fairy things that he was likely to need, sat down with them on the flying carpet, and wished himself at the mountain of the Firedrake.
“I have the king now,” he said; “for if I can’t find the ashes of my brothers, by Jove! I’ll!—”
Do you know what he meant to do, if he could not find his brothers? Let every child guess!
Off he flew; and there he was in a second, just beside poor Alphono’s garden-engine. Then Prigio, seeing a little heap of grey ashes beside the engine, watered them with the fairy water; and up jumped Alphonso, as jolly as ever, his sword in his hand.
“Hullo, Prigio!” cried he; “are you come after the monster too? I’ve been asleep, and I had a kind of dream that he beat me. But the pair of us will tackle him. How is Molinda?”
“Prettier than ever,” said Prigio; “but anxious about you. However, the Firedrake’s dead and done for; so never mind him. But I left Enrico somewhere about. Just you sit down and wait a minute, till I fetch him.”
The prince said this, because he did not wish Alphonso to know that he and Enrico had not had quite the best of it in the affair with the monster.
“All right, old fellow,” says Alphonso; “but have you any luncheon with you? Never was so hungry in my life!”
Prince Prigio had thought of this, and he brought out some cold sausage (to which Alphonso was partial) and some bread, with which the younger prince expressed himself satisfied. Then Prigio went up the hill some way, first warning Alphonso not to sit on his carpet for fear of accidents like that which
happened to Benson. In a hollow of the hill, sure enough there was the sword of Enrico, the diamonds of the hilt gleaming in the sun. And there was a little heap of grey ashes.