"Our fault," said Rinkitink, "is that we conquer onlyone of these twin islands at a time. When weconquered Regos, our foes all came to Coregos, and nowthat we have conquered Coregos, the Queen has fled toRegos. And each time they removed the bridge of boats,so that we could not follow them."

"What has become of our own boat, in which we camefrom Pingaree?" asked Bilbil.

"We left it on the shore of Regos," replied thePrince, "but I wonder if we could not get it again."

"Why don't you ask the White Pearl?" suggestedRinkitink.

"That is a good idea," returned the boy, and at oncehe drew the White Pearl from its silken bag and held itto his ear. Then he asked: "How may I regain our boat?"

The Voice of the Pearl replied: "Go to the south endof the Island of Coregos, and clap your hands threetimes and the boat will come to you.

"Very good!" cried Inga, and then he turned to hiscompanions and said: "We shall be able to get our boatwhenever we please; but what then shall we do?"

"Take me home in it!" pleaded Zella.

"Come with me to my City of Gilgad," said the King,"where you will be very welcome to remain forever."

"No," answered Inga, "I must rescue my father andmother, as well as my people. Already I have the womenand children of Pingaree, but the men are with myfather in the mines of Regos, and my dear mother hasbeen taken away by Queen Cor. Not until all are rescuedwill I consent to leave these islands."

"Quite right!" exclaimed Bilbil.

"On second thought," said Rinkitink, "I agree withyou. If you are careful to sleep in your shoes, andnever take them off again, I believe you will be ableto perform the task you have undertaken."

They counseled together for a long time as to theirmode of action and it was finally considered best tomake the attempt to liberate King Kitticut first ofall, and with him the men from Pingaree. This wouldgive them an army to assist them and afterward theycould march to Regos and compel Queen Cor to give upthe Queen of Pingaree. Zella told them that they couldgo in their boat along the shore of Regos to a pointopposite the mines, thus avoiding any conflict with thewarriors of King Gos.

This being considered the best course to pursue, theyresolved to start on the following morning, as nightwas even now approaching. The servants being all busyin caring for the women and children, Zella undertookto get a dinner for Inga and Rinkitink and herself andsoon prepared a fine meal in the palace kitchen, forshe was a good little cook and had often helped hermother. The dinner was served in a small roomoverlooking the gardens and Rinkitink thought the bestpart of it was the sweet honey, which he spread uponthe biscuits that Zella had made. As for Bilbil, hewandered through the palace grounds and found somegrass that made him a good dinner.

During the evening Inga talked with the women andcheered them, promising soon to reunite them with theirhusbands who were working in the mines and to send themback to their own island of Pingaree.

Next morning the boy rose bright and early and foundthat Zella had already prepared a nice breakfast. Andafter the meal they went to the most southern point ofthe island, which was not very far away, Rinkitinkriding upon Bilbil's back and Inga and Zella followingbehind them, hand in hand.

When they reached the water's edge the boy advancedand clapped his hands together three times, as theWhite Pearl had told him to do. And in a few momentsthey saw in the distance the black boat with the silverlining, coming swiftly toward them from the sea.Presently it grounded on the beach and they all gotinto it.

Zella was delighted with the boat, which was the mostbeautiful she had ever seen, and the marvel of itscoming to them through the water without anyone to rowit, made her a little afraid of the fairy craft. ButInga picked up the oars and began to row and at oncethe boat shot swiftly in the direction of Regos. Theyrounded the point of that island where the city wasbuilt and noticed that the shore was lined withwarriors who had discovered their boat but seemedundecided whether to pursue it or not. This wasprobably because they had received no commands what todo, or perhaps they had learned to fear the magicpowers of these adventurers from Pingaree and wereunwilling to attack them unless their King ordered themto.

The coast on the western side of the Island of Regoswas very uneven and Zella, who knew fairly well thelocation of the mines from the inland forest path, waspuzzled to decide which mountain they now viewed fromthe sea was the one where the entrance to theunderground caverns was located. First she thought itwas this peak, and then she guessed it was that; soconsiderable time was lost through her uncertainty.

They finally decided to land and explore the country,to see where they were, so Inga ran the boat into alittle rocky cove where they all disembarked. For anhour they searched for the path without finding anytrace of it and now Zella believed they had gone toofar to the north and must return to another mountainthat was nearer to the city.

Once again they entered the boat and followed thewinding coast south until they thought they had reachedthe right place. By this time, however, it was growingdark, for the entire day had been spent in the searchfor the entrance to the mines, and Zella warned themthat it would be safer to spend the night in the boatthan on the land, where wild beasts were sure todisturb them. None of them realized at this time howfatal this day of search had been to their plans andperhaps if Inga had realized what was going on he wouldhave landed and fought all the wild beasts in theforest rather than quietly remain in the boat untilmorning.

However, knowing nothing of the cunning plans ofQueen Cor and King Gos, they anchored their boat in alittle bay and cheerfully ate their dinner, findingplenty of food and drink in the boat's lockers. In theevening the stars came out in the sky and tipped thewaves around their boat with silver. All around themwas delightfully still save for the occasional snarl ofa beast on the neighboring shore.

They talked together quietly of their adventures andtheir future plans and Zella told them her simplehistory and how hard her poor father was obliged towork, burning charcoal to sell for enough money tosupport his wife and child. Nikobob might be thehumblest man in all Regos, but Zella declared he was agood man, and honest, and it was not his fault that hiscountry was ruled by so wicked a King.

Then Rinkitink, to amuse them, offered to sing asong, and although Bilbil protested in his gruff way,claiming that his master's voice was cracked anddisagreeable, the little King was encouraged by theothers to sing his song, which he did.

"A red-headed man named Ned was dead;

Sing fiddle-cum-faddle-cum-fi-do!In battle he had lost his head;

Sing fiddle-cum-faddl-cum-fi-do!'Alas, poor Ned,' to him I said,'How did you lose your head so red?'

Sing fiddle-cum-faddle-cum-fi-do!

"Said Ned: 'I for my country bled,'

Sing fiddle-cum-faddle-cum-fi-do!'Instead of dying safe in bed',

Sing fiddle-cum-faddle-cum-fi-do!'If I had only fled, instead,I then had been a head ahead.'

Sing fiddle-cum-faddle-cum-fi-do!

"I said to Ned --"

"Do stop, Your Majesty!" pleaded Bilbil. "You'remaking my head ache."

"But the song isn't finished," replied Rinkitink,"and as for your head aching, think of poor Ned, whohadn't any head at all!"

"I can think of nothing but your dismal singing,"retorted Bilbil. "Why didn't you choose a cheerfulsubject, instead of telling how a man who was dead losthis red head? Really, Rinkitink, I'm surprised at you.

"I know a splendid song about a live man, said theKing.

"Then don't sing it," begged Bilbil.

Zella was both astonished and grieved by thedisrespectful words of the goat, for she had quiteenjoyed Rinkitink's singing and had been taught aproper respect for Kings and those high in authority.But as it was now getting late they decided to go tosleep, that they might rise early the followingmorning, so they all reclined upon the bottom of thebig boat and covered themselves with blankets whichthey found stored underneath the seats for just suchoccasions. They were not long in falling asleep and didnot waken until daybreak.

After a hurried breakfast, for Inga was eager toliberate his father, the boy rowed the boat ashore andthey all landed and began searching for the path. Zellafound it within the next half hour and declared theymust be very close to the entrance to the mines; sothey followed the path toward the north, Inga goingfirst, and then Zella following him, while Rinkitinkbrought up the rear riding upon Bilbil's back.

Before long they saw a great wall of rock toweringbefore them, in which was a low arched entrance, and oneither side of this entrance stood a guard, armed witha sword and a spear. The guards of the mines were notso fierce as the warriors of King Gos, their duty beingto make the slaves work at their tasks and guard themfrom escaping; but they were as cruel as their cruelmaster wished them to be, and as cowardly as they werecruel.

Inga walked up to the two men at the entrance andsaid:

"Does this opening lead to the mines of King Gos?"

"It does," replied one of the guards, "but no one isallowed to pass out who once goes in."

"Nevertheless," said the boy, we intend to go in andwe shall come out whenever it pleases us to do so. I amthe Prince of Pingaree, and I have come to liberate mypeople, whom King Gos has enslaved."

Now when the two guards heard this speech they lookedat one another and laughed, and one of them said: "TheKing was right, for he said the boy was likely to comehere and that he would try to set his people free. Alsothe King commanded that we must keep the little Princein the mines, and set him to work, together with hiscompanions."

"Then let us obey the King," replied the other man.

Inga was surprised at hearing this, and asked:

"When did King Gos give you this order?"

"His Majesty was here in person last night," repliedthe man, "and went away again but an hour ago. Hesuspected you were coming here and told us to captureyou if we could."

This report made the boy very anxious, not forhimself but for his father, for he feared the King wasup to some mischief. So he hastened to enter the minesand the guards did nothing to oppose him or hiscompanions, their orders being to allow him to go inbut not to come out.

The little group of adventurers passed through a longrocky corridor and reached a low, wide cavern wherethey found a dozen guards and a hundred slaves, thelatter being hard at work with picks and shovelsdigging for gold, while the guards stood over them withlong whips.

Inga found many of the men from Pingaree among theseslaves, but King Kitticut was not in this cavern; sothey passed through it and entered another corridorthat led to a second cavern. Here also hundreds of menwere working, but the boy did not find his fatheramongst them, and so went on to a third cavern.

The corridors all slanted downward, so that thefarther they went the lower into the earth theydescended, and now they found the air hot and close anddifficult to breathe. Flaming torches were stuck intothe walls to give light to the workers, and these addedto the oppressive heat.

The third and lowest cavern was the last in themines, and here were many scores of slaves and manyguards to keep them at work. So far, none of the guardshad paid any attention to Inga's party, but allowedthem to proceed as they would, and while the slavescast curious glances at the boy and girl and man andgoat, they dared say nothing. But now the boy walked upto some of the men of Pingaree and asked news of hisfather, telling them not to fear the guards as he wouldprotect them from the whips.

Then he Teamed that King Kitticut had indeed beenworking in this very cavern until the evening before,when King Gos had come and taken him away -- stillloaded with chains.

"Seems to me," said King Rinkitink, when he heardthis report, "that Gos has carried your father away toRegos, to prevent us from rescuing him. He may hidepoor Kitticut in a dungeon, where we cannot find him."

"Perhaps you are right," answered the boy, "but I amdetermined to find him, wherever he may be."

Inga spoke firmly and with courage, but he wasgreatly disappointed to find that King Gos had beenbefore him at the mines and had taken his father away.However, he tried not to feel disheartened, believinghe would succeed in the end, in spite of allopposition. Turning to the guards, he said:

"Remove the chains from these slaves and set themfree."

The guards laughed at this order, and one of thembrought forward a handful of chains, saying: "HisMajesty has commanded us to make you, also, a slave,for you are never to leave these caverns again."

Then he attempted to place the chains on Inga, butthe boy indignantly seized them and broke them apart aseasily as if they had been cotton cords. When a dozenor more of the guards made a dash to capture him, thePrince swung the end of the chain like a whip and drovethem into a corner, where they cowered and begged formercy.

Stories of the marvelous strength of the boy Princehad already spread to the mines of Regos, and althoughKing Gos had told them that Inga had been deprived ofall his magic power, the guards now saw this was nottrue, so they deemed it wise not to attempt to opposehim.

The chains of the slaves had all been riveted fast totheir ankles and wrists, but Inga broke the bonds ofsteel with his hands and set the poor men free -- notonly those from Pingaree but all who had been capturedin the many wars and raids of King Gos. They were verygrateful, as you may suppose, and agreed to supportPrince Inga in whatever action he commanded.

He led them to the middle cavern, where all theguards and overseers fled in terror at his approach,and soon he had broken apart the chains of the slaveswho had been working in that part of the mines. Thenthey approached the first cavern and liberated allthere.

The slaves had been treated so cruelly by theservants of King Gos that they were eager to pursue andslay them, in revenge; but Inga held them back andformed them into companies, each company having its ownleader. Then he called the leaders together andinstructed them to march in good order along the pathto the City of Regos, where he would meet them andtell them what to do next.

They readily agreed to obey him, and, armingthemselves with iron bars and pick-axes which theybrought from the mines, the slaves began their march tothe city.

Zella at first wished to be left behind, that shemight make her way to her home, but neither Rinkitinknor Inga thought it was safe for her to wander alonethrough the forest, so they induced her to return withthem to the city.

The boy beached his boat this time at the same placeas when he first landed at Regos, and while many of thewarriors stood on the shore and before the walls of thecity, not one of them attempted to interfere with theboy in any way. Indeed, they seemed uneasy and anxious,and when Inga met Captain Buzzub the boy asked ifanything had happened in his absence.

"A great deal has happened," replied Buzzub. "OurKing and Queen have run away and left us, and we don'tknow what to do."

"Run away!" exclaimed Inga. "Where did they go to?"

"Who knows?" said the man, shaking his headdespondently. "They departed together a few hours ago,in a boat with forty rowers, and they took with themthe King and Queen of Pingaree!"