Dick, Marjorie and Fidge | Page 5

you before the Court of Inquisitives, and let them deal with
you."
"But I tell you," began Dick, while Marjorie clung to his arm in affright,
and Fidge scowled angrily at hearing his idolized big brother spoken to
in this peremptory manner, "I tell you that we only saw it for a----"
"That's quite enough. Don't argue the point. I shall give you one week
from now, and if at the end of that time you do not appear at the Palace
of the little Panjandrum with the Dodo, I shall apply to the Grand
Panjandrum himself to have you subtransexdistricated, so there!"

"But----"
"Not another word. Ink! Paper! Pens!" he commanded, getting off his
ostrich and squatting down before a flat stone, while the little gnomes
ran hither and thither, getting in each other's way, and tripping and
stumbling about in all directions in their eagerness to do the
Ambassador's bidding.
"Sit down!" he ordered, and the children sat down on the ground in
front of him. There was a slight difficulty about the ink at this point, for
the gnomes, not being quite strong enough to carry the inkstand, turned
it over on its side to roll it forward, and of course spilled all the ink.
They managed, however, to gather up some of it in their caps, and so
kept the Ambassador supplied.
"Now then! Know all men by these presents," he began, writing the
words down as he spake them.
"He's going to give us some presents," whispered Fidge, giving Dick a
nudge. Dick shook his head reprovingly, and the little man continued--
"That whereas three children, named respectively--what did you say
your name was?"
"Richard Greville Verrinder, Sir."
"Richard Greville Verrinder, and--what's your sister's name?"
[Illustration: "Dick suddenly shot up to the height of over six feet."]
"Marjorie Evelyn Verrinder."
"Marjorie Evelyn Verrinder, and----"
"Harold Ellis Verrinder," prompted Dick.
"Who's that?" inquired the Ambassador, sharply.
"My little brother," was the reply.

"You said his name was Fidge."
"Oh, yes, but that's his nickname, you know."
"I don't know anything of the sort. Now then, just keep quiet while I
finish this document. There," he continued, when he had finished
writing some mysterious-looking words on the paper, and had attached
two enormous red seals to it--"that's your warrant for arresting the
Dodo, when you have found him; and it is also an authority from the
little Panjandrum for you at any time to become any size that you wish;
to float through the air at will; and to live under water if necessary. So
you have everything in your favor, and I shall expect the Dodo back in
less than a week. Do you hear? Now I'm off."
The little man mounted his ostrich, and without saying a word more to
any one, he and his followers rode off in the direction from whence
they had come.
"Well, I never!" said Dick, picking up the scrawl which had fallen at
his feet. "Here's a go! We've got to find that beastly old Dodo in less
than a week, or be--what was it?"
"I don't know," said Marjorie, dolefully, "it was something very long,
and sounded dreadful."
"But what's that he said about our being able to be any size that we
wished? I'm sure I wish I was as tall as father."
"Me, too," said Fidge, emphatically.
"And I should love to float about in the air, I'm sure!" declared
Marjorie.
The words were scarcely out of her mouth when she felt herself wafted
gently off her feet, while at the same moment Dick, to Fidge's intense
surprise, suddenly shot up to the height of over six feet, and looked so
very ridiculous, that all three of them burst out into an uncontrollable
fit of laughter.

CHAPTER III.
THE SAGE IN THE ONION FIELD.
"How absurd," laughed Dick, as he looked down from the--to
him--enormous height of six feet. "What a thin, lanky-looking creature,
I am, to be sure--and Fidge, too; he looks perfectly ridiculous"--for
Fidge, also, was growing amazingly.
"How did it happen, Dick, dear?" asked Marjorie, in an awe-stricken
voice. "It seems so funny to be up here in the air, and yet I don't feel in
the least frightened, do you?"
"Of course not," said Dick, contemptuously. "Why, we just said we
wished to be as tall as the Pater, you know, and it happened."
"Oh, yes; and I said I should like to float in the air. I suppose we can
always do what we want to now--how lovely! Like the 'Arabian
Nights,' isn't it?"
"I don't want to be thin, like a walking-stick," said Fidge, in a
dissatisfied voice.
"No, it's rather horrid," said Dick. "Let's see; we said as tall as the Pater,
didn't we?--not as big. I wonder if that makes any