“What errand, dame?”
“To rescue my prize. The maiden who lost her robe, eh?”
“The lady is here, then?”
“Ay, and likely to remain here, foolish boy,” she cried. “Get to work—get to work. Faint heart never won fair lady. Ho! Ho! Hi! Hi!” With these words she gave him an axe, wedges, and a mallet, then hobbled away to the hut.
Bob gazed after her with a confident smile on his handsome face. “None but the brave deserve the fair,” cried he as he set to work at his task; [[306]]but at the first blow he discovered that his axe was only lead, and also that the wedges were made of tin.
“This is too hard,” he muttered angrily. “The affair with the thimble was bad enough, but this promises to become a trifle more interesting. What’s to be done now? I can’t fell trees with a leaden axe, or split logs with tin wedges, that’s certain. Well, I may as well take it easy till the fairy comes; he’ll help me out of it all right.” With this philosophical view of things our hero stretched himself full length beneath a huge gum to await his friend.
The morning had become intensely hot and sultry, therefore it was much more pleasant in the shade than felling trees in the full glare of the sun. So Bob thought, as the morning waned apace, and the heat grew more intense. Noontide found the young hunter still reclining in the shade, and not a tree down. If they had given him a proper set of tools he could have made a start at all events; as it was, he could only strain his eyes looking for Quiz to make his appearance, and he was growing tired even of that. Try as he would, he could not keep from nodding. The deep stillness, the oppressive heat, together with that low, buzzing, sleep-producing sound of insect life, appeared [[307]]to draw down his eyelids as if each of them had been freighted with a four-pound weight. In the midst of his torpor, however, Bob felt a sharp pinch on his leg. Looking up, the first thing upon which his gaze rested was a very tiny lady dressed all in red. Close by stood a magnificent little carriage, from which the lady had evidently just alighted. Such a small, funny conveyance Bob had never seen before. It was constructed entirely of wild flowers, and drawn by six well-matched locusts, in lieu of ponies, with a butterfly for a coachman. By the side of the latter Bob recognised the two little men whom he had seen with Quiz the sprite.
“Pray, what are you doing here?” inquired the small lady in shrill tones.
“Alas, madam,” replied Bob, “I came here to attempt the rescue of a lovely maiden, who is under the spell of Dame Growl, the witch of this cliff.”
“Ah! And why do you not rescue the lady, instead of slumbering away your time here?” cried the fairy.