rridors. As the girl walked
through these passages, she could hear snores of various degrees coming
from behind some of the closed doors and knew that all the regular
inmates of the place were sound asleep. So she mounted to the upper
floor, and thinking she would be likely to find Cap'n Bill in the Room
of the Great Knife, she went there and tried the door. It was locked,
but the key had been left on the outside. She waited until the sentry
who was pacing the corridor had his back toward her, and then she
turned the key and slipped within, softly closing the door behind her.

It was pitch dark in the room, and Trot didn't know how to make a
light. After a moment's thought she began feeling her way to the
window, stumbling over objects as she went. Every time she made a
noise, someone groaned, and that made the child uneasy. At last she
found a window and managed to open the shutters and let the moonlight
in. It wasn't a very strong moonlight, but it enabled her to examine
the interior of the room. In the center stood the Great Knife, which
the Boolooroo used to split people in two when he patched them, and at
one side was a dark form huddled upon the floor and securely bound.

Trot hastened to this form and knelt beside it, but was disappointed to
find it was only Tiggle. The man stirred a little and rolled against
Trot's knee, when she at once became visible to him. "Oh, it's the
Earth child," said he. "Are you condemned to be patched, too, little
one?"

"No," answered Trot. "Tell me where Cap'n Bill is."

"I can't," said Tiggle. "The Boolooroo has hidden him until tomorrow
morning, when he's to be patched to me. Ghip-Ghisizzle was to have been
my mate, but Ghip escaped, being carried away by the Six Snubnosed
Princesses."

"Why?" she asked.

"One of them means to marry him," explained Tiggle.

"Oh, that's worse than being patched!" cried Trot.

"Much worse," said Tiggle with a groan.

But now an idea occurred to the girl. "Would you like to escape?" she
asked the captive. "If I get you out of the palace, can you hide
yourself so that you won't be found?"

"Certainly!" he declared. "I know a house where I can hide so snugly
that all the Boolooroo's soldiers cannot find me."

"All right," said Trot. "I'll do it, for when you're gone, the
Boolooroo will have no one to patch Cap'n Bill to."

"He may find someone else," suggested the prisoner.

"But it will take him time to do that, and time is all I want,