“Don’t mind him, Cap’n,” said
Trot, “but fetch him along to the frame.”
The Boolooroo looked around to see where the voice
came from, and Cap’n Bill grinned joyfully and
caught up the king in both his strong arms, dragging
the struggling Monarch of the Blues to the frame.
“Stop it! How dare you?” roared the
frightened Boolooroo. “I’ll have
revenge! I’ll—I’ll—”
“You’ll take it easy, ’cause you
can’t help yourself,” said Cap’n
Bill. “What next, Queen Trot?”
“Hold him steady in the frame, and I’ll
tie him up,” she replied. So Cap’n
Bill held the Boolooroo, and the girl tied him fast
in position as Cap’n Bill had been tied, so
that his Majesty couldn’t wiggle at all.
Then they rolled the frame in position underneath the
Great Knife and Trot held in her hand the cord which
would release it.
“All right, Cap’n,” she said in
a satisfied tone. “I guess we can run this
Blue Country ourselves after this.” The
Boolooroo was terrified to find himself in danger
of being sliced by the same knife he had so often
wickedly employed to slice others. Like Cap’n
Bill, he had no room to shiver, but he groaned very
dismally and was so full of fear that his blue hair
nearly stood on end.
The girl now took off Rosalie’s ring and put
it carefully away in her pocket. “It won’t
matter who sees me now,” she remarked, “an’
I want ’em to know that you an’ me, Cap’n,
are running this kingdom. I’m Queen o’
the Pinkies an’ Booloorooess o’ the Blues,
an’—”
“What’s that?” asked the sailor.
“You’re—you’re what,
Trot?”
“Booloorooess. Isn’t that right,
Cap’n?”
“I dunno, mate. It sounds bigger ner you
are, an’ I don’t like the word, anyhow.
S’pose you jus’ call yourself the Boss?
That fills the bill an’ don’t need pernouncin’.”
“All right,” she said. “Queen
o’ the Pinkies an’ Boss o’ the Blues.
Seems funny, don’t it, Cap’n Bill?”
Just then they heard a sound of footsteps in the corridor.
The soldiers had recovered their courage, and fearful
of the anger of their dreaded Boolooroo, whom the
Princesses declared would punish them severely, had
ventured to return to the room. They came rather
haltingly, though, and the Captain of the Guards first
put his head cautiously through the doorway to see
if the coast was clear. The goat discovered him
and tried to make a rush, but the rope held the animal
back, and when the Captain saw this, he came forward
more boldly.
“Halt!” cried Trot. The Captain halted,
his soldiers peering curiously over his shoulders
and the Six Snubnosed Princesses looking on from behind,
where they considered themselves safe. “If
anyone dares enter this room without my permission,”
said Trot, “I’ll pull this cord and slice
your master that once was the Boolooroo.”
