t one of the weights, and finally succeeded in freeing
himself. Then he quickly jumped up and untied Hortense and Andy, and
then tried his point in the keyhole. By luck when the grater dulled his
edges, he made them exactly fit the notches in the keyhole. "Now," he
called, "if you can turn me over I believe I can turn the lock."

With Hortense standing on Andy's shoulders she could just reach Malay
Kris, and with all her effort she turned the knife, the lock opened and
the door swung out. Quickly the three friends left the cat's house and
started through the garden toward the mountain side where the little
people were.

As they came close to where the guards were, Andy sneezed. One of the
guards saw them and raised the alarm and all the guards came running.
Malay Kris tried defending them, but his edge was so dull that he could
make no dent on their armor at all. So, once again, they were subdued,
tied up, and brought before the king and queen.

"So," cried the king, "we have you again. This time we'll put you away
for good. But first search them. I don't want them to have any secrets
hidden in their pockets." So the guards went through their pockets and
found the pieces of cookie.

"They have no secret weapons, your honor," said the guards. "The only
thing we found are these pieces of cookies."

"Bring me the cookies," ordered the king. "They should be a nice
dessert for me." So saying he bit off a piece of one, and finding it
very delicious, passed the others around to the rest of his guards.
Hortense tried to stop him from eating any more, but as soon as she
started to talk, he roared, "Silence from the prisoners! You will speak
only if asked to." Then he distributed the remainder of the cookies
among his guards until they were all eaten up. After having finished
such a good dessert, he leaned back in this throne and, addressing
himself to the three, said, "Have you any final words to say before I
sentence you? Since you escaped once before, this time I intend to
throw you in the dungeon beneath the mountain. No one has ever escaped
from it."

Hortense and Andy were so frightened they couldn't say a word. But the
queen came to their rescue. "Your honor," she said, "it is true that
these strangers escaped once before. However, I can't see that they
mean us any harm. Perhaps they could even be of some help to us if we
kept them here."

"Ha!" cried the king. "Much help they'd be. They may even be spies from
ano