Thus fully equipped and with the whole band for an escort, the indomitable quintet set forth on their delicate mission.
Dragonfel’s palace was a good deal farther away than they had supposed, for the atmosphere was very clear, so that objects at a distance seemed much nearer than they really were.
There was a fair road that led to it from the beach, and this took them over a rickety wooden bridge that spanned one of the numerous tide-water creeks in the vicinity.
But before they reached the bridge they came to a small frame structure over whose arched doors was the sign: NEPTUNE HOOK AND LADDER CO. NO. 1, which caused remarks.
“Evidently Dragonfel has a fire department,” said King Stanislaus. “This is a most interesting discovery.”
“Why, I could have told you that,” said a Brownie. “I saw it some time ago.”
“You should have done so,” His Majesty reproved. “It may have a very important bearing on what we are about to try to do. But what was that?”
Something dim and shadowy flitted past in the dark, with the whirring sound of a night-bat.
“I saw it,” the Policeman spoke up quickly. “There was a gleam of red, and I thought I could distinguish a bow and quiver.”