Part 12 (1/2)
But already the guards were pressing forward upon him. At the sight of their threatening looks Brutus ran in front of John and began to growl warningly, crouching ready to spring upon the first who should lay hands on the boy. The wolf bristled and showed his fangs. And the bear, rising on his hind legs, growled and blinked his little red eyes so terribly that the men fell back. John was protected by powerful friends. The other animals shrank close to him, and the raven began to scream.
[Ill.u.s.tration: John was protected by powerful friends.]
”Have a care!” warned John. ”My friends are armed with sharp teeth and claws, and they will not readily let a stranger touch me.”
”He is a wizard!” muttered the soldiers; but they shrank back, afraid to touch him.
”Why do you treat me thus?” asked John wistfully.
”Because you say you are a friend to that vile magician of the woods, by whose arts the Prince was wounded, they say, and who yet holds him at death's door.” So spoke the Captain of the guards. ”The Prince still lives. But when he pa.s.ses, the King has decreed that the wizard shall die the death. You come in time to share it, if you be his pupil!”
”Oh, hasten, hasten!” cried John, clasping his hands. ”Please take me to him! Perhaps I may yet save the good old man. If it is not too late, perhaps I can also save the Prince.”
”Ay, we will take you to him fast enough, if you will call off your growling beasts,” said the Captain.
”Nay, we must all go together,” answered John, who saw how they meant to trap him. ”Oh, come, let us be moving, for there is no time to lose!”
Grumbling, but afraid either to delay or to venture near John, the guards formed in a hollow square about him and his pets, and they all began to march in a strange company through the city streets to the palace.
A crowd gathered as they pa.s.sed. Men, women, and children craned their necks to look at this group of animals, such as had not been seen in the city for years. They gazed, too, at the handsome yellow-haired boy, and whispered among themselves, ”Who is he? What has he done?”
John noticed that the faces of the people who gazed at him were set and hard. They seemed sad and hopeless. He pitied them. ”It is a kingdom without love,” he said to himself.
Yet, as they looked, their faces changed. A new something came into their eyes. A whispering went around among the crowd, increasing to a murmur, like the sound of bees.
They came at last to the palace, where the crowd was forced to pause.
But, surrounded by the band of soldiers, John and his party went in and on, led by the Captain himself, at whose word or gesture doors flew open and servants bowed.
Through long, glittering halls, lined with mirrors in which their rags and dust, draggled feathers and matted hair showed pitifully, limped John and his weary friends. Up a grand marble staircase, with wondering footmen lining either side, pattered on muddy feet Brutus and his gray brother, and the bear, clumsily erect at John's side. Behind mewed the tired Blanche, whose kittens John carried in his arms, while the carrier pigeon and the raven perched on his shoulder. But the other birds had remained outside in the trees of the palace garden.
XXI
THE PALACE
At last they came to a great hall, full of people who seemed met for some solemn purpose. At the door stood the Grand Chamberlain in lace and velvet, holding in one hand his staff, and in the other an hourgla.s.s at which he was gazing earnestly.
”What is this?” he said sternly, as the Captain approached with his prisoners. ”Do you not know that this is a moment of life and death?”
In a few whispered words the Captain explained matters.
The Chamberlain stared sullenly at John. ”No more wizardry!” he said at last. ”We have had enough of that. The King has just pa.s.sed judgment on the sorcerer. In five minutes he is to die. The doctors declare this to be the only hope for the Prince's life.”
”Oh, let me see him! Let me see my good father!” begged John, clasping his hands piteously. ”I may yet save his life, I and these friends.”
As he said this, John had a sudden thought. He fumbled in his bosom for the silver Cross, and held it out with trembling hands so that the Chamberlain could see it.
The man started back, turning pale and letting fall his staff of office. ”What does this mean?” he cried, ”Who is this lad? How came he by this token?”
Once more the Captain whispered to him. The Chamberlain looked wildly at John, then at the hourgla.s.s, in which the last grains of sand had sifted down.