Free L. Frank Baum by The Enchanted Island of Yew Page A

brilliant sight that Marvel and Nerle looked back
on; but once they were clear of the arch, the great stone rolled back
into its place, shutting them out completely from the Kingdom of Spor,
with its turreted castle and transformed king.

13 - The Hidden Kingdom of Twi
*
    Knowing that at last they were free to roam according to their desire,
the travelers rode gaily along the paths, taking but scant heed of
their way.
    "Our faces are set toward new adventures," remarked the prince. "Let
us hope they will prove more pleasant than the last."
    "To be sure!" responded Nerle. "Let us hope, at any rate, that we
shall suffer more privations and encounter more trouble than we did in
that mountainous Kingdom of Spor." Then he added: "For one reason, I
regret you are my master."
    "What is that reason?" asked the prince, turning to smile upon his
esquire.
    "You have a way of overcoming all difficulties without any trouble
whatsoever, and that deprives me of any chance of coming to harm while
in your company."
    "Cheer up, my boy!" cried Marvel. "Did I not say there are new
adventures before us? We may not come through them so easily as we
came through the others."
    "That is true," replied Nerle; "it is always best to hope." And then he
inquired: "Why do you stop here, in the middle of the path?"
    "Because the path has ended rather suddenly," answered Marvel. "Here
is a thick hedge of prickly briers barring our way."
    Nerle looked over his master's shoulder and saw that a great hedge,
high and exceedingly thick, cut off all prospect of their advancing.
    "This is pleasant," said he; "but I might try to force our way through
the hedge. The briers would probably prick me severely, and that would
be delightful."
    "Try it!" the prince returned, with twinkling eyes.
    Nerle sprang from his horse to obey, but at the first contact with the
briers he uttered a howl of pain and held up his hands, which were
bleeding in a dozen places from the wounds of the thorns.
    "Ah, that will content you for a time, I trust," said Marvel. "Now
follow me, and we will ride along beside the hedge until we find an
opening. For either it will come to an end or there will prove to be a
way through it to the other side."
    So they rode alongside the hedge for hour after hour; yet it did not
end, nor could they espy any way to get through the thickly matted
briers. By and by night fell, and they tethered their horses to some
shrubs, where there were a few scanty blades of grass for them to crop,
and then laid themselves down upon the ground, with bare rocks for
pillows, where they managed to sleep soundly until morning.
    They had brought a supply of food in their pouches, and on this they
breakfasted, afterward continuing their journey beside the hedge.
    At noon Prince Marvel uttered an exclamation of surprise and stopped
his horse.
    "What is it?" asked Nerle.
    "I have found the handkerchief with which you wiped the blood from your
hands yesterday morning, and then carelessly dropped," replied the
prince. "This proves that we have made a complete circle around this
hedge without finding a way to pass through it."
    "In that case," said Nerle, "we had better leave the hedge and go in
another direction."
    "Not so," declared Marvel. "The hedge incloses some unknown country,
and I am curious to find out what it is."
    "But there is no opening," remonstrated Nerle.
    "Then we must make one. Wouldn't you like to enjoy a little more pain?"
    "Thank you," answered Nerle, "my hands are still smarting very
comfortably from the pricks of yesterday."
    "Therefore I must make the attempt myself," said the prince, and
drawing his sword he whispered a queer word to it, and straightway
began slashing at the hedge.
    The brambles fell fast before his blade, and when he had cut a big heap
of branches from the hedge Nerle dragged them to one side, and the
prince began again.
    It was marvelous how thick the hedge proved. Only a magic sword could
have done this work and remained sharp, and only a