Free Sky Island by L. Frank Baum Page A

mix 'em up, putting the wrong head on each of 'em. Ha, ha! Won't it be funny to see the old Moonface's head on the little girl? Ho, ho! I really hope they'll come out of the Great Blue Grotto alive!"
    "I also hope they will," replied Ghip–Ghisizzle.
    "Then I'll bet you four buttonholes they don't. I've a suspicion that once they enter the Great Blue Grotto that's the last of them."
    Ghip–Ghisizzle went away quite sad and unhappy. He did not approve the way the strangers were being treated and thought it was wicked and cruel to try to destroy them.
    During his absence, the prisoners had been talking together very earnestly. "We must get away from here somehow 'r other," said Cap'n Bill, "but o' course we can't stir a step without the Magic Umbrel."
    "No, I must surely manage to get my umbrella first," said Button–Bright.
    "Do it quick, then," urged Trot, "for I can't stand those snubnoses much longer."
    "I'll do it tonight," said the boy.
    "The sooner, the better, my lad," remarked the sailor, "but seein' as the Blue Boolooroo has locked it up in his Treasure Chamber, it mayn't be easy to get hold of."
    "No, it won't be easy," Button–Bright admitted. "But it has to be done, Cap'n Bill, and there's no use waiting any longer. No one here likes us, and in a few days they may make an end of us."
    "Oh, Button–Bright! There's a Blue Wolf in the Treasure Chamber!" exclaimed Trot.
    "Yes, I know."
    "An' a patched man on guard outside," Cap'n Bill reminded him.
    "I know," repeated Button–Bright.
    "And the key's in the King's own pocket," added Trot despairingly.
    The boy nodded. He didn't say how he would overcome all these difficulties, so the little girl feared they would never see the Magic Umbrella again. But their present position was a very serious one, and even Cap'n Bill dared not advise Button–Bright to give up the desperate attempt.
    When Ghip–Ghisizzle returned, he said, "You must be very careful not to anger the Boolooroo, or he may do you a mischief. I think the little girl had better keep away from the Princesses for tonight unless they demand her presence. The boy must go for the King's shoes and blue them and polish them and then take them back to the Royal Bedchamber. Cap'n Bill won't have anything to do, for I've ordered Tiggle to mix the nectar."
    "Thank 'e, friend Sizzle," said Cap'n Bill.
    "Now follow me, and I will take you to your rooms."
    He led them to the rear of the palace, where he gave them three small rooms on the ground floor, each having a bed in it. Cap'n Bill's room had a small door leading out into the street of the City, but Ghip Ghisizzle advised him to keep this door locked, as the city people would be sure to hurt the strangers if they had the chance to attack them.
    "You're safer in the palace than anywhere else," said the Majordomo, "for there is no way you can escape from the island, and here the servants and soldiers dare not injure you for fear of the Boolooroo."
    He placed Trot and her six pets—which followed her wherever she went—in one room, and Cap'n Bill in another, and took Button–Bright away with him to show the boy the way to the King's bedchamber. As they proceeded, they passed many rooms with closed doors, and before one of these a patched Blueskin was pacing up and down in a tired and sleepy way. It was Jimfred Jinksjones, the double of the Fredjim Jonesjinks they had talked with in the servants' hall, and he bowed low before the Majordomo.
    "This is the King's new bootblue, a stranger who has lately arrived here," said Ghip–Ghisizzle, introducing the boy to the patched man.
    "I'm sorry for him," muttered Jimfred. "He's a queer–looking chap, with his pale yellow skin, and I imagine our cruel Boolooroo is likely to patch him before long, as he did me—I mean us."
    "No he won't," said Button–Bright positively. "The Boolooroo's afraid of me."
    "Oh, that's different," said Jimfred. "You're the first person I ever knew that could scare our Boolooroo."
    They