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tower had burned steadily, as Waddy, his
beard ~irly bristling with excitement,
worked away on a new and secret invention,
beating, blowing and stirring strange liquid~
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together in his golden mixing bowl.
"Ho, this will fix him!" he wheezed, sat-
isfied at last, and shoving the bowl into an
electric oven he sat wearily down in his great
arm chair to rest. The last star had twinkled out,
and under the eaves the birds were beginning to
twitter about another day.
Listening to their eager chattering, Waddy smiled.
He, too, in spite of his long night's labors, was look-
ing forward to a pleasant morning. He had impor-
tant news for the King, and glancing from the clock
to the oven, he waited impatiently for the mixture
in the golden bowl to come to the proper tempera-
ture. A short doze helped pass the time, but as the
bell attached to the oven rang sharply he fairly
sprang awake. Being careful not to burn his fingers,
he removed his precious mixture from the fire and
setting it on a small table, did the umbrella jig all
the way round the room.
"Wait till Sizzer hears about this," he puffed joy-
fully. "This will lift his heart and chins for him
and keep me a couple of sneezes ahead of the Grand
Grumboleer." Covering the smoking bowl with a
silver cloth, the Wizard gaily kissed his fingers in
farewell, and without even stopping to replait his
beard or wash his face, skipped cumbersomely out
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of his laboratory, whisked down the spiral stair and
five minutes later was tapping at the King's door.
In response to his sorrowful command to enter,
Waddy bounded joyously into the royal presence.
"Cheer up, old Pumpkin, our troubles are over!"
Hurrying to the King's bedside, he gave him a hearty
thump between the shoulder blades. "At last I have
found a way to settle that giant and punish him well
for his disgusting impertinence!"
"You have!" Sizzeroo's face brightened up like a
big red paper lantern when somebody suddenly lights
the candle inside. "What is it? How will you do it?
You mean the Princess and Speedy are really safe?"
"Speedy?" exclaimed Waddy with a puzzled frown.
"What's he got to do with Loxo? He hasn't even
heard of him, bless his brave heart! You know,"-
the King's magician paused and looked earnestly at
Sizzero-"I couldn't love that boy any better if
he were your Majesty's own son. I wish we could per-
suade him to stay here and grow up with our
Princess. He might even marry her in a hundred
years or so and succeed your Highness as Ruler of
the Island! But what is this about saving him?"
Waddy interrupted himself irritably. "He's done
plenty towards saving this Island, but I've done
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nothing toward saving him from a giant or anyone
else. Why should I? He is in no danger!"
"Not now," sighed Sizzeroo, leaning back thank-
fully against his pillows. "And he was in no real
danger, anyway, for I never should have consented
to such a thing, but you know how Kachewka is when
he gets an idea into his head."
"Kachewka-Speedy? What in mince meat are
you talking about?" Pushing his specs up on his
forehead, Waddy stared in exasperation at his Maj-
esty.
"Oh, nothing, nothing," murmured the King.
Nevertheless, he hastened to explain. "You see,
Kachewka remarking how much Speedy resembled
my daughter in size and coloring, decided to keep
him here and turn him over to Loxo instead of the
Princess. Naturally, I refused to even consider such
a scheme."
"Oh! Oh! I'll pull his long nose for this! Where
is the mizzling, meddling, skinny old scoundrel?
Just wait till I catch him, I'll turn him into a goose
egg and boil him for breakfast!" Flouncing out of
the arm chair, Waddy hurled himself through the
door, breathing heavily.
"Wait! Wait!" Leaping out of bed, the plump
monarch rushed violently after his still plumper
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Wizard and after great exertion and argument man-
aged to coax him back into the room. Still puffing
and muttering with displeasure, Waddy again low-
ered himself into the chair and as Sizzeroo continued
his efforts to calm him down, in burst Kachewka
himself.
"He's gone!" croaked the King's chief counselor,
flapping his hands like fins. "Gone! Kachew! Gone!
And the giant will get the Princess!"
"Who's gone?" demanded Waddy, grabbing Ka-
chewka by the shoulders and shaking him roughly
backward and forward.
"The boy! The dinosaur!" coughed the old coun-
selor, too upset to notice Waddy's furious expression.
"Meander just brought the news."
"I could have told you that last evening," purred
Pansy, who had followed sedately on the heels of
the agitated Minister. Springing up on the foot of
the King's bed, she surveyed them all with a bored
and thoroughly annoyed expression. "What did you
expect?" she inquired indignantly, as Waddy let go
Kachewka and lunged toward her. "When Terry-
bubble heard Kachewka's fine little scheme for
throwing Speedy to the giant, he quite naturally
decided to leave. In fact, I helped him," declared the
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Watch Cat defiantly, and enjoying to the fullest ex-
tent the frightened expression of Kachewka. Pansy
disapproved completely of the King's wily adviser [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]