“Hurrah!” shouted Button-Bright, grabbing
the umbrella and hugging it tight in his arms.
“Hooray!” shrieked the parrot.
“Cap’n Bill’s a lucky fellah,
’Cause he found the old umbrella!”
Trot’s face was wreathed in smiles. “This
is jus’ the best luck that could have happened
to us,” she exclaimed, “’cause now
we can go home whenever we please.”
“Let’s go now—this minute—before
we lose the umbrella again,” said Button-Bright.
But Trot shook her head. “Not yet,”
she replied. “We’ve got to straighten
out things in Sky Island first of all. A Queen
has some duties, you know, and as long as I’m
Queen here, I’ve got to live up to the part.”
“What has to be did, mate?” inquired Cap’n
Bill.
“Well, we’ve fixed the Blue Country pretty
well by makin’ ’Sizzle the Boolooroo of
it; but the Pinkies mus’ be looked after, too,
‘cause they’ve stood by us an’ helped
us to win. We must take ’em home again
safe an’ sound and get a new Queen to rule over
’em. When that’s done, we can go
home any time we want to.”
“Quite right, Trot,” said the sailor approvingly.
“When do we march?”
“Right away,” she replied. “I’ve
had enough of the Blue Country, haven’t you?”
“We have, mate.”
“We’ve had plenty of it,” observed
Button-Bright.
“And the Pinkies are anxious to get home,”
added Rosalie, who was present.
So Cap’n Bill unhooked the seats from the handle
of the umbrella and wound the ropes around the two
boards and made a package of them, which he carried
under his arm. Trot took the empty lunch basket,
and Button-Bright held fast to the precious umbrella.
Then they returned to the palace to bid goodbye to
Ghip-Ghisizzle and the Blues.
The new Boolooroo seemed rather sorry to lose his
friends, but the people were secretly glad to get
rid of the strangers, especially of the Pinkies.
They maintained a sullen silence while Coralie and
Captain Tintint formed their ranks in marching order,
and they did not even cheer when Trot said to them
in a final speech:
“I’m the Queen of Sky Island, you know,
and the new Boolooroo has to carry out my orders and
treat you all nicely while I’m away. I don’t
know when I’ll come back, but you’d better
watch out an’ not make any trouble, or I’ll
find a way to make you sorry for it. So now,
goodbye!”
“And good riddance!” screamed the Six
Snubnosed Girls who had once been Princesses and who
were now in the crowd that watched the departure.
But Trot paid no attention to them. She made
a signal to the Pinkie Band, which struck up a fine
Pink March, and then the Army stepped out with the
left foot first, and away went the conquerors down
the streets of the Blue City, out of the blue-barred
gateway and across the country toward the Fog Bank.
