Part 22 (1/2)
”Won't they ever be found?” asked the boy.
”I think not,” replied the Queen. ”No one has ever been here but you, and probably no stranger will ever come to this Valley again.”
”It's all right for us to come,” declared Tot.
”Why?” enquired the girl.
'”Cause we're lost, too!”
”So we are, Tot,” said Dot, rather sadly; ”but lost people are usually found again, for I don't see any others here.”
They walked a little farther on and saw a ma.s.s of broken toys lying scattered about. There were dollies, too, for suddenly Tot made a pounce and grabbed up a sorry looking doll with one arm broken, one eye out and a scratched and battered face.
”I've found her!” he cried, joyfully; ”I've found Jane! An' I'm going to keep her, too.”
”Is it really your doll?” asked the Queen, with some curiosity.
”Course it is,” replied Tot; ”I lost her.”
”Then I do not see why you should not keep her with you; for, being found, she doesn't belong here any more.”
”Course not,” said the boy, hugging the broken doll in his arms.
”There are a good many gloves and handkerchiefs lost,” remarked Dot, looking at the heaps lying around.
”Yes,” replied the Queen; ”and over at the further side of the Valley are many piles of pocket-books, each pile as big as a haystack.
People are so careless with pocketbooks.”
”Have they money in them?” asked the girl.
”Some have a great deal of money inside them, and some only a few pennies. Others are stuffed with cards and samples and papers,” said the Queen. ”I would take you to look at them, but we should have to climb over a hill of lost needles, and I fear our overshoes would not protect us from their sharp points.”
”It's always hard to get at money,” said Tot, with a sigh.
Among other things lying near her Dot now noticed a hurdy-gurdy, such as she had seen musicians carrying around the streets. There was no monkey with it, and it looked quite old and battered.
”I wonder how long it has been here, she remarked, thoughtfully.
”Play it, and see,” suggested the Queen.
So Dot set the hurdy-gurdy up straight and turned the crank, when it began playing in a jerky and wheezy manner a tune called ”Silver Threads Among the Gold.”
”My! But that's an old tune,” said Dot.
”It's rather pretty,” declared the Queen, who had never heard the air before. ”Play another.”
This time the tune was ”Little Annie Rooney,” and then followed ”Captain Jinks” and ”Two Little Girls in Blue.”
”I guess this hurdy-gurdy was lost before I was born,” sighed Dot.