help breaking through the roof?" Instead of answering, the Shah clapped
his hands twice and handed the mask back to the slave. Now out stepped
a stiff little Subterranean, whom Speedy quite rightly guessed to be
the Chief Counsellor of the Shah. He seemed also to be a rhymer of no
mean ability, and in low rapid verses began to drone out the following:
"The Shah! The Shah! Of SubterraneAH!
In the tenth year of his splendid subter reign;
And whom the Shah displeases, his Headman quickly seizes
And hurls instanter from the Shah's domain!
I'm his Headman, as you see, all his subjects bow to me,
My name is Rhomba, see that you attend,
Why have you come at all? Did you fly or jump or fall,
Are you interloper, enemy, or friend?"
"Friend," answered Speedy in a low voice, and chuckling in spite of
himself. But his answer did not seem to appease his Imperial Lowness at
all. Looking again at the hole in his sky, he took up the frowning mask
and turned it again toward the boy.
"Gosh!" thought Speedy uneasily, "I've certainly got to do some tall
explaining; now what in Sam Hill shall I tell them?" All the little men
were staring at him expectantly, and the one who had given him the card
whispered aside to the monarch.
"I think, from his high voice, he must be one of those Upperdwellers."
"Speak, Upperdweller," hissed Rhomba, while the Shah changed his
frowning mask for one whose blank expression upset Speedy even more
than the frown. But remembering that he was the nephew of a famous
scientist, and the holder of several records for high jumps and track
events, he pulled himself together and in a calm whisper explained how
the Skyrocket, in which he and Uncle Billy had intended to explore
the sky, had gone off without the inventor; how he had turned the
ship downward and crashed through to the center of the earth and
landed in Subterranea through no intention or fault of his own. During
this recital the Shah changed his mask twice. The first showed faint
surprise, but the mask held up and slightly awry as Speedy finished his
story was frankly yawning. Smothering his resentment at such treatment,
Speedy went on hurriedly, "You see, if Uncle Billy had just been a
little quicker, we'd have gone up instead of down and I'd never have
come here at all. It was just a mix-up," he concluded earnestly.
"Mix-down," corrected Rhomba severely, as the Shah shook his head to
show that the explanation was not satisfactory. Then, making several
strange signals to his Headman, he tapped the earthworm with his heels
and moved grandly and unconcernedly out of the square.
"Well?" inquired Speedy in a defiant whisper, as the Shah disappeared
down a long, dim, blue tunnel.
"He doubts the truth of all you say;
But mend the sky and you can stay
And work upon the realm's defences--
If not, you'll take the consequences!"
"And what are the consequences?" asked Speedy in a faint voice, for he
had no desire to work for this crude little King.
"Well," answered Rhomba, with a careless wave of his hand, "we usually
throw lawbreakers to the fire fish in Lava Lake, and I suppose sky
breakers might be called lawbreakers, too."
"Lava Lake!" exclaimed Speedy, beginning to feel downright frightened.
"But see here, how am I going to mend a great jagged hole like that?
Why, I can't even reach it!" In his indignation he forgot to whisper,
and at the terrible racket made by his voice the Subterraneans took to
their gold heels. That is, all except Rhomba, who seemed to feel it his
duty to remain.
"That's your affair," he muttered indifferently. "You broke the
sky--now mend it!" Switching his stiff robes from side to side, the
Shah's Chief Headman followed the others, leaving Speedy all alone in
the center of the square. His first impulse was to run, but a short
dash down one of the tiled passageways convinced him that he would
be lost in no time. Every few yards it turned and twisted and was
intersected by other tunnels, and a body might as well have hoped to
find his way out of a labyrinth. Picking his way slowly back to the
square, Speedy was surprised to see one of the Shah's subjects sitting
on a green bench near the Skyrocket.
"My name is Zunda," whispered the little fellow, coming eagerly toward
Speedy. "Perhaps I can help you, but I beg of you not to shout. It is
so--so shattering. Tell me," he continued, before Speedy had time to
say a word, "did you see anything of the other Underground Kingdoms on
your way down? I have never traveled myself and am curious to know all."
"Are there other Kingdoms?" asked Speedy in a depressed whisper. "I
only saw a lot of roots, rocks, underground seas, and lava. Are there
more countries down here?"
"Oh, yes! Yes, indeed!" And clutching Speedy's arm, Zunda began to
drone out like a schoolboy reciting a lesson: "The Underworld is
divided into nine levels. First there is Neath and Underneath; then
Low and Below. After that come Down, Upsidedown, Farther Down and
Allthewaydown. Then Subterranea. We're about as low as you can get," he
finished boastfully.
"Yes?" murmured Speedy, trying to appear interested. "But don't you
think we'd better talk about mending this hole in the sky?"
"What's the use of talking about that?" answered Zunda, with a
little shrug. "It just can't be done. Now do tell me something about
Upsidedown. I hear the earthscrapers there are forty feet low."
"How long will it be before--before----"
"Before you're thrown to the fire fish? Oh, not till to-morrow
morning," Zunda assured him cheerfully. "That will give you time to see
our city, the underwood and----"
"_Stop!_ Isn't there any way out of here?" Seizing the little
Subterranean by both shoulders, Speedy gave him a desperate shake.
Zunda blinked but shook his head negatively. Speedy looked gloomily
up at the great rent overhead, but climbing the stone pillars was
perfectly impossible. The return rocket on the torpedo had been lost on
the wild downward flight, and it did seem as if he never would escape
from this queer and eerie Kingdom under the earth.
"Oh, come along," urged Zunda comfortably under his breath. "You may
as well see all you can before----before----" Feeling Speedy's violent
shudder, he tactfully did not finish the sentence, but drew the little
boy hurriedly across the square.
CHAPTER EIGHT
A GOLDEN PRINCESS
"I suppose you are wondering why our Shah never speaks," murmured
Zunda, as they came to the end of one of the twisting tunnels. Then, as
Speedy, too worried to wonder, made no reply, he confided importantly,
"He is saving his voice so he never uses it; and he wears masks to
express pleasure or displeasure to save his face."
"Well, if I had a face like his, I'd not bother to save it," said
Speedy crossly, and as Zunda went on asking him questions and quite
calmly answering them himself, the boy tried to think of some way out
of his dreadful difficulties. "These fellows aren't very big," he
thought shrewdly, "and when they try to throw me in this Lava Lake,
I'll tackle them by two's. I'll scream like fury, for that seems to
upset them, and maybe if I'm quick I can knock out this Shah and Rhomba
and make the rest of them behave. Why, I might even become their
ruler!" he reflected suddenly. "Then I can sit tight till somebody
comes down here to rescue me." Speedy felt sure that Uncle Billy
would organize a search party and follow him down the great shaft cut
by the Skyrocket. Immensely cheered, he began to look around with a
little more interest. "I wonder what they eat down here," he thought
curiously, for if he was to remain any time this would be an important
thing to know. As if to answer his question, a squat underground
peddler, with a huge basket on each arm, turned in from another
tunnel. Opening the lid of one of the baskets he proudly indicated the
contents. It seemed several days since breakfast and Speedy, hoping it
would be fruit or cakes, looked in eagerly. With a violent shudder he
jumped back, for the basket was full of writhing, squirming, wriggling
earthworms.
"Very tasty in a stew," smiled Zunda, as the peddler held up two long
and particularly curly ones. But Speedy shook his head and waving the
peddler away hurried along the tunnel, his nose scornfully in the air.
Along the edges of the strange passageway, flagstone trapdoors in the
floor kept opening and shutting, and Zunda explained that these were
the entrances to the underground homes of his kinsmen. As they marched
along, inquisitive heads popped up like Jack-in-the-Boxes and some of
the bolder Subterraneans came out altogether and pattered cautiously
after them, so that by the time they had come to the end of the passage
quite a crowd had collected. They seemed perfectly friendly so Speedy
paid no attention to them. Besides, he was much more interested in the
strange vista opening out ahead.
"The Royal Hunting Ground of his Supreme Lowness, the Shah!" explained
Zunda, with a sweeping wave of his left arm. "The deep, dark underwood
where the gropers grope, the dragons drag, and Lava Lake boils on
forever!" This last information, conveyed in a tense whisper, made
Speedy decidedly uncomfortable, but to show that he was not easily
frightened he stepped boldly into the underwood. Here the brown and
green rock formations took the shape of gnarled and twisted trees.
Phosphorescent material clung like vines to their trunks, shedding a
weird, goblinish glow. Giant stone mushrooms thrust up their flat heads
from the slimy ground, and in the distance Speedy could see a great
lavafall tumbling smokily into the lake below.
"Well? Well?" barked Zunda, plucking nervously at his sleeve. "Have you
seen enough? Come on out before a groper gets us."
"Groper?" queried Speedy, who did not want to turn back until he had
seen the fire fish in Lava Lake. "What's a groper?"
"A groper is a blind dragon who lives in the dismal caverns of
darkness, back of the underwood. They cannot see, but they can hear the
faintest footfall, and unlucky persons carried off by gropers are never
heard from again."
"Well, it wouldn't be any worse than being thrown to fire fish,"
muttered Speedy gloomily. "I'm going on."
"Don't! Don't, I beg of you! No one ventures beyond the lake. Why
destroy yourself before your time?" warned Zunda, giving Speedy's coat
another tug.
"Just the same," thought Speedy, as the little man continued to plead
and pull, "it would be a pretty darn good place to hide; there might
even be some way out on the other side. Thank goodness, I have my
flashlight and could explore some of the caves. Why, I might even make
some important scientific discoveries. Geewhiskers, I wish Uncle Billy
were down here!" With many backward glances he allowed himself to be
drawn out of the Shah's hunting grounds, and when they came again to
the great square his mind was still full of the mysterious caves
behind the underwood. Seated on one of the green benches, he paid
little attention to the chatter of Zunda or the Subterraneans, who,
going about their own affairs, pattered busily to and fro. Several
times the Shah himself passed on his giant undulating earthworm and
each time turned his frowning mask toward Speedy.
"Cranky old crumb!" exclaimed the boy under his breath, as the stiff,
gold-clad sovereign went by for the third time. "Say, what's the matter
now?" for all the people in the square were scampering for shelter,
tumbling down trapdoors, and even forgetting to lower their voices.
"Run! It's going to subter-rain!" screamed Zunda, bounding off the
bench and disappearing in three hops like a jack rabbit. Rhomba, the
Rhymer, rushed by at a gallop.
"Get under cover!" he directed breathlessly:
"When it rains in Subterranea, it pours down rays of sun,
The deadly sun that poisons one! Be quick, I tell you, _run_!"
As Speedy sprang up uncertainly, a furious downpour of sunbeams almost
blinded him. But instead of running away, he expanded his chest and
took long deep breaths. Never had anything felt so good. The chill,
heavy air of Subterranea seemed to clear and brighten. Speedy's head
cleared, too. Not an undergrounder was in sight, and resolved to make
his escape before any appeared, he ran quickly through the sparkling
shower. Even the underwood looked cheerful drenched by the friendly
sun rays, and hurrying along under the twisted trees, Speedy fervently
hoped all the dragons were asleep or otherwise occupied. Just for a
moment he paused beside Lava Lake, but when the fire fish, about the
size of sharks, rose hungrily to the surface and snapped their flaming
teeth at him, he ran off as fast as he could, never stopping until he
came to the end of the underwood and stepped into the cavernous country
on the other side. The sun storm made it quite light, and Speedy,
hurrying along, kept a sharp lookout for gropers. Hot springs and
small geysers bubbled up here and there between the rocks and reminded
him not a little of the Yellowstone country and the Grand Canyon. But
suddenly, as quickly as it had started, the sun storm ceased, and
without warning Speedy was left in a thick, choking darkness. At the
same instant a low threatening growl rumbled over the rocks.
"Gropers!" gasped Speedy. Frantically feeling for his flashlight, he
dashed headlong into the nearest cave, collided with a hard object
in the center, and fell with a terrible thump to the floor. Rather
slowly and doubtfully he sat up, and at last locating his flash pressed
the button to see what under the sun he had bumped into. What he saw
brought him to his feet in a jiffy. Lying on its side a short distance
away was a solid gold statue, the statue of a quaint little Princess
in a great stiff ruff. She was about a head taller than Speedy himself
and her expression was so sweet and merry that he earnestly wished
she were alive. Neither in face nor figure was she at all like the
Subterraneans, and the little boy could not help wondering how the
statue had come to this dark, dismal spot. Placing his flash on a ledge
of rock so that it cast a good light, he tiptoed nearer and seizing
the little gold hands of the Princess began to tug her to an upright
position. He had succeeded in raising the statue about five inches when
the Princess quite unexpectedly opened her eyes and smiled at him.
Speedy was so startled that he let go her hands and she fell back with
a hard bump on the rocks. Her smile changed to a look of bewilderment,
and as Speedy, hastily recovering himself, seized her hands again a
still more astonishing thing happened. Suddenly the hard, gold folds
of her dress melted into rippling silken ones, the gold faded from her
face and hands leaving them pink and rosy, the stiff, carved gold curls
clustered round her lovely face lifted and lightened and began to dance
and blow in the damp wind of the cave.
"Good-morrow!" said the Princess, as Speedy stared at her in
open-mouthed wonder. "Are you going to help me up, or not?" With a
quick pull he had her on her feet; then seeing that her crown had
rolled into a corner he quickly recovered it and held it out to her.
"I--I was sorta surprised when you came to life," he explained, with an
embarrassed swallow. "I'm awfully sorry I let you fall--but I didn't
know you were alive."
[Illustration: "I WAS SORT OF SURPRISED WHEN YOU CAME TO
LIFE."]
"Alive?" laughed the little Princess, setting the crown carelessly on
the back of her head. "Am I alive?"
"Why--why--" stuttered Speedy, hardly knowing how to explain. "It's
what you are now, seeing, thinking, feeling, being the same as I am."
"Oh!" The Princess looked at him thoughtfully. "Are you alive, too?
Well, then I shan't mind it." Speedy nodded. Everything about this
Princess was so strange and puzzling that he scarcely knew where to
begin his questions. "Have you a name?" he asked finally. Seeing by
her bewildered expression that she did not know, he dropped quickly to
one knee, for he had suddenly remembered that statues often have their
names stamped on the base. Sure enough, still visible on the silken hem
of her dress were two words, "Princess Marygolden."
"Your name's Marygolden," announced Speedy, jumping up in great relief,
"and now----" The Princess looked at him expectantly, but before
he could finish his sentence there came a scraping of claws on the
rocks outside and a great, green, scaly dragon hurled itself through
the opening of the cave. Speedy, snatching his flashlight, clutched
Marygolden and backed as far away as he could. The dragon, lifting his
ugly head, moved it slowly from side to side and gave three furious
sniffs that filled the air with smoke and sulphur. Then it was that
Speedy saw it had no eyes. It was a groper, and could not see them at
all. As the monster came toward them, the little boy flattened himself
against the rock wall, and as soon as it was out of the mouth of the
cave he rushed wildly through the opening, pulling the Princess along.
Guided by the faint glow from his flashlight, he stumbled over rocks
and ridges, sometimes escaping ghastly crevices and boiling springs by
mere inches. Marygolden had changed all of his plans. It was all very
well for a boy to go exploring through a lot of dungeony caverns, but
for a Princess to be chased by deadly dragonish monsters was not the
thing. So Speedy decided to return and throw himself on the mercy of
the Shah. Perhaps the little sovereign could even explain the strange
coming to life of the golden statue. He, himself, might, perhaps, be
regarded as a hero and a rescuer and not thrown to the fire fish, after
all. Marygolden, holding tightly to his hand, ran nearly as fast as he
did, and in almost no time they had left the cavernous country behind
and stopped to rest under a pink stone tree in the underwood.
"Is this--being--alive?" puffed the Princess, taking off her crown and
using it for a fan.
"Well," admitted Speedy judicially, "if we hadn't run like that
the groper would have caught us and we wouldn't have been alive
long after that. But we don't have to run all the time," he went
on hastily. "Sometimes we walk, like this--see!" Taking her hand
again, Speedy started slowly through the underwood. Marygolden fell
in step quite easily, and looking up at his lovely companion Speedy
smiled encouragingly. "She's older than I am but knows nothing at
all," thought the boy complacently. "I'll just have to take care of
her till something turns up." Something, as it happened, turned up
very soon, for as Speedy and Marygolden entered the public square of
Subterranea, a crowd of undergrounders, catching sight of them, forgot
to whisper and burst into ear-splitting shrieks and yells. Waving
their arms and pointing accusingly at the Princess, they ran screaming
for the Shah. Speedy looked nervously around for Zunda, who seemed to
be the only friend he had. But instead of Zunda, the Shah himself,
supported on each side by a slave, came panting on the scene. While the
Subterraneans continued to shout with anger, the Shah snatched mask
after mask from his attendants and held them up toward Speedy. The
first was a growling lion, then came a fierce tiger, next a horribly
scowling goblin, each mask growing more ferocious than the last.
Convinced that the Shah was frightfully displeased, Speedy tightened
his hold on Marygolden, and making a dash for the Skyrocket jumped in;
pulling the Princess after him, he slammed down the top. Marygolden,
more interested than alarmed, pressed her pretty face against the
window glass, but Speedy, as the undergrounders with bars and clubs
fell upon the torpedo, began to feel terribly anxious. The Skyrocket
could not withstand their blows forever and when it did give way what
would happen to them? Staring around desperately his eye lighted on the
lever that controlled the parashuter.
"But that goes down," groaned Speedy, "and gosh knows, we're down far
enough now!" Then, remembering that the Skyrocket itself, while made
to go up, had travelled quite successfully in the other direction,
he pushed back his leather helmet and dropped to his knees. If he
released the parashuter and pointed it up, why would it not carry
them aloft through the shaft cut by the torpedo? Whether it would or
not, it was their only chance, and pulling the lever Speedy released
the strange apparatus, fastening one strap around Marygolden and one
around himself. Then, clasping the hands of the little Princess around
the handle, he pressed the button in the top, seized the handle
himself, and with a violent effort pointed the parashuter straight up.
The first pull of the lever had opened a trapdoor in the roof of the
Skyrocket, and as the Subterraneans, with little shouts of triumph,
swarmed around the opening, the parashuter burst out, scattering them
in every direction. Safely it shot through the gash in the blue stone
sky, but missing the tunnel cut by the Skyrocket, began tearing its
own way through earth, rock, and sand. "It's a good thing we're tied
on," thought Speedy, gritting his teeth. He tried to call something
reassuring to Marygolden but the awful speed of the parashuter made
that impossible, and not sure whether they would be crushed by falling
rock or scalded by boiling lava, Speedy clung doggedly to the bone
handle of Uncle Billy's remarkable umbrella.
CHAPTER NINE
SIR HOKUS MEETS AN OLD FRIEND
It was a joy to be on firm land again, and after leaving Ploppa, Sir
Hokus strode briskly across the yellow plain. At the first stream
he stopped to wash the last of the swamp mud from his armor; then,
throwing out his chest, he marched resolutely toward the strange, tall
castle.
"Mayhap a true and Knightly adventure awaits me here," he mused,
surveying through half closed eyes its glittering and distant spires.
But the castle was a long way off, and thinking of this and that, but
mostly of his queer encounter with the Marshlanders and the curious and
kindly turtle, the Knight trudged cheerfully along, coming in the late
afternoon to a little wood. Here he paused and sat down under a gnarled
old tree to rest. Soothed by the rustle of the branches, he must have
fallen asleep, for when he awakened it was almost dark and someone was
shaking him violently. There was a strange hissing noise in his ears
and a feeling of suffocation in his chest. Blinking both eyes rapidly,
Sir Hokus, now thoroughly aroused, found himself suspended in the air,
held in the smothering coils of a huge green serpent. And more alarming
still, all around him were other serpents, twisting and writhing and
thrusting out their ugly flat heads. The tree under which he had fallen
asleep was a serpent tree; each branch growing out of the scarred,
scaly trunk was a green and glistening snake.
Now Sir Hokus, in the course of his adventurous life, had been in many
tight places, but this was quite the worst. With both arms pinioned
to his sides he was powerless to draw his sword, and only his heavy
armor saved him from being utterly crushed, or poisoned by the darting
tongues of the unsightly monsters.
"There is but one thing to do, odds buttons! One thing!" he panted,
trying in vain to free himself from the choking embrace, "and that, to
perish manfully and unafraid!" So, with what breath he had left, the
valiant Knight burst into a defiant battle song.
"What HO! 'Tis the challenge of good Knights and true,
What HO! For the swords and the daggers!
The lances that clash, the good steeds that crash,
The tilting and jousting that staggers!
"What HO! 'Tis the challenge all good Knights must heed,
What HO! 'Tis the call of defiance,
In the furious fray
Ye shall perish this day
All ye despots, ye dragons, ye giants!"