As soon as the coals began to burn him, the King came to himself
and stood up. "Ho! my captain of the guards!" his Majesty exclaimed,
stamping his royal feet with rage. O piteous spectacle! the King's nose
was bent quite crooked by the blow of Prince Giglio! His Majesty ground
his teeth with rage. "Hedzoff," he said, taking a death-warrant out of
his dressing-gown pocket, "Hedzoff, good Hedzoff, seize upon the Prince.
Thou'lt find him in his chamber two pair up. But now he dared, with
sacrilegious hand, to strike the sacred night-cap of a king--Hedzoff,
and floor me with a warming-pan! Away, no more demur, the villain dies!
See it be done, or else,--h'm--ha!--h'm! mind thine own eyes!" And
followed by the ladies, and lifting up the tails of his dressing-gown,
the King entered his own apartment.
Captain Hedzoff was very much affected, having a sincere love for
Giglio. "Poor, poor Giglio!" he said, the tears rolling over his manly
face, and dripping down his moustachios; "my noble young Prince, is it
my hand must lead thee to death?"
"Lead him to fiddlestick, Hedzoff," said a female voice. It was
Gruffanuff, who had come out in her dressing-gown when she heard the
noise. "The King said you were to hang the Prince. Well, hang the
Prince."
"I don't understand you," says Hedzoff, who was not a very clever man.
"You Gaby! he didn't say WHICH Prince," says Gruffanuff.
"No; he didn't say which, certainly," said Hedzoff.
"Well then, take Bulbo, and hang HIM!"
When Captain Hedzoff heard this, he began to dance about for joy.
"Obedience is a soldier's honor," says he. "Prince Bulbo's head will do
capitally;" and he went to arrest the Prince the very first thing next
morning.
He knocked at the door. "Who's there?" says Bulbo. "Captain Hedzoff?
Step in, pray, my good Captain; I'm delighted to see you; I have been
expecting you."
"Have you?" says Hedzoff.
"Sleibootz, my Chamberlain, will act for me," says the Prince.
"I beg Your Royal Highness's pardon, but you will have to act for
yourself, and it's a pity to wake Baron Sleibootz."
The Prince Bulbo still seemed to take the matter very coolly. "Of
course, Captain," says he, "you are come about that affair with Prince
Giglio?"
"Precisely," says Hedzoff, "that affair of Prince Giglio."
"Is it to be pistols, or swords, Captain?" asks Bulbo. "I'm a pretty
good hand with both, and I'll do for Prince Giglio as sure as my name is
My Royal Highness Prince Bulbo."
"There's some mistake, my Lord," says the Captain. "The business is done
with AXES among us."
"Axes? That's sharp work," says Bulbo. "Call my Chamberlain, he'll be my
second, and in ten minutes, I flatter myself, you'll see Master
Giglio's head off his impertinent shoulders. I'm hungry for his blood
Hoo-oo--aw!" and he looked as savage as an ogre.
"I beg your pardon, sir, but by this warrant I am to take you prisoner,
and hand you over to--to the executioner."
"Pooh, pooh, my good man!--Stop, I say,--ho!--hulloa!" was all that this
luckless Prince was enabled to say: for Hedzoff's guards seizing him,
tied a handkerchief over his mouth and face, and carried him to the
place of execution.
The King, who happened to be talking to Glumboso, saw him pass, and
took a pinch of snuff and said, "So much for Giglio. Now let's go to
breakfast."
The Captain of the Guard handed over his prisoner to the Sheriff, with
the fatal order,
"AT SIGHT CUT OFF THE BEARER'S HEAD.
"VALOROSO XXIV."
"It's a mistake," says Bulbo, who did not seem to understand the
business in the least.
"Poo--poo--pooh," says the Sheriff. "Fetch Jack Ketch instantly. Jack
Ketch!"
And poor Bulbo was led to the scaffold, where an executioner with a
block and a tremendous axe was always ready in case he should be wanted.
But we must now revert to Giglio and Betsinda.