r and it would be impossible to break up and not
leave some wreckage on the shore.

"I did not know what to think, but finally agreed with some of the
sailors that pirates had stolen the ship and also our small boats
during the day. As we had no possible means of escape we were obliged
for the meantime to seek food and shelter in the interior of the
island, believing that perhaps before long we would be able to hail
some passing boat.

"We soon found our way to the fruit trees, you may be sure, with the
result that in three days we had all been transformed into birds, which
shape we had no hope of changing for our own again until you, Prince
Daimur, came to rescue us."

"And your brother Tasmir," asked Daimur, "do you still believe him to
be alive?"

"Indeed," replied Prince Redmond sadly, "I do not know. My locket,
being a charmed one, could not be transformed with me, and is still
around my neck, but it seems to be turning darker every day. Wherever
Tasmir is I fear he is dying."

"Well," said Daimur, "do not give up hope. Just as soon as you are
delivered from this place you will be able to go and seek him, and I
will give you every assistance in my power. In the meantime I will try
and find out something about him."

So they retired to rest with hopeful hearts, each to dream of freedom.

CHAPTER IX

The next evening, after supper was over, some of the doves brought
forward a very plain-looking old dove, who wore suspended around her
neck on a thin chain a little gold key.

They all begged her to tell Daimur her story, and after some hesitation
she began:

"I am not a Queen," she said, "I am only the Duchess of Rose Petals,
but through my misfortune I am causing a great deal of misery to my
dear, dear niece, Queen Amy of the Island of Roses." Here she shed a
few tears, then shaking her feathers, she continued her story.

"When my cousin, the late King Richard, died he left no heir. In his
will, however, he named his successor. He said that whichever of his
nieces (his two brothers each had one daughter) should grow up more
beautiful and more clever than the other should be crowned Queen on her
eighteenth birthday, and that until then the Prime Minister should
manage the affairs of the country.

"As the girls were both in their sixteenth year at the time there were
two years to wait.

"We all thought it a silly plan, and that it would have been much
better to name one of the girls as Qu