IN THE DARK.
Harry’s hat fell in the midst of a group of Gnomes, and was taken
possession of by one of them. Although the boy could see nothing, he
could still hear what was going on in the Hall, and his heart sank
within him at the hoarse shout of triumph that went up from the Gnomes
as they captured the precious trophy.
Wamby’s voice now came to his ears: “A golden hat-pin and the richest
jewel in my treasures to any elf who will regain my hat!”
For the hat really belonged to Wamby, and of course it was of vital
importance for him to get it back.
Presently Harry heard shrill voices crying, “Smithkin to the rescue!
Well done! Bravely done! Hurrah! Smithkin has the hat!”
Then, after a moment of comparative quiet, the Gnomes began to yell
hoarsely, “Here comes our King! We’ll conquer them now! Put the King on
the throne! Down with the elves! Down with Wamby!”
At once a confused uproar sounded throughout the Hall, hoarse cries and
shrill shrieks, the clashing of weapons, and the patter of many feet
running to and fro. Above all could be heard ever and anon the fierce,
defiant battle-cry of Smithkin, and wherever that cry came from, there
was always the loudest din of battle.
Then above the racket rose poor little Kitey’s shrill, piercing voice,
“Smithkin has lost his weapon! Smithkin is down! Oh, Prince Harry,
Wamby is captured! We are lost—lost!”
Then followed a prolonged, hoarse shout from the triumphant Gnomes.
Harry groaned once more, and shook his fist in impotent rage at the
invisible enemy, whereat some of the Gnomes standing near laughed
derisively.
Presently he heard the King of the Gnomes’ gruff voice demand, “Have
Cattisack and Grumpy been revived? Then bring them here, and seat them
beside me.”
All was still again for a few minutes, and then Kitey’s shrill voice
piped forth, “Look out, Prince, they’re trying to put a rope around
your feet!”
Harry reached down and felt cords about his ankles, and immediately
began to kick about vigorously and to flourish his arms in the air. But
he forgot how small the top of the wardrobe was, and stepping over the
edge, he fell heavily to the stone floor and became unconscious.
When he came to himself, his hands and feet were bound, and he was
lying upon the floor in front of the throne. Though he saw no one, he
could hear the King of the Gnomes talking in a low tone with ex-King
Cattisack. Finally the King of the Gnomes said in a louder tone,
“Gather all of the Pin Elves together, and take them down to the mines.”
The confused sounds which ensued, and the loud patter of many feet on
the stone floor, indicated that the order was being carried out.
When quiet was restored, the King of the Gnomes growled forth, “And now
what shall be done with that knave?”
Though Harry could not see, he felt that the big right eye was upon
himself. Cattisack seemed to make some suggestion, but he spoke too
low for Harry to distinguish what he said.
“Just the thing!” exclaimed the King of the Gnomes. “Open this
trap-door behind me, and dump the fellow into the Passage of the Toad.”
Forthwith the boy was unceremoniously dragged on his back up the steps
of the dais and dumped feet foremost down the steps of the Passage of
the Toad. Then the door was closed, and he was left in utter darkness.
He lay quietly at the bottom of the stairway for a few minutes, trying
to study out why he had been put in that place. Finally he laughed
softly.
“Either they think I am afraid of the toad,” he said to himself, “or
else they believe I am bound too securely to get free myself, and that
the Pin Elves will not dare to rescue me from this terrible passage.”
After a hard struggle he succeeded in freeing himself from his bonds.
Then he searched carefully in all of his pockets and found three
matches. One of these he lighted, and made his way along the passage
until he reached the spot where the smaller passages branched off, when
his match went out.
“I’ll save the other matches to find the pin-hole in the door,” said he.
His object was to get out through the trap-door where he had first come
down when he found Kitey. He believed that it would be easy to find the
prison, and from there go down to the mines, where he could cheer up
Wamby and the others and perhaps rescue them once more.
“Now, which of these passages is the right one?” he thought to himself.
“Let me see. It was the third,—no, it was the second from this end;
yes, I’m sure that is the one.”
He felt his way along the wall, entered the second opening, and slowly
went along the passage in the dark until he came to the end. There he
found the stairs, but instead of going up as he expected, they went
down; consequently he missed his footing and also went down,—on his
back,—for some little distance.
“I took the wrong passage after all,” he muttered, as he recovered his
footing. “This is the one that leads to the river. I may as well go on
to the end of it and take a look.”
Cautiously he felt his way down the remainder of the steps and along
the passage to the door at the end. There he lighted one of the
remaining matches, found the pin-hole, and opened the door. Holding
the lighted match above his head, he stepped out upon the little stone
platform or landing-place, and carefully examined the wall of the
tunnel. “Even if I could find a boat,” he said, half aloud, “I don’t
believe I’d risk going down the rapids in the dark.” Consequently he
decided to make the rest of the journey to the lake on foot. On the
other side of the lake was the kingdom of the Gnomes. The journey in
the dark was a long and severe one, but after several hours he arrived
footsore and weary at the lake, and found the boat in which he and
Wamby had before sailed across moored among a large fleet on the shore.
To his surprise he discovered also that the wind was already turned on,
but jumping on board the boat, he arrived safely on the Gnoman shore.