Here the dwarf peered round the King’s elbow (for he was seated behind him), and, when he saw the little spark, he felt that, after all, fortune might yet permit them to land somewhere in safety.
At last they came out, as Moonflower had done, into the lonely marsh.
The stream sailed on, but much more slowly, and the King and his companion began to find the leaf on which they sat decreasing in size. “I feel sure that it is a sign of our voyage being at an end,” said Grimaçon.
The King stepped into the shallow water, picked up Grimaçon, and set him on the bank, drawing the leaf up after him. It immediately shrank to its natural size, upon which his Majesty gave it to the dwarf, who put it in his pocket. As they sat resting upon the bank they espied the Enchanter’s mud palace towering in the distance and resolved to go there, hoping to find some one who might give them news of the object of their search.
They walked and walked across the wet marsh, stumbling and sinking in the slimy mud, until the dwarf grew so tired that he could go forward no longer.
“I can go no further, sire,” he exclaimed, “and your Majesty must go on and leave me; I do not fear death now that I am robbed of my dear mistress.”
But the King would not hear of such a thing, and, being a strong man, he took him on his back and proceeded onward as best he might, for Grimaçon was no light weight, on account of the hump on his back, which made its owner as heavy as an ordinary person.
Now it happened at that moment, that Moonflower was looking out of the Enchanter’s glass tower, and saw, in the far distance, a man advancing with something on his back. With the exception of her wicked jailer, she had seen no one since she came to his house but the hideous reptiles which surrounded it, and her heart leaped with joy.
Picture her transports of delight on beholding, as they approached, that they were none other than the King of the Crystal Mountains and Grimaçon!
“But,” she thought, bursting into tears, “the dreadful Enchanter will but turn them into crocodiles as soon as he sees them!”