I shout to him through the magic horn, and tell him to bring her
home here, on the magic carpet?"

"I think not, dear; the palace is quite full," said the queen. But the
real reason was that she wanted Ricardo to marry her favourite Princess
Jaqueline, and she did not wish the new princess to come in the way.

"As you like," said the king, who knew what was in her mind very well.
"Besides, I see her own people coming for her. I'm sorry for her, but it
can't be helped, and Dick is half-way home by now on the Shoes of
Swiftness. I daresay he will not keep dinner waiting after all. But
what a fright the boy has given me!"

At this moment a whirring in the air and a joyous shout were heard. It
was Prince Ricardo flying home on his Seven-league Boots.

"Hi, Ross!" he shouted, "just weigh this beast's head. I've had a
splendid day with a sea-monster. Get the head stuffed, will you? We'll
have it set up in the billiard-room."

"Yes, Master Dick--I mean your Royal Highness," said Ross, a Highland
keeper, who had not previously been employed by a Reigning Family. "It's
a fine head, whatever," he added, meditatively.

{Ross weighing the beast's head: p28.jpg}

Prince Ricardo now came beneath the library window, and gave his parents
a brief account of his adventure.

"I picked the monster up early in the morning," he said, "through the
magic telescope, father."

"What country was he in?" said the king.

"The country people whom I met called it Ethiopia. They were niggers."

"And in what part of the globe is Ethiopia, Ricardo?"

"Oh! I don't know. Asia, perhaps," answered the prince.

The king groaned.

"That boy will _never_ understand our foreign relations. Ethiopia in
Asia!" he said to himself, but he did not choose to make any remark at
the moment.

The prince ran upstairs to dress. On the stairs he met the Princess
Jaqueline.

"Oh, Dick! are you hurt?" she said, turning very pale.

"No, not I; but the monster is. I had a capital day, Jack; rescued a
princess, too."

"Was she--was she very pretty, Dick?"

"Oh! I don't know. Pretty enough, I daresay. Much like other girls.
Why, you look quite white! What's the matter? Now you look all right
again;" for, indeed, the Princess Jaqueline was blushing.

"I must dress. I'm ever so late," he said, hurrying upstairs; and the
princess, with a little sigh, went down to the royal drawing-room.

CHAPTER II.
Princess Jaqueline Drinks the M