Meanwhile the three Buccaneers, led by Long Jim, the crafty courtier, made their way back to Grumbletown. Their clothes had been badly torn by the wild scramble through the bushes; while brambles and briars had made sad havoc with their faces, so that altogether it was four sorry, dilapidated looking specimens that now appeared before King Red Beard.
“Blunderheads!” That is what Red Beard called Long Jim and the three Buccaneers, not once but a dozen times. Then he called them “noodle skulls,” and, last of all, he {126} called them “four big cowardly babies,” which certainly was a hard name to give, even to wicked Buccaneers.
But, by and by, when Red Beard began to quiet down, he said: “Well, you have now failed three times, but we can’t allow that boy and girl to rule in Toyville.” Then ordering his spies to return to Toyville, he set about the making of new plans.
The Seventeenth Chapter.
How the Mayor makes New Plans. And of a Delightful and happy Gathering in the Gardens. Also of a Parley held at the Castle Gate.
