“Oh, I’m so happy to be safe with you all again,” cried the Lady of Fashion as she hugged the General for the tenth time. “I don’t know what those nasty wild men captured us for, we never could find out, but I will say for them that they were very good to us.”
“Well, we are mighty glad to have you with us again,” said the General. “And it’s through the loyalty of every soldier in our army that your rescue has been accomplished.”
“I know it. I know it,” cried the little lady, and she hugged every single man in the army except the Chinaman, who was so embarrassed that he ran off and hid in a hollow log for nearly an hour.
The two nurses took the Lady of Fashion to their tent, where she washed until she was as clean as a drop of dew.
That night the army gathered around a roaring bonfire and eagerly listened to the Poet while he told them how he and the Lady of Fashion had spent their time as prisoners of the wild men. When he had finished, the little people sang songs, told stories and gossiped until after midnight, when the General ordered everyone to bed.
“It’s so nice to sleep in a clean, honest-to-goodness bed again,” said the Lady of Fashion when she crawled into one of the tiny cots in the nurses’ tent, but she didn’t sleep a great deal, for the three little women had so much to talk about. They whispered and giggled until early morning.
Chapter Twenty-Five
THE PEACE DANCE
“Well, folks,” announced the General the next morning as he sat down to breakfast with several of his officers, the Lady of Fashion and the Poet, “we must make ready for the march home. We have a long journey ahead of us and we must get started as soon as possible.”