“Guide me there, then—that is all I ask!” cried David.
So, after following the Blue Bird over another long, long trail, he saw at last, far away in the distance, the Palace of the great Bronze King. Its tower and parapets rose in a huge mass of ugly red above the green foliage and gray rocks of the hillside.
In a few minutes he stood without the massive walls. It was very early in the morning, and all within seemed as still and quiet as though it were midnight.
“Is Ruth really there?” he thought to himself. “How can I be sure of this? and, being sure, how can I ever free her?”
“Wait in patience, doubt no more;
And never try to force the door,”
came the song again.
“That’s all right,” said David, “but how can a man be patient for ever? I must and will rescue Ruth!”
As he spoke there appeared, in the window above him, the Bronze King himself. David hid in the leaves of a neighbouring thicket so that the King could not see him, though he himself could gaze with safety upon the unearthly and monstrous visage of the King. The thought of Ruth’s being a captive in that monster’s Palace was almost more than he could endure.
The sun shone through the window right into the King’s face. It was a curious fact, and one which had been noticed by Ruth as well as by others in the Palace, that in the bright sunlight the King’s face always seemed to grow a still darker bronze. The more light shone upon him, the darker he seemed to grow. Now, in this brilliant morning light, his face was darker than the moon when, in eclipse, it takes on a strange and terrifying cast which no one can look at without a shudder.
A surge of repulsion swept over David as he gazed; he thought he had never seen any being so thoroughly ugly and so altogether awful. Then the thought of sweet, gentle Ruth filled his heart, and in a moment he grew strong and fearless. He resolved to rescue her, no matter what the cost might be.