“No authority?” he repeated slowly, as though he were mentally digesting what he had just heard. “Are you sure of this?”
“There is none, I tell you,” insisted Dragonfel emphatically. “It is enough to arouse the anger of the high and mighty gods. My own power will be diminished, if not lost, should this union take place.” “Are you using any measures to prevent it?” asked Vulcan thoughtfully. “Aye!” was Dragonfel’s decided response. “I am going across the sea with these followers of mine to interfere. Can I rely upon your powerful aid should I need it?” “How can I help you?” “If I call upon you will you convulse the earth, and rouse to fury the slumbering volcano?”
“Trust me for that!” cried Vulcan, beginning to pump the bellows. “The element of fire is still my own, to use at will.”
A lightning-bolt hurled itself right in their very midst, and the resultant thunder-clap brought Dragonfel and his followers to their feet in sudden alarm. “Enough!” cried Dragonfel exultingly. “It is a compact, then!”
“Here is my hand on it!” said Vulcan, and he crushed that of the enchanter in his grimy fist. “Spry, Flash, Nimble, and Twist, my crafty imps, shall go with you. Through them appeal to me. But what do you propose to do?”
“I have a plan, and a good one too!” said Dragonfel, in a confidential manner. “You can depend upon it, rats will eat the wedding-cake!” Vulcan’s fancy was so tickled that he laughed hilariously, and Dragonfel made bold to slap him in a familiar way upon the back. “Ho! ho!” Vulcan chuckled. “So rats will eat the wedding-cake, eh?”
“Yes,” Dragonfel went on. “We’re going to the wedding, gain their confidence with fine presents, and then—”
“Yes,” said Vulcan, very much interested. “And then—?”
Dragonfel leaned over and whispered something in Vulcan’s ear which caused him to start back in surprise. “No!” he involuntarily exclaimed. “Do you think you can do it?” If Florimel and Titania could have heard the diabolical plan of the enchanter all the happiness would have vanished from their hearts.