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  THE SIX SNUBNOSED PRINCESSES

  CHAPTER 6.

  The Boolooroo was laughing and dancing around in front of them as ifwell pleased. For a moment the prisoners could not imagine what hadhappened to them, but presently half a dozen Blueskins, resembling inshape and costume their ruler but less magnificently dressed, stepped infront of them and bowed low to the Boolooroo.

  "Your orders, most Mighty, Flighty, Tight and Righty Monarch, have beenobeyed," said the leader.

  "Very well, Captain. Take that umbrella and carry it to my RoyalTreasury. See that it is safely locked up. Here's the key, and if youdon't return it to me within five minutes I'll have you patched."

  The Captain took the key and the Magic Umbrella and hastened away to thepalace. Button-Bright had already hooked the ropes to the elephant-trunkhandle, so that when the Captain carried away the umbrella he draggedafter him first the double seat, then Cap'n Bill's seat, which wasfastened to it, and finally the lunch-basket, which was attached to thelower seat. At every few steps some of these would trip up the Captainand cause him to take a tumble, but as he had only five minutes' time inwhich to perform his errand he would scramble to his feet again and dashalong the path until a board or the basket tripped him again.

  They all watched him with interest until he had disappeared within thepalace, when the King turned to his men and said:

  "Release the prisoners. They are now quite safe, and cannot escape me."

  So the men unwound the long cords that were twined around the bodies ofour three friends, and set them free. These men seemed to be soldiers,although they bore no arms except the cords. Each cord had a weight atthe end, and when the weight was skillfully thrown by a soldier it woundthe cord around anything in the twinkling of an eye and held fast untilit was unwound again.

  Trot decided these Blueskins must have stolen into the garden whensummoned by the bells the Boolooroo had rung, but they had kept out ofsight and crept up behind the bench on which our friends were seated,until a signal from the king aroused them to action.

  The little girl was greatly surprised by the suddenness of her capture,and so was Button-Bright. Cap'n Bill shook his head and said he wasafeared they'd get into trouble. "Our mistake," he added, "was instoppin' to eat our lunch. But it's too late now to cry over spiltmilk."

  "I don't mind; not much, anyhow," asserted Trot, bravely. "We're in nohurry to get back; are we, Button-Bright?"

  "I'm not," said the boy. "If they hadn't taken the umbrella I wouldn'tcare how long we stopped in this funny island. Do you think it's a fairycountry, Trot?"

  "Can't say, I'm sure," she answered. "I haven't seen anything here yetthat reminds me of fairies; but Cap'n Bill said a floating island in thesky was sure to be a fairyland."

  "I think so yet, mate," returned the sailor. "But there's all sorts o'fairies, I've heard. Some is good, an' some is bad, an' if all theBlueskins are like their Boolooroo they can't be called fust-class."

  "Don't let me hear any more impudence, prisoners!" called the Boolooroo,sternly. "You are already condemned to severe punishment, and if I haveany further trouble with you, you are liable to be patched."

  "What's being patched?" inquired the girl.

  The soldiers all laughed at this question, but the King did not reply.Just then a door in the palace opened and out trooped a group of girls.There were six of them, all gorgeously dressed in silken gowns with manypuffs and tucks and ruffles and flounces and laces and ribbons,everything being in some shade of blue, grading from light blue to deepblue. Their blue hair was elaborately dressed and came to a point at thetop of their heads.

  The girls approached in a line along the garden path, all walking withmincing steps and holding their chins high. Their skirts prevented theirlong legs from appearing as grotesque as did those of the men, but theirnecks were so thin and long that the ruffles around them only made themseem the more absurd.

  "Ah," said the King, with a frown, "here come the Six SnubnosedPrincesses--the most beautiful and aristocratic ladies in Sky Island."

  "They're snubnosed, all right," observed Trot, looking at the girlswith much interest; "but I should think it would make 'em mad to call'em that."

  "Why?" asked the Boolooroo, in surprise. "Is not a snubnose the highestmark of female beauty?"

  "Is it?" asked the girl.

  "Most certainly. In this favored island, which is the Center of theUniverse, a snubnose is an evidence of high breeding which any ladywould be proud to possess."

  The Six Snubnosed Princesses now approached the fountain and stood in arow, staring with haughty looks at the strangers.

  "Goodness me, your Majesty!" exclaimed the first; "what queer,dreadful-looking creatures are these? Where in all the Sky did they comefrom?"

  "They say they came from the Earth, Cerulia," answered the Boolooroo.

  "But that is impossible," said another Princess. "Our scientists haveproved that the Earth is not inhabited."

  "Your scientists'll have to guess again, then," said Trot.

  "But how did they get to Sky Island?" inquired the third snubnosed one.

  "By means of a Magic Umbrella, which I have captured and put away in myTreasure Chamber," replied the Boolooroo.

  "What will you do with the monsters, papa?" asked the fourth Princess.

  "I haven't decided yet," said the Boolooroo. "They're curiosities, yousee, and may serve to amuse us. But as they're only half civilized Ishall make them my slaves."

  "What are they good for? Can they do anything useful?" asked the fifth.

  "We'll see," returned the King, impatiently. "I can't decide in a hurry.Give me time, Azure; give me time. If there's anything I hate it's ahurry."

  "I've an idea, your Majesty," announced the sixth Snubnosed Princess,whose complexion was rather darker than that of her sisters, "and it hascome to me quite deliberately, without any hurry at all. Let us take thelittle girl to be our maid--to wait upon us and amuse us when we'redull. All the other ladies of the court will be wild with envy, and ifthe child doesn't prove of use to us we can keep her for a livingpincushion."

  "Oh! Ah! That will be fine!" cried all the other five, and the Boolooroosaid:

  "Very well, Indigo; it shall be as you desire." Then he turned to Trotand added: "I present you to the Six Lovely Snubnosed Princesses, to betheir slave. If you are good and obedient you won't get your ears boxedoftener than once an hour."

  "I won't be anybody's slave," protested Trot. "I don't like thesesnubnosed, fussy females an' I won't have anything to do with 'em."

  "How impudent!" cried Cerulia.

  "How vulgar!" cried Turquoise.

  "How unladylike!" cried Sapphire.

  "How silly!" cried Azure.

  "How absurd!" cried Cobalt.

  "How wicked!" cried Indigo. And then all six held up their hands as ifhorrified.

  The Boolooroo laughed.

  "You'll know how to bring her to time, I imagine," he remarked, "and ifthe girl isn't reasonable and obedient, send her to me and I'll have herpatched. Now, then, take her away."

  But Trot was obstinate and wouldn't budge a step.

  "Keep us together, your Majesty," begged Cap'n Bill. "If we're to beslaves, don't separate us, but make us all the same kind o' slaves."

  "I shall do what pleases me," declared the Boolooroo, angrily. "Don'ttry to dictate, old Moonface, for there's only one Royal Will in SkyIsland, and that's my own."

  He then gave a command to a soldier, who hastened away to the palace andsoon returned with a number of long blue ribbons. One he tied aroundTrot's waist and then attached to it six other ribbons. Each of the SixSnubnosed Princesses held the end of a ribbon, and then they turned andmarched haughtily away to the palace, dragging the little girl afterthem.

  "Don't worry, Trot," cried Button-Bright; "we'll get you out of thistrouble pretty soon."

  "Trust to us, mate," added Cap'n Bill; "we'll manage to take care o'you."

  "Oh, I'm all right," answered Trot, with fine courage
; "I'm not afraidof these gawkies."

  But the princesses pulled her after them and soon they had alldisappeared into one of the entrances to the Blue Palace.

  "Now, then," said the Boolooroo, "I will instruct you two in your futureduties. I shall make old Moonface--"

  "My name's Cap'n Bill Weedles," interrupted the sailor.

  "I don't care what your name is; I shall call you old Moonface," repliedthe king, "for that suits you quite well. I shall appoint you the RoyalNectar Mixer to the Court of Sky Island, and if you don't mix ournectar properly I'll have you patched.

  "How do you mix it?" asked Cap'n Bill.

  "I don't mix it; it's not the Boolooroo's place to mix nectar," was thestern reply. "But you may inquire of the palace servants and perhaps theRoyal Chef or the Majordomo will condescend to tell you. Take him to theservants' quarters, Captain Ultramarine, and give him a suit of theroyal livery."

  So Cap'n Bill was led away by the chief of the soldiers, and when he hadgone the king said to Button-Bright:

  "You, slave, shall be the Royal Bootblue. Your duty will be to keep theboots and shoes of the royal family nicely polished with blue."

  "I don't know how," answered Button-Bright, surlily.

  "You'll soon learn. The Royal Steward will supply you with blue paste,and when you've brushed this on our shoes you must shine them withQ-rays of Moonshine. Do you understand?"

  "No," said Button-Bright.

  Then the Boolooroo told one of the soldiers to take the boy to theshoeblue den and have him instructed in his duties, and the soldierpromptly obeyed and dragged Button-Bright away to the end of the palacewhere the servants lived.