I must abandon that idea.
By a strange fatality my bitterest enemy now came to my assistance. You doubtless remember how that animated coil of steel spring, Megâ-Zaltô, tried to kill me by placing tiny poisoned knife-blades in my bed.
Well, after that I never laid down at night that I didn’t first pull off the cushions, drapery and coverings of my couch in search of any more of the same kind.
I never found any, for Megâ-Zaltô was still in disgrace, and forbidden, under penalty of instant death, to approach the royal palace.
But I did find something else.
It was this:
I discovered that my bedstead emptied of its cushions and clothes, was exactly the shape of a yawl boat; in fact, of so fine a model as to give infinite pleasure to my sailor’s eye, and, most astonishing discovery of all, that it was already fitted with a staunch and shapely mast, the staff which supported the hangings. All I needed was a couple of thin, straight sticks for booms, and I would be able to take one of my sheets and rig a square sail in a few moments.
Here again I found myself face to face with an appalling difficulty.
Even admitting that I could elude the vigilance of my keepers, how was I, all alone by myself, to transport the heavy bedstead to the water’s edge, a quarter of a mile away!
I was upon the point of giving up the whole scheme.