Thus on they went without further mishap, a queer-looking flotilla, keeping in as close proximity to each other as they could, using both hands and feet for paddles, and adopting many ingenious devices to complete the voyage so disastrously begun.
And a day dawned, then another, but at nightfall of the second they glimpsed far off a shore-line with a single towering mountain which they knew to be Dragonfel’s enchanted country.
They were neither hungry nor thirsty, for Brownies if need be can go without food or water a long time.
Much heartened by what they beheld, they redoubled their efforts to reach the shore, which grew plainer and plainer, until finally they could distinguish an immense glittering structure that looked more like a prison than a palace, built as it was in the gloomy shadow of the mountain.
Though it gleamed and flashed and shone in a thousand and one different places, where its myriad jewels caught the light, it seemed a cheerless, inhospitable place, and they were depressed by the sight of it.
The galleon that Dragonfel had used to convey his captives to his country was lying at anchor well in toward the shore, with no one evidently on board, but not feeling sure of this the Brownies made a wide detour, choosing for a landing a sheltered cove that would screen them from observing eyes.
As they drew closer to the land some strange companions had they—queer creatures who had obtruded themselves upon the Brownies during the storm, and forced their society upon unwilling hosts—a motley gathering from air, sea, and undersea that occupied choice places upon the flotsam and jetsam to which the little fellows so precariously clung with amazing vim.
There were comical-looking, long-legged, long-billed cranes and herons, and squat-flappered, web-footed penguins. The walrus and seal were there, as well as formidable members of the finny tribe, some of which had swords so sharp that the discreet Brownies kept a most respectful distance from them. Crustaceans too were represented, with here a lobster slyly nipping a sprite’s toe with his claws, and there a turtle tweaking another’s cap.
But when the Brownies reached shoal water, and some began to wade toward shore, these false whilom friends deserted them, and dived into the deep, or flew off in the air.