All the Blueskins except a few soldiers had gone to bed and were
sound asleep. A blue gloom hung over the city, which was scarcely
relieved by a few bluish, wavering lights here and there, but Trot
knew the general direction in which the palace lay, and she decided
to go there first. She believed the Boolooroo would surely keep so
important a prisoner as Cap'n Bill locked up in his own palace.
Once or twice the little girl lost her way, for the streets were
very puzzling to one not accustomed to them, but finally she sighted
the great palace and went up to the entrance. There she found a
double guard posted. They were sitting on a bench outside the
doorway, and both stood up as she approached.
"We thought we heard footsteps," said one.
"So did we," replied the other, "yet there is no one in sight."
Trot then saw that the guards were the two patched men, Jimfred
Jonesjinks and Fredjim Jinksjones, who had been talking together
quite cheerfully. It was the first time the girl had seen them
together, and she marveled at the queer patching that had been so
strongly united here, yet so thoroughly separated them.
"You see," remarked Jimfred as they seated themselves again upon the
bench, "The Boolooroo has ordered the patching to take place
tomorrow morning after breakfast. The old Earth man is to be patched
to poor Tiggle instead of Ghip-Ghisizzle, who has in some way
managed to escape from the Room of the Great Knife--no one knows how
but Tiggle, and Tiggle won't tell."
"We're sorry for anyone who has to be patched," replied Fredjim in a
reflective tone, "for although it didn't hurt us as much as we
expected, it's a terrible mix-up to be in until we become used to
our strange combination. You and we are about alike, now, Jimfred, although we were so different before."
"Not so," said Jimfred. "We are really more intelligent than you
are, for the left side of our brain was always the keenest before we
were patched."
"That may be," admitted Fredjim, "but we are much the strongest, because our right arm was by far the best before we were patched."
"We are not sure of that," responded Jimfred, "for we have a right
arm, too, and it is pretty strong."
"We will test it," suggested the other, "by all pulling upon one end
of this bench with our right arms. Whichever can pull the bench from
the others must be the strongest."
While they were tussling at the bench, dragging it first here and
then there in the trial of strength, Trot opened the door of the
palace and walked in. It was pretty dark in the hall, and only a few
dim blue lights showed at intervals down the long corridors. As the
girl walked through these passages, she could hear snores of various
degrees coming from behind some of the closed doors and knew that
all the regular inmates of the place were sound asleep. So she
mounted to the upper floor, and thinking she would be likely to find
Cap'n Bill in the Room of the Great Knife, she went there and tried
the door. It was locked, but the key had been left on the outside. She waited until the sentry who was pacing the corridor had his back toward her, and then she turned the key and slipped within, softly closing the door behind her.
It was pitch dark in the room, and Trot didn't know how to make a
light. After a moment's thought she began feeling her way to the
window, stumbling over objects as she went. Every time she made a
noise, someone groaned, and that made the child uneasy. At last she
found a window and managed to open the shutters and let the
moonlight in. It wasn't a very strong moonlight, but it enabled her
to examine the interior of the room. In the center stood the Great
Knife, which the Boolooroo used to split people in two when he
patched them, and at one side was a dark form huddled upon the floor
and securely bound.
Trot hastened to this form and knelt beside it, but was disappointed
to find it was only Tiggle. The man stirred a little and rolled
against Trot's knee, when she at once became visible to him. "Oh, it's the Earth child," said he. "Are you condemned to be patched, too, little one?"
"No," answered Trot. "Tell me where Cap'n Bill is."