“‘Er—­do you recommend—­er—­salt for blackbirds?’ he inquired anxiously.

“‘What for?’ I asked.

“‘To put on their tails, you know,’ said the King.  ’I have a recollection of hearing something, somewhere, about catching birds by putting salt on their tails.  But perhaps that doesn’t refer to blackbirds?’ he added.

“I couldn’t help smiling a little at the simple, good-natured, inexperienced King, but suggested immediately afterwards that some grain scattered before and inside a sieve propped up with a stick, to which some string was attached, would probably be a more effectual way of catching the birds.

“‘What a brilliant idea!’ said the King.  ’I’ll send the salt back and order some sieves, grain, sticks and string, as you suggest.  Is there anything else?’

“‘Something to put the birds in if we catch any, your Majesty,’ said I.

“‘Oh!  I’ve thought of that,’ said the King, ’and have several baskets ready.’

“The men were soon back with the sieves, and I quickly rigged up two of them as traps; and having baited them, I showed the King how to hide and pull the string directly one of the birds was under the sieve.

“Fortunately, blackbirds seemed to abound in that country, and there were soon several fluttering about, pecking at and picking up the grain.

“Presently, one got under my sieve, and pulling the support away by the string, I was fortunate enough to catch it.  The King was delighted, and the more so when a few minutes afterwards he trapped two at once, in the same manner.

“After this, the ‘sport,’ if it could be called so, became fast and furious, and ended in our catching four-and-twenty birds between us.

“This the King considered would be sufficient, so we set off to the Castle again, the men bearing the baskets in triumph before us.

“‘Oh! the dear, sweet little things!’ cried Her Majesty, when she was shown our captives, ’and how clever of you to have caught them all!  They’ll make a perfectly lovely pie!’ And she set off in high glee to the kitchens, to try her hand at the culinary art again.

[Illustration:  “This was carefully set before the King.”]

“The afternoon was spent in the beautiful gardens surrounding the Castle, playing fives, for which there was a specially built court, and practising at archery, so that the time quickly passed, till we were called in by the first dinner gong.

“The Maids of Honour, together with some of the State Ministers, joined us at dinner, and I could see that the Queen, though sweet and gracious as ever, was very anxious as the dinner proceeded.

“Presently there was a flourish of trumpets heard at the door, and two pages appeared, bearing a silver salver upon which was an enormous pie.  This was carefully set before the King, and his Majesty, after smiling at the Queen rather nervously, put the knife into the crust and removed a portion of it.