The chief inn of the place
The commander of the fort was General Wellington-Vera. He was an uncle of Lieutenant Napoleon’s, and had taken his wife’s name upon marriage, as is the custom in Toyland. General Wellington-Vera was a brave and capable officer, and had hurried at once to the King, as of course he thought him, to take his orders. These were that the fort was to be stoutly defended to the last man and the last ounce of powder, against a cowardly and treacherous attack that would shortly be made upon the King’s life by the lead soldiers of Dolltown, who had revolted. That was what Selim had told him, and of course he had believed it.
Orders had quickly been given out that every man should be found at his post. Then General Wellington-Vera had made up his mind that he would not wait to be attacked, but would himself attack first; and Selim had approved of this. The result had been as we have already seen, and we need not go over the same ground again.
Lieutenant Napoleon was his uncle’s aide-de-camp, and had been by his side during the greater part of the battle and the siege. He was now free for a time, because the General, who was an old man, had been somewhat exhausted by his exertions, and had gone home to lie down. He said that his uncle had told him nothing about any ladies being with Selim. He had talked to him in a room alone. In fact, Lieutenant Napoleon was surprised to hear that there were any ladies there at all, and still more surprised to hear that one of them was Queen Rosebud. He had known by this time that she was alive, and that Selim was a usurper, but not that he had tried to run away with her.
“We ought to find them at once,” he said. “I am in command here as long as uncle is lying down, and I shall be pleased to put myself at your disposal.”
They went first of all to the Busby Arms. The gate of the courtyard was still shut, and Lieutenant Napoleon banged on it with the hilt of his sword, and called out that if it was not opened at once he would give orders for it to be blown up with gunpowder.
“You had all better take shelter,” he said, as he was waiting for a reply. “They might try sniping at us. I don’t mind for myself, but I shouldn’t like to see any of you hit.”
So they went behind a wall, all except Colonel Jim and the Colonel of Lancers and Captain Louisa, who, being soldiers, scorned to shelter themselves, and waited with Lieutenant Napoleon.
But there was no occasion for alarm. The gate was soon opened by the innkeeper, who had been terrified by the bombardment of the fort, especially as one of the cannon balls had fallen into the garden behind the inn and broken a cucumber frame.