“The King’s a Gooch!” gulped the Elegant Elephant unhappily. Then, all at once he flung up his trunk. “Somebody’s going to disappear around here,” he wheezed darkly, “that’s certain!” With a mighty rustling of his silk robe, Kabumpo hurried off to his own royal quarters in the palace.
Left alone, Prince Pompa threw himself down at the foot of the throne, and gazed sadly into space.
Chapter 3
Kabumpo and Pompa Disappear
Once in his own apartment, Kabumpo pulled the bell rope furiously.
“My pearls and my purple plush robe! Bring them at once!” he puffed when his personal attendant appeared in the doorway.
“Yes, Sir! Are you going out, Sir?” murmured the little Pumperdinkian, hastening to a great chest in the corner of the big marble room, to get out of the robe.
“Not unless disappearing is going out,” said Kabumpo more mildly, for he was quite fond of this little man who waited on him. “But I’m liable to disappear any minute. So are you. So is everybody, and I, for my part, wish to do the thing well and disappear with as much elegance as possible. Have you heard about the magic scroll, Spezzle?”
“Yes, Sir!” quavered Spezzle, mounting a ladder to adjust the Elegant Elephant’s pearls and gorgeous robe of state. “Yes, Sir, and my head’s going round and round like—”
“Like what?” asked Kabumpo, looking approvingly at his reflection in the long mirror.