“Mud and bricks, fiddlesticks!
We don’t play such nasty tricks,”
yelled the parrot angrily, and this caused the Pinkies
to shrink back in alarm, for they had never seen a
parrot before.
“Surely this is magic!” declared one of
the men. “No bird can talk unless inspired
by witchcraft.”
“Oh yes, parrots can,” said Trot.
But this incident had determined the Pinkies to consider
our friends prisoners and to take them immediately
before their Queen.
“Must we fight you?” asked the woman.
“Or will you come with us peaceably?”
“We’ll go peaceable,” answered Cap’n
Bill. “You’re a-makin’ a sad
mistake, for we’re as harmless as doves; but
seein’ as you’re suspicious, we’d
better have it out with your Queen first as last.”
Their clothing was quite dry by this time, although
much wrinkled and discolored by the penetrating fog,
so at once they prepared to follow the Pinkies.
The two men walked on either side of them, holding
the pointed sticks ready to jab them if they attempted
to escape, and the two women followed in the rear,
also armed with sharp sticks.
So the procession moved along the pretty roadways
to the City, which they soon reached. There was
a strong, high wall of pink marble around it, and
they passed through a gate made of pink metal bars
and found themselves in a most delightful and picturesque
town. The houses were big and substantial, all
round in shape, with domed roofs and circular windows
and doorways. In all the place there was but
one street—a circular one that started at
the gate and wound like a corkscrew toward the center
of the City. It was paved with pink marble, and
between the street and the houses that lined both
sides of it were gardens filled with pink flowers and
pink grass lawns, which were shaded by pink trees
and shrubbery.
As the Queen lived in the very center of the city,
the captives were obliged to parade the entire length
of this street, and that gave all the Pink Citizens
a chance to have a good look at the strangers.
The Pinkies were every one short and fat and gorgeously
dressed in pink attire, and their faces indicated
that they were contented and happy. They were
much surprised at Cap’n Bill’s great size
and wooden leg—two very unusual things
in their experience—and the old sailor
frightened more than one Pink boy and girl and sent
them scampering into the houses, where they viewed
the passing procession from behind the window shutters
in comparative safety. As for the grown people,
many of them got out their sharp-pointed sticks to
use as weapons in case the strangers attacked them
or broke away from their guards. A few, more
bold than the others, followed on at the tail of the
procession, and so presently they all reached an open,
circular place in the exact center of the Pink City.
