hey intend doing with us?" said my father.
"Surely they do not wish to turn us out? And there seems scarcely room
for us all."

"They have no thought of turning your Majesties out," the other replied.
"All they desire is to be permitted to share the hut with you to-night.
They have come far to-day and are weary."

"If that is all, let them enter by all means. It would be hard indeed if
we were to keep them out of their rightful property." Then turning to my
mother, he continued, "It is only consistent with the topsy-turvey state
of things at present existing, that a king and those who are defrauding
him of his revenues should spend the night together. I wonder what von
Marquart would say if he could see us now?"

He had scarcely finished speaking before the three men, whose arrival
had caused us so much anxiety, entered the hut, the last of the three
closing the door carefully behind him. Needless to say we eyed them
critically. And indeed they were a singular trio. Two were enormous men,
so tall indeed that, when they stood upright, their heads came within a
few inches of the roof. The third, the leader and their spokesman, was
built on different lines; in other words, he was as small as his
companions were large; as talkative as they were taciturn. He was the
possessor of an enormous head, which was quite out of proportion to his
body; and his face, which was without hirsute adornment of any sort or
description, derived an added comicality from the fact that his left eye
was partially closed, giving it the appearance of a perpetual wink. When
they had deposited their burdens in a corner of the hut, they turned and
saluted my father and mother.

"Welcome, my friends," said my father, who could be graciousness itself
when he pleased. "You have chosen a rough night for travelling. Approach
the fire and warm yourselves."

In response to his invitation, the men drew a step or two nearer the
blaze, but no persuasion could induce them to come further. Their leader
had not given them the signal, and they were not accustomed to act on
their own initiative. Consequently, they took up their positions on
blocks of wood at the back of the hut, and sitting there stared at us
with a solemnity that at any other time would have been laughable in the
extreme. It was in vain that my father sought to lure them into
conversation. They answered him, it is true, but in so few words as
possible. They had been engaged in this illicit tra