Free Sky Island by L. Frank Baum Page B

passed on, and Ghip–Ghisizzle whispered, "That is the Royal Treasure Chamber." Button–Bright nodded. He had marked the place well so he couldn't miss it when he wanted to find it again. When they came to the King's apartments there was another guard before the door, this time a long–necked soldier with a terrible scowl.
    "This slave is the Royal Bootblue," said Ghip–Ghisizzle to the guard. "You will allow him to pass into his Majesty's chamber to get the royal shoes and to return them when they are blued."
    "All right," answered the guard. "Our Boolooroo is in an ugly mood tonight. It will go hard with this little short–necked creature if he doesn't polish the shoes properly."
    Then Ghip–Ghisizzle left Button–Bright and went away, and the boy passed through several rooms to the Royal Bedchamber, where his Majesty sat undressing.
    "Hi, there! What are you doing here?" he roared as he saw Button–Bright.
    "I've come for the shoes," said the boy.
    The king threw them at his head, aiming carefully, but Button–Bright dodged the missiles, and one smashed a mirror while the other shattered a vase on a small table. His Majesty looked around for something else to throw, but the boy seized the shoes and ran away, returning to his own room.
    While he polished the shoes he told his plans to Cap'n Bill and Trot and asked them to be ready to fly with him as soon as he returned with the Magic Umbrella. All they need to do was to step out into the street, through the door of Cap'n Bill's room, and open the umbrella. Fortunately, the seats and the lunch–basket were still attached to the handle—or so they thought—and there would be nothing to prevent their quickly starting on the journey home.
    They waited a long time, however, to give the Boolooroo time to get to sleep, so it was after midnight when Button–Bright finally took the shoes in his hand and started for the Royal Bedchamber. He passed the guard of the Royal Treasury and Fredjim nodded good–naturedly to the boy. But the sleepy guard before the King's apartments was cross and surly.
    "What are you doing here at this hour?" he demanded.
    "I'm returning his Majesty's shoes," said Button–Bright.
    "Go back and wait till morning," commanded the guard.
    "If you prevent me from obeying the Boolooroo's orders," returned the boy quietly, "he will probably have you patched."
    This threat frightened the long–necked guard, who did not know what orders the Boolooroo had given his Royal Bootblue. "Go in, then," said he, "but if you make a noise and waken his Majesty, the chances are you'll get yourself patched."
    "I'll be quiet," promised the boy.
    Indeed, Button–Bright had no desire to waken the Boolooroo, whom he found snoring lustily with the curtains of his high–posted bed drawn tightly around him. The boy had taken off his own shoes after he passed the guard and now he tiptoed carefully into the room, set down the royal shoes very gently and then crept to the chair where his Majesty's clothes were piled. Scarcely daring to breathe for fear of awakening the terrible monarch, the boy searched in the royal pockets until he found a blue–gold key attached to a blue–gold chain. At once he decided this must be the key to the Treasure Chamber, but in order to make sure he searched in every other pocket—without finding another key.
    Then Button–Bright crept softly out of the room again, and in one of the outer rooms he sat down near a big cabinet and put on his shoes. Poor Button–Bright did not know that lying disregarded beneath that very cabinet at his side was the precious umbrella he was seeking, or that he was undertaking a desperate adventure all for nothing. He passed the long–necked guard again, finding the man half asleep, and then made his way to the Treasure Chamber. Facing Jimfred, he said to the patched man in a serious tone, "His Majesty commands you to go at once to the corridor leading to the apartments of the Six Snubnosed Princesses and to