The loud report of the fire-arm, and the puff of smoke which followed it, filled the Umi-Lobas with the most abject fear.
They threw themselves on their faces and cried out that I was an evil spirit.
I could now see that King Gâ-roo had given orders to let me sail away in peace.
They made no further attempts to molest me, and yet it was very plain that they were loth to part with the “little man all head,” for whom their King and the princess Hoppâ-Hoppâ had conceived so warm an affection.
I, too, felt a wrinkle in my heart as my little boat bore Bulger and me away on the rippling waters of the beautiful river now grown so wide that I was at least a hundred feet from the bank, and the palace of King Gâ-roo began to fade away in the distance.
For several miles they followed the banks of the stream, keeping opposite me, and ever and anon sending me a good bye in a soft and plaintive voice.
Straining my eyes, I could see little princess Hoppâ-Hoppâ, borne aloft on the shoulders of a group of serving-men, and waving me a last adieu.
Then, once more, I caught the sound of that shrill baby voice:
“Good bye! Good bye! Little Man-All-Head! Hoppâ-Hoppâ says good bye forever!”
And so I sailed away from the land of the Umi-Lobas, the land of the Man-Hoppers!