We will now relate what happened to Rinkitink and Bilbil that morning,
while Inga was undergoing his trying experience in escaping the fearful
dangers of the three caverns.
The King of Gilgad wakened to find the door of Inga's room fast shut
and locked, but he had no trouble in opening his own door into the
corridor, for it seems that the boy's room, which was the middle one,
whirled around on a pivot, while the adjoining rooms occupied by Bilbil
and Rinkitink remained stationary. The little King also found a
breakfast magically served in his room, and while he was eating it,
Klik came to him and stated that His Majesty, King Kaliko, desired his
presence in the royal cavern.
So Rinkitink, having first made sure that the Pink Pearl was still in
his vest pocket, willingly followed Klik, who ran on some distance
ahead. But no sooner had Rinkitink set foot in the passage than a great
rock, weighing at least a ton, became dislodged and dropped from the
roof directly over his head. Of course, it could not harm him,
protected as he was by the Pink Pearl, and it bounded aside and crashed
upon the floor, where it was shattered by its own weight.
"How careless!" exclaimed the little King, and waddled after Klik, who
seemed amazed at his escape.
Presently another rock above Rinkitink plunged downward, and then
another, but none touched his body. Klik seemed much perplexed at these
continued escapes and certainly Kaliko was surprised when Rinkitink,
safe and sound, entered the royal cavern.
"Good morning," said the King of Gilgad. "Your rocks are getting loose,
Kaliko, and you'd better have them glued in place before they hurt
someone." Then he began to chuckle: "Hoo, hoo, hoo-hee, hee-heek, keek,
eek!" and Kaliko sat and frowned because he realized that the little
fat King was poking fun at him.
"I asked Your Majesty to come here," said the Nome King, "to show you a
curious skein of golden thread which my workmen have made. If it
pleases you, I will make you a present of it."
With this he held out a small skein of glittering gold twine, which was
really pretty and curious. Rinkitink took it in his hand and at once
the golden thread began to unwind--so swiftly that the eye could not
follow its motion. And, as it unwound, it coiled itself around
Rinkitink's body, at the same time weaving itself into a net, until it
had enveloped the little King from head to foot and placed him in a
prison of gold.
"Aha!" cried Kaliko; "this magic worked all right, it seems.
"Oh, did it?" replied Rinkitink, and stepping forward he walked right
through the golden net, which fell to the floor in a tangled mass.
Kaliko rubbed his chin thoughtfully and stared hard at Rinkitink.
"I understand a good bit of magic," said he, "but Your Majesty has a
sort of magic that greatly puzzles me, because it is unlike anything of
the sort that I ever met with before."
"Now, see here, Kaliko," said Rinkitink; "if you are trying to harm me
or my companions, give it up, for you will never succeed. We're
harm-proof, so to speak, and you are merely wasting your time trying to
injure us.
"You may be right, and I hope I am not so impolite as to argue with a
guest," returned the Nome King. "But you will pardon me if I am not yet
satisfied that you are stronger than my famous magic. However, I beg
you to believe that I bear you no ill will, King Rinkitink; but it is
my duty to destroy you, if possible, because you and that insignificant
boy Prince have openly threatened to take away my captives and have
positively refused to go back to the earth's surface and let me alone.
I'm very tender-hearted, as a matter of fact, and I like you immensely,
and would enjoy having you as a friend, but--" Here he pressed a button
on the arm of his throne chair and the section of the floor where
Rinkitink stood suddenly opened and disclosed a black pit beneath,
which was a part of 'the terrible Bottomless Gulf.
But Rinkitink did not fall into the pit; his body remained suspended in
the air until he put out his foot and stepped to the solid floor, when
the opening suddenly closed again.
"I appreciate Your Majesty's friendship," remarked Rinkitink, as calmly
as if nothing had happened, "but I am getting tired with standing. Will
you kindly send for my goat, Bilbil, that I may sit upon his back to
rest?"
"Indeed I will!" promised Kaliko. "I have not yet completed my test of
your magic, and as I owe that goat a slight grudge for bumping my head
and smashing my second-best crown, I will be glad to discover if the
beast can also escape my delightful little sorceries."
So Klik was sent to fetch Bilbil and presently returned with the goat,
which was very cross this morning because it had not slept well in the
underground caverns.
Rinkitink lost no time in getting upon the red velvet saddle which the
goat constantly wore, for he feared the Nome King would try to destroy
Bilbil and knew that as long as his body touched that of the goat the
Pink Pearl would protect them both; whereas, if Bilbil stood alone,
there was no magic to save him.
Bilbil glared wickedly at King Kaliko, who moved uneasily in his ivory
throne. Then the Nome King whispered a moment in the ear of Klik, who
nodded and left the room.
"Please make yourselves at home here for a few minutes, while I attend
to an errand," said the Nome King, getting up from the throne. "I shall
return pretty soon, when I hope to find you pieceful--ha, ha,
ha!--that's a joke you can't appreciate now but will later. Be
pieceful--that's the idea. Ho, ho, ho! How funny." Then he waddled from
the cavern, closing the door behind him.
"Well, why didn't you laugh when Kaliko laughed?" demanded the goat,
when they were left alone in the cavern.
"Because he means mischief of some sort," replied Rinkitink, "and we'll
laugh after the danger is over, Bilbil. There's an old adage that says:
'He laughs best who laughs last,' and the only way to laugh last is to
give the other fellow a chance. Where did that knife come from, I
wonder."
For a long, sharp knife suddenly appeared in the air near them,
twisting and turning from side to side and darting here and there in a
dangerous manner, without any support whatever. Then another knife
became visible--and another and another--until all the space in the
royal cavern seemed filled with them. Their sharp points and edges
darted toward Rinkitink and Bilbil perpetually and nothing could have
saved them from being cut to pieces except the protecting power of the
Pink Pearl. As it was, not a knife touched them and even Bilbil gave a
gruff laugh at the failure of Kaliko's clever magic.
The goat wandered here and there in the cavern, carrying Rinkitink upon
his back, and neither of them paid the slightest heed to the knives,
although the glitter of the hundreds of polished blades was rather
trying to their eyes. Perhaps for ten minutes the knives darted about
them in bewildering fury; then they disappeared as suddenly as they had
appeared.
Kaliko cautiously stuck his head through the doorway and found the goat
chewing the embroidery of his royal cloak, which he had left lying over
the throne, while Rinkitink was reading his manuscript on "How to be
Good" and chuckling over its advice. The Nome King seemed greatly
disappointed as he came in and resumed his seat on the throne. Said
Rinkitink with a chuckle:
"We've really had a peaceful time, Kaliko, although not the pieceful
time you expected. Forgive me if I indulge in a laugh--hoo, hoo,
hoo-hee, heek-keek-eek! And now, tell me; aren't you getting tired of
trying to injure us?"
"Eh--heh," said the Nome King. "I see now that your magic can protect
you from all my arts. But is the boy Inga as, well protected as Your
Majesty and the goat?'
"Why do you ask?" inquired Rinkitink, uneasy at the question because he
remembered he had not seen the little Prince of Pingaree that morning.
"Because," said Kaliko, "the boy has been undergoing trials far greater
and more dangerous than any you have encountered, and it has been
hundreds of years since anyone has been able to escape alive from the
perils of my Three Trick Caverns."
King Rinkitink was much alarmed at hearing this, for although he knew
that Inga possessed the Blue Pearl, that would only give to him
marvelous strength, and perhaps strength alone would not enable him to
escape from danger. But he would not let Kaliko see the fear he felt
for Inga's safety, so he said in a careless way:
"You're a mighty poor magician, Kaliko, and I'll give you my crown if
Inga hasn't escaped any danger you have threatened him with."
"Your whole crown is not worth one of the valuable diamonds in my
crown," answered the Nome King, "but I'll take it. Let us go at once,
therefore, and see what has become of the boy Prince, for if he is not
destroyed by this time I will admit he cannot be injured by any of the
magic arts which I have at my command."
He left the room, accompanied by Klik, who had now rejoined his master,
and by Rinkitink riding upon Bilbil. After traversing several of the
huge caverns they entered one that was somewhat more bright and
cheerful than the others, where the Nome King paused before a wall of
rock. Then Klik pressed a secret spring and a section of the wall
opened and disclosed the corridor where Prince Inga stood facing them.
"Tarts and tadpoles!" cried Kaliko in surprise. "The boy is still
alive!"