t the word the crusts left his grasp and appeared in the
hand of the old woman.

"Oh, very well," she said, "just as you please! You are not obliged to
have them, of course."

Poor Vance was ready to cry with vexation and hunger, and quite broke
down at this last misfortune. He begged so humbly for the crusts that at
last the queer old crone relented and gave them back; and never did
anything taste sweeter to him than these dry and mouldy morsels of
bread.

"You may sleep where you are," the woman said as he finished; and she
closed the window with a slam, leaving it impossible to say where it had
been.

"Oh, by the way," she cried, a moment later, sticking her head through
the bark of the tree, in a way that looked very uncomfortable indeed,
"about those boundaries, you know, and the Crushed Strawberry Wizard, I
was going to say--But, no; on the whole, it's no matter."

And once more she disappeared, not again to be seen.

"I must say," muttered Prince Vance, "strange things happen to me all
the time."

And curling himself up on the moss, he fell fast asleep from weariness.

VII

The morning sun shining into his eyes awakened him; and after looking
about carefully to assure himself that there was nothing to be had to
eat in that place, Vance shouldered his box and trudged along the
river's bank. It was a beautiful bright morning; the birds were singing,
the flowers were opening to the light, and had it not been for a
constantly growing hunger, the young traveller might have enjoyed his
walk greatly. As it was, he soon became so hungry that he could think of
nothing but eating. He went on, however, until about noon, before he
found any food; then to his great joy he came upon a fine tree hanging
full of ripe peaches, rosy and plump as a baby's cheek.

"Now for a feast!" he said eagerly to himself, as he put down his box
and prepared to gather a hatful of the delicious fruit.

Just then he stumbled over something, and looking down saw a man lying
on the grass with his eyes shut and his mouth open.

"Hallo!" exclaimed the Prince. "Who are you? Are you awake or asleep?"

"Awake," answered the man, without stirring.

"Why don't you get up then?" asked Vance. "Are you ill?"

"No," replied the man, briefly.

And indeed he was as stout a fellow as one would meet in a summer's day.

"Then what are you doing?" demanded the Prince, who had lost all
patience and who thought that the other might at leas