VIII
He found an empty hut, in which was some mouldy straw; and there he passed the night, sleeping as soundly as if he had been on his own royal bed of down in the palace at home. His breakfast was begged at the door of one of the houses in the village; and all day he followed the river, until near evening he came to the gray seashore and the huts of the fisher folk.
"What is the name of the river I have been following?" he asked of a wrinkled old fisherman who was mending his net in the sunset.
"It is called Laf," the old man answered. "It is the eastern border of Jolliland, as the coast is the northern."
"Oh, bother boundaries!" Vance exclaimed, "I hate them. Can you give me something to eat?"
"We are poor folk," said the old man, "but I suppose we can give ye a bite if ye pays for it."
"Pay for it!" cried Vance, in astonishment. "Do you know who I am?"
"Not rightly," said the fisherman; "but from yer look and from yer box I take ye for a travelling showman. What have ye got in yer box?"
"My family," answered the Prince, before he thought. "Do you know where the Crushed Strawberry Wizard lives?"