Chapter Seven
The Twin Islands
The Island of Regos was ten miles wide and forty miles long and it wasruled by a big and powerful King named Gos. Near to the shores weregreen and fertile fields, but farther back from the sea were ruggedhills and mountains, so rocky that nothing would grow there. But inthese mountains were mines of gold and silver, which the slaves of theKing were forced to work, being confined in dark underground passagesfor that purpose. In the course of time huge caverns had been hollowedout by the slaves, in which they lived and slept, never seeing thelight of day. Cruel overseers with whips stood over these poor people,who had been captured in many countries by the raiding parties of KingCos, and the overseers were quite willing to lash the slaves with theirwhips if they faltered a moment in their work.
Between the green shores and the mountains were forests of thick,tangled trees, between which narrow paths had been cut to lead up tothe caves of the mines. It was on the level green meadows, not far fromthe ocean, that the great City of Regos had been built, wherein waslocated the palace of the King. This city was inhabited by thousands ofthe fierce warriors of Gos, who frequently took to their boats andspread over the sea to the neighboring islands to conquer and pillage,as they had done at Pingaree. When they were not absent on one of theseexpeditions, the City of Regos swarmed with them and so became adangerous place for any peaceful person to live in, for the warriorswere as lawless as their King.
The Island of Coregos lay close beside the Island of Regos; so close,indeed, that one might have thrown a stone from one shore to another.But Coregos was only half the size of Regos and instead of beingmountainous it was a rich and pleasant country, covered with fields ofgrain. The fields of Coregos furnished food for the warriors andcitizens of both countries, while the mines of Regos made them all rich.
Coregos was ruled by Queen Cor, who was wedded to King Gos; but sostern and cruel was the nature of this Queen that the people could notdecide which of their sovereigns they dreaded most.
Queen Cor lived in her own City of Coregos, which lay on that side ofher island facing Regos, and her slaves, who were mostly women, weremade to plow the land and to plant and harvest the grain.
From Regos to Coregos stretched a bridge of boats, set close together,with planks laid across their edges for people to walk upon. In thisway it was easy to pass from one island to the other and in times ofdanger the bridge could be quickly removed.
The native inhabitants of Regos and Coregos consisted of the warriors,who did nothing but fight and ravage, and the trembling servants whowaited on them. King Gos and Queen Cor were at war with all the rest ofthe world. Other islanders hated and feared them, for their slaves werebadly treated and absolutely no mercy was shown to the weak or ill.
When the boats that had gone to Pingaree returned loaded with richplunder and a host of captives, there was much rejoicing in Regos andCoregos and the King and Queen gave a fine feast to the warriors whohad accomplished so great a conquest. This feast was set for thewarriors in the grounds of King Gos's palace, while with them in thegreat throne room all the captains and leaders of the fighting men wereassembled with King Gos and Queen Cor, who had come from her island toattend the ceremony. Then all the goods that had been stolen from theKing of Pingaree were divided according to rank, the King and Queentaking half, the captains a quarter, and the rest being divided amongstthe warriors.
The day following the feast King Gos sent King Kitticut and all the menof Pingaree to work in his mines under the mountains, having firstchained them together so they could not escape. The gentle Queen ofPingaree and all her women, together with the captured children, weregiven to Queen Cor, who set them to work in her grain fields.
Then the rulers and warriors of these dreadful islands thought they haddone forever with Pingaree. Despoiled of all its wealth, its housestorn down, its boats captured and all its people enslaved, whatlikelihood was there that they might ever again hear of the desolatedisland? So the people of Regos and Coregos were surprised and puzzledwhen one morning they observed approaching their shores from thedirection of the south a black boat containing a boy, a fat man and agoat. The warriors asked one another who these could be, and where theyhad come from? No one ever came to those islands of their own accord,that was certain.
Prince Inga guided his boat to the south end of the Island of Regos,which was the landing place nearest to the city, and when the warriorssaw this action they went down to the shore to meet him, being led by abig captain named Buzzub.
"Those people surely mean us no good," said Rinkitink uneasily to theboy. "Without doubt they intend to capture us and make us their slaves."
"Do not fear, sir," answered Inga, in a calm voice. "Stay quietly inthe boat with Bilbil until I have spoken with these men."
He stopped the boat a dozen feet from the shore, and standing up in hisplace made a grave bow to the multitude confronting him. Said the bigCaptain Buzzub in a gruff voice:
"Well, little one, who may you be? And how dare you come, uninvited andall alone, to the Island of Regos?"
"I am Inga, Prince of Pingaree," returned the boy, "and I have comehere to free my parents and my people, whom you have wrongfullyenslaved."
When they heard this bold speech a mighty laugh arose from the band ofwarriors, and when it had subsided the captain said:
"You love to jest, my baby Prince, and the joke is fairly good. But whydid you willingly thrust your head into the lion's mouth? When you werefree, why did you not stay free? We did not know we had left a singleperson in Pingaree! But since you managed to escape us then, it isreally kind of you to come here of your own free will, to be our slave.Who is the funny fat person with you?"
"It is His Majesty, King Rinkitink, of the great City of Gilgad. He hasaccompanied me to see that you render full restitution for all you havestolen from Pingaree."
"Better yet!" laughed Buzzub. "He will make a fine slave for Queen Cor,who loves to tickle fat men, and see them jump."
King Rinkitink was filled with horror when he heard this, but thePrince answered as boldly as before, saying:
"We are not to be frightened by bluster, believe me; nor are we so weakas you imagine. We have magic powers so great and terrible that no hostof warriors can possibly withstand us, and therefore I call upon you tosurrender your city and your island to us, before we crush you with ourmighty powers."
The boy spoke very gravely and earnestly, but his words only arousedanother shout of laughter. So while the men of Regos were laughing Ingadrove the boat we'll up onto the sandy beach and leaped out. He alsohelped Rinkitink out, and when the goat had unaided sprung to thesands, the King got upon Bilbil's back, trembling a little internally,but striving to look as brave as possible.
There was a bunch of coarse hair between the goat's ears, and this Ingaclutched firmly in his left hand. The boy knew the Pink Pearl wouldprotect not only himself, but all whom he touched, from any harm, andas Rinkitink was astride the goat and Inga had his hand upon theanimal, the three could not be injured by anything the warriors coulddo. But Captain Buzzub did not know this, and the little group of threeseemed so weak and ridiculous that he believed their capture would beeasy. So he turned to his men and with a wave of his hand said:
"Seize the intruders!"
Instantly two or three of the warriors stepped forward to obey, but totheir amazement they could not reach any of the three; their hands werearrested as if by an invisible wall of iron. Without paying anyattention to these attempts at capture, Inga advanced slowly and thegoat kept pace with him. And when Rinkitink saw that he was safe fromharm he gave one of his big, merry laughs, and it startled the warriorsand made them nervous. Captain Buzzub's eyes grew big with surprise asthe three steadily advanced and forced his men backward; nor was hefree from terror himself at the magic that protected these strangevisitors. As for the warriors, they presently became terror-strickenand fled in a panic up the slope toward the city, and Buzzub wasobliged to chase after them and shout th
reats of punishment before hecould halt them and form them into a line of battle.
All the men of Regos bore spears and bows-and-arrows, and some of theofficers had swords and battle-axes; so Buzzub ordered them to standtheir ground and shoot and slay the strangers as they approached. Thisthey tried to do. Inga being in advance, the warriors sent a flight ofsharp arrows straight at the boy's breast, while others cast their longspears at him.
It seemed to Rinkitink that the little Prince must surely perish as hestood facing this hail of murderous missiles; but the power of the PinkPearl did not desert him, and when the arrows and spears had reached towithin an inch of his body they bounded back again and fell harmlesslyat his feet. Nor were Rinkitink or Bilbil injured in the least,although they stood close beside Inga.
Buzzub stood for a moment looking upon the boy in silent wonder. Then,recovering himself, he shouted in a loud voice:
"Once again! All together, my men. No one shall ever defy our might andlive!"
Again a flight of arrows and spears sped toward the three, and sincemany more of the warriors of Regos had by this time joined theirfellows, the air was for a moment darkened by the deadly shafts. Butagain all fell harmless before the power of the Pink Pearl, and Bilbil,who had been growing very angry at the attempts to injure him and hisparty, suddenly made a bolt forward, casting off Inga's hold, andbutted into the line of warriors, who were standing amazed at theirfailure to conquer.
Taken by surprise at the goat's attack, a dozen big warriors tumbled ina heap, yelling with fear, and their comrades, not knowing what hadhappened but imagining that their foes were attacking them, turnedabout and ran to the city as hard as they could go. Bilbil, stillangry, had just time to catch the big captain as he turned to followhis men, and Buzzub first sprawled headlong upon the ground, thenrolled over two or three times, and finally jumped up and ran yellingafter his defeated warriors. This butting on the part of the goat wasvery hard upon King Rinkitink, who nearly fell off Bilbil's back at theshock of encounter; but the little fat King wound his arms around thegoat's neck and shut his eyes and clung on with all his might. It wasnot until he heard Inga say triumphantly, "We have won the fightwithout striking a blow!" that Rinkitink dared open his eyes again.Then he saw the warriors rushing into the City of Regos and barring theheavy gates, and he was very much relieved at the sight.
"Without striking a blow!" said Bilbil indignantly. "That is not quitetrue, Prince Inga. You did not fight, I admit, but I struck a couple oftimes to good purpose, and I claim to have conquered the cowardlywarriors unaided."
"You and I together, Bilbil," said Rinkitink mildly. "But the next timeyou make a charge, please warn me in time, so that I may dismount andgive you all the credit for the attack."
There being no one now to oppose their advance, the three walked to thegates of the city, which had been closed against them. The gates wereof iron and heavily barred, and upon the top of the high walls of thecity a host of the warriors now appeared armed with arrows and spearsand other weapons. For Buzzub had gone straight to the palace of KingCos and reported his defeat, relating the powerful magic of the boy,the fat King and the goat, and had asked what to do next.
The big captain still trembled with fear, but King Gos did not believein magic, and called Buzzub a coward and a weakling. At once the Kingtook command of his men personally, and he ordered the walls mannedwith warriors and instructed them to shoot to kill if any of the threestrangers approached the gates.
Of course, neither Rinkitink nor Bilbil knew how they had beenprotected from harm and so at first they were inclined to resent theboy's command that the three must always keep together and touch oneanother at all times. But when Inga explained that his magic would nototherwise save them from injury, they agreed to obey, for they had nowseen enough to convince them that the Prince was really protected bysome invisible power.
As they came before the gates another shower of arrows and spearsdescended upon them, and as before not a single missile touched theirbodies. King Gos, who was upon the wall, was greatly amazed andsomewhat worried, but he depended upon the strength of his gates andcommanded his men to continue shooting until all their weapons weregone.
Inga let them shoot as much as they wished, while he stood before thegreat gates and examined them carefully.
"Perhaps Bilbil can batter down the gates, suggested Rinkitink.
"No," replied the goat; "my head is hard, but not harder than iron."
"Then," returned the King, "let us stay outside; especially as we can'tget in."
But Inga was not at all sure they could not get in. The gates openedinward, and three heavy bars were held in place by means of stoutstaples riveted to the sheets of steel. The boy had been told that thepower of the Blue Pearl would enable him to accomplish any feat ofstrength, and he believed that this was true.
The warriors, under the direction of King Gos, continued to hurl arrowsand darts and spears and axes and huge stones upon the invaders, allwithout avail. The ground below was thickly covered with weapons, yetnot one of the three before the gates had been injured in the slightestmanner. When everything had been cast that was available and not asingle weapon of any sort remained at hand, the amazed warriors saw theboy put his shoulder against the gates and burst asunder the hugestaples that held the bars in place. A thousand of their men could nothave accomplished this feat, yet the small, slight boy did it withseeming ease. The gates burst open, and Inga advanced into the citystreet and called upon King Gos to surrender.
But Gos was now as badly frightened as were his warriors. He and hismen were accustomed to war and pillage and they had carried terror intomany countries, but here was a small boy, a fat man and a goat whocould not be injured by all his skill in warfare, his numerous army andthousands of death-dealing weapons. Moreover, they not only defied KingGos's entire army but they had broken in the huge gates of the city--aseasily as if they had been made of paper--and such an exhibition ofenormous strength made the wicked King fear for his life. Like allbullies and marauders, Gos was a coward at heart, and now a panicseized him and he turned and fled before the calm advance of PrinceInga of Pingaree. The warriors were like their master, and havingthrown all their weapons over the wall and being helpless to oppose thestrangers, they all swarmed after Gos, who abandoned his city andcrossed the bridge of boats to the Island of Coregos. There was adesperate struggle among these cowardly warriors to get over thebridge, and many were pushed into the water and obliged to swim; butfinally every fighting man of Regos had gained the shore of Coregos andthen they tore away the bridge of boats and drew them up on their ownside, hoping the stretch of open water would prevent the magic invadersfrom following them.
The humble citizens and serving people of Regos, who had been terrifiedand abused by the rough warriors all their lives, were not only greatlyastonished by this sudden conquest of their masters but greatlydelighted. As the King and his army fled to Coregos, the peopleembraced one another and danced for very joy, and then they turned tosee what the conquerors of Regos were like.
Rinkitink in Oz Page 7
