At this the Captain looked solemn.
"It isn't any of my business, after all," he told them. "The king mustdecide about you, for that's _his_ business. But since you are not madeof sugar you must excuse me if I decline to converse with you anylonger. It is beneath my dignity."
"Oh, that's all right," said Twinkle.
"Where we came from," said Chubbins, "meat costs more a pound than sugardoes; so I guess we're just as good as you are."
But the Captain made no reply to this statement, and before long theystopped in front of a big sugar building, while a crowd of sugar peoplequickly gathered.
"Stand back!" cried the Captain, and the sugar soldiers formed a rowbetween the children and the sugar citizens, and kept the crowd fromgetting too near. Then the Captain led Twinkle and Chubbins through ahigh sugar gateway and up a broad sugar walk to the entrance of thebuilding.
"Must be the king's castle," said Chubbins.
"The king's palace," corrected the Captain, stiffly.
"What's the difference?" asked Twinkle.
But the sugar officer did not care to explain.
Brown sugar servants in plum-colored sugar coats stood at the entranceto the palace, and their eyes stuck out like lozenges from their sugarfaces when they saw the strangers the Captain was escorting.
But every one bowed low, and stood aside for them to pass, and theywalked through beautiful halls and reception rooms where the sugar wascut into panels and scrolls and carved to represent all kinds of fruitand flowers.
"Isn't it sweet!" said Twinkle.
"Sure it is," answered Chubbins.
And now they were ushered into a magnificent room, where a stout littlesugar man was sitting near the window playing upon a fiddle, while agroup of sugar men and women stood before him in respectful attitudesand listened to the music.
Twinkle knew at once that the fiddler was the king, because he had asugar crown upon his head. His Majesty was made of very white andsparkling cut loaf-sugar, and his clothing was formed of the same purematerial. The only color about him was the pink sugar in his cheeks andthe brown sugar in his eyes. His fiddle was also of white sugar, and thestrings were of spun sugar and had an excellent tone.
When the king saw the strange children enter the room he jumped up andexclaimed:
"Bless my beets! What have we here?"
"Mortals, Most Granular and Solidified Majesty," answered the Captain,bowing so low that his forehead touched the floor. "They came in by theancient tunnel."
"Well, I declare," said the king. "I thought that tunnel had beenstopped up for good and all."
"The stone above the door slipped," said Twinkle, "so we came down tosee what we could find."
"You must never do it again," said his Majesty, sternly. "This is ourown kingdom, a peaceful and retired nation of extra refined andsubstantial citizens, and we don't wish to mix with mortals, or anyother folks."
"We'll go back, pretty soon," said Twinkle.
"Now, that's very nice of you," declared the king, "and I appreciateyour kindness. Are you extra refined, my dear?"
"I hope so," said the girl, a little doubtfully.
"Then there's no harm in our being friendly while you're here. And asyou've promised to go back to your own world soon, I have no objectionto showing you around the town. You'd like to see how we live, wouldn'tyou?"
"Very much," said Twinkle.
"Order my chariot, Captain Brittle," said his Majesty; and the Captainagain made one of his lowly bows and strutted from the room to executethe command.
The king now introduced Chubbins and Twinkle to the sugar ladies andgentlemen who were present, and all of them treated the children veryrespectfully.
Chapter VPrincess Sakareen
"SAY, play us a tune," said Chubbins to the king. His Majesty didn't seemto like being addressed so bluntly, but he was very fond of playing thefiddle, so he graciously obeyed the request and played a pretty andpathetic ballad upon the spun sugar strings. Then, begging to be excusedfor a few minutes while the chariot was being made ready, the king leftthem and went into another room.
This gave the children a chance to talk freely with the sugar people,and Chubbins said to one man, who looked very smooth on the outside:
"I s'pose you're one of the big men of this place, aren't you?"
The man looked frightened for a moment, and then took the boy's arm andled him into a corner of the room.
"You ask me an embarrassing question," he whispered, looking around tomake sure that no one overheard. "Although I pose as one of thenobility, I am, as a matter of fact, a great fraud!"
"How's that?" asked Chubbins.
"Have you noticed how smooth I am?" inquired the sugar man.
"Yes," replied the boy. "Why is it?"
"Why, I'm frosted, that's the reason. No one here suspects it, and I'mconsidered very respectable; but the truth is, I'm just coated over withfrosting, and not solid sugar at all."
"What's inside you?" asked Chubbins.
"That," answered the man, "I do not know. I've never dared to find out.For if I broke my frosting to see what I'm stuffed with, every one elsewould see too, and I would be disgraced and ruined."
"Perhaps you're cake," suggested the boy.
"Perhaps so," answered the man, sadly. "Please keep my secret, for onlythose who are solid loaf-sugar are of any account in this country, andat present I am received in the best society, as you see."
"Oh, I won't tell," said Chubbins.
During this time Twinkle had been talking with a sugar lady, in anotherpart of the room. This lady seemed to be of the purest loaf-sugar, forshe sparkled most beautifully, and Twinkle thought she was quite theprettiest person to look at that she had yet seen.
"Are you related to the king?" she asked.
"No, indeed," answered the sugar lady, "although I'm considered one ofthe very highest quality. But I'll tell you a secret, my dear." She tookTwinkle's hand and led her across to a sugar sofa, where they both satdown.
"No one," resumed the sugar lady, "has ever suspected the truth; but I'monly a sham, and it worries me dreadfully."
"I don't understand what you mean," said Twinkle. "Your sugar seems aspure and sparkling as that of the king."
"Things are not always what they seem," sighed the sugar lady. "What yousee of me, on the outside, is all right; but the fact is, _I'm hollow!_"
"Dear me!" exclaimed Twinkle, in surprise. "How do you know it?"
"I can feel it," answered the lady, impressively. "If you weighed meyou'd find I'm not as heavy as the solid ones, and Tor a long time I Verealized the bitter truth that I'm hollow. It makes me very unhappy, butI don't dare confide my secret to anyone here, because it would disgraceme forever."
"I wouldn't worry," said the child. "They'll never know the difference."
"Not unless I should break," replied the sugar lady. "But if thathappened, all the world could see that I'm hollow, and instead of beingwelcomed in good society I'd become an outcast. It's even morerespectable to be made of brown sugar, than to be hollow; don't youthink so?"
"I'm a stranger here," said Twinkle; "so I can't judge. But if I wereyou, I wouldn't worry unless I got broke; and you may be wrong, afterall, and as sound as a brick!"
Chapter VIThe Royal Chariot
JUST then the king came back to the room and said:
"The chariot is at the door; and, as there are three seats, I'll takeLord Cloy and Princess Sakareen with us."
So the children followed the king to the door of the palace, where stooda beautiful white and yellow sugar chariot, drawn by six handsome sugarhorses with spun sugar tails and manes, and driven by a brown sugarcoachman in a blue sugar livery.
The king got in first, and the others followed. Then the childrendiscovered that Lord Cloy was the frosted man and Princess Sakareen wasthe sugar lady who had told Twinkle that she was hollow.
There was quite a crowd of sugar people at the gates to watch thedeparture of the royal party, and a few
soldiers and policemen were alsopresent to keep order. Twinkle sat beside the king, and Chubbins sat onthe same seat with the Princess Sakareen, while Lord Cloy was obliged tosit with the coachman. When all were ready the driver cracked a sugarwhip (but didn't break it), and away the chariot dashed over a roadpaved with blocks of cut loaf-sugar.
The air was cool and pleasant, but there was a sweet smell to the breezethat was peculiar to this strange country. Sugar birds flew here andthere, singing sweet songs, and a few sugar dogs ran out to bark at theking's chariot as it whirled along.
"Haven't you any automobiles in your country?" asked the girl.
"No," answered the king. "Anything that requires heat to make it go isavoided here, because heat would melt us and ruin our bodies in a fewminutes. Automobiles would be dangerous in Sugar-Loaf City."
"They're dangerous enough anywhere," she said. "What do you feed to yourhorses?"
"They eat a fine quality of barley-sugar that grows in our fields,"answered the king. "You'll see it presently, for we will drive out to mycountry villa, which is near the edge of the dome, opposite to where youcame in."
First, however, they rode all about the city, and the king pointed outthe public buildings, and the theaters, and the churches, and a numberof small but pretty public parks. And there was a high tower near thecenter that rose half-way to the dome, it was so tall.
"Aren't you afraid the roof will cave in some time, and ruin your city?"Twinkle asked the king.
"Oh, no," he answered. "We never think of such a thing. Isn't there adome over the place where you live?"
"Yes," said Twinkle; "but it's the sky."
"Do you ever fear it will cave in?" inquired the king.
"No, indeed!" she replied, with a laugh at the idea.
"Well, it's the same way with us," returned his Majesty. "Domes are thestrongest things in all the world."
Chapter VIITwinkle Gets Thirsty
AFTER they had seen the sights of the city the carriage turned into abroad highway that led into the country, and soon they began to passfields of sugar corn and gardens of sugar cabbages and sugar beets andsugar potatoes. There were also orchards of sugar plums and sugar applesand vineyards of sugar grapes. All the trees were sugar, and even thegrass was sugar, while sugar grasshoppers hopped about in it. Indeed,Chubbins decided that not a speck of anything beneath the dome ofSugar-Loaf Mountain was anything but pure sugar--unless the inside ofthe frosted man proved to be of a different material.
By and by they reached a pretty villa, where they all left the carriageand followed the sugar king into the sugar house. Refreshments had beenordered in advance, over the sugar telephone, so that the dining tablewas already laid and all they had to do was to sit in the pretty sugarchairs and be waited upon by maple-sugar attendants.
There were sandwiches and salads and fruits and many other sugar thingsto eat, served on sugar plates; and the children found that some wereflavored with winter-green and raspberry and lemon, so that they werealmost as good as candies. At each plate was a glass made of crystalsugar and filled with thick sugar syrup, and this seemed to be the onlything to drink. After eating so much sugar the children naturally becamethirsty, and when the king asked Twinkle if she would like anything elseshe answered promptly:
"Yes, I'd like a drink of water."
At once a murmur of horror arose from the sugar people present, and theking pushed back his chair as if greatly disturbed.
"Water!" he exclaimed, in amazement.
"Sure," replied Chubbins. "I want some, too. We're thirsty."
The king shuddered.
"Nothing in the world," said he gravely, "is so dangerous as water. Itmelts sugar in no time, and to drink it would destroy you instantly."
"We're not made of sugar," said Twinkle. "In our country we drink allthe water we want."
"It may be true," returned the king; "but I am thankful to say there isno drop of water in all this favored country. But we have syrup, whichis much better for your health. It fills up the spaces inside you, andhardens and makes you solid."
"It makes me thirstier than ever," said the girl. "But if you have nowater we must try to get along until we get home again."
When the luncheon was over, they entered the carriage again and weredriven back towards the city. On the way the six sugar horses becamerestless, and pranced around in so lively a manner that the sugarcoachman could scarcely hold them in. And when they had nearly reachedthe palace a part of the harness broke, and without warning all sixhorses dashed madly away. The chariot smashed against a high wall ofsugar and broke into many pieces, the sugar people, as well as Twinkleand Chubbins, being thrown out and scattered in all directions.
The little girl was not at all hurt, nor was Chubbins, who landed on topthe wall and had to climb down again. But the king had broken one of thepoints off his crown, and sat upon the ground gazing sorrowfully at hiswrecked chariot. And Lord Cloy, the frosted man, had smashed one of hisfeet, and everybody could now see that underneath the frosting was amaterial very like marshmallow--a discovery that was sure to condemn himas unfit for the society of the solid sugar-loaf aristocracy of thecountry.
But perhaps the most serious accident of all had befallen PrincessSakareen, whose left leg had broken short off at the knee. Twinkle ranup to her as soon as she could, and found the Princess smiling happilyand gazing at the part of the broken leg which she had picked up.
"See here, Twinkle," she cried; "it's as solid as the king himself! I'mnot hollow at all. It was only my imagination."
"I'm glad of that," answered Twinkle; "but what will you do with abroken leg?"
"Oh, that's easily mended," said the Princess, "All I must do is to puta little syrup on the broken parts, and stick them together, and thensit in the breeze until it hardens. I'll be all right in an hour fromnow."
It pleased Twinkle to hear this, for she liked the pretty sugarprincess.
Chapter VIIIAfter the Runaway
NOW the king came up to them, saying: "I hope you are not injured."
"We are all right," said Twinkle; "but I'm getting dreadful thirsty, soif your Majesty has no objection I guess we'll go home."
"No objection at all," answered the king.
Chubbins had been calmly filling his pockets with broken spokes andother bits of the wrecked chariot; but feeling nearly as thirsty asTwinkle, he was glad to learn they were about to start for home.
They exchanged good-byes with all their sugar friends, and thanked thesugar king for his royal entertainment. Then Captain Brittle and hissoldiers escorted the children to the archway through which they hadentered Sugar-Loaf City.
They had little trouble in going back, although the tunnel was so darkin places that they had to feel their way. But finally daylight could beseen ahead, and a few minutes later they scrambled up the stone stepsand squeezed through the little doorway.
There was their basket, just as they had left it, and the afternoon sunwas shining softly over the familiar worldly landscape, which they wereboth rejoiced to see again.
Chubbins closed the iron door, and as soon as he did so the bolts shotinto place, locking it securely.
"Where's the key?" asked Twinkle.
"I put it into my pocket," said Chubbins, "but it must have dropped outwhen I tumbled from the king's chariot."
"That's too bad," said Twinkle; "for now no one can ever get to thesugar city again. The door is locked, and the key is on the other side."
"Never mind," said the boy. "We've seen the inside of Sugar-LoafMountain once, and that'll do us all our lives. Come on, Twink. Let's gohome and get a drink!"
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