CHAPTER 19

The Lost Crowns

"Well, shall we return to the boat?" asked the Queen, when they had looked at the lost things a while longer.

"Yes," they answered willingly, for the Valley was a rather sad sight.

So they walked back to the bank, where they took off their overshoes and threw them upon the pile. Then they went down the sloping bank to the river and sat down upon the sand to rest.

"I'm hungry," said Tot.

"I forgot to bring anything to eat," answered the Queen. "But that will not matter. Fetch me your basket from the boat."

Dot brought it to the little lady, who simply waved her fairy wand over it and said:

"Now we shall have a good dinner."

The girl removed the cover and found that the big basket was filled to the brim with dainties of all kinds.

"That's nice," said Tot. "Were all those things in the end of your stick?"

"No one has ever yet discovered," answered the Queen, "how fairies are able to do such wonderful things. In fact, fairies could not explain them clearly if they wished to. So it is best not to ask questions, but to eat freely of these good things and be thankful my magic wand was able to fill the basket."

"All right," said Tot.

Although they enjoyed their dinner, the little party seemed to be unusually silent and thoughtful, and finally Dot asked:

"What shall we do next? We have seen all of the Seven Valleys now."

"When we have finished our dinner we will return to my palace in the Fourth Valley," replied the Queen, gaily.

A long pause followed this remark, and it was broken by Tot saying in a loud and decided voice:

"I want to go home!"

The Queen looked up quickly, with an anxious expression upon her face, and asked, "Do you really?"

"Yes. I want to see my mamma!" declared the boy.

"And leave this beautiful country, where you are a Prince?"

"Yes," said Tot decidedly.

"You surprise me, indeed," said the Queen, "and I am rather disappointed that you are not content to remain in my kingdom." Then she turned to Dot, and enquired: "Do you also wish to return to your home?"

"Well," replied the girl, "I love these beautiful Valleys dearly, and never expect to be as happy again as I have been here. But if Tot goes home of course I must go with him, for his mother left him in my care, you know."

"I am very sorry," said the Queen, after another long pause; "I had hoped to keep you with me always. But in my Kingdom of Merryland no one must be unhappy--it is the law. And if you really wish to return home it would make you unhappy to stay. So," she added, quietly, "you may go whenever you wish."

"How?" asked Tot, excited at the prospect.

"In your boat, of course. You have only to float down the river and through another tunnel to reach the big outside world again. But when you have passed through I shall close up the tunnel forever, so you will never be able to return."

"That's all right," returned Tot, gleefully.

"I shall be sorry never to see you again," said Dot, gently, as she clasped one of the fairy doll's pretty hands in her own. "You have been so kind to us, and I'm sure Tot is as grateful as I am. But he's a boy, you know."

"I know," said the Queen, with a smile.

"Let's go now," urged Tot, as if he couldn't wait a minute, now the matter was decided.

"How can you get to the Fourth Valley if we take the boat?" Dot asked the Queen.

"That will be easy," she answered, pleasantly; "my fairy wand will carry me home."

"Come on, then!" cried Tot, leaping into the boat.

Dot turned to kiss the pretty Queen, who exclaimed: "Be careful of my wax!"

But she stood on her tiptoes and gave the little girl a dainty, airy kiss that just brushed her lips.

"Good-bye my Princess," she said, and turning to the boy, added:

"Good-bye, Prince Tot of Merryland."

"Good-bye," called Tot from the boat. "You're nice, an' I love you. But I love my mamma, too."

"To be sure," answered the Queen, sweetly.

Dot now stepped in beside Tot, and the fairy doll placed the basket in the boat and pushed it away from the shore.

As they floated slowly down the stream the Queen followed along the top of the high bank, as if to keep them in sight as long as possible; and Dot was looking at her almost regretfully when suddenly a thought flashed into her mind. She stood up in the boat and called out:

"You've never told us your name!"

"Haven't I, really?" asked the Queen, as if greatly surprised.

"No," said Dot. "I want to know what it is."

"So do I," yelled Tot, standing up beside the girl and steadying himself by her arm.

"Certainly. I'll tell you now," cried the Queen, still running along the bank. But scarcely had she spoken when she threw up both her hands and screamed:

"Look out for the arch!"

Dot and Tot both turned around to look, but they were too late. A low, gloomy archway was just before them, and as the boat glided into it, the jagged rocks of the roof caught the children and threw them flat upon the bottom of the boat.

In falling, both the pretty gold crowns were knocked from their heads and fell splashing into the dark waters of the river, where they were lost forever.

Dot and Tot lay quite still for a time, while the light in the tunnel turned to twilight, and the twilight turned to utter darkness.

Suddenly they heard a great crash, with the sound of falling rocks and the splashing of water. The boat rocked with a little shiver, but neither of the children spoke, for they knew the Queen had kept her promise and closed up the archway behind them.

Finally Tot whispered, "I've got her yet."

"Who?" asked Dot.

"Jane."

The girl did not reply. She was rubbing her head where the roof had struck it and thinking earnestly of the wonderful country she had just left. Tot might, in time, forget his visit to Merryland, but Dot never would.

"It's goin' to be as long as the first tun'l, Dot," said the boy; and then he curled himself up and fell asleep, while the boat glided swiftly through the dark tunnel, and no sound broke the stillness save the soft rippling of the unseen waters.