If ever the Kingfishers put forth their best speed they did it that afternoon. So swiftly did they fly that within twenty minutes after [[82]]he had received the wireless message, Prince Waratah, flying high above the dust, had sighted the Princess and her kidnappers, and was bearing down upon the group with the swiftness of a shooting star.
Howling with rage and disappointment, the Desert Fairies loosed a tearing wind against the Prince, and filling the air with sand and dust, and even little pebbles, desperately strove to prevent him getting near them. But what cared the Prince for such an attack! Urging his obedient Kingfishers upward, he shot over the top of the flying dust and sand, and dashing downward with amazing speed, sprang out of his carriage and rushed upon his foes. Craven cowards that they are, they fled before him in all directions, just as the Shower Fairies, rapidly following after the Prince, sent their pelting raindrops hurtling after them.
Very, very timely was the Shower Fairies’ aid, and the Prince was very grateful for it.
Tenderly lifting the exhausted Princess in his arms he bore her to his carriage; and taking out a little phial of cordial, mixed it with some water from the Magic Well, and giving it to her to drink, in a minute or two she was her smiling self again.
She then told him how she had come to be captured. It was because she had, unthinkingly, left the carriage to get some flowers. Now, strewn about the desert over which she had been dragged, they all lay dead!
The Prince at once resolved that she should have some others to take their place. After resting a little while, they, therefore, returned to the spot where they could be obtained, and the Prince himself gathered her a giant posy. Then, seating her beside her father in the carriage in which she had been travelling, he placed the lovely blossoms in her arms, contriving as he did so, to kiss the dainty hand that on the morrow was to be given him in marriage.
On the wedding morning, from quite an early hour, the sky was filled with flying carriages bringing in the guests.
Perhaps you can imagine the curiosity and wonder with which the arrival of each newcomer was viewed by the Fairy Folk. No doubt the deportment and demeanour of all were silently admired or criticised; whilst the mere novelty of seeing distinguished personages [[83]]whom they had never seen before must have been considered quite a treat!
By noon, however, the last of the wedding guests had arrived, and all were happily preparing for the ceremony, which was timed to take place at four o’clock precisely.
The ceremony arrangements were of the simplest character. On a raised platform reached by steps, beneath a spreading blackwood tree, in the middle of a velvety green lawn, stood the “Official Recorder,” he who causes to be recorded everything that must be kept in what are called the “Archives”; in other words, the place in which public records and historic documents are safely stored.