a throne hollowed out of a huge block of green
copper ore, and his court upon lower seats around it. The king had
been making them a speech, and the applause which followed it was what
Curdie had heard. One of the court was now addressing the multitude.
What he heard him say was to the following effect: 'Hence it appears
that two plans have been for some time together working in the strong
head of His Majesty for the deliverance of his people. Regardless of
the fact that we were the first possessors of the regions they now
inhabit; regardless equally of the fact that we abandoned that region
from the loftiest motives; regardless also of the self-evident fact
that we excel them so far in mental ability as they excel us in
stature, they look upon us as a degraded race and make a mockery of all
our finer feelings. But, the time has almost arrived when--thanks to
His Majesty's inventive genius--it will be in our power to take a
thorough revenge upon them once for all, in respect of their unfriendly
behaviour.'

'May it please Your Majesty--' cried a voice close by the door, which
Curdie recognized as that of the goblin he had followed.

'Who is he that interrupts the Chancellor?' cried another from near the
throne.

'Glump,' answered several voices.

'He is our trusty subject,' said the king himself, in a slow and
stately voice: 'let him come forward and speak.'

A lane was parted through the crowd, and Glump, having ascended the
platform and bowed to the king, spoke as follows:

'Sire, I would have held my peace, had I not known that I only knew how
near was the moment, to which the Chancellor had just referred.

In all probability, before another day is past, the enemy will have
broken through into my house--the partition between being even now not
more than a foot in thickness.'

'Not quite so much,' thought Curdie to himself.

'This very evening I have had to remove my household effects; therefore
the sooner we are ready to carry out the plan, for the execution of
which His Majesty has been making such magnificent preparations, the
better. I may just add, that within the last few days I have perceived
a small outbreak in my dining-room, which, combined with observations
upon the course of the river escaping where the evil men enter, has
convinced me that close to the spot must be a deep gulf in its channel.
This discovery will, I trust, add considerably to the otherwise immense
forces at His Majesty's di