CHAPTER XVI. DICK AND THE QUEEN IN PERIL.

It is now about time that the mysterious disappearance of Dick Vincey and the Queen of Hez was explained.

The very instant the torches were extinguished in the magic chamber the two were seized and borne to the earth.

Before they could cry out, gags were thrust in their mouths, and then in the confusion that prevailed they were carried rapidly from the spot.

Dick strove manfully to free himself, but it was useless; a heavy cloth had been wound tightly around his body, rendering him powerless to use his arms.

The pair were carried swiftly along for about half an hour, through innumerable passages and tunnels, until at length they reached a spot where it was light.

But it was not the light made by burning torches--it looked more, to Dick, as though he was being carried through a street with a plentiful supply of electric lights in it.

However, his eyes were gladdened by the light but for a minute or so. The next instant their captors entered a cave, where all was in darkness, and came to a halt.

The two prisoners were deposited upon the hard ground as though they had been mere bundles of rags, and then those who had brought them thence took their departure.

For fully an hour the utmost silence reigned, and then it was suddenly broken by the sound of approaching footsteps.

Both Dick and his fair companion were beginning to suffer from their cramped positions, and they breathed a sigh of relief when they heard some one coming.

A moment later a lighted torch came in view, and a dozen Hez maidens appeared on the scene.

They were those who had balloted for husbands and who had been disappointed.

Dick saw it all now. They were evidently dissatisfied with the queen choosing him without allowing them a voice in the matter, and they had now taken the law in their own hands.

The boy was right. Such was really the case. The twelve maidens who now stood before them had conspired together and broken the laws of the Land of Hez.

They had caused the couple to be brought to this out-of-the-way place to force Queen Olive to give Dick over to them, and then swear to let the matter drop forever.

In case she refused, the two were to be left in the cave to perish, while the conspirators would go back to the village and circulate the rumor that their queen, being unable to wait until the two years had passed, had fled to the outside world with her lover.

That this story would be believed by the simple Hez people there was not the least particle of doubt.

The leader of the twelve maidens was Queen Olive’s younger sister--heir to the throne!

It was she who acted as speaker for her companions, and after having removed the gags from the mouths of the two prisoners, so they would be able to answer her, she proceeded to inform them of the reason they had been abducted from the magic chamber.

“Our plan was well carried out,” said she, “and the twelve here assembled are the ones that did it. We have rebelled against the throne, and unless you agree to our terms, you must lie in this cave, bound as you are, to furnish food for the dreaded picuasus. What is your answer, my sister?”

The eyes of the queen flashed with rage that was intense, and for a moment she could not find words to make a reply.

But finally she calmed herself and said:

“My answer is this, base conspirators! I will not agree to your terms, even though you do leave me here to die, which you dare not do.”

“Dare not? We will show you. I will give you just five minutes to consider your reply, and if in that time you do not agree, we will certainly leave you both here--unless the young man whom you have chosen for your husband desires to accept one of us, and will take an oath not to reveal what has happened.”

“I will not do that!” said Dick, hotly. “Do your worst, you she-fiends; we will triumph in the end.”

“Nobly spoken, my brave young lover!” spoke up the queen. “It will be as you say--we will triumph in the end.”

There was no reply to this until the five minutes had elapsed, and then the queen’s sister, with a perfectly immovable face, spoke up.

“What is your decision?” she asked, coolly.

“You have it already. Free us immediately, or I give you my word that every one of you shall suffer the fate of Azurma.”

There was a ripple of mocking laughter at this, and the leader of the conspirators went on:

“Is that your final answer?”

“It is.”

“Be it so, then. From this time forward I am the queen of the Land of Hez. Farewell, my sister. May you and your lover enjoy the agonies of death you have so freely chosen!”

This nerved Dick to a feeling of desperation, and he strove to free himself with all his might.

But it was utterly useless; the heavy cloth that bound his hands to his sides was too firmly wound about him.

Then, too, his legs were secured in the same manner, and he soon found that he could scarcely even turn over.

“It is useless,” he said, panting from his exertions. “We have got to die!”

“Oh, say not so,” wailed the queen, and she fell back in a faint.

And Dick! He relaxed his muscles and fell into as comfortable a position as was possible, and set to thinking over their situation.

What worried him most was what the queen’s sister had said about them furnishing a meal for the dreaded picuasus.

He had heard about those monsters from Leo, and that he and his beautiful companion were in the limits of the domain of the horrible turtle spiders he felt certain.

What if one of them should come prowling that way now?

The thought was maddening to Dick, and he again strove to free himself.

But after five minutes of fruitless endeavor he fell back exhausted.

Soon after this he fell into a troubled sleep, from which he did not awaken until some hours had elapsed.

He felt cramped and sore, and soon as the full sense of his situation came to him, he listened intently.

But not a sound could be heard, save the regular breathing of the girl at his side, who was now sleeping peacefully.

He determined not to disturb her slumber, and so did not attempt to burst his bonds again.

The seconds flitted into minutes, and the minutes into hours, and still there was no change.

Had it not been for Queen Olive’s regular breathing, Dick would have thought her dead.

“Let her sleep,” he thought. “She is now entirely oblivious to our horrible situation, and if I wake her up, she will only rave and go on at a great rate.”

About five minutes later the boy heard a sound which sent a thrill through his body.

A faint pit-pat could be heard, which told him that some living creature was approaching.

“The picuasus!” he muttered to himself. “Well, it will soon be over.”

Nearer and nearer the sounds came, and presently the boy’s instinct told him that the animal, or whatever it was, had halted within a few feet of him.

The next moment he felt the cold nose of the creature touching his face!