Part 11 (2/2)
”No, Your Majesty,” said Harold; ”it is a piece of one of my mother's famous pies. Will you share it with me?”
”That I will!” said Red Rex, sitting upright and stretching out his hand eagerly. ”It looks like apple pie. There is nothing in the world I like so well as apple pie.”
”Your taste is the same as mine,” said Harold merrily, carving the wedge with his knife into two equal triangles. ”I believe Your Majesty never tasted better pie than that. It is made by a famous rule.”
Red Rex munched his share greedily, sitting opposite the munching Harold. And as they ate they eyed one another, not unfriendly. When he had finished, the Red King said,--”By my sword! That is the best piece of apple pie that ever I tasted, or hope to taste! Your mother must be a wondrous cook, Harold.”
”That she is!” cried the proud boy. ”And she is the best mother who ever lived. She made six of these wonderful pies for me, because she knows that I like them so much. I saw them this morning on a shelf in the pantry.”
”Six juicy apple pies!” murmured Red Rex, smacking his lips at the thought. ”Where do you live, boy?”
”I live on the High Street, which leads from the market-place, in a little house next the butcher's shop,” said Harold, wondering why the King asked.
”I will remember that,” said Red Rex, nodding his head solemnly. ”I owe your mother a happy memory for that piece of delicious pie.”
”It is made from the recipe for the King's Pie,” said Harold. ”No wonder you approve it, being like His Hungry Majesty of old.”
”The King's Pie!” exclaimed the surprised monarch. ”Pray, what do you mean by that?”
”It is another story, Your Majesty,” said Harold, grinning. ”I think it is the best story of all. But I suppose you would not care to hear it to-morrow.”
”Oh, go along with you and your stories, you young beguiler!” cried Red Rex with a great roar, at the same time poking Harold playfully with the point of his sword. ”I see that you would keep me here forever at the walls of your city, listening to your tales.”
”Not forever,” said Harold, with an air of candor. ”I do not think that even the library of Kisington could furnish new books for as long a time as that,--though, to be sure, you might hear some of the same ones over again. But, indeed, you have no idea what treasures still remain in that casket! This tale of the King's Pie is one of the rarest, I think.”
Red Rex seemed to be thinking very earnestly about something. ”The King's Pie,” he murmured, more than once. ”H'm! H'm! It is of a deliciousness! Ha! Ho!” And he smacked his lips again, thinking of the tantalizing wedge which was now no more. Suddenly he spoke: ”I have decided to wait yet another day,” he announced. ”I will hear that tale to-morrow. And if it contains a recipe for the famous pie, I shall want you to copy it off for me. Bring pen and paper, my lad.”
”That I will!” said Harold joyously. For this meant still another day's delay; and the time was now near at hand when they might expect to see help coming from the Capital City where their good King Victor lived.
This was Wednesday, when he took leave of the Red King.
XIV: THE ROBBER
Harold was very weary when he returned to the cottage that evening; and he was still more weary before he tumbled into bed. For in the mean time he had to learn his school lessons for the following day, and tell the other boys all about his adventures. He slept like a top; quite like a top,--for sometimes during the night there came from his little room beyond the kitchen a sound like a humming top.
It was about midnight when Harold was awakened by a peculiar noise. It was a queer, clicking, tapping noise that seemed to come from the kitchen close by. Harold sat up in bed and listened. Some one was certainly moving about in the kitchen. It was probably his mother, he thought. And yet, what could his mother be doing there at that time of night? Stealthy steps crossed the kitchen; just then Harold sneezed,--he could not help it. There was silence.
Presently he heard a noise in the pantry, which was next his own little room. Harold rose and crept noiselessly out of his chamber. Yes, there was someone in the pantry. The door was open,--something not allowed in his mother's kitchen rule. An uncertain light flickered behind the pantry door. Harold could not see plainly, but there certainly was some one meddling with the dishes on the shelves. Suddenly a silhouette came between Harold and the light, and he saw the shape of the intruder. It seemed to be a very tall old woman in bonnet and shawl, and her great hand was carrying something from the pantry shelf to the mouth within the bonnet.
Harold felt himself growing very angry. Who was this stranger who dared to force a way into their cottage and eat up the hard-earned victuals which his mother had painfully prepared? Such doings were rare indeed in Kisington. It was a wicked thief, a robber, a house-breaker! Even though it was a woman, she must be punished.
There was a key in the lock outside the pantry door. Quick as a flash Harold made a leap for it, and turned it in the lock. At the same time he shouted to his mother who slept in the room upstairs,--”Quick! Quick, Mother! There is an old woman in the pantry eating up the food! I have caught her at it!”
In a few minutes his mother's feet came pattering down the stairs. But in the mean time what a hubbub was going on in the pantry! Evidently the thief had no mind to be discovered and taken in her criminal act. There was the sound of overturned boxes and barrels, the crash of crockery and gla.s.s. The thief was smas.h.i.+ng the pantry window!
”Open the door, Harold!” screamed his mother. ”She is climbing out the window!”
It did not seem possible that the thief could do this, it was such a tiny window. But, sure enough! when the door was opened, and Harold and his mother crowded into the pantry, they were but just in time to seize the hem of the old woman's shawl, as her last leg squeezed through the cas.e.m.e.nt. Harold held on to the shawl tightly, however, and off it came in his hands. It was a very nice shawl.
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