. I believe I'll toss out some of Chillywalla's boxes.
Visitors should come bearing presents, you know!"
Hastily Randy began pulling out boxes of candy, boxes of cigarettes,
beads, cigars and whole suits of clothing to dazzle Jinnicky's
subjects. But when the leader of the procession came within ten feet of
the travelers he threw back his head and emitted such a blood-curdling
howl, Randy's hair rose on his head, and as the rest of the blacks,
brandishing scimiters and yelling threats and imprecations, came
leaping toward them, the desperate young King began hurling down boxes
as if they were bombs. He caught the Headman on the chin with the
bandbox, but while it stopped the music it did not stop the gigantic
Evian from slashing at Thun. As his scimiter fell, Kabumpo gave a
trumpet that felled the whole front rank of the enemy, and snatching up
the villain in his trunk, he hurled him back among his men.
"Is this--is this taking care of us?" shuddered Planetty, clasping her
arms round the neck of the plunging Thunder Colt.
"No, no! My goodness, NO! Is Thun hurt? Quick, Kabumpo!" screamed Randy
as a second scimiter slashed down on Thun's flank. Then he managed
to breathe again, for the razor-sharp weapon glanced harmlessly off
the metal coat of Planetty's coal black charger. The wielder of the
scimiter, however, did not escape so easily, for a hot blast from
Thun's nostrils sent him reeling backward.
"That's it! Give it to them! Give it to them!" shouted Randy,
forgetting in his excitement that Thun could not hear, and he himself
hurled Chillywalla's boxes hard and viciously and one after the other.
As for Kabumpo, every time he raised his trunk there was a black man in
it, and as fast as they came he slung them over his shoulder.
But it was Planetty who really turned the tide of battle. While Randy,
who had exhausted his supply of boxes, was digging desperately in
Kabumpo's pockets for some more missiles, he heard a perfect chorus of
terrified screeches. Popping up with an umbrella and an alarm clock,
he saw the Princess of Anuther Planet standing erect on the galloping
colt's back, calmly and precisely casting her staff at the foe. Each
time the staff struck, the victim, in whatever attitude he happened to
be, was frozen into a motionless metal figure. After each stroke the
staff returned to Planetty's hand.
"Yah, yah, mah--MASTER!" wailed the frantic blacks who were still able
to move, and tumbling over one another in their effort to escape, they
fled wildly back to the Red Castle, leaving behind sixty of their
vanquished brethren.
"You--you--YOU'LL be sorry for this!" shouted the Headman, tearing off
his turban and waving it as he ran.
"So will you!" bellowed Kabumpo fiercely. "Just wait till Jinnicky
hears about this! How dare you treat his visitors in this violent
wicked fashion?"
"Jinnicky! Jinnicky!" jeered the Headman as Planetty aimed her staff
threateningly at his back. "Jinnicky is at the bottom of the sea!"
"Mm--Mnnn! Mnmph! I knew it, I knew it!" groaned the Elegant Elephant
as the Headman reached the palace and scittered wildly up the glass
steps. "I knew something was wrong the moment I saw those scimiters."
"Jinnicky gone! Jinnicky at the bottom of the sea? Why, I just can't
believe it!" Randy, glancing over his shoulder at the tumbling
Nonestic, looked almost ready to cry. Then putting back his shoulders,
he declared fiercely, "Well, I'M not going off and leave this old
pirate in Jinnicky's castle, are you? It must be Gludwig's doing--all
this! Let's go inside and throw him out of there! We have lots of help
now. Thun's a regular flame thrower and Planetty's worth a whole army,
and best of all nothing can hurt them. Why didn't you tell me you had
a magic staff?" Randy looked admiringly down at the resolute little
Princess at his side. "Why, with that staff we can conquer anybody."
"Is that what you call the magic?" Planetty regarded her staff with new
interest.
"It certainly is!" panted Kabumpo, fanning himself with a handy palm
leaf. "And we're mighty sorry to have gotten you into all this danger
and trouble, my dear. Looks as if we had a war on our hands instead of
a pleasant vacation."
"Oh, that! It is nothing, nothing!" Planetty shrugged her shoulders
eloquently. "On our planet we too have the bad beasts and Nuthers, and
when they try to hit or bite us, we just subdue them with our voral
staffs."
"Mmmn--mn! So I see." Kabumpo, still fanning himself, looked
thoughtfully at Gludwig's petrified warriors. "There must be a goodly
bit of statuary on your planet, m'lass?"
"Very many," answered Planetty soberly, polishing her staff on the end
of her cape. With a slight shudder the Elegant Elephant turned from the
fallen slaves, resolving then and there never to offend this pretty but
powerful little metal maiden.
"Well, have the scoundrels dispersed and gone for good?" inquired Thun,
sending up his question in a cloud of black smoke. Restively pawing
the ground, the Thunder Colt looked from one to the other waiting for
someone to enlighten him.
"Tell him they've gone, but for nobody's good," wheezed Kabumpo, who
was still out of breath from the violence of the combat. "Tell him
Gludwig the Glubrious has destroyed the Wizard of Ev and that we are
now going into the castle to continue the battle."
"But where shall we start?" sighed Randy, staring despondently up at
the gay red palace where he and Kabumpo had been so royally entertained
on their last visit.
"We'll start at the bottom of these steps," announced Kabumpo grimly,
"and mount on up to the top. Then we'll burst into the presence of this
wretched wart and fling him out of the window."
"But that won't help Jinnicky if he's at the bottom of the sea,"
mourned Randy, trying to smile at Planetty, who was busily tapping off
instructions to Thun.
"Hah! but don't forget, Jinnicky's a wizard," sniffed Kabumpo, pulling
in his belt a few inches, "and nobody can keep a good wizard down.
Besides," Kabumpo dragged his robe a bit to the left and straightened
his head-piece, "once inside that castle, we can use some of the Red
Jinn's own magic to help him."
"Magic? Why, of course, I'd forgotten about that." Randy's face cleared
and brightened and seeing Planetty and Thun so eager and unafraid
beside him, he girded on his sword and standing upright on Kabumpo's
back, gave the signal to start. As they trod up the hundred red glass
steps they could hear windows and doors slamming, the patter of running
feet and the tinkle of the hundred glass chimes in the tower. But step
by step, and without a pause, Thun and Kabumpo mounted to the top.
"Beware! Beware, Gludwig the Glubrious! Here march Kabumpty and Thun,
Slandy and Planetty, Princess of Anuther Planet. Friends, equals and
warriors!"
The Thunder Colt's flaming message, floating like a battle emblem in
the air, alarmed the wicked occupant of Jinnicky's castle even more
than the invaders themselves. But still confident of his power to
vanquish all comers, he waited in evil anticipation for the moment when
they would force their way into his presence. Did they imagine because
they had frightened a company of foolish slaves they could frighten him?
"Ha, ha!" Crouched on the Red Jinn's throne and laughing mirthlessly,
Gludwig rubbed his long hands up and down his skinny knees.