at
different angles, so they cannot both be blown together----"

"Yes, yes," said the King impatiently, "_I'll_ think of the things, if
once you can find the enchanter. But they are not so common nowadays.
Besides, enchanters are delicate things to work with. They have a
habit of forgetting which side they are on."

The Chancellor's mouth drooped piteously.

"Well," said the King condescendingly, "I'll tell you what we'll do.
You may send _one_ Stiff Note and then we will declare war."

"Thank you, your Majesty," said the Chancellor.

So the Stiff Note was dispatched. It pointed out that his Majesty of
Barodia, while in the act of taking his early morning constitutional,
had been severely insulted by an arrow. This arrow, though
fortunately avoiding the more vital parts of his Majesty's person,
went so far as to wound a favourite whisker. For this the fullest
reparation must be made . . . and so forth and so on.

Euralia's reply was not long delayed. It expressed the deepest
concern at the unhappy accident which had overtaken a friendly
monarch. On the morning in question, his Majesty had been testing his
archers in a shooting competition at a distant hawk; which
competition, it might interest his Majesty of Barodia to know, had
been won by Henry Smallnose, a bowman of considerable promise. In the
course of the competition it was noticed that a foreign body of some
sort brushed up against one of the arrows, but as this in no way
affected the final placing of the competitors, little attention was
paid to it. His Majesty of Barodia might rest assured that the King
had no wish to pursue the matter farther. Indeed, he was always glad
to welcome his Barodian Majesty on these occasions. Other shooting
competitions would be arranged from time to time, and if his Majesty
happened to be passing at the moment, the King of Euralia hoped that
he would come down and join them. Trusting that her Majesty and their
Royal Highnesses were well, . . . and so on and so forth.

The Grand Chancellor of Barodia read this answer to his Stiff Note
with a growing feeling of uneasiness. It was he who had exposed his
Majesty to this fresh insult; and, unless he could soften it in some
way, his morning at the Palace might be a painful one.

As he entered the precincts, he wondered whether the King would be
wearing the famous boots, and whether they kicked seven leagues as
easily as they strode them. He felt more and more that