The Island of Regos was ten miles wide and forty mileslong and it was ruled by a big and powerful King namedGos. Near to the shores were green and fertile fields,but farther back from the sea were rugged hills andmountains, so rocky that nothing would grow there. Butin these mountains were mines of gold and silver, whichthe slaves of the King were forced to work, beingconfined in dark underground passages for that purpose.In the course of time huge caverns had been hollowedout by the slaves, in which they lived and slept, neverseeing the light of day. Cruel overseers with whipsstood over these poor people, who had been captured inmany countries by the raiding parties of King Cos, andthe overseers were quite willing to lash the slaveswith their whips if they faltered a moment in theirwork.

Between the green shores and the mountains wereforests of thick, tangled trees, between which narrowpaths had been cut to lead up to the caves of themines. It was on the level green meadows, not far fromthe ocean, that the great City of Regos had been built,wherein was located the palace of the King. This citywas inhabited by thousands of the fierce warriors ofGos, who frequently took to their boats and spread overthe sea to the neighboring islands to conquer andpillage, as they had done at Pingaree. When they werenot absent on one of these expeditions, the City ofRegos swarmed with them and so became a dangerous placefor any peaceful person to live in, for the warriorswere as lawless as their King.

The Island of Coregos lay close beside the Island ofRegos; so close, indeed, that one might have thrown astone from one shore to another. But Coregos was onlyhalf the size of Regos and instead of being mountainousit was a rich and pleasant country, covered with fieldsof grain. The fields of Coregos furnished food for thewarriors and citizens of both countries, while themines of Regos made them all rich.

Coregos was ruled by Queen Cor, who was wedded toKing Gos; but so stern and cruel was the nature of thisQueen that the people could not decide which of theirsovereigns they dreaded most.

Queen Cor lived in her own City of Coregos, which layon that side of her island facing Regos, and herslaves, who were mostly women, were made to plow theland and to plant and harvest the grain.

From Regos to Coregos stretched a bridge of boats,set close together, with planks laid across their edgesfor people to walk upon. In this way it was easy topass from one island to the other and in times ofdanger the bridge could be quickly removed.

The native inhabitants of Regos and Coregos consistedof the warriors, who did nothing but fight and ravage,and the trembling servants who waited on them. King Gosand Queen Cor were at war with all the rest of theworld. Other islanders hated and feared them, for theirslaves were badly treated and absolutely no mercy wasshown to the weak or ill.

When the boats that had gone to Pingaree returnedloaded with rich plunder and a host of captives, therewas much rejoicing in Regos and Coregos and the Kingand Queen gave a fine feast to the warriors who hadaccomplished so great a conquest. This feast was setfor the warriors in the grounds of King Gos's palace,while with them in the great throne room all thecaptains and leaders of the fighting men were assembledwith King Gos and Queen Cor, who had come from herisland to attend the ceremony. Then all the goods thathad been stolen from the King of Pingaree were dividedaccording to rank, the King and Queen taking half, thecaptains a quarter, and the rest being divided amongstthe warriors.

The day following the feast King Gos sent KingKitticut and all the men of Pingaree to work in hismines under the mountains, having first chained themtogether so they could not escape. The gentle Queen ofPingaree and all her women, together with the capturedchildren, were given to Queen Cor, who set them to workin her grain fields.

Then the rulers and warriors of these dreadfulislands thought they had done forever with Pingaree.Despoiled of all its wealth, its houses torn down, itsboats captured and all its people enslaved, whatlikelihood was there that they might ever again hear ofthe desolated island? So the people of Regos andCoregos were surprised and puzzled when one morningthey observed approaching their shores from thedirection of the south a black boat containing a boy, afat man and a goat. The warriors asked one another whothese could be, and where they had come from? No oneever came to those islands of their own accord, thatwas certain.

Prince Inga guided his boat to the south end of theIsland of Regos, which was the landing place nearest tothe city, and when the warriors saw this action theywent down to the shore to meet him, being led by a bigcaptain named Buzzub.

"Those people surely mean us no good," said Rinkitinkuneasily to the boy. "Without doubt they intend tocapture us and make us their slaves."

"Do not fear, sir," answered Inga, in a calm voice."Stay quietly in the boat with Bilbil until I havespoken with these men."

He stopped the boat a dozen feet from the shore, andstanding up in his place made a grave bow to themultitude confronting him. Said the big Captain Buzzubin a gruff voice:

"Well, little one, who may you be? And how dare youcome, uninvited and all alone, to the Island of Regos?"

"I am Inga, Prince of Pingaree," returned the boy,"and I have come here to free my parents and my people,whom you have wrongfully enslaved."

When they heard this bold speech a mighty laugh arosefrom the band of warriors, and when it had subsided thecaptain said:

"You love to jest, my baby Prince, and the joke isfairly good. But why did you willingly thrust your headinto the lion's mouth? When you were free, why did younot stay free? We did not know we had left a singleperson in Pingaree! But since you managed to escape usthen, it is really kind of you to come here of your ownfree will, to be our slave. Who is the funny fat personwith you?"

"It is His Majesty, King Rinkitink, of the great Cityof Gilgad. He has accompanied me to see that you renderfull restitution for all you have stolen fromPingaree."

"Better yet!" laughed Buzzub. "He will make a fineslave for Queen Cor, who loves to tickle fat men, andsee them jump."

King Rinkitink was filled with horror when he heardthis, but the Prince answered as boldly as before,saying:

"We are not to be frightened by bluster, believe me;nor are we so weak as you imagine. We have magic powersso great and terrible that no host of warriors canpossibly withstand us, and therefore I call upon you tosurrender your city and your island to us, before wecrush you with our mighty powers."

The boy spoke very gravely and earnestly, but hiswords only aroused another shout of laughter. So whilethe men of Regos were laughing Inga drove the boatwe'll up onto the sandy beach and leaped out. He alsohelped Rinkitink out, and when the goat had unaidedsprung to the sands, the King got upon Bilbil's back,trembling a little internally, but striving to look asbrave as possible.

There was a bunch of coarse hair between the goat'sears, and this Inga clutched firmly in his left hand.The boy knew the Pink Pearl would protect not onlyhimself, but all whom he touched, from any harm, and asRinkitink was astride the goat and Inga had his handupon the animal, the three could not be injured byanything the warriors could do. But Captain Buzzub didnot know this, and the little group of three seemed soweak and ridiculous that he believed their capturewould be easy. So he turned to his men and with a waveof his hand said:

"Seize the intruders!"

Instantly two or three of the warriors steppedforward to obey, but to their amazement they could notreach any of the three; their hands were arrested as ifby an invisible wall of iron. Without paying anyattention to these attempts at capture, Inga advancedslowly and the goat kept pace with him. And whenRinkitink saw that he was safe from harm he gave one ofhis big, merry laughs, and it startled the warriors andmade them nervous. Captain Buzzub's eyes grew big withsurprise as the three steadily advanced and forced hismen backward; nor was he free from terror himself atthe magic that protected these strange visitors. As forthe warriors, they presently became terror-stricken andfled in a panic up the slope toward the city, andBuzzub was obliged to chase after them and shoutthreats of punishment before he could halt them andform them into a line of battle.

All the men of Regos bore spears and bows-and-arrows,and some of the officers had swords and battle-axes; soBuzzub ordered them to stand their ground and shoot andslay the strangers as they approached. This they triedto do. Inga being in advance, the warriors sent aflight of sharp arrows straight at the boy's breast,while others cast their long spears at him.

It seemed to Rinkitink that the little Prince mustsurely perish as he stood facing this hail of murderousmissiles; but the power of the Pink Pearl did notdesert him, and when the arrows and spears had reachedto within an inch of his body they bounded back againand fell harmlessly at his feet. Nor were Rinkitink orBilbil injured in the least, although they stood closebeside Inga.

Buzzub stood for a moment looking upon the boy insilent wonder. Then, recovering himself, he shouted ina loud voice:

"Once again! All together, my men. No one shall everdefy our might and live!"

Again a flight of arrows and spears sped toward thethree, and since many more of the warriors of Regos hadby this time joined their fellows, the air was for amoment darkened by the deadly shafts. But again allfell harmless before the power of the Pink Pearl, andBilbil, who had been growing very angry at the attemptsto injure him and his party, suddenly made a boltforward, casting off Inga's hold, and butted into theline of warriors, who were standing amazed at theirfailure to conquer.

Taken by surprise at the goat's attack, a dozen bigwarriors tumbled in a heap, yelling with fear, andtheir comrades, not knowing what had happened butimagining that their foes were attacking them, turnedabout and ran to the city as hard as they could go.Bilbil, still angry, had just time to catch the bigcaptain as he turned to follow his men, and Buzzubfirst sprawled headlong upon the ground, then rolledover two or three times, and finally jumped up and ranyelling after his defeated warriors. This butting onthe part of the goat was very hard upon King Rinkitink,who nearly fell off Bilbil's back at the shock ofencounter; but the little fat King wound his armsaround the goat's neck and shut his eyes and clung onwith all his might. It was not until he heard Inga saytriumphantly, "We have won the fight without striking ablow!" that Rinkitink dared open his eyes again. Thenhe saw the warriors rushing into the City of Regos andbarring the heavy gates, and he was very much relievedat the sight.

"Without striking a blow!" said Bilbil indignantly."That is not quite true, Prince Inga. You did notfight, I admit, but I struck a couple of times to goodpurpose, and I claim to have conquered the cowardlywarriors unaided."

"You and I together, Bilbil," said Rinkitink mildly."But the next time you make a charge, please warn me intime, so that I may dismount and give you all thecredit for the attack."

There being no one now to oppose their advance, thethree walked to the gates of the city, which had beenclosed against them. The gates were of iron and heavilybarred, and upon the top of the high walls of the citya host of the warriors now appeared armed with arrowsand spears and other weapons. For Buzzub had gonestraight to the palace of King Cos and reported hisdefeat, relating the powerful magic of the boy, the fatKing and the goat, and had asked what to do next.

The big captain still trembled with fear, but KingGos did not helieve in magic, and called Buzzub acoward and a weakling. At once the King took command ofhis men personally, and he ordered the walls mannedwith warriors and instructed them to shoot to kill ifany of the three strangers approached the gates.

Of course, neither Rinkitink nor Bilbil knew how theyhad been protected from harm and so at first they wereinclined to resent the boy's command that the threemust always keep together and touch one another at alltimes. But when Inga explained that his magic would nototherwise save them from injury, they agreed to obey,for they had now seen enough to convince them that thePrince was really protected by some invisible power.

As they came before the gates another shower ofarrows and spears descended upon them, and as beforenot a single missile touched their bodies. King Gos,who was upon the wall, was greatly amazed and somewhatworried, but he depended upon the strength of his gatesand commanded his men to continue shooting until alltheir weapons were gone.

Inga let them shoot as much as they wished, while hestood before the great gates and examined themcarefully.

"Perhaps Bilbil can batter down the gates, suggestedRinkitink.

"No," replied the goat; "my head is hard, but notharder than iron."

"Then," returned the King, "let us stay outside;especially as we can't get in."

But Inga was not at all sure they could not get in.The gates opened inward, and three heavy bars were heldin place by means of stout staples riveted to thesheets of steel. The boy had been told that the powerof the Blue Pearl would enable him to accomplish anyfeat of strength, and he believed that this was true.

The warriors, under the direction of King Gos,continued to hurl arrows and darts and spears and axesand huge stones upon the invaders, all without avail.The ground below was thickly covered with weapons, yetnot one of the three before the gates had been injuredin the slightest manner. When everything had been castthat was available and not a single weapon of any sortremained at hand, the amazed warriors saw the boy puthis shoulder against the gates and burst asunder thehuge staples that held the bars in place. A thousand oftheir men could not have accomplished this feat, yetthe small, slight boy did it with seeming ease. Thegates burst open, and Inga advanced into the citystreet and called upon King Gos to surrender.

But Gos was now as badly frightened as were hiswarriors. He and his men were accustomed to war andpillage and they had carried terror into manycountries, but here was a small boy, a fat man and agoat who could not be injured by all his skill inwarfare, his numerous army and thousands of death-dealing weapons. Moreover, they not only defied KingGos's entire army but they had broken in the huge gatesof the city -- as easily as if they had been made ofpaper -- and such an exhibition of enormous strengthmade the wicked King fear for his life. Like allbullies and marauders, Gos was a coward at heart, andnow a panic seized him and he turned and fled beforethe calm advance of Prince Inga of Pingaree. Thewarriors were like their master, and having thrown alltheir weapons over the wall and being helpless tooppose the strangers, they all swarmed after Gos, whoabandoned his city and crossed the bridge of boats tothe Island of Coregos. There was a desperate struggleamong these cowardly warriors to get over the bridge,and many were pushed into the water and obliged toswim; but finally every fighting man of Regos hadgained the shore of Coregos and then they tore away thebridge of boats and drew them up on their own side,hoping the stretch of open water would prevent themagic invaders from following them.

The humble citizens and serving people of Regos, whohad been terrified and abused by the rough warriors alltheir lives, were not only greatly astonished by thissudden conquest of their masters but greatly delighted.As the King and his army fled to Coregos, the peopleembraced one another and danced for very joy, and thenthey turned to see what the conquerors of Regos werelike.