The Prince and his party had been very much surprised and incensed when they found that they could not get out of their rooms, and they had kicked and banged and shouted until they were tired, but the jailer had informed them that they were to be confined there for years; and when the Potentate arrived they had resigned themselves to despair.  The Jolly-cum-pop, however, was affected in a different way.  It seemed to him the most amusing joke in the world that a person should deliberately walk into a prison-cell and be locked up for several years; and he lay down on his little bed and laughed himself to sleep.

That night one of the boys sat at his iron-barred window, wide awake.  He was a Truant, and had never yet been in any place from which he could not run away.  He felt that his school-fellows depended upon him to run away and bring them assistance, and he knew that his reputation as a Truant was at stake.  His responsibility was so heavy that he could not sleep, and he sat at the window, trying to think of a way to get out.  After some hours the moon arose, and by its light he saw upon the grass, not far from his window, a number of little creatures, which at first he took for birds or small squirrels; but on looking more attentively he perceived that they were pigwidgeons.  They were standing around a flat stone, and seemed to be making calculations on it with a piece of chalk.  At this sight, the heart of the Truant jumped for joy.  “Pigwidgeons can do any thing,” he said to himself, “and these certainly can get us out.”  He now tried in various ways to attract the attention of the pigwidgeons; but as he was afraid to call or whistle very loud, for fear of arousing the jailor, he did not succeed.  Happily, he thought of a pea-shooter which he had in his pocket, and taking this out he blew a pea into the midst of the little group with such force that it knocked the chalk from the hand of the pigwidgeon who was using it.  The little fellows looked up in astonishment, and perceived the Truant beckoning to them from his window.  At first they stood angrily regarding him; but on his urging them in a loud whisper to come to his relief, they approached the prison and, clambering up a vine, soon reached his window-sill.  The Truant now told his mournful tale, to which the pigwidgeons listened very attentively; and then, after a little consultation among themselves, one of them said:  “We will get you out if you will tell us how to divide five-sevenths by six.”

The poor Truant was silent for an instant, and then he said:  “That is not the kind of thing I am good at, but I expect some of the other fellows could tell you easily enough.  Our windows must be all in a row, and you can climb up and ask some of them; and if any one tells you, will you get us all out?”

“Yes,” said the pigwidgeon who had spoken before.  “We will do that, for we are very anxious to know how to divide five-sevenths by six.  We have been working at it for four or five days, and there won’t be any thing worth dividing if we wait much longer.”