The Enchanted Island | Page 8

found something else, which I am sure will be nice," said the little Princess.
"What is it?" asked Daimur.
"Come and I will show you," she said. "Mother and I discovered them while looking for leaves for your bed, but we could not carry them."
A little distance up the sand the Princess led him to where there was a large nest of turtles' eggs, which Daimur joyfully dug out of the sand and carried to the cave.
"Now we will have a splendid feast," they said.
They waited until it was quite dark and then dug a hole inside the opening at the back of the cave, and made a fire. Luckily Daimur had a little silver box of matches with him. They roasted the potatoes and yams in the coals, toasted the peanuts, and baked the turtle eggs on a hot stone, and thoroughly enjoyed their supper.
Then, as they were all very tired, Daimur jammed some branches across one corner of the cave for the doves to sleep on, and gratefully threw himself down on the nice soft bed which the Queen and the Princess had prepared for him, and they all slept soundly until morning.
CHAPTER VI
Next morning they ate some of the food which they had put aside for breakfast, took a drink of water from their little spring, and then Daimur put on his cap and spectacles, shouldered his spade and filled his pockets with potatoes and peanuts and some of the biscuits.
"Now," he said to the three doves, "I want King Cyril to come with me and see if we cannot locate something like a boat near the Magician's hill so that we may get away from this place."
Queen Emily and the Princess begged to go too, so they all set out together.
It was a long way across the island, but finally they came to the poisoned spring which flowed near the Magician's hill, and there they saw many doves of all colors drinking and splashing around in the shallow well, while others sat stupidly on the branches of the trees devouring fruit.
The poor King and Queen shuddered at the sight and kept close to Daimur, who was so busy thinking that he hardly noticed them.
"By my cap," he said to himself, "I know there is a stair to the Magician's house from the shore on the other side of this hill, and the house is a strong stone one built into the hill. I wonder," he thought, "if we can find the stair."
They walked, or rather Daimur walked and the doves flew slowly towards the hill, but soon came to a great wall of rock that jutted out for half a mile, and over which they could see by the tree tops a terrific wind was blowing.
Daimur announced his intention of trying to scale the wall, but even as he spoke a sudden gust of wind swept down upon them, causing the trees to scatter fruit in all directions, and almost upsetting the three doves.
"What did I tell you?" said King Cyril. "We do not get much of it here, but look how the treetops are bending above us. It is of no use to try to climb up."
Feeling rather disconsolate Daimur turned around and started following the great wall of rock which ran away around the hill, winding in and out until it ran right into the sea.
"This wall is the same on the other side of the island," said the King, "it runs into the sea on that side also, so that the Magician's dwelling is completely shut off from the rest of the island."
They went on, keeping close beside the wall, until they came to the place where it crossed the sand of the seashore, and Daimur stood lost in thought, gazing at the rough stones which towered above his head. Then with a sudden exclamation he took his spade from his shoulder and commenced digging in the sand at the foot of the wall.
He soon found that it was only buried about three feet in the sand, and in a few minutes he had succeeded in making a hole under it wide enough to crawl through on his hands and knees, the doves immediately following him.
Once inside, the shore looked very much the same as it did elsewhere, and the only wind was the natural breeze, fresh and briny, which blew in from the sea.
They crept along, keeping close to the ground, under the shade of the trees, and after a while came up close to the hill, which at this side seemed to be of solid rock, and ran very close to the water.
Built against the hill was a long, low house of white stone, with a flight of marble steps leading up to the door, while directly in front of it running out