eye
A leetle, teenty-tiny fly.'"

"Indeed," said Inga, laughing, "the gnat was much like your stones that
seemed as big as mountains."

After their dinner they inspected the palace, which was filled with
valuable goods stolen by King Gos from many nations. But the day's
events had tired them and they retired early to their big sleeping
apartment.

"In the morning," said the boy to Rinkitink, as he was undressing for
bed, "I shall begin the search for my father and mother and the people
of Pingaree. And, when they are found and rescued, we will all go home
again, and be as happy as we were before."

They carefully bolted the door of their room, that no one might enter,
and then got into their beds, where Rinkitink fell asleep in an instant.
The boy lay awake for a while thinking over the day's adventures, but
presently he fell sound asleep also, and so weary was he that nothing
disturbed his slumber until he awakened next morning with a ray of
sunshine in his eyes, which had crept into the room through the open
window by King Rinkitink's bed.

Resolving to begin the search for his parents without any unnecessary
delay, Inga at once got out of bed and began to dress himself, while
Rinkitink, in the other bed, was still sleeping peacefully. But when the
boy had put on both his stockings and began looking for his shoes, he
could find but one of them. The left shoe, that containing the Pink
Pearl, was missing.

Filled with anxiety at this discovery, Inga searched through the entire
room, looking underneath the beds and divans and chairs and behind the
draperies and in the corners and every other possible place a shoe might
be. He tried the door, and found it still bolted; so, with growing
uneasiness, the boy was forced to admit that the precious shoe was not
in the room.

With a throbbing heart he aroused his companion.

[Illustration]

"King Rinkitink," said he, "do you know what has become of my left
shoe?"

"Your shoe!" exclaimed the King, giving a wide yawn and rubbing his eyes
to get the sleep out of them. "Have you lost a shoe?"

"Yes," said Inga. "I have searched everywhere in the room, and cannot
find it."

"But why bother me about such a small thing?" inquired Rinkitink. "A
shoe is only a shoe, and you can easily get another one. But, stay!
Perhaps it was your shoe which I threw at the cat last night."

"The cat!" cried Inga. "What do you mean?"

"Why, in the night," explained Rinkitink, sitti