"I think you ought to be very grateful to us for having done so at all,"

said d.i.c.k, boldly. "What are you going to do with him now you have got him?"

"H'm! that remains to be seen," said the Amba.s.sador, pursing his lips up tightly, and staring at the Dodo severely.

[Ill.u.s.tration: "'Come along,' said the Amba.s.sador."]

"Come along," he continued, catching hold of what would have been the Dodo's ear if he had had one, but which was in reality a sort of woolly fluff growing all over his head.

"Come along, and see your friend the Little Panjandrum."

"Leave go!" screamed the Dodo, "you hurt."

"Rubbish!" exclaimed the Amba.s.sador, dragging him along, "it doesn't hurt _me_!"

"Oh! oh! I've dropped one of my gloves," cried the Dodo, pathetically.

"If you take my advice, you'll throw the other one away, too," said the Amba.s.sador; "it will only make the Little Panjandrum more angry than ever to see them."

"They make me look so respectable," whispered the Dodo.

"Respectable!" said the Amba.s.sador, contemptuously; "nothing would make _you_ respectable--you ridiculous object, you."

"I think you are most un--un--ki--ki--kind," sobbed the Dodo, "you are always pi--pi--pi--pitching into m--me, and ca--ca--calling me n--n--nasty names. It--it--it's too bad."

"Oh, stop that noise," said the Amba.s.sador, giving the Dodo's wool a twist; "I'm ashamed of you. Ah, here comes His Importance," he continued, as the sound of a drum was heard in the distance.

The children all eagerness to see the Little Panjandrum, stood in a line by the side of the pathway, while the Amba.s.sador, keeping a firm hold on the Dodo, remained by their side.

The sound of the drum drew nearer, and the children could distinguish another sound mingling with it.

The Amba.s.sador smiled blandly, while he kept time with his foot.

Presently the children caught sight of a curious procession approaching.

The Little Panjandrum, a little fat man in Oriental costume, was preceded by two attendants--one playing a kind of drum, and the other a jew's harp, while a third attendant held an enormous umbrella over His Importance's head. On the top of the umbrella were a number of curious signs, of which the children could not possibly imagine the meaning.

"Obbly--bobblee--wallee--bobbel--ob," said the Amba.s.sador, bowing three times, and dragging the Dodo's head down with him each time.

"Flop!" replied the Little Panjandrum, and the two musicians fell on their faces.

"Um--sopelee--gumbos--galapaloo--glab," remarked the Amba.s.sador.

"Ploff!" said the Little Panjandrum, and the black slave at the back jigged the State Umbrella up and down several times very violently.

[Ill.u.s.tration: The Panjandrum and suite pa.s.sed along.]

"What a funny language," whispered Marjorie. "I wonder what they are talking about?"

"Semlifee--dobbel--bingle--bingle--boff," cried the Amba.s.sador, lifting up one leg, while the Dodo painfully followed his example.

The Little Panjandrum gravely kicked the two musicians, who were still prostrate on the ground before him, and they immediately arose and stood on one leg each, like the Amba.s.sador. Then His Importance himself balanced himself in the same way. The black slave at the back, whose legs were attached to those of the Little Panjandrum, imitated him.

The children were highly interested in this proceeding, when the Amba.s.sador, without speaking, motioned them to stand on one leg each, too.

"Come on, let's do it," said d.i.c.k, "and see what they are going to do."

So the three children solemnly hopped upon one foot, too.

For a moment or two no one spoke. And at last the Dodo, gasping out, "Oh! I can't keep it up any longer," fell to the ground, and everybody else put their leg down again.

"Ough!" said the Amba.s.sador, in a disgusted voice. "Of course, _you_ must needs spoil it all. Most disrespectful behavior to the Little Panjandrum, I call it."

"I couldn't help it," gasped the Dodo, apologetically.

"Oh, of course not," said the Amba.s.sador. "A bad excuse is better than none."

"Well, _I_ couldn't have kept it up much longer," declared Marjorie; "could you, d.i.c.k?"

"No," said d.i.c.k; "I can't think what we are doing it at all for."

"Court etiquette demands it," said the Amba.s.sador, importantly. "Hush!

His Importance is about to speak."

"Gobloblee! grabluff!" said the Little Panjandrum.

"Go on, Dodo," said the Amba.s.sador. "_Gobloblee, grabluff_, at once when His Importance tells you."

The Dodo gave a sigh, and went up to the Little Panjandrum's Umbrella and gave it a twirl. When it stopped, a little finger at the top pointed to the word "Guilty," which was painted in large letters in one section of the Umbrella.

"Again," said the Amba.s.sador.

The Dodo, looking very dejected, gave the Umbrella another twirl. This time it stopped at the words "Hard labor."

The Dodo groaned.

"Once more!" shouted the Amba.s.sador.

For the third time the unlucky bird spun the Umbrella round, and this time it stopped at "Fine."

"How much, your Importance?" asked the Amba.s.sador of the Little Panjandrum.

"_Cablofechee!_" was the reply.

"Your gloves are forfeited," declared the Amba.s.sador.

The Dodo gave a despairing glance at the children, and began to remove his one glove.

"What's he being tried for?" asked d.i.c.k, in a whisper.

"Contempt of Panjandrumosity," said the Amba.s.sador. "It's a dreadful offence. All trials are conducted by means of the State Umbrella; it saves all the bother of judges and juries, you know. But, look out! the Little Panjandrum is off again."