that burst
open the city gates would crush us all to atoms."

"Bah! you are a coward," cried the Queen, tauntingly.

"I am not a coward," said the big King. "I have killed in battle scores
of my enemies; by the might of my sword and my good right arm I have
conquered many nations; all my life people have feared me. But no one
would dare face the tremendous power of the Prince of Pingaree, boy
though he is. It would not be courage, it would be folly, to attempt
it."

"Then meet his power with cunning," suggested the Queen. "Take my
advice, and steal over to Regos at night, when it is dark, and capture
or destroy the boy while he sleeps."

[Illustration]

"No weapon can touch his body," was the answer. "He bears a charmed life
and cannot be injured."

"Does the fat King possess magic powers, or the goat?" inquired Cor.

"I think not," said Gos. "We could not injure them, indeed, any more
than we could the boy, but they did not seem to have any unusual
strength, although the goat's head is harder than a battering-ram."

"Well," mused the Queen, "there is surely some way to conquer that
slight boy. If you are afraid to undertake the job, I shall go myself.
By some strategem I shall manage to make him my prisoner. He will not
dare to defy a Queen and no magic can stand against a woman's cunning."

"Go ahead, if you like," replied the King, with an evil grin, "and if
you are hung up by the thumbs or cast into a dungeon, it will serve you
right for thinking you can succeed where a skilled warrior dares not
make the attempt."

"I'm not afraid," answered the Queen. "It is only soldiers and bullies
who are cowards."

In spite of this assertion, Queen Cor was not so brave as she was
cunning. For several days she thought over this plan and that, and tried
to decide which was most likely to succeed. She had never seen the boy
Prince but had heard so many tales of him from the defeated warriors,
and especially from Captain Buzzub, that she had learned to respect his
power.

Spurred on by the knowledge that she would never get rid of her
unwelcome guests until Prince Inga was overcome and Regos regained for
King Gos, the Queen of Coregos finally decided to trust to luck and her
native wit to defeat a simple-minded boy, however powerful he might be.
Inga could not suspect what she was going to do, because she did not
know herself. She intended to act boldly and trust to chance to win.

It is evident that had the cunnin