Meanwhile Wamby had taken a piece of hose from the room, and fastening one end on the wall, he placed the other end on the edge of the landing-place with the nozzle pointing straight at the red star. Then he turned a stop-cock, and instantly there came a strange, rushing sound from the nozzle of the hose.
“What’s that?” cried Harry, much alarmed.
“Oh! that is only the wind that I just turned on,” said Wamby. “All we have to do is to push the boat in front of this hose, and the wind will blow us across the lake.”
“But how can we get back again if it blows so hard from this side?” inquired Harry.
“Easy enough,” responded Wamby. “This wind only blows long enough to carry us across, and then stops of itself. Now I’ll put my lantern-box on this shelf, so that when we come back we’ll know where to steer. We won’t need it till we get back again. And now we’re all ready.”
He cast off the stern-line and was just about to step aboard, when he suddenly stopped, and cried, “Listen!”
Harry listened, but could hear nothing. The elf’s ears were sharper, though, and he exclaimed, “I hear the sound of rapid footsteps up the passageway. Push off from shore—quick!”
Springing into the boat, he grasped a pole and shoved off a few feet from the edge. No sooner had he done so, when the fifty elves who had been guarding them came running up, waving their spears and shouting to them to return. Of course they refused, whereupon the leader of the soldiers ran to the hose and turned off the wind. Then he held aloft his spear, and cried, “In the King’s name, surrender!”
At the sound of that, Wamby fairly trembled, and seemed disposed to obey. But Harry pushed him aside, and called out boldly, “What do you want?”
“We want you to give yourselves up as prisoners. If you refuse, we shall have to swim out and capture you.”