Next morning they ate some of the food which they had put aside for
breakfast, took a drink of water from their little spring, and then
Daimur put on his cap and spectacles, shouldered his spade and filled
his pockets with potatoes and peanuts and some of the biscuits.
"Now," he said to the three doves, "I want King Cyril to come with me
and see if we cannot locate something like a boat near the Magician's
hill so that we may get away from this place."
Queen Emily and the Princess begged to go too, so they all set out
together.
It was a long way across the island, but finally they came to the
poisoned spring which flowed near the Magician's hill, and there they
saw many doves of all colors drinking and splashing around in the
shallow well, while others sat stupidly on the branches of the trees
devouring fruit.
The poor King and Queen shuddered at the sight and kept close to
Daimur, who was so busy thinking that he hardly noticed them.
"By my cap," he said to himself, "I know there is a stair to the
Magician's house from the shore on the other side of this hill, and the
house is a strong stone one built into the hill. I wonder," he
thought, "if we can find the stair."
They walked, or rather Daimur walked and the doves flew slowly towards
the hill, but soon came to a great wall of rock that jutted out for
half a mile, and over which they could see by the tree tops a terrific
wind was blowing.
Daimur announced his intention of trying to scale the wall, but even as
he spoke a sudden gust of wind swept down upon them, causing the trees
to scatter fruit in all directions, and almost upsetting the three
doves.
"What did I tell you?" said King Cyril. "We do not get much of it
here, but look how the treetops are bending above us. It is of no use
to try to climb up."
Feeling rather disconsolate Daimur turned around and started following
the great wall of rock which ran away around the hill, winding in and
out until it ran right into the sea.
"This wall is the same on the other side of the island," said the King,
"it runs into the sea on that side also, so that the Magician's
dwelling is completely shut off from the rest of the island."
They went on, keeping close beside the wall, until they came to the
place where it crossed the sand of the seashore, and Daimur stood lost
in thought, gazing at the rough stones which towered above his head.
Then with a sudden exclamation he took his spade from his shoulder and
commenced digging in the sand at the foot of the wall.
He soon found that it was only buried about three feet in the sand, and
in a few minutes he had succeeded in making a hole under it wide enough
to crawl through on his hands and knees, the doves immediately
following him.
Once inside, the shore looked very much the same as it did elsewhere,
and the only wind was the natural breeze, fresh and briny, which blew
in from the sea.
They crept along, keeping close to the ground, under the shade of the
trees, and after a while came up close to the hill, which at this side
seemed to be of solid rock, and ran very close to the water.
Built against the hill was a long, low house of white stone, with a
flight of marble steps leading up to the door, while directly in front
of it running out a short distance was a wide landing, seemingly
composed of one immense slab of white stone.
They crept close to the house, but Daimur was afraid to mount the stair
for fear of being seen from one of the windows which faced the sea on
each side of the door. He was very anxious to know who was in the
house, but to his surprise his cap could not tell him anything about it.
The Princess eagerly volunteered to go.
"I am white like the gulls that are flying about," she said, "and will
not likely be noticed."
Up she flew and alighted on the window sill, which was open, and after
looking carefully in, she disappeared inside.
The King and Queen and Daimur waited in the greatest suspense for more
than half an hour. At the end of that time she reappeared, looking
very frightened.
"There is a witch in there," she whispered. "Let us go back at once."
They said nothing further, but all hurried away as fast as they could,
crawled under the stone wall, and Daimur threw back the sand against
it, and smoothed it down. They did not stop until they had reached the
cave. Then they all sat down, very tired, and the Princess told them
what she had seen.
"I went in at the window," she began, "and was in a great kitchen. At
the far end of it I saw a room with a window in the end of it, so as
there seemed to be no one about I cautiously slipped into the other
room, which from the bottles and pots on the shelves I thought must be
a sort of chemist's work-room.
"I hopped up on the window sill and looked out, and saw a beautiful
large ship with three masts tied up in a small bay at the end of the
house. I was then coming away, when I heard a noise and looking
around, saw coming through the kitchen a very ugly old crone hobbling
towards me, muttering to herself.
"I crept into a large box that stood empty in a corner, and saw her go
up to a big wicker basket near the window out of which I had just been
looking. She opened the basket and out came a long green snake, which
fastened itself around her neck. I quite quivered with terror.
"'How are you to-day, my daughter?' asked the old crone.
"'Oh, much better, thank you,' said the reptile, in a horrible rattling
voice. 'Did you find the magic tablets yet, mother?'
"'Alas, my dear,' replied the witch, 'I found hundreds of them. They
are on a shelf behind the cupboard, in a dark corner, but are locked up
in a glass box. I am afraid the Magician carries the key with him, and
I dare not break the lock.'
"'Oh, dear, how much longer must I wait to get out of this horrid
shape? I wish I had not touched his old bottles and made him angry,'
said the snake, and it began to shed streams of tears which ran down
and made little green lizards that crawled about on the floor.
"'Not much longer, dear,' replied the witch. 'The Magician is coming
back to-night, and nothing can be done now, but he is going away again
on a special journey in five days' time, to hunt for some treasures
which he says he must have, so I will go out across the fields as soon
as he is gone and consult my old cat as to what is best to be done.'
"The Witch then put the snake back in the basket, fastened down the
lid, and went away, so after a while, not seeing anything more of her,
I crept out of my hiding place, determined to get some of the tablets
which will give us back our human shapes."
"Did you see them?" asked the Queen quite breathlessly.
"I did," replied the Princess, "I got in behind the cupboard, which has
a piece gone out of the back, hopped up on the shelf, and found them
quite easily. They are locked up in a strong glass box, and are as big
as corn kernels."
"Well, well," said Daimur, after a pause. "Why, I have a key here that
will unlock anything. We shall go back when the Magician goes away
next time, and see if we cannot get some of the magic tablets."
Feeling very cheerful indeed they then went with Daimur while he dug a
great many more potatoes, nuts and yams, and helped him to make a fire
afterwards to cook them for supper. While the fire was getting hot
Daimur went out along the shore to see what he could find. The tide
was out, and he went looking about for clams. He was not disappointed,
for he soon found a great many nice big ones, and you may be sure they
tasted very delicious when baked in their shells.
Long after they had had their supper, when it was quite dark, they
heard a great wind blowing, and Daimur, putting on his cap knew that it
was the Magician coming home.