“Don’t mind him, Cap’n,” said Trot, “but fetch him along to the frame.”  The Boolooroo looked around to see where the voice came from, and Cap’n Bill grinned joyfully and caught up the king in both his strong arms, dragging the struggling Monarch of the Blues to the frame.

“Stop it!  How dare you?” roared the frightened Boolooroo.  “I’ll have revenge!  I’ll—­I’ll—­”

“You’ll take it easy, ’cause you can’t help yourself,” said Cap’n Bill.  “What next, Queen Trot?”

“Hold him steady in the frame, and I’ll tie him up,” she replied.  So Cap’n Bill held the Boolooroo, and the girl tied him fast in position as Cap’n Bill had been tied, so that his Majesty couldn’t wiggle at all.  Then they rolled the frame in position underneath the Great Knife and Trot held in her hand the cord which would release it.

“All right, Cap’n,” she said in a satisfied tone.  “I guess we can run this Blue Country ourselves after this.”  The Boolooroo was terrified to find himself in danger of being sliced by the same knife he had so often wickedly employed to slice others.  Like Cap’n Bill, he had no room to shiver, but he groaned very dismally and was so full of fear that his blue hair nearly stood on end.

THE RULER OF SKY ISLAND

CHAPTER 25

The girl now took off Rosalie’s ring and put it carefully away in her pocket.  “It won’t matter who sees me now,” she remarked, “an’ I want ’em to know that you an’ me, Cap’n, are running this kingdom.  I’m Queen o’ the Pinkies an’ Booloorooess o’ the Blues, an’—­”

“What’s that?” asked the sailor.  “You’re—­you’re what, Trot?”

“Booloorooess.  Isn’t that right, Cap’n?”

“I dunno, mate.  It sounds bigger ner you are, an’ I don’t like the word, anyhow.  S’pose you jus’ call yourself the Boss?  That fills the bill an’ don’t need pernouncin’.”

“All right,” she said.  “Queen o’ the Pinkies an’ Boss o’ the Blues.  Seems funny, don’t it, Cap’n Bill?”

Just then they heard a sound of footsteps in the corridor.  The soldiers had recovered their courage, and fearful of the anger of their dreaded Boolooroo, whom the Princesses declared would punish them severely, had ventured to return to the room.  They came rather haltingly, though, and the Captain of the Guards first put his head cautiously through the doorway to see if the coast was clear.  The goat discovered him and tried to make a rush, but the rope held the animal back, and when the Captain saw this, he came forward more boldly.

“Halt!” cried Trot.  The Captain halted, his soldiers peering curiously over his shoulders and the Six Snubnosed Princesses looking on from behind, where they considered themselves safe.  “If anyone dares enter this room without my permission,” said Trot, “I’ll pull this cord and slice your master that once was the Boolooroo.”