A moment later a lighted torch came in view, and a dozen Hez maidens appeared on the scene.
They were those who had balloted for husbands and who had been disappointed.
Dick saw it all now. They were evidently dissatisfied with the queen choosing him without allowing them a voice in the matter, and they had now taken the law in their own hands.
The boy was right. Such was really the case. The twelve maidens who now stood before them had conspired together and broken the laws of the Land of Hez.
They had caused the couple to be brought to this out-of-the-way place to force Queen Olive to give Dick over to them, and then swear to let the matter drop forever.
In case she refused, the two were to be left in the cave to perish, while the conspirators would go back to the village and circulate the rumor that their queen, being unable to wait until the two years had passed, had fled to the outside world with her lover.
That this story would be believed by the simple Hez people there was not the least particle of doubt.
The leader of the twelve maidens was Queen Olive’s younger sister—heir to the throne!
It was she who acted as speaker for her companions, and after having removed the gags from the mouths of the two prisoners, so they would be able to answer her, she proceeded to inform them of the reason they had been abducted from the magic chamber.
“Our plan was well carried out,” said she, “and the twelve here assembled are the ones that did it. We have rebelled against the throne, and unless you agree to our terms, you must lie in this cave, bound as you are, to furnish food for the dreaded picuasus. What is your answer, my sister?”