Rinkitink In Oz | Page 7

rollicking laugh. Perhaps I should say it was half laughter and half a
chuckle of merriment, for the sounds he emitted were quaint and droll
and tempted every hearer to laugh with him.
"Heh, heh -- ho, ho, ho!" he roared. "Didn't expect me, I see.
Keek-eek-eek-eek! This is funny -- it's really funny. Didn't know I was
coming, did you? Hoo, hoo, hoo, hoo! This is certainly amusing. But
I'm here, just the same."
"Hush up!" said a deep, growling voice. "You're making yourself
ridiculous."
Everyone looked to see where this voice came from; but none could
guess who had uttered the words of rebuke. The rowers of the boat
were all solemn and silent and certainly no one on the shore had spoken.
But the little man did not seem astonished in the least, or even annoyed.
King Kitticut now addressed the stranger, saying courteously:
"You are welcome to the Kingdom of Pingaree. Perhaps you will deign
to come ashore and at your convenience inform us whom we have the
honor of receiving as a guest."
"Thanks; I will," returned the little fat man, waddling from his place in
the boat and stepping, with some difficulty, upon the sandy beach. "I
am King Rinkitink, of the City of Gilgad in the Kingdom of Rinkitink,
and I have come to Pingaree to see for myself the monarch who sends
to my city so many beautiful pearls. I have long wished to visit this

island; and so, as I said before, here I am!"
"I am pleased to welcome you," said King Kitticut. "But why has Your
Majesty so few attendants? Is it not dangerous for the King of a great
country to make distant journeys in one frail boat, and with but twenty
men?"
"Oh, I suppose so," answered King Rinkitink, with a laugh. "But what
else could I do? My subjects would not allow me to go anywhere at all,
if they knew it. So I just ran away."
"Ran away!" exclaimed King Kitticut in surprise.
"Funny, isn't it? Heh, heh, heh -- woo, hoo!" laughed Rinkitink, and
this is as near as I can spell with letters the jolly sounds of his laughter.
"Fancy a King running away from his own ple -- hoo, hoo -- keek, eek,
eek, eek! But I had to, don't you see!"
"Why?" asked the other King.
"They're afraid I'll get into mischief. They don't trust me. Keek-eek-eek
-- Oh, dear me! Don't trust their own King. Funny, isn't it?"
"No harm can come to you on this island," said Kitticut, pretending not
to notice the odd ways of his guest. "And, whenever it pleases you to
return to your own country, I will send with you a fitting escort of my
own people. In the meantime, pray accompany me to my palace, where
everything shall be done to make you comfortable and happy."
"Much obliged," answered Rinkitink, tipping his white cap over his left
ear and heartily shaking the hand of his brother monarch. "I'm sure you
can make me comfortable if you've plenty to eat. And as for being
happy -- ha, ha, ha, ha! -- why, that's my trouble. I'm too happy. But
stop! I've brought you some presents in those boxes. Please order your
men to carry them up to the palace."
"Certainly," answered King Kitticut, well pleased, and at once he gave
his men the proper orders.

"And, by the way," continued the fat little King, "let them also take my
goat from his cage."
"A goat!" exclaimed the King of Pingaree.
"Exactly; my goat Bilbil. I always ride him wherever I go, for I'm not at
all fond of walking, being a trifle stout -- eh, Kitticut? -- a trifle stout!
Hoo, hoo, hoo-keek, eek!"
The Pingaree people started to lift the big cage out of the boat, but just
then a gruff voice cried: "Be careful, you villains!" and as the words
seemed to come from the goat's mouth the men were so astonished that
they dropped the cage upon the sand with a sudden jar.
"There! I told you so!" cried the voice angrily. "You've rubbed the skin
off my left knee. Why on earth didn't you handle me gently?"
"There, there, Bilbil," said King Rinkitink soothingly; "don't scold, my
boy. Remember that these are strangers, and we their guests." Then he
turned to Kitticut and remarked: "You have no talking goats on your
island, I suppose."
"We have no goats at all," replied the King; "nor have we any animals,
of any sort, who are able to talk."
"I wish my animal couldn't talk, either," said Rinkitink, winking
comically at Inga and then looking toward the cage. "He is very cross at
times, and indulges in language that is not respectful. I thought, at first,