The Wonderful Bed Page 10

  CHAPTER X

  MEETING A QUEEN

  First came a large company of soldiers almost exactly like CaptainJinks and the sergeant, except that their uniforms were a littleshabbier-looking, and their arms a little less brightly polished. Theyheld themselves stiffly and marched very well, in spite of the factthat many of them had suffered severe injuries, such as the loss of aleg or an arm at the least, in some former campaign, and all of themwere rather the worse for wear. After the soldiers came the band,playing shrilly on their tiny instruments, and next, to the children'sdelight and astonishment, rolled a number of little carriages drawn bymechanical horses. Rudolf was so keenly interested in the working ofthese mechanical horses, that he hardly noticed the fine ladies whosat stiffly on the cushioned seats of the carriages, very grandlydressed, and holding beautiful pink and blue parasols over theircurled heads.

  Suddenly Ann grabbed his arm and whispered: "Look, look! Did you seethem? Marie-Louise and Angelina-Elfrida, my _own_ dolls, and theynever so much as bowed!"

  "Perhaps they didn't know you," whispered Rudolf.

  "They did, too," returned his sister angrily. "They just laughed andturned their heads the other way, horrid things! Just wait, I'll tellthem what I think of them; but, oh, Rudolf, here come more carriagesand more dolls in them, and how queerly they are dressed, these last,I mean! I never saw any dolls like them before. See their pokebonnets, and their fringed mantles, and their little hoop-skirts,but, oh, look, _look_, can that be the Queen?"

  Ann's voice sounded disappointed as well as surprised, and in herexcitement she spoke so loud that Captain Jinks himself turned histhreatening eye on her and called out: "Silence!" But Ann paid noattention to him, nor did the other children; the eyes of all threewere fixed upon a little figure who rode all alone at the very end ofthe procession. They knew she must be the Queen by the respectful wayin which Captain Jinks and the sergeant saluted, but she was verydifferent from what they had imagined a Queen to be. The wooden horsewhich she rode was not handsome, indeed one of his legs was missing,but he pranced and curvetted so proudly upon the remaining three thatit seemed as if he knew he carried a Queen upon his back. The royallady kept her seat with perfect ease, and when she came opposite thechildren, she checked her steed, halted, and gazed down upon them.

  "Have you forgotten me?" she said. Then she smiled and they knew herat once. It was the corn-cob doll! Though she had grown so much largerand seemed so much grander, yet she looked just the same as when theyhad taken her out of Aunt Jane's sandal-wood box from which, thechildren now remembered, certain tin soldiers and a three-leggedwooden horse had also come! The Queen still wore her flowinggreeny-yellow gown, her hair was braided in two long braids that hungover her shoulders, and she carried her quaint little head high, intruly royal fashion.

  Now she dismounted gracefully from her horse and came toward thechildren, holding out her hand. They dared not look her in the face.They were all three ashamed to speak to her, and especially Rudolf whoremembered only too clearly all the unkind things he had said aboutthe corn-cob doll, and how very, very near he had come to roasting herover the nursery fire! Whatever would happen, thought he, if any ofher subjects who seemed to stand in such awe of her, should find outthat attempt on their Queen's life? Captain Jinks would probably thinkimprisonment on bread and water entirely too good for him, probably itwould be slow torture.

  "Answer her majesty," muttered the captain in his ear, "or I'll haveyour head cut off!"

  Still Rudolf, blushing fiery red, and not knowing what to say,continued to stare down at his toes. Peter put his thumb in his mouth,Ann hung down her head; neither of them was any better off.

  The little tin captain stepped eagerly forward. "Shall I give ordersto prepare for the execution, your Majesty?" he began, in a voicefull of pleased excitement. "These suspicious persons are alreadyunder arrest. They would furnish very excellent targets for theartillery practise? If it should please your Majesty to offer a prizefor the best shot? Or, if your Majesty is in a _hurry_, now, a nicedip in boiling oil would finish them off very neatly!"

  "Be quiet, Jinks," said the Queen frowning. "You talk so much I can'tthink. If it wasn't for those tiresome revolutions in my capital city,I believe I'd banish you. Let me see, how many of them have yousuppressed for me?"

  "Exactly twelve, your Majesty," answered Jinks with a low bow, "and Ibeg to announce that we are at this moment on the brink of thethirteenth--baker's dozen, your Majesty."

  "Oh, it's the baker this time, is it?" asked the Queen with a sigh."What's the matter with _him_, Jinks?"

  "Same old trouble, your Majesty. Your court, those doll ladies inparticular, have become so haughty--"

  "Naughty, you mean, Jinks," corrected the Queen.

  "So haughty _and_ naughty, your Majesty, that they've absolutelyrefused to eat their crusts. Did anybody, I ask your Majesty, everhear the likes of that?"

  There was a moment's silence. The Queen shook her head. The childrentried to appear at their ease, but they were not. Ann lookedparticularly uncomfortable. She was not fond of her crusts.

  "Well, go on, Jinks, what else?" said the Queen.

  "Well, your Majesty, this keeps the baker busy day and night baking'em bread, not to speak of the cakes and pies, and he says he feels hehadn't orter stand it any longer. He's going to strike. As for thepopulace, your Majesty, they only get the stale loaves or none atall, and they're wild, your Majesty, very wild indeed."

  "I suppose they are, Jinks," sighed the Queen.

  "And the worst of it is, your Majesty, we're very short of soldiers.The Commander-in-Chief"--both Jinks and the sergeant drew themselvesup and saluted at the name--"has taken a whole company to the seaboardfor to repel the cat pirates, and very fierce them pirates are, I'veheard tell. We may have to send him reinforcements at any time."

  "The Commander-in-Chief, Jinks," said the Queen haughtily, "is a greatgeneral. He will manage the pirates and the baker, too, if you can'tdo it. And if the worst should come to the worst before he gets back,why I'll just abdicate, that's all, and the baker can be king and muchgood may it do him." She turned to the children and smiled at them."Now," she said, "you shall come with me and I will show you where Iused to live before I was a Queen."

  The corn-cob doll waved her hand, gave an order, and immediately thecarriage in which sat Marie-Louise and Angelina-Elfrida was turned anddriven back to where the children stood.

  "These ladies will enjoy a walk," said the Queen.

  Very sulkily the two elegant doll-ladies got out of their carriage,not daring to disobey, and passed by Ann, noses in the air, without somuch as a nod.

  "Never mind them, dears," said the Queen kindly. "They don't know anybetter. Now jump in!"

  The children obeyed, hardly able to believe in their good luck, and inanother moment, much to the surprise and indignation of CaptainJinks, they were rolling away from him, the Queen riding close besidetheir carriage.

  "You are safe now," said she, "at least until the revolution begins.If Jinks should fire his cannon, that's a sign it's starting, butdon't worry"--as she saw that the children were looking ratheralarmed--"I dare say it will blow over without a battle. And now Iwant you to look about you, for I don't think you have ever seenanything like this before."

  They had not indeed, and as their shyness wore off, the children beganto ask the Queen a great many questions. Was this her capital citythey were coming to? Were those the stores where all the dolls'clothes in the world came from? Was it real water in the littlefountain playing in the middle of the square? All this time they werebeing carried swiftly through the streets of the neatest, prettiest,little, toy town any one could wish to see. Both sides of the mainstreet were lined with little shops, and as the children leaned out ofthe carriage for a brief glimpse into their glittering windows, theysaw sights that made them long to stop and look more closely.

  There were clothing shops, shoe shops, candy shops, a verygrand-looking milliner's establishment where the children
were amusedto catch a glimpse of Angelina-Elfrida and Marie-Louise trying onhats, and a gaily decorated doll theater where a crowd of dolls werepushing their way in to see a Punch and Judy show. There were marketswhere busy customers thronged to buy all sorts and kinds of dolleatables, turkeys and chickens the size of sparrows and humming-birds,yellow pumpkins as big as walnuts, red-cheeked apples likecranberries, cabbages fully as large as the end of your thumb, andfreshly baked pies as big around as a penny.

  Peter's eyes nearly popped out of his head as he passed all these goodthings without hope of sampling any of them! The last shop they passedwas that of the royal baker, and they noticed that its windows wereboarded up, while a crowd of common dolls stood about in front of thedoor, muttering angrily.

  But now the business part of the town was left behind, and thechildren were being driven through street after street of gailypainted, neatly built, little houses with gardens full of tinybright-colored flowers, stables, garages--everything complete that theheart of the most exacting doll in the world could desire. Ann andPeter were quite wild about it all, and even Rudolf condescended toadmire. Now the houses were left behind and they entered a littlepark, where tiny artificial lakes glittered and stiff little treeswere set about on the bright green grass. In the center of this parkstood the doll palace. It was pure white, finished in gold, and hadreal glass windows in it, and white marble steps leading up to it, andhigh gilded gates where a guard of soldiers turned out to presentarms, and a band was beginning to play. The rest of the processionturned in at the gates of the palace, but rather to the children'sdisappointment, the Queen gave their coachman orders to drive on.

  "You may see my palace afterward, if we have time," she said, "but Iwant to take you first of all to see my dear old home where I used tolive when I was a girl, when the little mother took care of me."

  The children looked at one another. Then Peter said boldly: "Was thatwhen you were Aunt Jane's doll? You weren't a Queen _then_, wereyou?"

  "No, indeed," answered her majesty, smiling. "I was just an uglylittle doll, the happiest, best-loved little doll in all the world,and with the dearest little mother. But here we are, and you shall seefor yourself what a snug home I had."

  The old doll house looked neat enough from the outside, to be sure,but I am afraid if the children had run across it in the attic at AuntJane's they would have taken it for a couple of large packing-boxesset one upon the other. Once inside, however, they forgot howimpatient they had been to see the palace and its gorgeousfurnishings, they were so interested and amused by the homelyfurnishings and neat little arrangements so proudly displayed to themby the Corn-cob Queen.

  She led the children through one room after another, explaining eachthing as they passed it. Those little muslin curtains at the windows,the little mother had hemmed them all herself. It was she who had madethat wonderful cradle out of cardboard, with sheets from a pair ofgrandfather's old pocket-handkerchiefs, she who had pieced thattiniest of tiny patchwork quilts! In the kitchen that neat set of potsand pans made from acorns and the shells of walnuts was the work ofher hands, assisted, perhaps, by the penknife of a certain little boy.That blue and white tea-set on the pantry shelves--the childrenrecognized it at once as having come out of the sandal-wood box--whyit was almost worn out from the number of cups of tea the old doll andher little mother had taken together in the good old days!

  "It's just the dearest little house in the world," sighed Ann, when,after having seen and admired everything to their heart's content,they took their places in the carriage again, "and we don't wonder youlove it! The things that come straight from the toy shops are notreally half so nice as the things you fix yourself--we understand now.But I suppose," she added thoughtfully, "you find it much granderbeing a Queen?"

  "Grander, perhaps," sighed the corn-cob doll, "but a great deal moreof a nuisance. However--"

  Just then the pop of a toy cannon interrupted the Queen's speech. Theyhad driven back almost to the palace, and could see a crowd of commondolls of all kinds and sizes gathering on the green in front of thegilded gates. At the same moment a troop of soldiers, headed by thelittle tin captain, came running from the direction of the townevidently with the intention of putting a stop to the disturbance.

  "The revolution," said the Queen calmly, "just as I expected. Now I amafraid I shall have to send you out of town."

  "But why?" Rudolf began in his arguing voice. "We don't _want_ to go.We want to stay and fight on your side, and I'm sure we'd be veryuseful! Why I'd just as lief command your army as not, and--"

  "Thank you very much," said the Corn-cob Queen, "but what wouldCaptain Jinks say to that? He is in command, you know. And if he_should_ fail me, why the Commander-in-Chief will soon be back fromcapturing the cat pirates."

  "Who is this fellow you call the Commander-in-Chief, anyway?" Rudolfinterrupted crossly.

  The Queen looked him straight in the eye. "I hope," she said, "thatyou may all be allowed to see him some day, if you are good. He is a_great_ soldier. He never sulks, and always obeys without askingquestions. That is more than some little boys do." Rudolf hung hishead, and the Queen added hastily: "But now I see that Captain Jinksand the baker are going to hold a conference. I must go and join them.Your coachman will drive you out of town the back way. Now where wouldyou like to go?"

  "Back to our Aunt Jane, please," said Ann quickly. "Can you tell usthe way?"

  "No," said the Queen, "I mustn't, but I have a friend who is adream-keeper just over the border, and I think he may be able to helpyou. I'll tell the coachman to drive you there. Now good-by!"

  "Good-by, good-by!" called the children. The coachman touched up thehorses, they were whirled away in a cloud of dust through which theylooked back regretfully at the queenly figure on the little woodenhorse who waved her hand again and again in kindly farewell. They sawher joined by Captain Jinks and by a stout person in a white cap andapron who handed the Queen what seemed to be some kind of documentprinted upon a large sheet of pie crust.

  "That was the Baker, I guess," said Rudolf, "and I dare say what hewas handing her was the declaration of war! Oh, what a shame it is weare going to miss all the fun!"

  "And the refreshments," sighed Peter. "We _always_ do! I never didtaste a declarashun of war, but it looked awful good. The very nexttime I see one, I'm going to--"

  But what Peter was going to do Ann and Rudolf did not hear, for atthat moment they were all three nearly spilled out of the littlecarriage by the furious rate at which their driver turned a corner.They had left the dolls' city far behind them and were out on the longbrown road that led past the little tent where the children had beenarrested by Jinks and the sergeant. Now they were out in the opencountry hurrying past the wonderful bright-colored plains, past fieldsof pink and purple, blue and green and yellow, white and scarlet,faster and faster all the time, the horses rushing along with suchcurious irregular jerks and bounds that it was almost impossible forthe children to keep their seats, and they expected at each moment tobe dumped in the middle of the road.

  "Look out!" shouted Rudolf to the coachman. "Don't you see you aregoing to upset us?"

  The coachman was a very grand-looking person in a white and goldlivery. He never even turned his powdered head as he shouted back:

  "Didn't have no--or-ders--not--to!" And for some time they tore onfaster than ever.

  At last Ann leaned forward and caught hold of one of the coachman'slittle gold-embroidered coat tails. "Oh, do take care," she cried,"you might run somebody down!"

  "That's it,"--the coachman's voice sounded faint and jerky, and thechildren could hardly catch the words that floated back to them:"Running--down--run-ing--down! As--fast--as--ev-er--I--can.Most--com-pli-cated--insides--in--all--the--king-dom. Can't--be--wound--up--not--by--likes--of--you--"

  The horses were no longer galloping, now they were slowing up, nowthey stopped, but with such a sudden jerk that all three children weretumbled out into the road. They had been expecting this to happen forso lo
ng that the thing was not such a shock after all, and somehowthey landed without being hurt in the slightest. They pickedthemselves up, and saw the little carriage standing at the side of theroad, the horses perfectly motionless, each with a forefoot raised inthe air, the coachman stiff and still upon his box, _gazing_ straightin front of him.

  "He'll stay like that," said Peter mournfully, rubbing the dust fromhis knees, "till he's wound up again. I wish we had the key!"

  "I wish we did," said Rudolf crossly. "You know what Betsy saysabout--'If wishes were horses, beggars could ride'--well, they aren't,so we've got to walk now. I wonder where we are?"

  Looking around them, the children saw that they had come to the verylast of the many colored fields, where the brown road ended in astretch of creamy-yellow grass. Just beyond a thick woods began, butwas divided from the creamy field by a broad bright strip of color,like a long flower bed planted with flowers of all kinds and colorsset in all sorts of different patterns--stars, triangles, diamonds,and squares.

  "That's the border," shouted Ann, "and over there somewhere we'll findthe person the Queen said would help us get back to Aunt Jane. Comeon!" As she spoke she bounded off across the field, the two boys afterher, and in less time than it takes to tell it they had run throughthe tall yellow grass, jumped the border, and stood upon the edge ofthe wood.