MEETING A QUEEN
First came a large company of soldiers almost exactly like Captain
Jinks and the sergeant, except that their uniforms were a little
shabbier-looking, and their arms a little less brightly polished. They
held themselves stiffly and marched very well, in spite of the fact
that many of them had suffered severe injuries, such as the loss of a
leg or an arm at the least, in some former campaign, and all of them
were rather the worse for wear. After the soldiers came the band,
playing shrilly on their tiny instruments, and next, to the children's
delight and astonishment, rolled a number of little carriages drawn by
mechanical horses. Rudolf was so keenly interested in the working of
these mechanical horses, that he hardly noticed the fine ladies who
sat stiffly on the cushioned seats of the carriages, very grandly
dressed, and holding beautiful pink and blue parasols over their
curled heads.
Suddenly Ann grabbed his arm and whispered: "Look, look! Did you see
them? Marie-Louise and Angelina-Elfrida, my _own_ dolls, and they
never so much as bowed!"
"Perhaps they didn't know you," whispered Rudolf.
"They did, too," returned his sister angrily. "They just laughed and
turned their heads the other way, horrid things! Just wait, I'll tell
them what I think of them; but, oh, Rudolf, here come more carriages
and more dolls in them, and how queerly they are dressed, these last,
I mean! I never saw any dolls like them before. See their poke
bonnets, and their fringed mantles, and their little hoop-skirts,
but, oh, look, _look_, can that be the Queen?"
Ann's voice sounded disappointed as well as surprised, and in her
excitement she spoke so loud that Captain Jinks himself turned his
threatening eye on her and called out: "Silence!" But Ann paid no
attention to him, nor did the other children; the eyes of all three
were fixed upon a little figure who rode all alone at the very end of
the procession. They knew she must be the Queen by the respectful way
in which Captain Jinks and the sergeant saluted, but she was very
different from what they had imagined a Queen to be. The wooden horse
which she rode was not handsome, indeed one of his legs was missing,
but he pranced and curvetted so proudly upon the remaining three that
it seemed as if he knew he carried a Queen upon his back. The royal
lady kept her seat with perfect ease, and when she came opposite the
children, she checked her steed, halted, and gazed down upon them.
"Have you forgotten me?" she said. Then she smiled and they knew her
at once. It was the corn-cob doll! Though she had grown so much larger
and seemed so much grander, yet she looked just the same as when they
had taken her out of Aunt Jane's sandal-wood box from which, the
children now remembered, certain tin soldiers and a three-legged
wooden horse had also come! The Queen still wore her flowing
greeny-yellow gown, her hair was braided in two long braids that hung
over her shoulders, and she carried her quaint little head high, in
truly royal fashion.
Now she dismounted gracefully from her horse and came toward the
children, holding out her hand. They dared not look her in the face.
They were all three ashamed to speak to her, and especially Rudolf who
remembered only too clearly all the unkind things he had said about
the corn-cob doll, and how very, very near he had come to roasting her
over the nursery fire! Whatever would happen, thought he, if any of
her subjects who seemed to stand in such awe of her, should find out
that attempt on their Queen's life? Captain Jinks would probably think
imprisonment on bread and water entirely too good for him, probably it
would be slow torture.
"Answer her majesty," muttered the captain in his ear, "or I'll have
your head cut off!"
Still Rudolf, blushing fiery red, and not knowing what to say,
continued to stare down at his toes. Peter put his thumb in his mouth,
Ann hung down her head; neither of them was any better off.
The little tin captain stepped eagerly forward. "Shall I give orders
to prepare for the execution, your Majesty?" he began, in a voice
full of pleased excitement. "These suspicious persons are already
under arrest. They would furnish very excellent targets for the
artillery practise? If it should please your Majesty to offer a prize
for the best shot? Or, if your Majesty is in a _hurry_, now, a nice
dip in boiling oil would finish them off very neatly!"
"Be quiet, Jinks," said the Queen frowning. "You talk so much I can't
think. If it wasn't for those tiresome revolutions in my capital city,
I believe I'd banish you. Let me see, how many of them have you
suppressed for me?"
"Exactly twelve, your Majesty," answered Jinks with a low bow, "and I
beg to announce that we are at this moment on the brink of the
thirteenth--baker's dozen, your Majesty."
"Oh, it's the baker this time, is it?" asked the Queen with a sigh.
"What's the matter with _him_, Jinks?"
"Same old trouble, your Majesty. Your court, those doll ladies in
particular, have become so haughty--"
"Naughty, you mean, Jinks," corrected the Queen.
"So haughty _and_ naughty, your Majesty, that they've absolutely
refused to eat their crusts. Did anybody, I ask your Majesty, ever
hear the likes of that?"
There was a moment's silence. The Queen shook her head. The children
tried to appear at their ease, but they were not. Ann looked
particularly uncomfortable. She was not fond of her crusts.
"Well, go on, Jinks, what else?" said the Queen.
"Well, your Majesty, this keeps the baker busy day and night baking
'em bread, not to speak of the cakes and pies, and he says he feels he
hadn't orter stand it any longer. He's going to strike. As for the
populace, your Majesty, they only get the stale loaves or none at
all, and they're wild, your Majesty, very wild indeed."
"I suppose they are, Jinks," sighed the Queen.
"And the worst of it is, your Majesty, we're very short of soldiers.
The Commander-in-Chief"--both Jinks and the sergeant drew themselves
up and saluted at the name--"has taken a whole company to the seaboard
for to repel the cat pirates, and very fierce them pirates are, I've
heard tell. We may have to send him reinforcements at any time."
"The Commander-in-Chief, Jinks," said the Queen haughtily, "is a great
general. He will manage the pirates and the baker, too, if you can't
do it. And if the worst should come to the worst before he gets back,
why I'll just abdicate, that's all, and the baker can be king and much
good may it do him." She turned to the children and smiled at them.
"Now," she said, "you shall come with me and I will show you where I
used to live before I was a Queen."
The corn-cob doll waved her hand, gave an order, and immediately the
carriage in which sat Marie-Louise and Angelina-Elfrida was turned and
driven back to where the children stood.
"These ladies will enjoy a walk," said the Queen.
Very sulkily the two elegant doll-ladies got out of their carriage,
not daring to disobey, and passed by Ann, noses in the air, without so
much as a nod.
"Never mind them, dears," said the Queen kindly. "They don't know any
better. Now jump in!"
The children obeyed, hardly able to believe in their good luck, and in
another moment, much to the surprise and indignation of Captain
Jinks, they were rolling away from him, the Queen riding close beside
their carriage.
"You are safe now," said she, "at least until the revolution begins.
If Jinks should fire his cannon, that's a sign it's starting, but
don't worry"--as she saw that the children were looking rather
alarmed--"I dare say it will blow over without a battle. And now I
want you to look about you, for I don't think you have ever seen
anything like this before."
They had not indeed, and as their shyness wore off, the children began
to ask the Queen a great many questions. Was this her capital city
they were coming to? Were those the stores where all the dolls'
clothes in the world came from? Was it real water in the little
fountain playing in the middle of the square? All this time they were
being carried swiftly through the streets of the neatest, prettiest,
little, toy town any one could wish to see. Both sides of the main
street were lined with little shops, and as the children leaned out of
the carriage for a brief glimpse into their glittering windows, they
saw sights that made them long to stop and look more closely.
There were clothing shops, shoe shops, candy shops, a very
grand-looking milliner's establishment where the children were amused
to catch a glimpse of Angelina-Elfrida and Marie-Louise trying on
hats, and a gaily decorated doll theater where a crowd of dolls were
pushing their way in to see a Punch and Judy show. There were markets
where busy customers thronged to buy all sorts and kinds of doll
eatables, turkeys and chickens the size of sparrows and humming-birds,
yellow pumpkins as big as walnuts, red-cheeked apples like
cranberries, cabbages fully as large as the end of your thumb, and
freshly baked pies as big around as a penny.
Peter's eyes nearly popped out of his head as he passed all these good
things without hope of sampling any of them! The last shop they passed
was that of the royal baker, and they noticed that its windows were
boarded up, while a crowd of common dolls stood about in front of the
door, muttering angrily.
But now the business part of the town was left behind, and the
children were being driven through street after street of gaily
painted, neatly built, little houses with gardens full of tiny
bright-colored flowers, stables, garages--everything complete that the
heart of the most exacting doll in the world could desire. Ann and
Peter were quite wild about it all, and even Rudolf condescended to
admire. Now the houses were left behind and they entered a little
park, where tiny artificial lakes glittered and stiff little trees
were set about on the bright green grass. In the center of this park
stood the doll palace. It was pure white, finished in gold, and had
real glass windows in it, and white marble steps leading up to it, and
high gilded gates where a guard of soldiers turned out to present
arms, and a band was beginning to play. The rest of the procession
turned in at the gates of the palace, but rather to the children's
disappointment, the Queen gave their coachman orders to drive on.
"You may see my palace afterward, if we have time," she said, "but I
want to take you first of all to see my dear old home where I used to
live when I was a girl, when the little mother took care of me."
The children looked at one another. Then Peter said boldly: "Was that
when you were Aunt Jane's doll? You weren't a Queen _then_, were
you?"
"No, indeed," answered her majesty, smiling. "I was just an ugly
little doll, the happiest, best-loved little doll in all the world,
and with the dearest little mother. But here we are, and you shall see
for yourself what a snug home I had."
The old doll house looked neat enough from the outside, to be sure,
but I am afraid if the children had run across it in the attic at Aunt
Jane's they would have taken it for a couple of large packing-boxes
set one upon the other. Once inside, however, they forgot how
impatient they had been to see the palace and its gorgeous
furnishings, they were so interested and amused by the homely
furnishings and neat little arrangements so proudly displayed to them
by the Corn-cob Queen.
She led the children through one room after another, explaining each
thing as they passed it. Those little muslin curtains at the windows,
the little mother had hemmed them all herself. It was she who had made
that wonderful cradle out of cardboard, with sheets from a pair of
grandfather's old pocket-handkerchiefs, she who had pieced that
tiniest of tiny patchwork quilts! In the kitchen that neat set of pots
and pans made from acorns and the shells of walnuts was the work of
her hands, assisted, perhaps, by the penknife of a certain little boy.
That blue and white tea-set on the pantry shelves--the children
recognized it at once as having come out of the sandal-wood box--why
it was almost worn out from the number of cups of tea the old doll and
her little mother had taken together in the good old days!
"It's just the dearest little house in the world," sighed Ann, when,
after having seen and admired everything to their heart's content,
they took their places in the carriage again, "and we don't wonder you
love it! The things that come straight from the toy shops are not
really half so nice as the things you fix yourself--we understand now.
But I suppose," she added thoughtfully, "you find it much grander
being a Queen?"
"Grander, perhaps," sighed the corn-cob doll, "but a great deal more
of a nuisance. However--"
Just then the pop of a toy cannon interrupted the Queen's speech. They
had driven back almost to the palace, and could see a crowd of common
dolls of all kinds and sizes gathering on the green in front of the
gilded gates. At the same moment a troop of soldiers, headed by the
little tin captain, came running from the direction of the town
evidently with the intention of putting a stop to the disturbance.
"The revolution," said the Queen calmly, "just as I expected. Now I am
afraid I shall have to send you out of town."
"But why?" Rudolf began in his arguing voice. "We don't _want_ to go.
We want to stay and fight on your side, and I'm sure we'd be very
useful! Why I'd just as lief command your army as not, and--"
"Thank you very much," said the Corn-cob Queen, "but what would
Captain Jinks say to that? He is in command, you know. And if he
_should_ fail me, why the Commander-in-Chief will soon be back from
capturing the cat pirates."
"Who is this fellow you call the Commander-in-Chief, anyway?" Rudolf
interrupted crossly.
The Queen looked him straight in the eye. "I hope," she said, "that
you may all be allowed to see him some day, if you are good. He is a
_great_ soldier. He never sulks, and always obeys without asking
questions. That is more than some little boys do." Rudolf hung his
head, and the Queen added hastily: "But now I see that Captain Jinks
and the baker are going to hold a conference. I must go and join them.
Your coachman will drive you out of town the back way. Now where would
you like to go?"
"Back to our Aunt Jane, please," said Ann quickly. "Can you tell us
the way?"
"No," said the Queen, "I mustn't, but I have a friend who is a
dream-keeper just over the border, and I think he may be able to help
you. I'll tell the coachman to drive you there. Now good-by!"
"Good-by, good-by!" called the children. The coachman touched up the
horses, they were whirled away in a cloud of dust through which they
looked back regretfully at the queenly figure on the little wooden
horse who waved her hand again and again in kindly farewell. They saw
her joined by Captain Jinks and by a stout person in a white cap and
apron who handed the Queen what seemed to be some kind of document
printed upon a large sheet of pie crust.
"That was the Baker, I guess," said Rudolf, "and I dare say what he
was handing her was the declaration of war! Oh, what a shame it is we
are going to miss all the fun!"
"And the refreshments," sighed Peter. "We _always_ do! I never did
taste a declarashun of war, but it looked awful good. The very next
time I see one, I'm going to--"
But what Peter was going to do Ann and Rudolf did not hear, for at
that moment they were all three nearly spilled out of the little
carriage by the furious rate at which their driver turned a corner.
They had left the dolls' city far behind them and were out on the long
brown road that led past the little tent where the children had been
arrested by Jinks and the sergeant. Now they were out in the open
country hurrying past the wonderful bright-colored plains, past fields
of pink and purple, blue and green and yellow, white and scarlet,
faster and faster all the time, the horses rushing along with such
curious irregular jerks and bounds that it was almost impossible for
the children to keep their seats, and they expected at each moment to
be dumped in the middle of the road.
"Look out!" shouted Rudolf to the coachman. "Don't you see you are
going to upset us?"
The coachman was a very grand-looking person in a white and gold
livery. He never even turned his powdered head as he shouted back:
"Didn't have no--or-ders--not--to!" And for some time they tore on
faster than ever.
At last Ann leaned forward and caught hold of one of the coachman's
little gold-embroidered coat tails. "Oh, do take care," she cried,
"you might run somebody down!"
"That's it,"--the coachman's voice sounded faint and jerky, and the
children could hardly catch the words that floated back to them:
"Running--down--run-ing--down! As--fast--as--ev-er--I--can.
Most--com-pli-cated--insides--in--all--the--king-dom. Can't--be
--wound--up--not--by--likes--of--you--"
The horses were no longer galloping, now they were slowing up, now
they stopped, but with such a sudden jerk that all three children were
tumbled out into the road. They had been expecting this to happen for
so long that the thing was not such a shock after all, and somehow
they landed without being hurt in the slightest. They picked
themselves up, and saw the little carriage standing at the side of the
road, the horses perfectly motionless, each with a forefoot raised in
the air, the coachman stiff and still upon his box, _gazing_ straight
in front of him.
"He'll stay like that," said Peter mournfully, rubbing the dust from
his knees, "till he's wound up again. I wish we had the key!"
"I wish we did," said Rudolf crossly. "You know what Betsy says
about--'If wishes were horses, beggars could ride'--well, they aren't,
so we've got to walk now. I wonder where we are?"
Looking around them, the children saw that they had come to the very
last of the many colored fields, where the brown road ended in a
stretch of creamy-yellow grass. Just beyond a thick woods began, but
was divided from the creamy field by a broad bright strip of color,
like a long flower bed planted with flowers of all kinds and colors
set in all sorts of different patterns--stars, triangles, diamonds,
and squares.
"That's the border," shouted Ann, "and over there somewhere we'll find
the person the Queen said would help us get back to Aunt Jane. Come
on!" As she spoke she bounded off across the field, the two boys after
her, and in less time than it takes to tell it they had run through
the tall yellow grass, jumped the border, and stood upon the edge of
the wood.
[Illustration]
[Illustration]