THE BUTTERSCOTCHMEN.
Bells were pealing and tolling in all directions, and the air was filled
with the sound of distant shouts and cries.
"What were they?" asked Davy, breathlessly.
"Butterscotchmen," said the Goblin. "You see, they always butter their
chairs so that they won't stick fast when they sit down."
"And what makes you that color?" said Davy, suddenly noticing that the
Goblin had changed his color to a beautiful blue.
"Trouble and worry," said the Goblin. "I always get blue when the
Butterscotchmen are after me."
"Are they coming after us now?" inquired Davy, in great alarm.
"Of course they are," said the Goblin. "But the best of it is, they
can't run till they get warm, and they can't get warm without running,
you see. But the worst of it is that _we_ can't stop without sticking
fast," he added, anxiously. "We must keep it up until we get to the
Amuserum."
"What's that?" said Davy.
"It's a place they have to amuse themselves with," said the
Goblin,--"curiosities, and all that sort of thing, you know. By the
way, how much money have you? We have to pay to get in."
[Illustration: "BELLS WERE PEALING IN ALL DIRECTIONS."]
Davy began to feel in his pockets (which is a very difficult thing to do
when you're running fast), and found, to his astonishment, that they
were completely filled with a most extraordinary lot of rubbish. First
he pulled out what seemed to be an iron ball; but it proved to be a
hard-boiled egg, without the shell, stuck full of small tacks. Then came
two slices of toast, firmly tied together with a green cord. Then came a
curious little glass jar, filled with large flies. As Davy took this out
of his pocket, the cork came out with a loud "pop!" and the flies flew
away in all directions. Then came, one after another, a tart filled with
gravel, two chicken-bones, a bird's nest with some pieces of brown soap
in it, some mustard in a pill-box, and a cake of beeswax stuck full of
caraway seeds. Davy remembered afterward that, as he threw these things
away, they arranged themselves in a long row on the curb-stone of the
street. The Goblin looked on with great interest as Davy fished them up
out of his pockets, and finally said, enviously, "That's a splendid
collection; where did they all come from?"
"I'm sure _I_ don't know," said Davy, in great bewilderment.
"And I'm sure _I_ don't know," repeated the Goblin. "What else is
there?"
Davy felt about in his pockets again, and found what seemed to be a
piece of money. On taking it out, however, he was mortified to find that
it was nothing but an old button; but the Goblin exclaimed, in a tone of
great satisfaction, "Ah! hold on to that!" and ran on faster than ever.
The sound of the distant voices had grown fainter and fainter still, and
Davy was just hoping that their long run was almost over, when the
street came abruptly to an end at a brick wall, over the top of which he
could see the branches of trees. There was a small round hole in the
wall, with the words "PAY HERE" printed above it, and the Goblin
whispered to Davy to hand in the button through this hole. Davy did so,
feeling very much ashamed of himself, when, to his surprise, instead of
receiving tickets in return, he heard a loud exclamation behind the
wall, followed by a confused sound of scuffling, and the hole suddenly
disappeared. The next moment a little bell tinkled, and the wall rose
slowly before them like a curtain, carrying the trees with it
apparently, and he and the Goblin were left standing in a large open
space paved with stone.
Davy was exceedingly alarmed at seeing a dense mass of Butterscotchmen
in the centre of the square, pushing and crowding one another in a very
quarrelsome manner, and chattering like a flock of magpies, and he was
just about to propose a hasty retreat, when a figure came hurrying
through the square, carrying on a pole a large placard, bearing the
words:--
"JUST RECEIVED!
THE GREAT FRUNGLES THING!
ON EXHIBITION IN THE PLUM-GARDEN!"
At the sight of these words the mob set up a terrific shout, and began
streaming out of the square after the pole-bearer, like a flock of
sheep, jostling and shoving one another as they went, and leaving Davy
and the Goblin quite alone.
"I verily believe they're gone to look at my button," cried Davy,
beginning to laugh, in spite of his fears. "They called _me_ Frungles,
you know."
"That's rather a nice name," said the Goblin, who had begun smiling
again. "It's better than Snubgraddle, at all events. Let's have a look
at the curiosities;" and here he walked boldly into the centre of the
square.
Davy followed close at his heels, and found, to his astonishment and
disappointment, that the curiosities were simply the things that he had
fished out of his pockets but a few minutes before, placed on little
pedestals and carefully protected by transparent sugar shades. He was on
the point of laughing outright at this ridiculous exhibition, when he
saw that the Goblin had taken a large telescope out of his pocket, and
was examining the different objects with the closest attention, and
muttering to himself, "Wonderful! wonderful!" as if he had never seen
anything like them before.
[Illustration: "THE GOBLIN TURNED HIS TELESCOPE TOWARD HIM."]
"Pooh!" said Davy, contemptuously; "the only wonderful thing about them
is, how they ever came _here_."
At this remark the Goblin turned his telescope toward Davy, and uttered
a faint cry of surprise; and Davy, peering anxiously through the large
end, saw him suddenly shrink to the size of a small beetle, and then
disappear altogether. Davy hastily reached out with his hands to grasp
the telescope, and found himself staring through a round glass window
into a farm-yard, where a red Cow stood gazing up at him.