"I cannot imagine," answered Prince Redmond. "It is a shocking surprise to me; why they act as if they were all half asleep and do not seem to recognize us at all."
They passed through a beautiful park, and on the other side the palace, surrounded by laurel hedges and backed by a very high wooded hill, appeared to their view.
Two guards were stationed at the palace gates. They drew their swords in a dazed kind of way and refused to let anyone pass.
"I am your Crown Prince," said Tasmir, "and here is my brother Redmond. You must let us pass instantly."
The guards looked at them stupidly and shook their heads.
"We have no princes," said one, "our King is not married."
"Where is he?" asked Redmond.
"Don't know," answered the guard sleepily, as his head nodded forward a couple of times. "Went away on the new ship."
"But when will he return?" asked Tasmir, shaking the man to wake him up, for he was certainly going to sleep.
"Don' know, don' know," returned the guard, shaking his head slowly. He kept on shaking it, and although they asked him several other questions he did not seem to hear them at all.