“All methods,” replied the councillors delicately, “have been employed.”
Then the King was angry indeed. He vowed that the common people of his kingdom could help him better than that, and he issued a proclamation promising half his ships and half his kingdom to the person who should find a new way to free him from debt. All who wished to try had but to come to the castle and give the password, “Fortune favors Kings.” But any one who spoke the password and failed of his errand, was doomed to exile on the sea.
Now, exile of that kind did not frighten Dare-and-Do in the least. He shouted the password at the top of his lungs, and strode by the guard right into the King’s castle.
In the great hall the King sat on his throne, doing problems in arithmetic. But the trouble with the examples was that they were all in subtraction.
Dare-and-Do bowed low. The King looked up and hastily put on his crown.
“Your Majesty,” said Dare-and-Do, “may I make bold to ask you one question: Why is it that no ship yet has reached the Gold Lands?”
Now, it happened that the King had been thinking of that very matter himself. So he answered right off, “Why, we’ve never had one long enough, we’ve never had one strong enough, to stand the storms.”
Dare-and-Do’s eyes gleamed. “Just so, Your Majesty,” he said.
Then he drew a step nearer the throne. “But what would you say,” he asked, “if I could give you a ship long enough and strong enough to stand any storm that ever blew?”
“What!” cried the King; and then: “Where?”