“But how about the beautiful woman who came from the pool in such a mysterious manner?” said Dick. “Surely that was not Queen Olive?”
“Oh, no!” replied Jones; “I forgot to tell you about her. She visited the pool one day after she had lived here in the neighborhood of a hundred years, and concluded to bathe in its clear waters. The moment she entered it she disappeared, and has never been heard of since.”
“That yarn would make a first-class fairy story for little children,” said Leo, laughing. “But, anyhow, I shan’t dispute it. Ah! here comes the queen’s messenger after Dick and Martin, I suppose. Go on, fellows, and take the iron-clad oath of allegiance to Hez.”
Sure enough, Dick and the Yankee were led to the queen’s house, and while they were gone Leo and the rest busied themselves in cleaning their weapons, which Roderique de Amilo had so kindly returned to them.
[CHAPTER VIII.
DICK VINCEY AND THE QUEEN.]
Queen Olive stood in the doorway of the handsomely furnished stone building, called the palace, when Dick and the Yankee were brought up.
With a wave of her hand she ordered the Hezzians to retire, and then motioned the two to follow her inside.
Dick noticed that the beautiful queen eyed him with a more than ordinary look, and he was not a little puzzled over it.
But he was destined to know what it meant ere long. Martin Haypole had mentioned in a joke that the queen of Hez had fallen in love with the good-looking Dick Vincey, and this was indeed the case.